Newbie question about transcoding, building DVD

[Paulbhart]

I read the good manual produced by RobertH on creating a DVD , but am left with a question.

If I understand the process you need to

1) Capture MPEG-2 (done by SS)
2) Transcode - Often people edit out commercials etc.
3) Render DVD-video output
4) Burn CD.

So, the newbie question is if you don't need to edit out commercials (say a pbs show :-) or you didn't care. Could you "skip" step 2. Step 1 creates MPEG 2 files should you be able to jump directly to step 3. (Step 2 is obviously a CPU intensive step)

I think the answer is you can't, but I don't understand why?

Also anyone suggest a good site/book to learn all about MPEG-* DVD etc. Something a newbie but very technical person could understand (not the specs).

-Paul

[flipper9]

If you record using the DVD-Ready Quality Setting, you can skip to step 4 and record to a DVD Recordable disc using a DVD recording program such as Sonic DVD. No transcoding is necessary.

You can tweak the DVD-Ready Quality settings (such as using VBR or lowering/raising the quality settings) and still get a DVD Video compatible file. Usually the DVD recording software will scan the file and let you know if there are any problems or if the file has to be transcoded.

If you want to edit out commercials without re-encoding the file, and have a Hauppauge PVR-250/350, you can download a "MPEG Editor" which will allow you to crop out commercials without the need to re-encode the file from...
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/sw_pvr_250.htm#access

If you plan on recording to a CD-R or CD-RW (a VCD or SVCD) then you will need to transcode to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 to fit the size of your CD and the requirements of VCD/SVCD. TMPEG-ENC is a good piece of software.

There is a quality setting to directly record to SVCD format, but it is broken in the current release. It is supposed to be fixed in the next version, I believe.

A good resource about all VCD/SVCD/DVD recording/trascoding issues is...

http://www.dvdrhelp.com

[plblack]

Greetings,

What I have been doing for making DVDs is this:

1 - Record at a modified DVD setting in SS (upping the bitrate to 6400 kbps is pretty much the only change.)

2 - When I have two episodes I start up TMPGenc DVD Author, start a new project and add the two files. This program lets me edit out the commercials, set up a simple menu and create the DVD files. With the files at DVD quality already I don't have to re-encode them which saves tons of time.

3 - Once TMPGenc DVD Author has created the DVD files it prompts for opening the burning utility and I open it, pop a blank DVD in the drive and burn away.

The whole process takes between 30 and 45 minutes from the time I start editing to the time I have the finished DVD.

One thing I would caution on is buy a few different brands of blank DVDs to find ones that will work the best for you. So far I've tried TDK, Phillips and Memorex. The TDK and Phillips seems to work fine in all my computers as well as the two stand alone DVD players I've tried (a brand new Sony and a 5 year old GE/RCA). The Memorex discs on the other hand will work in my two desktop systems but not my laptop and neither of the two stand alone players. All the discs I've used are +R, not sure if there is any difference in compatability with the -R.

Good luck,

Patrick

[Paulbhart]

Hmm,

Maybe my issue is the use of NeroVision Express 2 to do steps 2-4. It seems to do step 2 even when I use a SS DVD ready format.

Hmmm, let you know as I do more investigation.

-Paul

[Paulbhart]

Ahh, it seems I am not alone with finding Nero's tools subpar.

NeroExpress 2 forces a transcode even if the MPEG files are already in the right format.

At least this is according to this web site page .

Oh, well, time to buy TMPEG-ENC DVD.

-Paul

[Rita]

Yes don't use NeroVision, it was the worst out of all the programs I tried including Pinnacle Studio 8, Ulead Video Factory, Womble(no DVD authoring for that one), and TMPGEnc DVD Author. TMPEnc DVD Author was the only one that could edit without loss of synchronization, and author to DVD in a reasonable amount of time. I wish that's what they packaged with video cards and/or DVD burners, the others are sooooo worthless!!

[RobertH]

The problem might be that nero vision like roxio dvd creator probably uses PCM audio as the format instead of mp2 and then has to recompress the entire audio track, although most programs will do this quickly ive found that nero and roxio both recompress the video while there at it, its like they can only handle generating dvds with a certain bitrate or something.

[RobertH]

I ended up using tmpgenc dvd author cause it was the "easiest" and now theyve added menu editor so you can build your own custom menus with animated buttons and backgrounds.