Authoring DVD from multiple sources + more

[ZMan9854]

Here's my issue (I've searched the forums and can't find anything quite like it). I have a vat of downloaded music videos that I would like to convert into a dvd or two, each separated with chapters so that I may click ahead to each music video. They are all different kinds of video, ranging in size and all. And yes, I am a lil' newbie. I have never succesfully converted video to make a DVD, although I am confident that I know how. But as you know, my task is a bit more complex.

Here is my proposed plan -

1.Convert each video to identical DV stream with ffmpegx and quicktime letterboxing.

2. Join them somehow , each in maybe 2 hour sections (I think I can do this, any suggestions?).

3. Reconvert to a single dv stream (with ffmpegx) so that it can fit on one dvd. Any suggestions on settings and such for a quick encode? Is this the best option?

4. Put stream into toast and split the chapters at the beginning of each video (is this the best option? Any suggestions?).

Thank you so very much ya'all!

Here is a yes/no questions that would also be helpful, which I could probably research and figure out the rest on my own:

Is making a menu (like a table of contents) insanely difficult for a newbie like me? I would rate myself as pretty savvy, but just not learned in the field of DVD authoring. What programs are good for this? A yes or no is what I'm looking for because I don't want to waste your time, yet I don't want to jump into something that is just crazy hard because I must have this gift done by christmas time. Haha...

Remy

[terryj]

First of all, welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay.

Second, you will need to get the video all into one single type
or another, to cut down on headaches and mistakes.
If you have say four .avis and two .movs, you may not be aware
that your .avis have non-compliant video or audio that
will not all you to convert to dv stream. Getting all the video into one format first, thus ruling out a lot of 'unforseen' problems will
greatly reduce your headaches, and it's fairly simple enough to do.

once you have done that:

Here is my proposed plan -

1.Convert each video to identical DV stream with ffmpegx and quicktime letterboxing.

2. Join them somehow , each in maybe 2 hour sections (I think I can do this, any suggestions?).

my suggestion: get them all into QT mov format.
then join together through QT Pro, by copying and pasting
until I get all clips into the order I want. save as QT movie file,
with the highest quality/lowest compression.

3. Reconvert to a single dv stream (with ffmpegx) so that it can fit on one dvd. Any suggestions on settings and such for a quick encode? Is this the best option?

4. Put stream into toast and split the chapters at the beginning of each video (is this the best option? Any suggestions?).

not knowing your computer specs, I can't say your exact encoding times.
You can create chapters in toast that will be a bit reudimentary,
unless you take the time to figure out the exact time each video starts
and stops.
If you get it into DV Stream via ffmpegx, why not import into iDVD 4
and create chapter points there? this will be much more precise,
and your authoring will be much faster and easier on you.

Thank you so very much ya'all!

Here is a yes/no questions that would also be helpful, which I could probably research and figure out the rest on my own:

Is making a menu (like a table of contents) insanely difficult for a newbie like me? I would rate myself as pretty savvy, but just not learned in the field of DVD authoring. What programs are good for this? A yes or no is what I'm looking for because I don't want to waste your time, yet I don't want to jump into something that is just crazy hard because I must have this gift done by christmas time. Haha...

Remy

[chikanakan]

I would just use Toast as long as all the files are a supported format. Most MPEG and any file supported by QT will work.

You can just add all the files into Toast Video format, turn on the Menu and the Auto-Play and burn. Auto-play should allow you to skip between each title seamlessly, and then you don't have to worry about converting, merging and make new chapter marks which will be very time consuming.

If you have videos that aren't supported by QT, then you will have use something like ffmpeg to convert them, but I would still go directly to MPEG and skip the DV step unless you plan to use iDVD or iMovie later on.

If you do decide to use Toast, I suggest saving as a disc image first so you can test the DVD and see if it's the way you like it before you burn the disc.

[Frobozz]

I agree with chikanakan's suggestion including saving as a disc image to make sure everything works before burning the DVD. Each music video will be its own title which gives you the opportunity to give each one its own description and be able to choose them from the title menu. Recognize you'll only get about 90 minutes of videos per DVD.

One thing to note: Toast does not let you choose specific places for chapters. You can do this in iMovie and Toast will respect those markers. Otherwise, Toast places chapter markers in 5-minute intervals by default. When using DV video Toast allows you to change that time increment. As you probably know, Toast does not create a chapter menu.

[ZMan9854]

Oh no, it says I can't have PAL and NTSC. How should I remedy this without any superfluous encoding?

thank you for all of your helpings!

Remy

[ZMan9854]

Actually I am just going to try to export all of the PAL movies as quicktime movies in NTSC. So stop me if I'm going wrong.
!
lol

[ZMan9854]

Well the quicktime movie exports are low quality. How should I do this?.. : >

Remy

[Frobozz]

Oh no, it says I can't have PAL and NTSC. How should I remedy this without any superfluous encoding?

thank you for all of your helpings!

Remy

I recommend the PAL to NTSC converter that comes with MPEG2 Works.