Authoring DVD's The Old Way... What's New???

[djespe]

You guys are all DVD Gods as far as I'm concerned, so I'll ask for your feedback and suggestions. I use an OLD method of making DVD's which consists of:

1) Extracting my files with Isobuster, (when needed for .bin files.)

2) Encoding the movie files, (.mpg, .avi,) with TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0, making them into DVD files, (.m2v, .ac3)

OR

2) In the case of a .avi that's being a b*tch, encoding the video portion of the file with TMPGEnc, and ripping the audio as a .wav in Goldwave, THEN turning it into .ac3 with Sonic Foundry's old Soft Encode.

3) Compiling it all into a VIDEO_TS folder using Spruce's no longer updated DVDMaestro. (Can you believe I still use DVDMaestro?!?!?)

4) Burning it with Elby's CloneDVD2.


Now, I know by you guys' standards, that probably sucks, and you would like to kill me. But, it's worked for me for so long, I never really got the chance to learn new software such as DVDLab, (which I hear is great.) What do you guys suggest I do, or use? In some ways, my tried and true method works, but at the same time, I know there are better and more efficient ways of doing this. I'm open to everyone's suggestions as to what technique or method, or software I should use. I'd like to know what's used the most. Thanks to anyone who posts with some helpful insight.

PS: Maybe this is the wrong place to ask, but if it is, I'm sure the ever-present, classic forum a-hole will say so, (there's always at least one... hundred...) What do you guys use, (as far as software,) for burning your (S)VCD movies that are in .bin .cue format? I used to use Alcohol 120%, but for some reason, my DVD players, (any of the 3,) won't read the discs I burn anymore, I always get the "Unknown Disc" error. Even when I open the .cue file in Roxio Disc Copier, it'll burn the CD just fine, but the same error will come up when I pop it in the DVD player! I hate having to extract the .mpg just to watch it on the computer. I know theres a way to make compliant (S)VCD's or else they wouldn't put them out in that format. (You know what I'm talkin' about...)

[lordsmurf]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

For the most part, I have been using the same software for a couple of years now. Same goes for hardware. Most I did is add a couple nifty items to help restore video in hardware, updated Procoder, and switched to Ulead DVDWS2 for authoring. Otherwise, what I did in 2002-2003 is what I do now.

If you're having a specific problem with something, post a separate post on it, and somebody will tell you the fix or suggest something new.

[djespe]

I hate to bump my own post, but anyone else have any suggestions? I know you guys aren't all using the same method.

[Wile_E]

Well, I like to create DVD's as quickly as possible. I just don't have that much time to spend on making pretty DVD animated menus. My family has about 200 VHS tapes that need archived, so the quickest way to get to DVD, the better. I see it this way...DVD/MPEG2 probably won't be around 20 years from now. We will all have different media and players. So why spend that much time on authoring DVD today? Someone will probably have to reauthor all of this stuff over again, in the future.

I have been using...
VHS -> Canopus ADVC ->DV files -> CCE MPEG2 Encoder (WAV audio) -> TMPGEnc AC3 Encoder -> TMPGEnc DVD Author.

I am keeping my original DV AVI files, so in the future, when there is newer/better compression, someone can take the original file and re-encode it again. Who knows, hard drives will probably be large enough in the future, where we won't have to store things compressed anymore. Just play the DV file directly from the media. I wish Blu-Ray/HD-DVD could play DV or uncompressed AVI files directly.

[crusty]

If I am backing up a DVD I always use CloneDVD and ANYdvd it just takes alot of hassle out of extraction etc.

I still use Maestro as I have for the last 4yrs very solid program, if I need a little more flexibility for more advanced projects I use Scenarist.

Whilst at work for burning I still use the Prassi burning enginr and when at home I use Prassi ONES for all my burning.

I don't think there is any old or new way of doing things if it works and works well stick with it.

[djespe]

So what's DVDLab (Pro) all about then? I tried it once, and it looked like an updated, more intriquite(?) version of DVDMaestro, but I couldn't figure out the basics at first glance so I did away with it. Is it a better authoring software, or just ANOTHER software? And "the what now?" about Scenarist?

PS: The reason I started thinking about a new way to author DVD's is because although I don't, most of my buddies that I make copies for still use their crap PS2 DVD drive as a player, and at every chapter point the DVD skips a bit. I figured this had, or has something to do with the way I author them.

[jman98]

Scenarist is a VERY expensive professional tool for making DVDs. It is completely unintuitive to new users and complicated, but you can do a lot with it. For example, I recorded a laser disc to my PC using a Dazzle DVC II video card. At the time, the laser disc hadn't been released anywhere on DVD, so I wanted a DVD copy as I don't ever use my laserdisc player any more. For some weird reason, at one specific point in the recorded video, Dazzle recorded one GOP as 16 frames instead of 15. All of the other DVD authoring programs I had vomited on the 16 frame GOP and said it was "illegal". It's actually OK as NTSC DVD allows for GOP of up to 18 frames. I authored the DVD with Scenarist and it worked fine.

Scenarist correctly follows DVD standards and doesn't impose imaginary limits on DVD video, such as the 15 frame GOP rule I mentioned. Scenarist also will allow you to make DVDs with MPEG-1 video, which is rarely done, but the spec does support. Most authoring applications refuse to allow MPEG-1 video. Just my opinion, but the only DVD authoring programs I would consider using are either DVD-Lab or Scenarist. Just about everything else is little more than a toy.

[SLK001]

Your method is basically what I use. I encode using CCE 2.50, and use SoftEncode for .AC3 conversion. As far as I'm concerned, DVDMaestro is the "cat's meow" at DVD authoring. I tried Scenarist a while back, but I found it so unintuitive that I couldn't use it. I put in closed captions (line 21) on my DVDs and very few programs could do it at all.

DVDMaestro will remain one of the premiere authoring programs until HD-DVD comes out, irregardless of it not being updated. There are some things that Maestro can't do that Scenarist can, but mainly in minor aspects of the (privately published) specs.

If what you have works for you now, don't feel any pressure to change your techniques.