Tips and Tricks

[squallheart]

Hello, I have been reading these articles for the past year and just browsing around. I had some request from the professionals on recommendations. But first heres the tools i used for basic needs. Virtualmod, Winavi, Nero Burning Rom, Tmgpec , sub station alpha and a lot of other random codecs. now lately ive been using or learned how to hardsub subtitles using virtual mod because i watch a lot of films from asia. Now i just wanted tips on what is a good codec to use and best settings for good quality since im a quality nut. Also whats a good dvd burning program i used to have u lead but tomany errors and got irritated with it. i want to create attractive menus and such. I read an article or forum post about upmixing audio i wondered what is this since im also a dolby surround sound nut as well. I dont mind reading the tutorials so if anyone can point me to the right direction and give me good recommendations i will deeply appreciate it thank you.

[manono]

Now i just wanted tips on what is a good codec to use and best settings for good quality since im a quality nut.

If you're a "quality nut", then tip number 1 is, "Don't hardsub". If for DVD, make them selectable. And you have no choice with the codec. For DVD it's MPEG-2. And use something - anything - other than WinAVI.

If you're a "quality nut", then tip number 2 is to suggest learning how to frameserve using AviSynth, and to use a decent MPEG-2 encoder. HCEnc is very good (and free).

Tip number 3; use ImgBurn to burn your DVDs. I make an ISO first, but it's not strictly necessary.

[guns1inger]

I had written almost the same points in response when the DSL went down in the storm. WinAVI and Nero cannot be used in the same sentence as the word quality unless that sentence also contains the words 'lack of' 'dearth of' or, in the case of Nero, 'once had'.

[squallheart]

ah ok nero and winavi are evil then XD nero has been screwing up lately and giving me errors so im done with that what good program is there to use to burn dvds with subtitles selectibles.

[45tripp]

Use ConvertxtoDVD.
Or DVDflick which is free.

I know nero encoding is universally slammed, so much so that I've never had the will to even try, but nero burning has worked perfectly for me, for many years.
Try imgburn though, if you like.

gl

[guns1inger]

Do you want to do it properly, or quickly ?

ConvertxtoDVD is the most reliable choice for downloaded avi files. But you can also look at DVD Flick and several other free options. The Tools section lists most of them. ConvertXtoDVD will do two audio tracks and switchable subtitles.

If you want to do it properly then it's time to get your hands dirty with FitCD, avisynth, HCEnc, and GUIForDVDAuthor.

[buttzilla]

ConvertXtoDvd is well worth the cost. winavi is a buggy piece of crap. DVD flick works fine for a free b but is a lot slower then convertxtodvd and lack some of its options. But it is still better then winavi. ConvertXtodvd keeps getting better with each release.

[squallheart]

OH wow thanks for the suggestions i have been learning to use TMPGEnc to convert the video files to mpeg 2 but have been running in to problems when im at the end of the wizard it says the films is 341 min long and wont fit the dvd i lower the quality as much as i could but still wont fit. I wanted to use tmp because then i could import it into DVD lab pro since i can ad switchable subtitles but i will look into converxtodvd.

[guns1inger]

tmpgenc is having problems because of VBR MP3 audio. It can't track the running time properly. Replace the VBR MP3 with uncompressed PC before encoding and that problem will go away.

[squallheart]

ohhh ok i will try that then lets see if it all goes well thank u for the help so far guns

[rich1842]

If you get as far as producing the video files which are then too big for the dvd you might wish to try dvdshrink to reduce the size.

[redwudz]

squallheart, for Xvids and similar off the net, I always check for MP3 VBR audio. Most encoders choke on it and produce strange results and major sync errors. It's easy to check for with Gspot 2.70. You look to see if the little green 'VBR' box is lit up in the audio section. If so, you can use this guide from jimmalenko to convert the audio to a WAV format: http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=280779

I usually convert the WAV to AC3 with ffmpeggui, then use that, along with the encoded MPEG-2 in my authoring program.

If your video really is 341 minutes long before encoding, then you might want to look into the 1/2 D1 format.