which DVD authoring program support half D1 ?

[ktnwin]

Please list all the DVD authoring programs you know supporting half D1.
Thank you

[Vejita-sama]

No, I mean I can't list them all because I don't know them all 1/2 D1 is supported by the DVD standard and I've never seen (or heard) of an authoring program that doesn't except it. For the record:

DVD Maestro, scenarist, DVD Lab, TMPGenc's Auhtor, Reel DVD, and neoDVD do.

[chaseru]

MovieFactory and SpruceUp will.
DVD Complete will not.

[House de Kris]

MyDVD does.

[Bob W]

I believe NeoDVD plus will do 1/2 and 1/4.

[Specialist]

Ulead DVD Workshop offers a Half D1 template as follows:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 352 x 480, 29.97 fps
(DVD-NTSC)
Video data rate: 2400 kbps
Audio data rate: 128 kbps
Layer 2, 48 kHz, Stereo

http://www.ulead.com/dws/runme.htm

So does Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 352 x 480, 29.97 fps
(DVD-NTSC)
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 2400 kbps)
LPCM Audio, 48 KHz, Stereo

http://www.ulead.com/dmf/runme.htm

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[version20]

Just to add:

Sonic Foundry's DVD Architect does not.

DVDit does.

-v20

[txpharoah]

Most AUTHORING-ONLY applications do. It's normally just the all-in-one or multi-function programs that act picky (and a bit stupid in my opinion). There are standards for a reason, not merely for companies to pick and choose from.

[ktnwin]

Thanks for so much input. One correction though:

1) neoDVD (including the Plus version) does not support half D1. What I meant is it does accept half D1 MPEG-2 file, but it will re-encode to 720x480 and therefore defeats my purposes.

2) I know that reelDVD does support half D1.

3) PS8 does not since there is no option to change the resolution.

[thayne]

Most should, it's within DVD Specs.

Why dont you get specific and ask if the app you plan on using supports it?

[ktnwin]

OK, let me put my question as clearly as I can:

Q: which DVD authoring software that can take
a) an AVI (DV type) and encode in half D1 format,
b) OR an MPEG-2 file already encoded using half D1 format
then author to a DVD ?

I have tried a few: PS8, neoDVD Plus and they re-encode the half D1 MPEG-2 files into 720x480 resolution. I do not want re-encoding.

[thayne]

I recommend Ulead DVD MovieFactory. I got Sonic MyDVD with my burner and I think it's junk, I got the SE ver of MovieFactory with my PVR card and it's really nice for a basic authoring app and it supports all DVD formats with the exception of AC3 sound, for that you need the full blown Ulead DVD Workshop.

If you use Ulead MovieFactory ver 2 you need to go into the settings and tell it not to re-encode, by defualt it wants to re-encode to 720X480. Ver 1 doesn't do that.

[nkuperw]

I believe (but never tried the whole procedure) that you can use IFOedit to author the VOB's with the 1/2 D and then import the same VOBS and "redo" the IFO's using your other authoring programs.

[preacher238]

I highly recomend DVD-Lab. It took me a minute or two to learn it, but it supports most anything you could want as a mid-level authoring program. It accepts just about any kind of MPEG file you can throw at it. I really like it!

[ktnwin]

Thanks for all the infos here. I will give DVD Lab a try.

[Metaluna]

I highly recomend DVD-Lab. It took me a minute or two to learn it, but it supports most anything you could want as a mid-level authoring program. It accepts just about any kind of MPEG file you can throw at it. I really like it!

I use it to do half-D1 all the time. It works fine, and no re-encoding (DVD-Lab doesn't know how to re-encode even if it wanted to).

It's a little tricky because you might be tempted to specify half-D1 in your Project settings, but this will also render your menus in half-D1 which looks pretty bad. Leave the project as full D1 and then just import any half-D1 MPEG2's you may have. DVD Lab will do the right thing.

[TBoneit]

The Tmpgenc DVD authoring will take and use as-is 1/2 D1 MPGs, Since it has no conversion built-in it can only Take MPGs not AVIs. I Use CCE Basic or TMPGenc to convert depending on source.

It will take VCDs and re-do the audio but it doesn't seem to do Video conversions. I suspect they want it to copmplement their encoder not compete with it.

I set up a template in TMPGenc for 1/2 D1 that was 352 by 480 by 2400 video and 48Khz audio and it works fine. I could use DVDPatcher on SVCDs and they play fine on my machines but then I have to wonder if in the future a new machine would choke on them so I convert to 1/2 D1 instead.

Cheers

[ktnwin]

Thanks for details on the last two posts.
I have one more question (regarding DVDLab and TMPGenc DVD Author)
I encoded my AVI files to half-D1, 48KHz audio. The result is either a system file MPEG-2 or a MP2 (audio) and MV2 file (video).
Since MP2 audio is not DVD compliant,
1) how do those two programs handle the audio ? Do they convert audio to LPCM or AC3 ?
2) or should I extract .WAV from my AVI file and feed the WAV file to the authoring programs above ?

[andkiich]

DVD-Lab leaves the audio as MP2. It will not convert the audio to another format. If you want that you'd have to use a program like BeSweet or the like to get it into AC3, or uncompress it in PCM.

I've yet to find a player that has any problems playing the MP2 authored DVDs though, so it may not be an issue for you.

[TBoneit]

and I feed the Tmpgenc DVD Author
file.m2v
and it add the file.mp2 audio on its own... The Authoring takes approx 15 minutes unless I've been cutting out commercials in it then it takes longer.

And my Sony and Apex players as well as Power DVD on the computer evidently don't know they can't play Mp2 audio so they play it.

Or I mux em in Tmpgenc the conversion s/w and then add them to the Author program. One benifit of Muxing is that I can hear the audio when I preview to be sure it is in sync.

Cheers

[Nolonemo]

DVD Workshop does. Sonic Foundry's wierdly lame DVD Architect does not.

[ktnwin]

Thanks for all the replies. This answers all my questions.
:P