Conversion Efficiency

[wayl0n]

Hi, I'm using an ADVC-100 for capture, and Vegas for my editing and conversion to mpeg. I know when going from raw to MPEG2 there is a slight quality loss. So if I save to MPEG2 in Vegas, then later author the DVD.....most the burning software I've used looks as though its re-rendering the mpeg files when compiling the disc info....am I incorrect in this or is it getting renedered twice losing even more quality? Is there a guide or article that explains better results and consequances of conversion to various codes? I just want to make sure I'm using the most efficent process to get a finished without losing quality unneccesarily.

[bugster]

When you encode to mpeg-2 in Vegas, make sure the settings are DVD compliant.

What are you using to author? Most true authoring programs do not even include an encoder so will not re-render, but many consumer all in one apps will re-render, esp if you supply non-compliant mpegs.

[wwjd]

Some authoring apps do re-render and you want to stay away from them
but some do not. I have not used Vegas but I would be surprised if it
re-rendered compliant mpeg2 video, I am not even sure if it authors but if
it does I would be surprised if it re-rendered.

I know that TDA and VS8 do not re-render compliant mpeg2 when authoring.

I have a ADVC-100 as well and I use CCE Basic to do the avi to
mpeg2 conversion as well some of the cutting and trimming. For more
extensive cutting and trimming I use Videoredo after it has been converted to mpeg2. I then author using TDA. I used to use Ulead Video
Studio 8 to cut/trim and insert transitions while still in avi format but I
am not completely happy with the avi to mpeg conversion, which is why
I use CCE Basic.

[wayl0n]

Depends....soemtimes I use DVD Architect, sometimes Ulead, and sometimes DVDLab. When encoding in Vegas, I always use the DVD NTSC template. Thanks for the info Bugster.

[pfh]

Sounds like you are authoring and burning at the same time. Not sure, but perhaps Vegas is re-encoding during this process needlessly after you;ve already saved and thus encoded the initial avi to mpeg. You could always try Dvd Lab to author the mpeg. It will not do any encoding. After authoring the resultant dvd folder is ready for burning to dvd. The burning process should never result it any encoding.

[bugster]

DVDLab defintaley never re-encodes. Like all authoring apps though, it takes a while to multiplex the audio and vide streams and create the VOB files. There is no quality loss during this process, it is just putting the mpegs into a vob container which is slightly different from standard mpeg.

[wayl0n]

cool, thanks for the info guys