Does my encoding and authoring approach make sense?

[paulot]

I've been looking at the Guides and the forum discussions here for a month or so; now I am ready to dive in. I want to convert all of my Hi8 family videos to DVD for a standalone player. Anyone care to comment on the approach I am taking?

• - Using VirtualDub to cature analog video via a Miro DC30+ card at 6000 kbps, on a SCSI drive. No dropped frames.
  - Converting AVIs to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc. Settings are: using DVD-NTSC template, modified to 6000 kbps bitrate, Constant Quality, MP2 audio. Trimming then merging the clips.
  - Using NeroVision Express to author. (Not sure if NVE recompresses the MPEG2s) I am using NVE because I want transitions and easy chapter point insertions and menu creation.
  - Then I burn to DVD-R with an 8X LG burner. My DVD player is progressive, connected to a 16x9 CRT 30" HDTV.

My main objective is video quality, not encoding time or audio. I have a second dedicated computer for encoding, so I don't mind if it takes a long time. I am satisfied with one hour of video per DVD-R.

Any comments? Thanks in advance.

[lordsmurf]

NVE may be a problem if it in any way touches the video/audio.

[paulot]

How do I find out if NVE is recompressing? The authoring process is taking a long time, but that may just be the burning rather than a reconversion.

[Capmaster]

If your primary concern is quality, why are you using constant bitrate? Try variable bitrate - you'll get better quality in the action scenes than CBR

[lordsmurf]

How do I find out if NVE is recompressing? The authoring process is taking a long time, but that may just be the burning rather than a reconversion.

If it takes longer than 15-20 minutes to author, it's touching your files.

[paulot]

It's taking much longer than that. What is the best alternative to NVE, if I want menus and chapters? Free would be nice also.

[rfielder]

It's taking much longer than that. What is the best alternative to NVE, if I want menus and chapters? Free would be nice also.

Have a look at DVD Lab and DVD-Lab Pro.

http://www.mediachance.com/

They have a 30 day demo, so you can use them to see if they meet your needs. No recoding, since they do not include one at all - you are expected to have the files in DVD format first.

A thought - if Nero is recoding, why encode first? Let Nero eat up the avi files and create a final DVD.

[lordsmurf]

I've long used Sonic DVDit! PE and I'm now using the new DVDit! 5 (what I'm doing this very minute in fact, I'm waiting on asset imports, which takes longer than low-end software, but I live).

TMPGENC DVD AUTHOR is decent for the newbie.

[St.Thanos]

TMPGENC DVD AUTHOR is decent for the newbie.

I'd swear by dvd author