Simple, free DVD authoring.

[TreborPugly]

I've made many VCD's, and I'm familiar with the various methods to convert video for VCD, SVCD, or DVD format. I figured out what I needed to do to convert to an appropriate video/audio format for DVD, but I'm having some trouble settling down on how I will author.

I'm not interested in copying DVD's, just packing as much video as I can onto a DVD, rather than several VCD's. My DVD burner came with Sonic's MyDVD software (the one with the least functionality), and it doesn't like compressed audio, so if I give it a video with anything other than full, uncompressed audio, it converts it to uncompressed audio, which completely defeats my efforts at keeping file size small.

I've successfully replaced a VOB file with one that has the compressed audio, and used IFO edit to change the definition of the audio on that particular VOB file to match. But this technique is pretty cumbersome.

It appears that a VOB file can simply be a renamed MPEG file, if you have a separate VOB file for each video.

So one question is this: Can I just create the properly encoded files, give them reasonabl *.VOB names, and then use something like IFO edit to create simple menus (Can it create menus?) and put in the appropriate info about the VOB files in the BUP and IFO files.

Alternatively, I did download and use very easily the TMPGenc DVD authoring software. But if there is a free way to create simple DVD's, then I'd prefer that I suppose.

Finally, can you go below 750 kbits/second average bit rate on a Variable bit rate? I've got videos that I made on VCD with pretty high compression. (maybe 200 kbits/s for some) Bringing that back up to 750 kind of defeats the purpose of putting them on DVD's.

Thanks!

Treb.

[Dave82]

It appears that a VOB file can simply be a renamed MPEG file, if you have a separate VOB file for each video.:confused: MPEG files use MPEG-1 video, so if you want to obtain VOBs with MPEG-2 video you'll have to demultiplex, reencode and then multiplex the streams. However, even if you use MPEG-1 video (it's DVD compliant too) I don't think it's enough to rename the files. You should demux them and then remux them with an authoring tool (even with IFOEdit), unless you use something like DVDlab, that lets you import mpg files as they are.
(Can it create menus?)No, you'll need an authoring program for that.
Alternatively, I did download and use very easily the TMPGenc DVD authoring software. But if there is a free way to create simple DVD's, then I'd prefer that I suppose.I think it's the most suitable program for your purpose. I'm afraid you won't be able to do what you want using only freeware :(
Finally, can you go below 750 kbits/second average bit rate on a Variable bit rate? I've got videos that I made on VCD with pretty high compression. (maybe 200 kbits/s for some) Bringing that back up to 750 kind of defeats the purpose of putting them on DVD's.I'm not really an expert in such things, but it seems to me that this is indeed a very low bitrate... try a bitrate calculator to find the right settings according to the length of the video you want to put on your DVD. :)

[TreborPugly]

Dave, thanks for the reply. First, by a renamed MPEG file, I did mean an MPEG-2 file. For example, I used TMPGenc to create a file with MPEG-2 video, and MPEG-1 Audio Layer II for the audio, letting it put this in one file, rather than 2. I can rename this *.mpg file to the appropriate VOB file and have it work on a written DVD, if I use IFO edit to make sure that the IFO/BUP files identify the audio as MPEG-1 Layer II. If I just replace the VOB file but don't fix the IFO's, it will play, but I don't get any audio.

On the very low bitrate question, I've got VCD's that I created with lower than standard bit rate, and fit 4-5 hours on one CD. The quality is of course crappy, but I'm not very picky. For things that originally came from my digital camera that can take movies for example, there just isn't any quality available, so why take up all that space on a VCD or DVD?

[liquid217]

You may want to look into the dvdauthor package. It is a command line tool, but there are a few gui's written for it.

DVDStyler: http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/
DVDAuthorGUI: http://users.adelphia.net/~liquid64/dvdauthorgui.html
GuiForDvdauthor: http://www.boraxsoft.de/

[TreborPugly]

By the way, liquid217's suggestions were great. I've authored a couple of DVD's with DVDAuthor, and it isn't much more difficult than using TMPGenc DVD Author, and it is much cheaper! :) Thanks.

[DVDLex]

Greets all, I have a similar problem.

I am capturing video using a capture card, set to what should be DVD compliant settings. The resulting .mpg (MPEG2) file should be "ready for DVD".

But all this IFO and VOB stuff is really getting my goat.

I'm a technical guy but I get lost trying to author a simple video disc for DVD use. When I search the web all I get are a lot of software suggestions.... and why would I want to de-multiplex the file just to re-mux it ? That makes no sense at all to me. Add the fact that commercial authoring apps have left me with out-of-sync audio more often than not, and, well, you can imagine that I'm done with these fancy authoring apps.

For most of these home movie captures, I don't care about menus, I just want the mpeg2 file(s) to auto-play in sequence (chapters between files would be nice as most DVD players can only go 8x fast-forward it seems).

I have a Philips DVD player that doesn't mind raw .mpg (mpeg1 or mpeg2) files, but I'd prefer to create "compliant" DVD video discs for use down the road or on other players.

I've played with IFOedit but it seems to want to do its own multiplexing... and as I said I just don't want to de-mux in the first place.

Any advice, suggestions, etc. warmly welcomed. :D I'm checking out DVDAuthorGUI now.

[Matthew]

@DVDLex, as you've already found generally dvd authoring apps require elementary streams, but DVDAuthor expects muxed audio+video(+subs if applicable). However, the typical approach is to use mplex to do this muxing, so DVDAUthor may not accept your mpgs (I have no idea). Also, depending upon how the GUIs are coded, you may only be able to feed them elementary streams, in which case you'd need to use DVDAuthor at the command-line. For what you want to do though (no menus), this is fairly easy.

If demultiplexing is required, what you need to find out is if (and how large) an audio delay is embedded in the captured file. That would hopefully solve any sync issues.

[liquid217]

DVDAuthorGUI accepts both elementry streams, or VOBs (mpegs with NAV packets muxed in). A standard mpeg cannot be authored directly, since they do not have NAV packets (a requirement for any mpeg stream on a dvd). If your capture tool is inserting NAV packets into the stream (doubtful, but anything is possible), you should be able to rename the clip to .vob, and load it into the gui for DVDAuthor to use it.

[DVDLex]

Originally posted by liquid217
DVDAuthorGUI accepts both elementry streams, or VOBs (mpegs with NAV packets muxed in). A standard mpeg cannot be authored directly, since they do not have NAV packets (a requirement for any mpeg stream on a dvd). If your capture tool is inserting NAV packets into the stream (doubtful, but anything is possible), you should be able to rename the clip to .vob, and load it into the gui for DVDAuthor to use it.

I really appreciate your post liquid, thanks... I just didn't know about these NAV packets. I'll see if I can get more info about them... eg. can I somehow ADD them without demuxing / remuxing ? processing the existing multiplexed stream is exactly half as annoying as processing it twice :scared:

I did indeed try to rename my .mpg (mpeg2) file to .VOB today and fed it into DVDAuthor, but I got spammed with some "looking for... checking next..." messages and had to force it to quit ;) not too shocking for me considering I work on a PC game mod and do it to myself all the time (so to speak) :p

[liquid217]

You might want to try using 'replex'. It is a linux tool used to remux transport and program streams to something that DVDAuthor can use.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/dvb-replex/

As far as usage, I used the following command:
replex -t DVD -o out.vob < input.mpg

I then took the output from replex and used it in dvdauthor. It complained some, but the final dvd played fine. (I only used a short 30 second clip).

If you'd like to test my compiled version of replex, you can find it here: http://users.adelphia.net/~liquid64/replex-0.1.3win.zip

[DVDLex]

Thanks again Liquid. I can't believe I just had to learn a new word: remultiplex. Damn I guess I'm getting old lol

Out of curiosity what is the reason for these NAV packets ? I'm guessing the answer has something to do with the MPAA :devil:

[DVDLex]

oh and while I'm editorializing :cool:

I am no longer surprised to find that more than 50% of my own authored DVD discs have had audio sync problems, now that I've learned what goes on inside these commercial DVD authoring apps...

[DVDLex]

I tried your compile of the app Liquid, but I guess my vid caps aren't co-operating... here's the last bit of console output after pages and pages of error spam:

Warning negative video PTS increase!
video PTS inconsistent: 0:06:07.592 0:06:07.592 0:07:40.585 0:07:40.585 dif
f: 0:01:06.079
video DTS inconsistent: 0:06:07.492 0:06:07.492 0:07:40.451 0:07:40.451 diff
: 0:01:06.113
video PTS inconsistent: 0:06:07.526 0:06:07.526 0:07:40.501 0:07:40.501 dif
f: 0:01:06.097
video DTS inconsistent: 0:06:07.514 0:06:07.514 0:07:40.443 0:07:40.443 diff
: 0:01:06.144
Warning negative video PTS increase!
ringbuffer overflow 47<2015 6291456
video ring buffer overrun error


Ah well I guess I'll see how long demux and remux takes on this 4gig file and decide from there whether to just dump the .mpg (mpeg2) files on DVD-ROMs instead of worrying about making compliant DVDs .. sigh.