MP4 To DVD ?

[NewTwoVideo]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to take some .mp4 files and turn them into a DVD.
I have multiAVCHD that I previously used to put .mp4's onto Blu-Ray.
MultiAVCHD worked okay for that but the Menu would not work properly on a Samsung Blu-Ray player.
It did not matter at the time.
I tried to use it for my .mp4 to DVD task and the resulting video on disc appeared distorted on a diagonal and the sound was also distorted.
I may just not have the settings right. It is an incredibly complex program.
But since it has not been updated since 2012, I thought I should try something else.
I tried AVStoDVD.
It got the video on Disc well. But I can't figure out how to create a simple Top Menu with Play and Chapters.
Could someone recommend a free software that can put .mp4 's onto DVD and allow me to create a simple Top Menu with Play and Chapters.
Thank you.

[Baldrick]

Can't avstodvd make a simple menu? Under the DVD Menu button...

Or else can you try dvd styler.

[Kerry56]

AVStoDVD can do what you want. Read a guide for it.

Each mp4 you import will be a separate title. And chapters will be generated at time intervals that can be adjusted in Preferences.

If you want a submenu to select chapters individually, you'll have to use a different authoring tool, as AVStoDVD is only set up to do simple menus.

[NewTwoVideo]

I guess I missed that button. LOL!

I will give it a try and if it does not work for me I will try DVD Styler.

Thank you.

[Frank-0-Video]

Greetings ...

I guess I missed that button. LOL!
I will give it a try and if it does not work for me I will try DVD Styler.
Thank you.

Just started using DVDStyler myself, and I am beginning to be comfortable with it, and to master its many options.

If you try DVDStyler please be aware (and VideoHelp does have an alert for this) that its installer program contains Adware. Do a custom install -- and VERY VERY CAREFULLY read each ad/suggestion prompt before agreeing/saying yes. This extends to the special assist components that come with this app. Be warned that even with all precautions taken a trojan-malware called Trovi.Com could get placed on your PC. This trojan re-assigns the homepage on each web-browser (Firefox, Opera, Crome, etc) as Trovi.com, and also spies on your internet activity, plus possibly other things.

If you do install DVDStyler on your PC, then IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE INSTALL run a full MalwareBytes scan for any and all malware. If you do not have MalwareBytes, install it BEFORE YOU INSTALL DVDSTYLER and make sure it is up-to-date. Once any existing bugs have been safely taken out, DVDStyler and its associated components should run smoothly with no trouble.

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Video

[NewTwoVideo]

Hello Everyone,

Well AVStoDVD worked mostly for me.
Some of the scenes were very blurry as compared to the original files.
Though I must admit after watching HD for a few years SD images all seem blurry. LOL!
But these were definitely off.
I think I need to increase the minimum or maximum bit rates. Maybe both.
The only other bugaboo I observed was in the chaptering. When skipping ahead to the next file one time put me at the end of the next file instead of the beginning.
All of the above are okay for what I am doing right now.
I only mention them for the benefit of the next person who tries AVStoDVD from scratch.

I have a deeper appreciation of MultiAVCHD and HD files after this experience.

Frank-0-Video thank you for the info too.
I once made the mistake of just starting to load Imgburn without adding the /nocandy switch. Even though I stopped at the EULA window, it still put Open Candy onto my hard disk in the temp folder. I had to use Malwarebytes to clean up.

I would just like to add my voice to the chorus of users who say, "I would rather have adware free trialware that I eventually have to pay for if I like it longterm, than have freeware laden with adware landmines to be defused." Okay I will get off the soap box now. LOL!

Now I have to go to another section for my next project. I have to figure out how to take commercial DVD's and convert them to files to go onto a netbook for a trip. Netbooks do not have optical drives for those who never saw one.

Many thanks to all here.

[Kerry56]

Try VidCoder or Handbrake for conversion of DVD to MP4 or MKV for your netbook. Or if you'd prefer xvid avi files, I'd use VideotoVideo, which is a gui for ffmpeg. All of these are free to use.

Regarding blurriness in AVStoDVD output, this is not something I've ever seen. Perhaps you're trying to cram too much onto the disc? You should not have more than 2 to 2 1/2 hrs of video on a single layer DVD when converting from mp4 to DVD-video. You were using the HC encoder in AVStoDVD, yes?

[NewTwoVideo]

Hi Kerry56,

Thank you for the recommendations for DVD to MP4.

There was less than 2 hours on the DVD-R I created. About 98% fill according to Imgburn.

The encoders listed were: 1. FFmpeg CBR 1 pass, 2. HCenc VBR 1 pass, 3. HCenc VBR 2 pass.

The bit rates listed were: 2500 kbps lower and 8500 kbps upper.

The software seemed to recommend against choosing, so I did not. So I am unsure now exactly which was used.

[Hoser Rob]

I haven't encoded to DVD-R for a while but I've used most of the programs mentioned. I actually never really liked any of them, but avstodvd was definitely the best.

It's hard to say what 'blurry' means, but one thing I'd suggest with avstodvd is to always force 2 pass encoding. It defaults to 1 pass bit rate moode if the input file has a bit rate over a certain number. This is a design decision I disagree with 100%.

DVD compliant video format doesn't seem to support 1 pass constant quality mode. 1 pass bit rate mode may be a lot faster. But the quality stinks. I haven't used 1 pass bit rate mode in years, and that was only because I didn't know better.

[davexnet]

I haven't encoded to DVD-R for a while but I've used most of the programs mentioned. I actually never really liked any of them, but avstodvd was definitely the best.

It's hard to say what 'blurry' means, but one thing I'd suggest with avstodvd is to always force 2 pass encoding. It defaults to 1 pass bit rate moode if the input file has a bit rate over a certain number. This is a design decision I disagree with 100%.

DVD compliant video format doesn't seem to support 1 pass constant quality mode. 1 pass bit rate mode may be a lot faster. But the quality stinks. I haven't used 1 pass bit rate mode in years, and that was only because I didn't know better.

I've found very little to choose in terms of quality with the 1-pass HCenc Vs. the two pass. The main difference seems to be
that the 2-pass hits it's bit rate target more accurately; the 1-pass (according to what I've seen) often ends up 1 - 2 % undersized -
no big deal to me.

[NewTwoVideo]

When I say blurry, I mean that a person's face becomes a solid oval of beige with no details, and trees with leaves become overlapping irregular ovals of green with no details.

I will try to force 2 pass and compare.

Should I change the default bit rate values?

[davexnet]

When I say blurry, I mean that a person's face becomes a solid oval of beige with no details, and trees with leaves become overlapping irregular ovals of green with no details.

I will try to force 2 pass and compare.

Should I change the default bit rate values?

Perhaps you should post the AVStoDVD log which is always created in the same folder as the output.
In general, the program picks the best (highest) bitrate it can, while keeping within the DVD mpeg-2 specs.

[NewTwoVideo]

Hi davexnet:

Thank you for the suggestion to look at the log files. After doing so it appears that despite all of my efforts to set the encoding to two pass HCenc, I am still encoding at 1 pass CBR ffmpeg. I cannot seem to figure out how to change the setting.

On the other project, I copied my dvd to my pc hard disk using DVDFab_HD_Decrypter and then VidCoder worked fine. The default settings produced an MP4 that was 1/6 the size of my original dvd files and looked pretty close to the original in quality. This should work well on the netbook. Thank you Kerry56.

[davexnet]

Hi davexnet:

Thank you for the suggestion to look at the log files. After doing so it appears that despite all of my efforts to set the encoding to two pass HCenc, I am still encoding at 1 pass CBR ffmpeg. I cannot seem to figure out how to change the setting.

On the other project, I copied my dvd to my pc hard disk using DVDFab_HD_Decrypter and then VidCoder worked fine. The default settings produced an MP4 that was 1/6 the size of my original dvd files and looked pretty close to the original in quality. This should work well on the netbook. Thank you Kerry56.

You must be attempting to set HCenc in the wrong place. Don't mess with preferences, instead load your project,
and then edit title/video tab, and choose the method there. AVStoDVD is for creating mpeg-2 DVD's from any source.
If you want to create H.264/AVC, use vidcoder, handbrake,staxrip, etc,etc.

[Kerry56]

To change the encoder in AVStoDVD, this is one way to do it permanently. Start AVStoDVD, click on Tools-->Quick Startup Tutorial. In Encoding Preferences, select HCenc VBR 2-pass, then click OK at the bottom.

[Hoser Rob]

You should let avstodvd set the bit rate. It's pretty good at that. Better than novice users who don 't understand that bit rate is just one parameter.

Avstodvd is also better than others I've used at putting more video on the dvd. But if you cram the max (whatever that is) quality will suffer.

[NewTwoVideo]

Thanks guys for all the help.

Kerry56: I tried setting it in the Quick Startup Tutorial, but for whatever reason, (maybe I just had something else set wrong), it did not work from there.

davexnet: "edit title/video tab" worked and the resulting files using HCenc at 2 pass VBR look much better (more detail) than the ones generated by ffmpeg at a CBR.
The encoding time was much longer, but the results were much better.

Hoser Rob: Before I started this recent try, I uninstalled avstodvd and reinstalled to clear out anything I might have set wrong. So other than the things I mentioned in this post, the only non-default setting was the path to the files. The results were good.

One other comment, on my DVD to mp4 experience. I tried Handbrake and Staxrip also, and the gui's are more complex than VidCoder.
I'd say from less complex to more complex: vidcoder, handbrake,staxrip. Just an impression of a newbie. LOL!

Thanks for the help everyone! Much appreciated!

[davexnet]

Thanks guys for all the help.

Kerry56: I tried setting it in the Quick Startup Tutorial, but for whatever reason, (maybe I just had something else set wrong), it did not work from there.

davexnet: "edit title/video tab" worked and the resulting files using HCenc at 2 pass VBR look much better (more detail) than the ones generated by ffmpeg at a CBR.
The encoding time was much longer, but the results were much better.

Hoser Rob: Before I started this recent try, I uninstalled avstodvd and reinstalled to clear out anything I might have set wrong. So other than the things I mentioned in this post, the only non-default setting was the path to the files. The results were good.

One other comment, on my DVD to mp4 experience. I tried Handbrake and Staxrip also, and the gui's are more complex than VidCoder.
I'd say from less complex to more complex: vidcoder, handbrake,staxrip. Just an impression of a newbie. LOL!

Thanks for the help everyone! Much appreciated!

For even more detail, you can experiment with using different matrices in HCenc.
For example, I like FOX2, gives a sharper result. Also, give HCenc 1-pass a try.
It's not CBR; it does a very quick preliminary pass to gather info about the source, followed by a normal
VBR encode.

[Hoser Rob]

Keep in mind that avstodvd is just a GUI front end for a number of open source programs. Uninstalling it in windows won't remove all of them.

Avstodvd installs ffdshow, which is a 3rd party codec/filter pack. I'm quite opposed to those in general, but if you really need one I'd say it's the best one.

If you install a lot of these media programs they have an annoying habit of installing them without warning. Some if not most of them are poorly written and the installer will change the windows registry to remap the WHOLE system to use them. This can cause a lot of problems.

My solution for this in windows (which I rarely use nowadays) was to use media programs that are Linux ports. They're a lot better behaved because linux won't let an installer make those kind of changes with no warning.

[NewTwoVideo]

For even more detail, you can experiment with using different matrices in HCenc.
For example, I like FOX2, gives a sharper result. Also, give HCenc 1-pass a try.
It's not CBR; it does a very quick preliminary pass to gather info about the source, followed by a normal
VBR encode.

Thanks davexnet. I feel like I've been given the distiller's secret here. LOL!
I like sharp detail. When I got my first HDTV it was an "eye opening" experience.
I recently saw a 4K HDTV in a retail store and up close it was really impressive, until I saw the price tag. LOL!
Then I skulked away muttering something about when will Costco get em.

Keep in mind that avstodvd is just a GUI front end for a number of open source programs. Uninstalling it in windows won't remove all of them.

Avstodvd installs ffdshow, which is a 3rd party codec/filter pack. I'm quite opposed to those in general, but if you really need one I'd say it's the best one.

If you install a lot of these media programs they have an annoying habit of installing them without warning. Some if not most of them are poorly written and the installer will change the windows registry to remap the WHOLE system to use them. This can cause a lot of problems.

My solution for this in windows (which I rarely use nowadays) was to use media programs that are Linux ports. They're a lot better behaved because linux won't let an installer make those kind of changes with no warning.

I have a strong admiration for Linux and it application developers. Usually they are solidly written.

I was just trying to clear any erroneous settings in avstodvd.
If I wanted a thorough cleanup in Windows, I'd use Revo Uninstaller. Though I know it does not always remove everything.
The only true cleanup I think it to backup, install, use, then restore. But that is a lot of effort and time.

I have Media Player Codec Pack on my machine. If you avoid the adware during the load, it seems to have a nice set for Windows Media Player.
I find Media Player Classic Home Cinema to be a more reliable player though.

Thanks guys.