Need DVD author software that does NOT re-encode

[creamsoda]

I have some mpg videos that have ac3 audio. I want to make a DVD without reencoding the video or audio. What are my options?

Also, which video editor makes the best quality video & audio output for DVD? Thanks.

[Baldrick]

muxman, dvdauthorgui, dvd styler or tmpgenc authoring works.

But are your mpgs dvd compliant? www.videohelp.com/dvd#tech

[Cornucopia]

DvdArchitect can be made to either reencode or not (assuming that the streams are already compliant). Many other app options - what are your other requirements?

Scott

[creamsoda]

so which one out of all the ones mentioned above is easy to use and has good menu/chapter options?

[roma_turok]

dvd styler or tmpgenc authoring works.

[usually_quiet]

There are options that must be selected to prevent DVDStyler from re-encoding. Users must select "don't remultiplex/transcode" and set "Default disk capacity" to "Unlimited". However, if the source files are not strictly DVD-compliant then "don't remultiplex/transcode" is unavailable and if the end result of authoring is too large to fit on the DVD size selected for burning to disc, the burning software will reject it.

As I recall, dvdauthorGUI can't re-encode, but the authoring process will fail if the source is not compliant or the resulting DVD will be too large to fit on the DVD size selected.

It has been a long time since I used a Tmpgenc product for authoring DVDs so I can't say what Tmpgenc Authoring Works does.

[Edit] The bottom line is that non-complaint sources won't be accepted for authoring and it isn't possible to burn an over-size set of files and folders to disc. That being said, some authoring software follows the rules for compliance more strictly than others. IFOEdit, for example, is not super strict when it comes to following the rules but only authors menuless DVDs. It also requires de-multiplexed sources and chaptering is done via a Celltimes.txt file.

[turk690]

so which one out of all the ones mentioned above is easy to use and has good menu/chapter options?

There are DVD authoring programs out there whose capabilities range from ok to completely professional and whose price range from free to $20k. Try all you can get your hands on and you will find soon enough what works for your case best.
IMHO, you should devote more of your energy and time to creating and/or finding out if the MPGs you have are DVD-compliant.

[videobruger]

In DVDStyler it automatically set the video and audio to "Copy" on the property sheet provided they are DVD compliant.

And a bit about chapters https://sourceforge.net/p/dvdstyler/discussion/318795/thread/8f493096/.

[creamsoda]

so which one out of all the ones mentioned above is easy to use and has good menu/chapter options?

There are DVD authoring programs out there whose capabilities range from ok to completely professional and whose price range from free to $20k. Try all you can get your hands on and you will find soon enough what works for your case best.

or I could just ask the forum experts

anyway, thx for the recommendations from everyone. I'll give DVDstyler a try.

[turk690]

or I could just ask the forum experts
anyway, thx for the recommendations from everyone. I'll give DVDstyler a try.

Each case is unique. What gets recommended worked well for them, may or may not for you. And if you look minutely at the recommendations above, DVD-compliancy is emphasized. That, IMHO, as I've said, is much more important, especially in your case where you said you don't want the authoring program to re-encode, than other niceties of the authoring program itself. An authoring program will do only one of two things when you give it a non-DVD-compliant file: reject it or re-encode it. Hours and days can be spent throwing files God knows where they came from at a DVD-authoring program just to see what it will accept and reject.
This can be avoided by obtaining known DVD-compliant files or encoding them yourself to begin with.

[creamsoda]

or I could just ask the forum experts
anyway, thx for the recommendations from everyone. I'll give DVDstyler a try.

Each case is unique. What gets recommended worked well for them, may or may not for you. And if you look minutely at the recommendations above, DVD-compliancy is emphasized. That, IMHO, as I've said, is much more important, especially in your case where you said you don't want the authoring program to re-encode, than other niceties of the authoring program itself. An authoring program will do only one of two things when you give it a non-DVD-compliant file: reject it or re-encode it. Hours and days can be spent throwing files God knows where they came from at a DVD-authoring program just to see what it will accept and reject.
This can be avoided by obtaining known DVD-compliant files or encoding them yourself to begin with.

I don't think DVD-compliancy is as hard as you make it out to be that anyone would have to spend "hours and days". It was the first thing that came to my mind when I decided to use an authoring tool that does not re-encode, as it was pretty obvious. And if you look at what others have said, the files get rejected if they're not dvd-compliant, so I don't see how it would take "hours and days".

The other posters were helpful in that they actually answered my question and went out of their way to provide links & images. Telling someone to go spend money and see what works for them just shows you don't really have much experience. You didn't even provide any recommendations or details. Just told me to go look for them on google basically... Your post was lazy, vague and unhelpful.

btw, I just tried DVDstyler, and it worked great. Again, thanks for all the helpful responses in this thread.