captured mpeg to dvd

[kevin7654]

Hey guys, I captured a lot of home videos in mpeg2 format using my hauppage pvr 250 card, and now I have a few questions.

Is mpeg2 the format dvds are in?

Will there be any loss of quality when I encode them to burn to a dvd?

What's the best program(s) to encode the video and create a dvd with menu's etc.?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Forum Troll]

I'd recommend TMGENC DVD Author. It's great for caps from that card (I have the same card). Here's a screenshot of a menu I made using TDA, and caps from my 250 (pic is blurry from resizing for the Web, but looks perfect otherwise):

[mats.hogberg]

Is mpeg2 the format dvds are in?

Yes.

Will there be any loss of quality when I encode them to burn to a dvd?

No. You don't have to encode again.

What's the best program(s) to encode the video and create a dvd with menu's etc.?

It's already encoded, so you don't have to do that again. "Best" is very subjective, but TMPGEnc DVD Author is "best" to me, in that it can do pretty impressive stuff without requiring a MBA degree, and not cost you an arm and a leg. If the features of TDA isn't enough DVD-Lab Pro can do lots of cool stuff, but comes with a much steeper learning curve.

/Mats

[FulciLives]

MPEG-2 can be almost anything in terms of resolution and bitrate used but MPEG-2 for DVD has to be within some very specific parameters. In other words DVD uses MPEG-2 but not all MPEG-2 files are DVD compliant.

Hopefully you did your recordings in a form of MPEG-2 that is compatable with the DVD format.

You should click on the left hand side of the website where it says, "WHAT IS ... DVD" and it will explain to you the proper MPEG-2 parameters for the DVD format.

Also the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 uses MP2 audio but if you get TMPGEnc DVD Author with the AC-3 "plug-in" then it can be made to convert your MP2 audio to AC-3 format which is a very good idea.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Here is a website with a lot of very good usefull info on the Hauppauge WinTV PVR line of capture cards/devices:
http://www.shspvr.com/

[mats.hogberg]

Also the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 uses MP2 audio but if you get TMPGEnc DVD Author with the AC-3 "plug-in" then it can be made to convert your MP2 audio to AC-3 format which is a very good idea.

Why? Only reason would be that you have a DVD player that do not support mp2 audio (rare these days) - Otherwise, the only thing you'll achieve is a lower audio quality.

/Mats

[FulciLives]

Also the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 uses MP2 audio but if you get TMPGEnc DVD Author with the AC-3 "plug-in" then it can be made to convert your MP2 audio to AC-3 format which is a very good idea.

Why? Only reason would be that you have a DVD player that do not support mp2 audio (rare these days) - Otherwise, the only thing you'll achieve is a lower audio quality.

/Mats

There is very little audible loss when converting MP2 to AC-3 and MP2 is simply NOT an official supported DVD Video audio format so hence my suggestion to convert the audio to AC-3 ... thankfully TMPGEnc DVD Author, with the AC-3 "plug-in", makes this an easy thing to do.

To minimize any loss set the MP2 bitrate to 384kbps when you capture (384kbps is the MAX bitrate for that format). This will minimize loss when converting to AC-3 format during the DVD authoring stage.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[mats.hogberg]

I don't want to start an argument, but from DVD Demystified:

A DVD-Video disc can have up to 8 audio tracks (streams) associated with each video track (or each video angle). Each audio track can be in one of three formats:

* Dolby Digital (AC-3): 1 to 5.1 channels
* MPEG-2 audio: 1 to 5.1 or 7.1 channels
* PCM: 1 to 8 channels.

To be fair, it also says:

some inexpensive DVD recording software programs use MPEG audio, even on NTSC discs, which goes against the DVD standard and is not supported by all NTSC players.

(The above was added after Fulcie's reply, it seems.)
I too prefer AC3 audio, and always go for that whenever I'm dealing with audio in a not compliant/working format. But IMO, if it works, you're better off not doing any conversion, regardless if it's audio or video.

/Mats

[FulciLives]

A DVD-Video disc can have up to 8 audio tracks (streams) associated with each video track (or each video angle). Each audio track can be in one of three formats:

* Dolby Digital (AC-3): 1 to 5.1 channels
* MPEG-2 audio: 1 to 5.1 or 7.1 channels
* PCM: 1 to 8 channels.

First of all the NTSC format has never officially supported the MP2 audio format.

Secondly the PAL format no longer officially supports the MP2 audio format although it was supported at one time and most likely any PAL DVD player should be OK with it.

Granted many NTSC DVD players are OK with MP2 audio as well but threre are many that do not like MP2 audio and since it is not an official spec ... I say it should NOT be used.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
As for the PAL format dropping official support of MP2 audio ... this came from BJ_M and when it comes to such things I trust him more than just about anyone else on this forum since he actually works as a professional in the digital video arena.

[Baldrick]

Secondly the PAL format no longer officially supports the MP2 audio format although it was supported at one time and most likely any PAL DVD player should be OK with it.

Contact dvddemystify then. Where have you read that it isn't supported?

[FulciLives]

Secondly the PAL format no longer officially supports the MP2 audio format although it was supported at one time and most likely any PAL DVD player should be OK with it.

Contact dvddemystify then. Where have you read that it isn't supported?

I edited my post above (you probably missed it) that this information came from BJ_M

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[mats.hogberg]

It's an odd thing with standards - it's hard to drop stuff from them, once they are in.
If I had bought a PAL DVD movie, authored and created pre 2005 according to specs (with mp2 audio only), bought a player now, just to find that it didn't support mp2 audio "cause it's not in the standard anymore" and didn't play my dear DVD, I'd take it (the player) back immediately. What's next? Drop mpeg2 video?

/Mats

[kevin7654]

thanks for all the great responses guys, ya'll really helped me out

one more question, please
would it be much better to recapture the video in dvd mpeg2 format, or encode it from the mpeg2 format I captured it in to dvd mpeg2 format?

thanks again

[mats.hogberg]

Always best not to reencode, if that option is available.

/Mats

[reboot]

If you used WinTV2000 (the Hauppauge software) to do the capture, it's default setting (if you didn't change anything on the mpeg settings screen) is fully DVD compliant mpeg-2. No reencoding needed or wanted.

[Abond]

thanks for all the great responses guys, ya'll really helped me out

one more question, please
would it be much better to recapture the video in dvd mpeg2 format, or encode it from the mpeg2 format I captured it in to dvd mpeg2 format?

thanks again

It depend on your capture settings. I have the same card and I am usually capturing at 12000 kbps CBR, 720x576 with 384 kbps audio. After that I reencode to DVD compliant mpeg2 applying some denoise filters. So if you have captured with settings "above" DVD you can reencode, if you have captured "below" DVD - best is to recapture.