Batch Authoring revisited..................

[Dilemma]

Does anyone know of a program that will let me batch author (except for gui for dvdauthor - too bugy and not user-friendly enough). I don't want any quality loss and I don't need menus. My process to create dvds is as such (I have about sixty to do..........:

1.) Load mpgs or avis in Main Concept (best all around encoder because its real time and allows for batch encoding.

2.) Author with Tmpgenc Author

3.) Shrink down with dvdshrink (2-Pass)

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I don't want to change the fact that I use Main Concept.

[SaSi]

Since you want simple DVDs without any menus, my guess is that each one will contain a full length title (movie or long clip), long enough to justify a whole DVD.

As such, you can skip step 3 of your process - which only takes time and reduces quality - by spending a few moments to select a proper bitrate for encoding at step 1.

4800kbps will fit 2 hours on a DVD while 9600 will fit 1 hour (very rough indications). Use a bitrate calculator for precice calculations.

Other than that, once you finish the encoding you will end up with a pair of video and audio streams (or a single file - depending on your settings).

DVD Lab or IFOEdit are two choices for authoring the DVD, but don't know of any means to automate this.

[liquid217]

Your best bet would be to learn to use dvdauthor natively (without any gui). Since you do not require menus, batch operation would be simple. A pre-canned XML is all that would be needed. Something like this:

<dvdauthor dest="c:\dvd">
    <vmgm />
    <titleset>
        <titles>
            <pgc>
                <vob file="video.mpg" />
            </pgc>
        </titles>
    </titleset>
</dvdauthor>

then, simply run dvdauthor -x config.xml
The 'video.mpg' will need to be a dvd compliant file, which can be generated with mplex if needed. The output will output to a folder named 'dvd' which should be created on your C drive prior to running that command.

[Dilemma]

Ok...thanks a lot guys. Now I have a second question. I decided to use gui for dvd author since I can just drag and drop. Now basically what I did is this:

I would drag one half of the movie to the main screen and then the second half to the main screen. I then create a batch in a folder that i already created for that movie. After that I closed the program and then did the same for the second movie with its own folder (two different movies separate folders with its own mainbatch.bat).


Now what I need to know is this: How do I create another batch file that will call all of this batch files in order and wait for them to finish until it calls the next mainbatch.bat file. I tried this by typing this:

call c:\myflick1\mainbatch.bat
call c:\myflick2\mainbatch.bat
call c:\myflick3\mainbatch.bat

What happened was a screen flashed for a couple seconds and nothing was done......huh!!! Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for the quick replies

[borax]

The commands within the batchfiles called by the mainbatch.bat need to be processed form their directory (they have no full path). Therefore just create your batch file (let's name it callall.bat) like this:

cd myflick1
call mainbatch.bat
cd..
cd myflick2
call mainbatch.bat
cd..
cd myflick3
call mainbatch.bat
cd..

Put the callall.bat in c:\ (assuming the above directory structure)
Open a command console on c:\ and run the callall.bat from there.

[Dilemma]

Thx a lot borax. Now I can batch author. GREAT!!!! Now all I have to figure out now is how to make one continuous track from two mpegs without using a menu......

[borax]

Remark:
If you use the new version (>0.80) the logic is changed a little bit (as GFD now uses a temp directory for all files created by "Create Batch". Have a look to the doku:
https://www.videohelp.com/~gfd/GUI_DVDauthor_eng_07.htm#Batch_Processing

[Dilemma]

I would suggest that we make this a sticky or a guide of some sort. This was not that easy to figure out......at least in my opinion.

[borax]

If you write the guide, I will include it on the GFD homepage. But it would be the best if you would write the guide...
For me as the writer of the program, a lot of things are "absolutely clear" and don't need a description at all. For the user it may be quite different...

[Dilemma]

Will Do. I'll look at the other guides to get an idea of how to write one.

[Dilemma]

If you write the guide, I will include it on the GFD homepage. But it would be the best if you would write the guide...
For me as the writer of the program, a lot of things are "absolutely clear" and don't need a description at all. For the user it may be quite different...

I just wrote my guide. Check it out..........https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=255213&sid=9a5ebeb4017bb11423c0a65724d6497d

Also, what programming language did you use to write gfd?

[borax]

Very nice guide!

Some points should be discussed:

1. This guide is only valid for GFD versions < 0.82
=> We/you should either create another one for the newer version (ATM 0.83) or rework it (correct setting of the temp directory!).

2. In the old version was a bug within the video file dialog which caused a wrong interpretation of the file type if more than one point was in the filename like: your.movie.file.mpg (this bug also caused problems with blanks in the filename)
This bug is now corrected.

[Dilemma]

(the beta version lets you set a separate temp directory)

Would that suffice?

[borax]

No, I don't think so... Because also the batch file has to be set up in another way (it has to point to the temp directories)

[Dilemma]

NOTE: IF YOUR USING VERSION 0.83 OR NEWER, MAINBATCH.BAT WILL BE LOCATED IN THE TEMP DIRECTORY THAT WOULD BE SET IN "DEF. SETTINGS".

iS THAT ok?

[borax]

OK!

[Dilemma]

Your welcome to put it on your website if you want. Although, I think the guide that is there is quite sufficiant. The problem is people don't invest the time to read it.