Putting 39 VCD episodes to DVD......

[ShorN]

Hi All,

I am buying a DVD Writer shortly and I plan to back up my Mysterious Cities of Gold onto DVD, I currently have it on 13 cds, (3 eps per CD)
I would like to add an intro (which will be the title credits), simple menu still menu with audio in background, and a Chapter Index.
Im in the UK so I would like it to be playable on PAL equipment.

The VCD specs for the eps are 1150kbs, 29.9 fps, 352x240 , 44.1 Hz. these play fine on my standalone.

Does anyone know the best way to start or progs to use? I think Ive read that the audio needs to be converted to 44.8 Hz, Is that correct?

Also does anyone know how many DVD discs it is likely to take up? Each episode is approx 20-25 mins ~ 250mb in size.

Any help would be appreciated on this, also please shout if anyone has already backed up MCOG!

[bloo]

One of the easiest ways to do this is to :

Load all your eps. into 1 folder
use SVCD2DVDMPG and convert just the audio to 48mhz
next use Tmpgenc DVDauthor for the extras you wanted and to burn
you should be able to make 3 DVDs of 13eps each
HTH
Bloo

[SaSi]

For DVD, audio needs to be at 48kHz.

As pointed out, putting the content of 13 CDs on a single DVD won't be succesful. You can make them fit by reducing the bitrate, but won't be able to view them joyfully.

13 CDs should fit to two DVDs as the size ratio between CD and DVD is 1:7.

bloo suggested to use SVCD2DVD. I've never used the program, but my guess is that it's good for SVCD source. You said you have VCD.

As VCD is MPEG-1 with 44kHz audio, you need to perform the following steps for each episode:
1. Demultiplex audio and video into elementary streams. (You can use Tmpgenc mpeg tools for that.
2. Re-encode the audio into MPEG-1 layer II at 48kHz. Tmpgenc will also open the audio stream directly as MPEG and allow you to re-encode with a different samplerate.

Next step is authoring the DVD. I suggest using a program like DVD-LAB or Tmpgenc DVDAuthor. DVDLab is fancier and allows for easier menu making. Other programs available include DVDWorkshop, etc.

Depending on what program you use for authoring, you may be able to use the elementary streams directly or you may need to re-multiplex again into MPG. Tmpgenc can also multiplex them for you.

[andkiich]

There are GUIDES on this site that explain the process and tools you are looking for.

[johns0]

Tmpgenc DVDAuthor will encode the sound to 48khz,i tried svcd2dvd for svcd files and found that they were crappy and made artifacts and spots that would stop.

[MachineMan]

Dump your VCD video files into Ulead MovieFactory2 and Author with a menu to DVD.

Done.

[HamishT]

There are GUIDES on this site that explain the process and tools you are looking for.

and there are also people who like to help newbies

[BobK]

andkiich wrote:
There are GUIDES on this site that explain the process and tools you are looking for.


"and there are also people who like to help newbies"

Yes. Many of those people wrote the guides.

[ShorN]

Your help, has been gratefully rec'd!

I have read some guides, but they are not always accurate or show examples of different configs/set ups,

It does make me laugh when people moan that you ask a question in a HELP forum, maybe people like to get feel for what the preferred methods are?

Again thanks for the people that HAVE HELPED, I shall let you know shortly how it goes!