DVD creation 1

[borgg001]

I am new to DVD creation. I am a little mixed up. I have a digital video camera and I want to convert my videos to DVD. I have downloaded several programs to convert my AVI's to DVD. However some programs simply convert AVI's to MPEG2 whereas others convert them to .VOB files. I have browsed a commercial DVD and found its contents to be .VOB files.
So can anyone tell whether MPEG2 files can be read by DVD palyers or should they be further converted to .VOB files?

 

[WizyWyg]

1)tsunami Mpeg encoder to do your mpeg files

2)Nero Burning rom
DVDit
DVD Lab
Ulead's DVD Movie Factory
Pinnacles DVD Express

to create your Dvd's.

 

[CreamCake]

MPEG2 is the DVD's native format, but... Whether your DVD can play them is another issue. Most cheapie decks have no problems playing an mpeg2 right off the dvd, but it's hit and miss with decks like pioneer,sony, etc...

The .vob files are more compatible for playback in standalone DVD players. This is the type of file structure that allows menu's , chapter points, etc. The .vob files are the result of a DVD authoring program, and are really what is desired for maximum compatibility on standalone dvd players. The tools used to convert avi to MPEG2 intend on you using the MPEG in an authoring progam, such as dvdIT!

I'm probably a little confusing here.... hard to play spacewardHO! and compose myself properly at the same time.

 

[borgg001]

Thanks to both WizyWyg and Creamcake. I think I have clarified a very basic but important thing about .vob and MPEG2 files. I will be acquiring a DVD authoring software, probably Encore and I guess the software will take care of all encodings necessary to make the DVD fully compatible. However I will still try to simply burn MPEG2 files on DVD and see if my DVD can read them. To do so, will I have to burn them into directory TS-VIDEO since when I use NERO it asks me to copy my DVD files into this folder? Or does this folder apply to .vob .ifo files?
Once again thanks for your help!!

 

[CreamCake]

Again, that depends upon your DVD player. It would have to be capable of playing MPEG2ISO content to play unauthored media off a DATA dvd. (ex: dancingmonkey.mpeg)

Nero is asking you to put the video in TS-Video folder, because you are trying to make a video disk instead of a data disk.

For a good idea of your player's compatibility look here:

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

What is MPEG1/2 ISO in the DVD Players list?

MPEG1/2 ISO is if your standalone DVD Player supports MPEG1(VCD), MPEG2(SVCD,DVD) or/and VOB(DVD) files with no authoring, like you are able to select any MPG/MPEG/MPV/VOB files from the CD/DVD using a file browser and play them.

http://www.videohelp.com/faq#mpegiso

Sept. 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/howto.html

 

[borgg001]

I have just edited a 2hour+ family video in Premiere 6. I exported the timelines to Movie in Premiere and I ended up with new edited AVI's. I have imported these AVI's into Encore and created a project. My dilemma is whether to let Encore transcode the AVI's itself or else to export the Premiere timelines to Encore through TMPEnc. In the latter case the clips will be already transcoded into MPEG2 when imported to Encore.
Which alternative gives the best DVD format quality? I've heard favourable comments about the quality of TMPEnc transcoding however I never read anything about Encore' quality.

 

[borgg001]

Since my last posting, I have transcoded my Adobe DVD Encore project which is some 2.25 hours long using the Adobe Encore software. However I cannot say that I am pleased with the resulting video quality. In fact the picture quality degraded quite noticeably. There was a marked difference in quality between the original AVI and the DVD-format end result. Is it perhaps that I did not use the correct transcoding settings?
To be honest I am still uncertain about what's best between, for example Variable or Constant bitrates or about the correct amount of bitrate used. The total size of the resulting transcoded project was about 4.3Gb. Did I use a large compression perhaps?
To continue with my previous posting, does transcoding with TMPGEnc before exporting to Encore result in a better quality?
I would be very grateful if someone could enlighten me on this particular problem.

 

[CreamCake]

I use the adobe MPEG encoder within Premiere, and I notice less compression when exporting as constant bitrate Mpeg2.
Others can and will argue, but it just looks better to me.

I would expect some quality degredation with a movie of that length.
It's been some time since I looked, but I believe you can squeeze more video on your DVD if you use AC3 encoding for your audio.

 

[borgg001]

Once again thanks for your advice.
A friend of mine who uses Encore told me that when he transcodes with Encore the resulting DVD format quality is of a very good quality. However he uses and video editing card (I don't know it's specifications). Does the presence of such a card affect the quality of the resulting video. If I'm not wrong, this isn't mentioned as a requirement by Adobe themselves to use Encore.
Once again thanks for your help!

 

[CreamCake]

Again, I think it's the length of the video that's whacking the quality. After about 2 hours, your compression gets to the point of degrading video quality.

Since I have no experience in encore, is it automatically setting the bitrate for your DVD, or are you doing it manually?

Also, what will the end-user view it on? A TV or a computer monitor?

 

[borgg001]

Actually what I did was that I split my project into 2 one hour+ projects. I did notice an imptovement in the quality. However my major concern now is the jerkiness of the movement. Moving pictures are really jerky. Whenever there is a scene where the zomm is used, the zooming is jerky and very unpleasing.
I hail from Europe so I use the PAL setting of 25 fps. So the frame rate should be correct. I am only seeing the result on my PC since I haven't yet burned the DVD. I haven't yet seen the result on TV. Perhaps it will be better! I hope!
Is it something about the bitrate. I used a preset of VBR 7Mb, with max bitrate of 9Mb and minimum bitrate of 1.5Mb. Does the CBR give a better result?

 

[RaphaelSamad]

Hi there
Here are some tips that I have found to be very helpful when working with Premiere Pro and Encore. I am actually a UK dealer and so do all projects in PAL.
First of all, if you have a real-time video card then use it to export MPEG-2 files from Premiere. This means that your finished edit will then be converted into MPEG2 streams by the hardware card. The card that we generally use is the Matrox RT-X100 card and it exports the MPEG2 stream (with accompanying wav audio file) in real time which is substantially quicker than Premiere will do in software. If you are in a position to do this then do try and use different disks in your PC for the reading and writing. By this I mean, if your Premiere Pro project is on, say, disk C then export your MPEG2 file (with WAV audio) to a folder in say, disk D. By doing this you are then maximising the chance that the disks can be read (C in this case) and written to (D in this case) without any interruption to the stream. If you only have one hard disk or simply choose not to do this then you may have a problem reading from and writing to the same hard disk at video stream speeds. This might result in dropped frames in your project - not a terminal problem but it can be annoying.
Next tip is this. When working in PAL there is something that Adobe seems to fail to tell you but they should write it in big letters. It affects all projects within Premiere and Encore but only in PAL and only when the project ends up on DVD. In Premiere Pro, there is an area where you can set up project settings and in there you can set Field Order preference - Select Upper Field First - this is important when you are going to use Premiere to write to DVD or Encore.
In Encore, you are also able to set up Project settings and again, for PAL, you must set Upper Field First. If you do this your project should work just fine. If not then pictures with little or no movement will probably look okay but pictures with movement will look very jerky. In technical terms the pictures may look like you have field reversal. The bottom line when working in PAL - is always set Premiere and Encore project settings to Upper Field First.
All said and done, these packages do work well and they can be used to produce excellent DVDs with good picture quality and great navigation.
Good luck
Raphael

 

[CreamCake]

I picked the RT.X100 for it's realtime capture to MPEG2 from analog sources. I'm working at a TV station/ISP/IT dept converting betaSP's to DVD archives in my spare time and need maximum quality with broadcast engineers sniffing my work.

Realtime export?
I'm aware of it's realtime MPEG2 capture in full PAL/NTSC specs, but I'm using premiere to capture and edit, then export to DVD. I know I can capture MP2 and M2V for direct use in my authoring program (sonic DVDit!, the other part of the rt.x100 bundle), but have never seen any options for realtime export.

Also Borgg001, the video probably is a bit jerky cause the bitrate it a little high.
I tweak my mpeg settings in Premiere to around 5.5mb CBR. My set top player downstairs starts stuttering with the bitrate higher than that. (and it's never had any problems with any movies from the video store)
If you intend on playing it back on a TV, you could brobably go as low as 4.5MB CBR and not notice at all due to the resolution of the TV set itself.

 

[borgg001]

Thanks for your very useful suggestions. I do not have a capture card. I work with a digital camcorder so a Firewire connection is enough to transfer video to harddisk. I would like to clarify one comment I made in my last post. I noticed jerky movement when playing mpeg or dvd video on my PC. It is possibly due to me having only one harddisk. However when I burned the final Encore product and played it on a DVD player the results were very good. Movement was smooth and the picture was crisp and clear. It is possible that the DVD players on my PC weren't of a good quality.
Your comment about the Upper and Lower Field First is interesting. I work in PAL but I always worked with the Lower Field First and I had excellent results. I thought that the lower option was the default so I left it as it is.
I used a variable bit rate with the max rate 7000. Once again thanks.

 

[northside1]

I have Premiere 6, without the MPEG encoder. I don't have a DVD burner, so I planned to export my project back to my digital camcorder, and then bring the camcorder to my buddy's house so he can burn the footage to DVD. My question is, will the video quality suffer when I transfer the project back to digital tape. When I transfer it to tape and watch it on my TV the color suffers dramatically. The project is less than 5 minutes long. What is the best way to put my project on DVD without losing any quality?

 

[CreamCake]

If you have a CD-Recorder, you have the option of saving your project as an uncompressed avi, then converting it with something like TMPGencoder to MPEG2.

You then can make something called a CDVD, which uses dvd quality MPEG2 video and acts pretty much the same in a dvd-player, but is played off a regular CD.
I think the last one I made held around 15 min of video before the quality started to degrade.

SVCD may be an option for you too, but the quality is a bit lower.

If it helps any, I made the CDVD's with a program called Sonic DVDit! (SE) - It will encode the AVI to mpeg2 for you, but I never used that option, as my conversion was done in premiere.

 

[northside1]

Thanks, I think I am going to just get a dvd burner installed in my PC, does the DVD burners come with MPEG encoders, or do I still have to use TMPGencoder. Or should I use the sonic DVDit! you recomended instead.

Also, I filmed my projuect in widescreen, and edited in premiere 6.0 using the widescreen format, when i export the timeline to tape it remains in the widescreen format in my camcorder, but when I play it on my TV the widecreen dissapears, and the picture is cut off on the sides. How can I keep the widescreen format. If I burn to DVD will it remain in widescreen.?

 

[emeer]

Hi All , I am new to this forum and am just starting in using some new software for copying DVD's.I was trying to copy a DVD which had it's files in .vob. I tried with Nero and also DVD Cone but did not succeed. The DVD copied OK with Nero after many tries and played on my Pc but was not able on my stand alone DVD player.
Sorry if this is not the place to ask this question , but any replies will be appreciated.

 

[Metacomet]

Well heres an easy one for some experts I think, i made a secuence of 15 movies in flash mx, then I publish them to .mov (quicktime) and edit them with music in adobe premiere pro, then I sent them to DVD and MPEG2 format in NTSC 720 X 486, 24 FPS, anyway, when I get the result of this and show it to my client, he ask me if its possible to do it someway to make it better, i mean, with a quality very close to the original flash files, i explaned him that this is not possible because i have to compress the movies and some of the quality is lost even when is in a dvd, the question is, IM I RIGHT???

IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY TO MAKE IT BETTER, ALMOST EXACTLY AS THE MOVIES IN THE TIMELIME WITH NO COMPRESSION???


THANKS.

GILL

 

[Maralyn]

Hi
I have encoded a 33 minute PAL avi to Mpeg2 using Premiere1.5 with VBR7Mbps 2 pass. All is well EXCEPT that 4 slow panning shots look like the frames are sort of "doubling" the image. Is this a bitrate issue? What are the best settings for Mpeg2? I would so appreciate any help as the rest of the movie is fine

thanks

Maralyn