Burning a movie to DVD-RW??

[bcsman]

I'm experimenting with DVB MPEG2 downloaded movies. I want to convert and burn to a DVD, but am having some trouble getting good audio and video quality, so I'm using a number of programs and methods. To save wasting DVD-R disks I bought a few TDK DVD-RW disks so I can burn and see how it worked and try another without wasting media. My question is do I have to format the DVD-RW first before burning a movie to it or do I treat it as a regular DVD-R and just burn?? And once the movie is burned and I want to start over and try again do I just erase, format, or delete the file?? Thanks!!

Also should the quality of the record be as good on a DVD-RW as opposed to a DVD-R??

[The Geek]

Hi,

I'm experimenting with DVB MPEG2 downloaded movies.

Better say "streamed", not downloaded. Streaming is what you do with DVB, "downloading" sounds like you got it the illegal way off the internet, which isn't allowed here.

To convert a DVB stream to DVD, you need:

ProjectX or PVAstrumento
Cuttermaran
TMPGEnc or CuttyEnc

You need to enable the encoding mode in Cuttermaran, and choose TMPGEnc (or CuttyEnc) as the encoder. Choose a high bitrate, such as 6500 for example.
Also check that "Create DVD compliant stream" is enabled.

Now to the process of converting DVB to DVD:
Demultiplex the streamed DVB file with ProjectX or PVAstrumento. Then load the elementary streams into Cuttermaran, where you can cut the movie as you like, such as removing the commercials.
When you're done, click on "Video/Audio Cut" to output the cutted stream. Cuttermaran will also cut out the oversized GOPs and let TMPGEnc re-encode them. The new, short GOPs, will be inserted by Cuttermaran where the long GOPs once were.

After a few minutes you'll get DVD compliant elementary streams (or muxed stream, depending on how you set it up in Cuttermaran), which you can now author and burn.

The only difference between DVD-RW and DVD-R is that the -R is write once, and the -RW can be erased and re-written.

The Geek

[bcsman]

The Geek,
Thanks for the lesson plan, and yes you are correct, it was streamed, not downloaded!!


I've tried the PVAstrumento method but haven't had too much luck yet there. Keeps givng me ALERTS where video frames were dropped and many many GOP errors where the audio had to be resynched to the video. I'll keep playing tho--learning lots!!

[The Geek]

Dropped GOPs is the result of errors during streaming. They can be caused during the transmission of the signal, but usually (especially if you have many of them) they are caused by the PC. Did you do something else on the PC while recording ? That causes these GOP errors, and you can't correct them anymore.
When streaming, don't do anything else on the PC.

Another reason for the errors would be IRQ conflicts. The worst case would be an IRQ sharing between video card and DVB card. If possible, the DVB card should be on its own IRQ.

The Geek