Multiple movies on one DVDR ??

[IKKU]

I just bought a DVD+RW and I've got alot of movies which I want to store.
I really would like to burn 3-4 movies per DVDR, which I can select from a (simple) menu with the possibility to choose subs...

Is this possible and is the best way ??
I'm very new(b) @ this and would like to hear some better ideas or maybe suggestions or program names to make this possible

ow most of my movies are Xvid ....

THNX

[Vejita-sama]

It's possible but you didn't tell us what your source is. If you plan to backup several DVDs to 1 DVDR and retain the original menus, that's not going to be easy. If you don't mind losing the menus and selecting subs manually on the remote that's much easier (eg. DVD Shrink 3.0 beta5 can do this).

Ever few DVD authoring programs accept/support subtitles: DVD Maestro, Scenarist, Reel DVD, Adobe Encore and IFOEdit are the only ones (that I know of). So you'd have to re-author the menus with one of these progras to retain the menus and have selectable subtitles from a menu.

If you're really new to this and don't want to get to 'involved' I would use DVD Shrink to just back up the main movie with the audio/sub streams of interest.

Also note that DVDR media is cheap, and there's no logical reason to backup several discs to 1 DVDR, as you'll take huge quaility hit.

[IKKU]

True I didn't make myself very clear...

I don't want to put several DVDs on one DVDR but I want to put already encoded (Xvid or DivX) 700 MB 'videofragments' on the DVDR..
Most likely I have to recode them but I have the feeling my quality goes down the drain if i put 3-4 movies on one DVDR..

Hope this is something more clear ...

[MOVIEGEEK]

Use TMPGEnc to convert(yes you will lose some quality) and DVDLab to author.

[FulciLives]

Well you could try encoding to what is called half D1 resolution. As you probably know a NTSC DVD is 720x480 and PAL DVD is 720x576 but with half D1 you use 352x480 for NTSC and 352x576 for PAL

The benefit of using half D1 is that you will most likely NOT notice the decrease in resolution on a standard size TV (some people have reported that the lack of resolution only starts to become apparent with 50" or 60" TV screens) yet half D1 requires a lower bitrate to still look GOOD so the lower the bitrate the more you can fit on a single DVD-R

I know it may sound odd but when you encode to MPEG-2 for DVD it is the bitrate and running time that figure into the amount of space you can fit on the DVD and not the size of the file you are converting PRIOR to the conversion.

Anyways half D1 with a very clean source (such as a DVD rip or a VERY well made DivX/Xvid from a DVD rip) can look good with bitrates around 3000kbps to 3500kbps. If the source is not that great to begin with, such as a cable TV capture with less-than-perfect reception or a DivX/Xvid with some blockyness to begin with, then you may find that you will have to go as high as 4000kbps with half D1 to get a really good picture.

Try encoding some clips at half D1 and see what you think of the quality. I would definately do 2-pass VBR with an AVG of anywhere from 3000 to 4000 but for a short clip you should do CBR instead since 2-pass VBR can do strange things if the clip is very short.

For example ... I do half D1 with an AVG bitrate of 4000kbps when I'm doing cable TV or VHS captures. This allows me to fit 3 shows of 60 minute length (with commericials cut out) or 6 shows of 40 minute length (again with commericails cut out). At 4000kbps you can get about 2 hours and 15 minutes on the DVD give or take (probably a bit more).

If you use a bitrate of 3000kbps then you can fit about 3 hours on a single DVD disc which is two short movies.

In my opinion using less than 3000kbps results in less than steller quality and really is not worth it though some people will go as low as 2500kbps since that allows about 4 hours (probably just under it) on a single DVD-R disc.

So make some sample clips at various CBR bitrate values to get an idea of the quality and once you settle on a bitrate you like then encode the final at 2-pass VBR as that will give you slightly better quality. Also be warned that one movie may look good at 3000kbps where another may need 3500kbps to look good. It all depends on how clean the source is and how much movement there is in the film. Lot's of on-screen action or fluid camera work will require more bitrate to look good.

Hope this helps!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Sifaga]

Is there a guide on how to encode in half D1 resolution.

[FulciLives]

Is there a guide on how to encode in half D1 resolution.

It is rather simple if you use TMPGEnc. I usually use the WIZARD MODE and towards the end there is the bitrate screen with the %bar at the bottom so you can adjust the bitrate to fit your disc size. Anyways on that same screen you can change the resolution from the standard NTSC DVD TEMPLATE setting of 720x480 to 352x480 and the same goes for the PAL DVD TEMPLATE (you can change it from 720x576 to 352x480).

Then I click on the EXPERT button which takes you back to the options and make sure that the image is resized properly using the CLIP feature where you can do a preview (and you don't have to CLIP anything).

Just remember that you can't do 16x9 with half D1 and you have to use the FULL SCREEN method ... if you are trying to encode a video that isn't already in a standard height (such as a widescreen DivX/Xvid file that has the black chopped off) then you might run into problems with the resizing but even then it can be done (best if you restore the image to a 4:3 ratio with the AddBorders command in an AviSynth AVS script).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BKL]

I routinely put 2 2hr TV shows/movies on 1 DVD. I use KWAG's KDVD template (www.kvcd.net) with TMPGEnc to encode and then use Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 to put both movies on 1 DVD.

[Sifaga]

Thankyou for the info guys will try those out

[FulciLives]

I routinely put 2 2hr TV shows/movies on 1 DVD. I use KWAG's KDVD template (www.kvcd.net) with TMPGEnc to encode and then use Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 to put both movies on 1 DVD.

If I'm not mistaken the KWAG'S KDVD method will produce a DVD that may not work in all stand alone DVD players since it "plays" around with the standards. Sort of like making a XDVD (the same way a non-standard VCD is called a XVCD etc.)

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BKL]

It is true that the KDVD template is a modification of the standard DVD spec, so be sure and test it on your DVD player(s). I have tried a variety of brands and encountered no problems. Of course, there is always a first time!

[Sifaga]

@ FulciLives

before i follow your instructions,

I ripped my dvd to my harddrive so i have the VOB files. what file format does TMPgenc need? and how do i get my VOBs to the needed format?


I used to use DVD2AVI , when i was making VCD's is that what i do here.

[BKL]

I use ULead DVD Movie Factory 2 to convert the VOB back to MPEG, which TMPGEnc should handle. Never tried to see if TMPGEnc will take a VOB directly.
There is a 30-day trial of DVD MF2 on Ulead's website, www.ulead.com.

[FulciLives]

@ FulciLives

before i follow your instructions,

I ripped my dvd to my harddrive so i have the VOB files. what file format does TMPgenc need? and how do i get my VOBs to the needed format?


I used to use DVD2AVI , when i was making VCD's is that what i do here.

Just run the VOB files through DVD2AVI to get your D2V project file. TMPGEnc should read the D2V file and if you have trouble getting it to read the D2V then simply create a simple AviSynth AVS script and that should load no problem.

TMPGEnc should read the D2V but for some reason some people have trouble thus the added simple step of reading it using AviSynth.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Sifaga]

great thanks for that

[IKKU]

WOW thank u guys for all that great advice

Im going 2 try this ....

Thnx