recomendations

[syber]

ok my trial of CCE and TMPGEnc dvd author are done....currently using freeware DIVX2DVD which user settings are basically non-existant , but i see from VSO's site..this is the last free version. what would the forum guru's suggest for a decent app. should i buy CCE basic or TMPGEnc DVD Author, or are there freeware apps that would suit me better, just doing divx xvid video......thanks to all replies...

[guns1inger]

These are two different products, unless you are confusing the names of your tmpgenc products. CCE is an encoder, while tmpgenc DVD Author is (as the name suggests) and authoring application. You need both to create a DVD.

If you are just doing Divx/Xvid conversions, then DivxtoDVD is probably your best bet. It's fast, the quality is good for a one-click-wonder, and the finished version will be cheap and promises to give you more control over the outcome.

If you were to go down the manual route, there are manu freeware options, however none are as simple, and most require at least multiple applications if not multiple steps.

For it's price, CCE Basic is probably the best mix of speed and quality. Some say the quality of tmpgenc plus is slightly better, and it does have filters that CCE doesn't have, however it takes 2 - 3 times as long to encode. To get the best out of either of these you really need either virtualdub or avisynth to clean up the source and frameserve for encoding. Then you need to encode the audio (although the AC3 add-on for tmpgenc can do this for you) and then you have to author to get a playable disk. Tmpgenc DVD author is a good starter package if you don't want to get to complex in your designs.

The question you need to ask yourself is how much time and effort are you prepared to put into this. If you want some fast and easy, DivxtoDVD is a safe bet. If you are prepared to put the time into learning a new skill, then the world is your oyster.