Multiple AVIs to DVD

[grigbigl]

I would like to convert 4 avi files and put them on DVD with titles. I have been reading many posts and looked through the Mac Guides but without success.

Here is a QuickTime Movie Info screenshot of one of the avi's:



Yes, I am a newbie and expect to be castigated!

Hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Greg

[Case]

I would like to convert 4 avi files and put them on DVD with titles.

Menu titles or subtitles?
Can you use iDVD / DVD Studio Pro / Toast for this?
Are you familiar with any MPEG-2 encoder?
Are all segments ± 25 mins? Thus ± 100 mins total?

[galactica]

what exactly have you tried. with all those . - and _ in the file title you may not get anything to accept that file!

just curious what you have attempted thus far

[grigbigl]

Case,
I would like to put the DVD in the player connected to my TV and have menu choices for each of the episodes. I'm not sure what you mean by "menu titles or subtitles?"

I have iDVD 4.0.1 and Toast Titanium 6.0
I am on a 1.25 GHz G4 ibook with 768 MB RAM

I was able to convert one of them using ffmpegX successfully.
It created VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders with nothing in the AUDIO_TS folder and .vob, .bup, and .ifo files in VIDEO_TS. This played successfully in Apple's DVD player. I did not attempt to burn this to DVD yet.

ffmpegX also created three files with the following suffixes:
.ff.ac3 .ff.mpg .ff.mpv

Each segment is 26 to 27 minutes. If four won't fit, I could keep it to three.

I thought about using ffmpegX to convert each segment and drag each VTS_01_1.VOB to one VIDEO_TS folder and rename successively VTS_01_01.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, VTS_01_3.VOB, etc. and then burn using Toast. I figured this might work but I wouldn't get the menu choices.

Thank you both for your input.

Greg

[Case]

I was able to convert one of them using ffmpegX successfully.

Excellent. Convert each with the ‘DVD mpeg2enc’ preset. The 3:2 pulldown is set by default. Before hitting encode, uncheck Author as DVD, since you don't want multiple VIDEO_TS folders.
Then let Toast create a menu: Drop the .mpg files on the DVD-Video window, check ‘Create DVD Menu’ in Advanced settings. Save as Disc Image, test in Apple DVD Player.

[grigbigl]

Case,
Thank you for your help. I did what you said and it worked. Actually I went through the steps with only one file and was able to get it all the way to the Disc Image and it played in Apple DVD Player successfully with a title.

When I saved from Toast as a Disc Image, it created a .toast file. When I opened it, Toast opens. If I select Mount, a DVD icon appears and the Apple DVD Player starts and plays wonderfully.

Now, how do I get this to a DVD? Should I proceed to copy this disc image to the DVD? Sorry about the elementary questions, and thanks for your patience.

By the way, is it typical to take 2.5 hours to convert a 27 minute AVI to MPG and then another 2 hours to save as a disc image?

Greg

[Case]

Now, how do I get this to a DVD? Should I proceed to copy this disc image to the DVD?

The big red bottom-right button will record the contents to disc.

By the way, is it typical to take 2.5 hours to convert a 27 minute AVI to MPG and then another 2 hours to save as a disc image?

Yes and no. Encoding sure takes time. But the saving of a disk image should be a few minutes, as Toast should only re-multiplex the mpeg files. If saving a disk image really took 2 hours, it could be re-encoding, basicly doing the ffmpegX steps all over (sort of). But if the mpeg files were up to specs, it should accept them as-is.

1/ Did you alter any settings in ffmpegX after choosing the preset?
2/ What is the full version number of Toast?
3/ Try the ‘making a disc image’ steps again, this time NOT taking the .mpg file, but the .m2v (video only) file. Toast should find the .ac3 file by itself, if it is in the same folder. Save as Disc Image. It should start multiplexing immediately, as indicated at the bottom of the Toast window (on v6.1 anyway).

[grigbigl]

Case,
Here are the settings I used in ffmpegX version 0.0.9s.



Sorry about the length!
You mentioned something in an earlier post about a 3:2 pulldown being set by default. I noticed under Options that there is a Set 3:2 box unchecked. That was the preset, I did not alter it. Is this what you were referring to?

Concerning Toast. I had version 6.0 and was getting an error (-36). I upgraded to 6.1.1 before making the Disc Image.

I am now over an hour into making a Disc Image using the .m2v file. It is about half way.

Hope you are having better weather where you are. We're expecting 110 F today in the deserts of southern California!

Greg

[Case]

The output frame size should be 720x480, as 608x448 is not a valid DVD frame size. In Video parameters, set Autosize to ‘DVD’. (Do as it says near the top of the ffmpegX window: 1. Drop file, 2. Select a Target format, 3. Encode. Doing it in a different order will have an effect on settings, e.g. video size.)

You mentioned something in an earlier post about a 3:2 pulldown being set by default. I noticed under Options that there is a Set 3:2 box unchecked. That was the preset, I did not alter it.

My fault, I thought it was default. It should be checked for encoding 23.976 fps material to VCD/SVCD/DVD without altering framerate. The 3:2 pulldown flag should prevent Toast from converting to 29.97 fps.

I am now over an hour into making a Disc Image using the .m2v file. It is about half way.

Cancel it, that is taking too long. Toast is re-encoding again, which you don’t want.

P.S. 81 F here