AVC HD re-encoding to burn to DVD - need help

[Quaker2001]

Sorry if this sounds like somewhat of a newbie question here...

I purchased a Hauppauge HD PVR last year to record and save HD content. Absolutely love it. The only problem I occasionally run into is setting the bit rate too high that a program won't fit onto a single DVD that I wanted to burn (i.e. I want a 1-hour program to take up 4.3 GB, but it runs long and I either have to split it onto multiple DVDs or a DVD DL which I don't want to do). Looking for a utility that can re-encode a file to specific size and/or help make a cleaner source file to author with (I've been using Nero Vision with mixed results).

Most of the files I record are .TS source files. I download and have been trying XviD4PSP which seems like the program I've been looking for, but for some reason, the audio isn't coming up with the file. Is there something in that program I'm doing wrong and/or is there another program I should consider downloading and working with? Thanks, any advice would be appreciated.

[yoda313]

Try avstodvd or multiavchd.

I have used both with great success. Both can output to dvd with your exact setting requirements. Both can create menus.

Both will take time in reencoding hd to dvd. How much depends on the speed of your computer and which encoder you choose in the settings (avstodvd uses hcenc or quenc - quenc can use a 1 pass encode for faster encoding at a little less quality but not much). I think multiavchd just uses hcenc but it may have an option to use which encoder you want and whether or not to do 1 pass or 2 pass or more.

Give both a try. Avstodvd is a little more straightforward than multiavchd. But when you add a title in avstodvd you need to click on the title and go to edit-edit title to manipulate that individuals bitrate and encoding settings. You have to dig a little bit in the program but you will be able to adjust all the settings you need to get the "perfect" setting layout for your encode.

If you have more questions let us know. I think both programs have the same input options. I have used my hdpvr captures with both programs with good results as well fyi (mostly as m2ts file captures but they are all really the same thing from the hdpvr).

[fritzi93]

I'd re-encode to BD5 with BDRB, it's simpler than other front-ends, most of which use the same toolkit. MultiAVCHD can do more, but all you're looking to do is re-encode to BD5.

Sounds like you need to calculate a little better ahead of time. I use the Videohelp Bitrate Calculator for my HD-PVR captures. Plug in runtime and audio bitrate (I use 384 kbps). Change safe authoring overhead from 106954752 to 406954752 and hey presto, use the resulting average bitrate, rounded down. That works fine for constant bitrate captures with the HD-PVR, with a little room to spare.

For captures containing adverts which will be edited out later (with tsSniper), I figure about 17 minutes of adverts per hour.

Good luck.

[Quaker2001]

Thanks yoda and fritzi. I downloaded both MultiAVCHD and AVS2DVD. Neither is exactly what I'm looking for and XviD4PSP seems to be the program that I'm most looking for. I think I mis-stated the thread title what my needs are.. all I want to do for the most part is transcode a video file to a direct format or size, not necessarily specific to get it ready for DVD because I have other tools that can handle that (and in truth I would be perfectly happy just burning a properly sized video file to DVD regardless of the compatibility of where else I could play the disc).

I think I might have figured out 1 of the audio issues though and again would appreciate any help. Many of the files I've been using come in without audio, but upon closer inspection, the ones that aren't working were all my earlier HD PVR records that I set for 5.1 audio. The more recent ones I did in 2 channel audio seem to be okay. The 5.1 audio files play fine in Windows Media Player, they load okay into ArcSoft TME, and sometimes (not always) are good to use in Nero Vision even though I run into async problems almost more often than not.

So, adding to the original question.. how do I get the audio to work for these files in a program like XviD4PSP and size them down to get them to fit onto a DVD or other specifically sized media.