Author a DVD with various bitrates?

[THE-KEK]

Hey all,

Just wondering if it's possible to author a dvd using, several captured mpg clips of different bitrates?

Say, I have a feature thats say 3000 kbps, and goes for 30min.
But say I also have several other clips of vcd quality, 1150 kbps(48Khz audio) that I wish to add as extras.

Is it possible to do this without re-encoding the 1150 to 3000?

I currently use Workshop 2 for authoring and I'm failry happy with it(besides when it crashes half way through a project and I didn't save) but it wants everything at the same bitrate otherwise it will re-encode, and I've noticed various other authoring software that does the same thing, but have only tried a few others.

I've noticed several commercial titles that are able to do this, so i was wondering if;
A) it was possible with the software available to end consumers
B) what software does it

Thanks in advance.

[jimmalenko]

Is it possible to do this without re-encoding the 1150 to 3000?

Yes.

I currently use Workshop 2 for authoring and I'm failry happy with it(besides when it crashes half way through a project and I didn't save) but it wants everything at the same bitrate otherwise it will re-encode, and I've noticed various other authoring software that does the same thing, but have only tried a few others.

You must've been looking at all the all-in-one one-click wonder softwares then.

I've noticed several commercial titles that are able to do this, so i was wondering if;
A) it was possible with the software available to end consumers
B) what software does it

A) Yes.
B) TMPGEnc DVD Author, DVDlab, IFOEdit .... and that's just the three that I use. Any "decent" authoring software should not concern itself with re-encoding anything.

[manono]

Hi-

Is it possible to do this without re-encoding the 1150 to 3000?

They can be authored as different titles, or even joined into the same title, no problem. I haven't used the authoring apps you have, I guess, as I haven't come across any yet that require the videos to have the same bitrate. I use Muxman, IFOEdit, or DVDAuthorGUI

Edit: jimmalenko beat me to it. Hi Jim!

[non-linear]

Hey all,

Just wondering if it's possible to author a dvd using, several captured mpg clips of different bitrates?

Say, I have a feature thats say 3000 kbps, and goes for 30min.
But say I also have several other clips of vcd quality, 1150 kbps(48Khz audio) that I wish to add as extras.

Is it possible to do this without re-encoding the 1150 to 3000?

I currently use Workshop 2 for authoring and I'm failry happy with it(besides when it crashes half way through a project and I didn't save) but it wants everything at the same bitrate otherwise it will re-encode, and I've noticed various other authoring software that does the same thing, but have only tried a few others.

You asked about bitrates, but you also mentioned "VCD quality". There is a difference between bitrate and resolution. Bitrate is the amount of data that makes up the video, while resolution is the size of the video itself (measured in lines in the analog world and by pixels in the digital world).

You can author a DVD with different bitrates with no problem. If your video clips have different resolutions (for example, one clip has a resolution of 720x480 and another is 352x480 or 352x240), then the only way you can author them together properly is to use a program that allows multi VTS structure (I'm not sure if Workshop will do that) and use one titleset for one resolution and another titleset for videos that have a different resolution.

[Bjs]

Workshop is a real stickler , if it dont want to do something , that's it .

Most of the commercial product's are in the same game here .

My way about this :

Encode each as a seperate title .

Create a basic dvd using one small title in dvdauthorgui .. here we create the basic's of the menu .

Encode all audio to ac3 using the same bitrate .
All should be 48khz and same bitrate

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There is a trick with dvdauthorgui when it come's to using video with a resolution of 352x288 (pal) , just make sure the first title (small logo clip)
is the correct size for the project , pal or nstc , then add the other's ... just make sure you use ac3 audio .

These small clip's get nulled when you import title's into pcgedit

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Open first title in pcgedit , then import other vst titles .
All these small clips just get the bypass treatment .
Relink the dvd structure commands to those required for project to work correctly .

This one is the learning process .. but it's not that hard .. need help just give us some info on project layout and I'll beable to fill in the commands for you .

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Save dvd , play back , if something dosent work , then that give's you an idea where there is a dvd command error .

Reopen the project in pcgedit , correct error , save , replay test .

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When correct , burn it .

If project to big for media , use dvdshrink to adjust it .

I prefer to add the total of each dvd , dvdauthorgui create's , then divide this equally between the number of title's , then use this as my setting to shrink the title's before pcgedit .

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Audio should be same format and bitrate .
If video is of diffent bitrate's , and size , they become a seperate title .

Joining them will only stuff the dvd player about .

I killed 2 so far ... they were cheapies anyway .

3 arrive from ebay shortly ... more to kill .