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  1. Member
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    Hi all,

    I own a brilliant Sony SR1 that creates AVC HD files. But I want to burn this to DVD in high quality. Which tools support this already? I noticed that elecard has a AVC --> DV tool ($39), but I don't know if this is any good and how do I get from DV --> DVD, as I'm not familiar with DV format at all. The Sony software can go from AVC --> MPEG2, but it's very SLOW (2 hours film = 1 day encoding) and not that good (no 2 pass encoding available). It gets a little 'grainy'/'speckles'. And from MPEG2 --> DVD seems to require another encoding session.

    Could anyone enlighten me? And why does it always seem that every tool re-encodes everything again even if I only want to transfer it from MPEG-2 to DVD.

    Help is appreciated,

    Menno
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  2. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    I noticed that elecard has a AVC --> DV tool ($39), but I don't know if this is any good and how do I get from DV --> DVD, as I'm not familiar with DV format at all.

    That elecard product is terrible. It's fast, but looks very bad.

    If you want great quality, you should get 2 products:

    1) CoreAVC PRO (required) You must get the PRO version.

    2) TmpgencXpress (or a very good MPEG2 encoder). You can also try FAVC, but it'll make a few more steps to prepare the video. Still, FAVC is free and very high quality, and will create a DVD for you.

    003.mpg

    Time to get a faster PC, unless you want to wait forever to encode.
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    Thanks, I'll look into CoreAVC. What is the output of CoreAVC? And does TMPGencXpress burn it to DVD? I still don't fully understand the process.

    Go from AVC --> MPEG2 and then a burn program? Do burn programs reencode again?

    Thanks for any help.
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  4. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    CoreAVC allows you to play the file back on your PC. It also works as a "DirectShow" decoder, which is needed by your Encoder (Tmpgenc or another app) to convert the file from AVCHD to MPEG2/DVD.


    File--->CoreAVC--->Mpeg Encoder--->DVD Authoring Program


    Some programs combine the Mpeg Encoder with the DVD Authoring Program - ConvertXtoDVD will do that, also FAVC
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    Okay, this I get. But how do I "couple" CoreAVC to another App? For instance, I tried the mainconcept H264 encoder, but it can;t read the H264 files to make it mpeg2 or whatever. Or is the output of CoreAVC a "raw" file. But that would become enormous then.
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  6. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    mainconcept is an ENCODER, CoreAVC is a DECODER. CoreAVC feeds the video, one frame at a time to the MPEG encoder. No temporary files needed.
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    Okay. Well I understand this, but does mainconcept automatically calls the CoreAVC decoder, when it wants to encode? I have the Quicktime DECODER on my PC, but mainconcept just complains when I want to load an MP4 file, which plays perfectly in Quicktime.

    Sorry, but I just need a more elaborate explanation, as I don't really understand how the programs hang together. I mean does every encoder automatically call the decoder that has the file extension 'registered' or do I need to configure this somewhere in the encoder?

    And finally do DVD authoring programs re-encode or do they 'put' an MPEG file in a VOB file?
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  8. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    Sorry, but I just need a more elaborate explanation, as I don't really understand how the programs hang together. I mean does every encoder automatically call the decoder that has the file extension 'registered' or do I need to configure this somewhere in the encoder?

    There are different types of decoders out there - most of them, but not all of them support a Windows standard called Directshow.The best way to see the order that things get decoded is by dragging the file into a program called graphedit. Here's how an AVCHD .mts file gets decoded on my PC:





    I have the Quicktime DECODER on my PC, but mainconcept just complains when I want to load an MP4 file, which plays perfectly in Quicktime.



    That's because Quicktime's decoder is NOT directshow compatible. It also can't decode AVCHD properly, which is an interlaced h264 file. Mainconcept and most encoders require directshow input. CoreAVC is a directshow decoder- one of the very few that can properly play and decode AVCHD

    http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/DirectShow_Filters.asp

    http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/Labs/Isl/DirectShow/filters.htm

    http://www.flipcode.com/articles/article_directshow01.shtml


    And finally do DVD authoring programs re-encode or do they 'put' an MPEG file in a VOB file?

    It depends if the Mpeg file has all of the proper formatting to be DVD compatible. If it is, then it is multiplexed directly into a vob file. If it is not, then it is re-encoded.

    http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/vob.cfm
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    Excellent!. NOW I understand. You deserve big thumbs up for teaching newbies.

    I now have lots to read. I think I will go for the full TMPGEnc package as it even includes the mainconcept H264 encoder. It must the brilliant do it all program.
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    Oh, one more question though.

    Which tool would you recommend as a normal avi and mpeg decoder that is directshow compatible. I have avi files with raw bmp inside them which also cannot be read by the encoder.
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    Oh and one final thought.

    If I look at the TMPGEnc website they seem already to support h264 files and mpeg files as input. Now does every encoder call a decoder through the directshow interface, or do some programs use a native decoder (like TMPGEnc) ? I mean when I install first CoreAVC and later another one, then the latter one can override the CoreAVC as the directshow decoder. So this would impact the quality, wouldn't it? Could you tell a little about this?

    Thanks

    Menno
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  12. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    Which tool would you recommend as a normal avi and mpeg decoder that is directshow compatible. I have avi files with raw bmp inside them which also cannot be read by the encoder.

    Depends how the source file was encoded. Gspot will help you out to determine if you have the correct decoder installed. You can always post a screen cap like this one and we'll help you determine if you're missing anything.



    Now does every encoder call a decoder through the directshow interface, or do some programs use a native decoder (like TMPGEnc)

    You can specify the priority of the decoder, if the application supports this


    If I look at the TMPGEnc website they seem already to support h264 files and mpeg files as input.

    Yes, with the exception of AVCHD. That's why you'll still need CoreAVC through DirectShow for your camcorder files.
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    Thanks,

    That last screenshot was also from Gspot? You can set the priority in Gspot and hope the encoder supports it?
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  14. Member Soopafresh's Avatar
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    That was tmpgenc
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    Thanks so much. This is the first forum where you can actually have thread about a subject that leads to an answer instead of having your thread hijacked with a this is better than that discussion after the 3rd post. Amazing.
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