I Need Help with DVD Pro lab

[derr_eng]

I have recently started using the 30 day trail of the authoring software ProLab. I populated .mpg files from premeire element using .avi files. After I created the menus and added the movies with audio and "compiled DVD" function I then burnt a .iso file and burned with roxio. Man the quality really sucks compared to burning through roxio from premiere. Why is this and how can I fix it. This is for a real money project I have and I need to figure this out.... Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Baldrick]

Do you mean dvd lab pro? It doesn't reconvert any video so it must be something else. Have you checked the exported mpgs?

[DB83]

Lots of 'words' here. So do you mean you created mpg files in Premiere Elements from original source avi files ?

Two things come to mind.

1. The quality of the source of the original files. Post a report of these using mediainfo
2. The quality of the mpg files. Post a report of these as well.

And as Baldrick says, pls confirm the extact title of the software you are using to author the dvd.

PS do not use Roxio to burn the dvd. Use imgburn.

[derr_eng]

Lots of 'words' here. So do you mean you created mpg files in Premiere Elements from original source avi files ?

Two things come to mind.

1. The quality of the source of the original files. Post a report of these using mediainfo
2. The quality of the mpg files. Post a report of these as well.

And as Baldrick says, pls confirm the extact title of the software you are using to author the dvd.

PS do not use Roxio to burn the dvd. Use imgburn.

Yes - I created mpg files from source avi files. I am using DVD lab pro. I will try to lookup info on medianinfo today post reports tonight. I will also try switching to imgburn. Thanks so much for your help so far!

[_Al_]

Man the quality really sucks compared to burning through roxio from premiere.

Making DVD within Premiere software encodes final render out of your original avi while within DVD Lab Pro you get DVD where final video is rendered one more time , from that mpg exported out of Premiere to final mpg. Program , DVD Lab Pro needs to include button graphics etc. Premeire will do it at once , all together, just one render.

To make it work within DVD Lab Pro (only one render for DVD menu) you have to import ready video for menu (mpg DVD compliant) with all buttons and graphics already finished. Then you import subpicture and then you set colors, highlights etc..... it is not straight forward but very powerfull after you get through that, .., https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/344281-A-decent-substitute-for-DVD-Maestro?p=214685...=1#post2146859

[derr_eng]

Lots of 'words' here. So do you mean you created mpg files in Premiere Elements from original source avi files ?

Two things come to mind.

1. The quality of the source of the original files. Post a report of these using mediainfo
2. The quality of the mpg files. Post a report of these as well.

And as Baldrick says, pls confirm the extact title of the software you are using to author the dvd.

PS do not use Roxio to burn the dvd. Use imgburn.

In order Labpro output, premiere output, and Original which is larger because its uncut and more footage...

[_Al_]

- Premiere makes DVD out of your avi, adds graphics for menu and renders final mpg
- DVD Lab Pro loads rendered mpg (already with some lower quality then original avi) , adds graphics for menu and renders all of it again to final mpg... this is certainly not good
-that is valid for menus, movie shouldn't be reencoded by DVD Lab Pro
-posted link above roughly explaines how to make menu correctly within DVD lab pro, without reencoding again

doesn't matter what mediainfo says, it is your workflow , that lowers your menu quality

[DB83]

- Premiere makes DVD out of your avi, adds graphics for menu and renders final mpg
- DVD Lab Pro loads rendered mpg (already with some lower quality then original avi) , adds graphics for menu and renders all of it again to final mpg... this is certainly not good
-that is valid for menus, movie shouldn't be reencoded by DVD Lab Pro
-posted link above roughly explaines how to make menu correctly within DVD lab pro, without reencoding again

doesn't matter what mediainfo says, it is your workflow , that lowers your menu quality

Only one is talking about menu quality. You.

The issue here is the quality of the dvd itself NOT the menus

[DB83]

Looking at the mediainfo reports, I might suggest you upload the two edits so that we can take another look.

The other thing you could do is rip the menu track from the final dvd and also upload that.

They certainly appear to be dvd compliant and no re-rendering would be required. All dvd authoring programs re-render for menus but with complaint video there should be no effect on the quality.

One thing I did notice tho is that the original DV is BFF which is correct. I would always encode the mpgs as TFF.

[_Al_]

Only one is talking about menu quality. You.

The issue here is the quality of the dvd itself NOT the menus

ok, DVD Lab Pro will not change any quality, if you do it right, whatever quality you are talking about, burnig DVD will not change any quality, so what's left? Encoding. The problem is right there.

Post mpg samples , from Premiere and from DVD Lab pro , otherwise your meaning for "quality" could be interpolated into many problems.

[Janssen]

The way i see it is simple.

1) DVD Lab does not encode anything, so whatever mpeg file you give it, is the quality it will be on the DVD. Therefore, DVD Lab does not define any quality whatsoever. Therefore, this is not a DVD Lab issue. The higher the quality of the mpeg file you give it, the higher the quality of the DVD, directly.

2) Therefore, the problem is with the mpeg file per say.

3) I notice that the bitrate of your 1st mpeg (the one for DVD Lab) is 5900kbps and the second one (for Premiere) is 6400kbps. The bitrate indicates the quality of a mpeg file. The higher the bitrate, the higher the quality, but also the more space it takes on the DVD.

4) Why not use the same mpeg file for DVD Lab as the premiere one? Then, it should display the same bitrate.

5) Regardless, you can encode yourself the AVI into mpeg2 ready for DVD Lab. This is what i do. Therefore, you control the quality yourself.

To do so, i use ffmpeg.exe. You can get it here: http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ Download the latest static build, which just means that it's all gonna be in one single file, ffmpeg.exe. Don't use earlier versions, they are buggy and the syntax is different. This is my encode line:

ffmpeg.exe -i myfile.avi -target ntsc-dvd -aspect 16:9 -b:v 1020k -flags +ilme+ildct -top 0 -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ab 192k -y myfile.mpeg

1020k is my bitrate (obviously low), you can try 6500k. 192k is the audio bitrate, which is what you used.

[DB83]

The way i see it is simple.

The way I see it is simple as well.

If DVDLabPro does not reencode then the two clips, which as far as I now are the same video - although we still await the actual samples from the OP - they would have the same video bitrate.

But if you look even closer at the reports, they actually give false readings - the .mpv is video only but is actually showing an audio track as well.

So, unless the issue as now been resolved, and the OP has not posted anything for days now, let us see the samples.

For all we know, Roxio has done some re-encoding and the fault does not lie with DLP at all.

[Janssen]

Roxio is the brand of the DVD burning program. It merely takes the set of DVD files (VOB, IFO, etc.) and burns them on the DVD. It does not do any encoding.

Since DVD Lab does not do any encode either, that leaves the mpeg file per say as the last point in his work flow where something is actually encoded.

I agree that if the two mpeg files happen to be identical (which they don't seem to be) and Premiere makes a good output and DVD Lab makes a bad output, then it would indicate problems with DVD Lab settings. Except there's little that can go wrong there and DVD Lab is pretty straightforward. Perhaps it is not impossible that it is a DVD Lab setting, but improbable.

Everything points at a bad mpeg encode.

[DB83]

Well the Roxio I know of is capable of doing much more than just burn dvds - even tho that is what the OP states he has done with it.

But this 'discussion' is academical. The OP has gone quiet. Either he has fixed his problem or given up on it.

It would be nice to know either way.

[derr_eng]

Sorry guys,
My instant email notification wasn't working for some reason and I'm just now checking the solutions to this. I don't really know how to upload the samples as requested. I can say that all I used Roxio for was burning the ISO file to DVD.

[derr_eng]

I used premiere first to trim the beginning/end of the videos and add some text at the beginning. No menus. That's why I used DVD Lab.

[DB83]

You 'upload' the files to a file-sharing host such as rapidshare (there are others). Follow the instructions on the upload screen - normally you have to stay on the upload screen until the uploading is finished and then you will be given a link. You copy/paste the link to a normal reply in the forum.

But what you have not gone in to any detail is an attempt to describe the change in quality between the various videos that you discuss in your first post.

Have you made ANY changes in Premiere to the way you have encoded.

Is there any issue when you simply playback either the mpg file or the mpv file in your PC ?

Could I also suggest that you play the iso through a software player in your PC. Vlc can open a dvd-iso for playback. Do you still see a bad result then ?

DVD Lab also creates a log of its work. Can you post this as well.

Did that program report any errors or messages when you imported the files in to the program when you created the dvd ?

Have you also tried burning the iso in imgburn as was previously suggested ?

[derr_eng]

[QUOTE=DB83;2182023]You 'upload' the files to a file-sharing host such as rapidshare (there are others). Follow the instructions on the upload screen - normally you have to stay on the upload screen until the uploading is finished and then you will be given a link. You copy/paste the link to a normal reply in the forum.

But what you have not gone in to any detail is an attempt to describe the change in quality between the various videos that you discuss in your first post.

Have you made ANY changes in Premiere to the way you have encoded.

Is there any issue when you simply playback either the mpg file or the mpv file in your PC ?

Could I also suggest that you play the iso through a software player in your PC. Vlc can open a dvd-iso for playback. Do you still see a bad result then ?

DVD Lab also creates a log of its work. Can you post this as well.

Did that program report any errors or messages when you imported the files in to the program when you created the dvd ?

Have you also tried burning the iso in imgburn as was previously suggested ?[/QUOT
__________________________________________________ ________________________
Okay, tried outputting differently in premiere with 6000 kbps, 7000 kbps, 8000 kbps, 9000 kbps. All the same result. The only way I have been able to burn one and not have the issue is burn from premiere to DVD straight from the AVI file. The issue I have is the objects seem to be blurred when moving.

[DB83]

I want to help but I feel a certain level of frustration now.

You quote my entire post and then just anser one question.

Answer the rest and upload the samples and I will retain my interest.

Until then......


PS. I believe the 'blurring' is caused by encoding at constant data-rate. You should encode at variable data rate.

[_Al_]

Premiere might not encode the same way, it applies different settings for DVD and then different settings to encode your mpg for DVD Lab Pro?

[derr_eng]

Sorry db83.... I would be frustrated as well if I was on your end but I'm in the middle of moving with no internet and doing the best with what I have.... I'll try posting this weekend