DVD Burning Dilema

[aruba92]

I have Studio 12 on an XP machine with no DL burner. I have a Dual Layer Drive in another machine. I have captured some old VHS tapes on the XP PC and was curious what files I need to copy over to the other PC so I can burn them to a Dual Layer disc with lets say shrink or DVD Fab. Just the "Video_TS" and "Audio_TS" folders?

[yoda313]

Yep. If they are physically close enough just hook up a lan cable between them two of them and transfer that way. You can even do an ad hoc wifi connection - but if your at wifi b/g speeds it will take quite awhile for a multigig transfer. Than you can always use a usb harddrive to transfer.

Technically speaking you only need the video_ts to burn a dvd. The audio_ts is 99.9999% of the time is blank and is only their because I think I remember hearing it was a misinterpretation of the original dvd spec. But since it is usually essentially 0kb and takes up no space at all there's no reason not to copy it with your video_ts folder.

[aruba92]

Thanks for the info. I don't even know if my Toshiba player will play a DL disc especially since the ones I have are memorex. I need to get some verbatem. Thanks again.

[aruba92]

Yes as I expected. The memorex discs were not recognized by the Toshiba DVD player. I really don't even know if it will play any DL discs. Do most pllayers have the ability to recognize dul layer discs? If not what would be the best way to get the most quality on a 4.7 Disc? I capture the video as an Mpeg 2 and burn with the selection to DVD auto quality and audio is at PCM in Studio 12, but then I get around 40% quality depending on the length of the movie. I am thinking about just spliting the movies onto 2 discs, just to get the 100% quality.

[yoda313]

Just out of curiosity how old is the toshiba player? If its really old - more than four or five years - than it might be before dual layers really picked up in availability. I suppose you might see if there is an official firmware upgrade for your dvd player that might improve its functionality.

Aside from buying a new dvd player try a different brand of dual layer disc first of course. Unfortunately maxing out for a single layer will not be as pleasing to the eye as a dual layer were you have more flexibility (almost double the capacity).

If you are going to settle on single layers use a bitrate calculator to maximize your quality settings for that capacity. The videohelp bitrate calcluator is a good place to start. It is always best to target your capture as close to the max of your target as possible and avoid any reencoding or transcoding. Target the final file size so you have some wiggle room for things like menus and stuff - remember I believe motion menus take up more room than stills depending on your complexity.

You could just split the disc of course and forget about this but that is not a fun way to do it - unless you have a disc changing dvd player that is

One other thing you can encode to ac3 audio and save some considerable room over pcm to gain a little more video quality. One way would be to finalize your project in studio 12 with the pcm audio - don't burn in studio but extract the pcm audio with something like virtualdub (use a version like virtualdub mod that supports vob mpeg structures) to extract the pcm audio. You can then use other tools you can get on this website to convert pcm audio to ac3 audio (use something like 256kbps audio bitrate - you'd probably be disappointed with anything lower - going up to 448kpbs (the dolby max for standard def dvds) might be overkill depending on your source).

It's been quite awhile since I've done audio conversions so I can't name any tools off the top of my head other than besweet. Though even though it has a gui available besweet does have a bit of a learning curve as its not the most intuitive program out there. I'm sure there are other simpler audio conversion tools out there.

From there you would remux the audio into the dvd structure and burn. Again I haven't done this type of process in a long time so I can't recommend a good tool for that right at the moment. I think you can use the long abandoned ifoedit for this but again its like besweet in that it isn't exactly a one button solution.

These are some suggestions for you to look into. Check out the guides section on the left of the screen and you'll find some more info on how to do these audio conversion steps I've mentioned. FYI I'd take another look for a way to capture ac3 audio in studio 12. I have the product but again I haven't captured anything with it quite awhile.

But first and foremost check out different brands of dual layer blanks. That might be all you need. Another approach is to invest in a newer dvd player. It wouldn't need to be very fancy. Something under 50.00 USD would probably suffice - even no names might do the trick. Though I'd be sure to read online reviews to check for dual layer burned media compatibility before buying - or make sure the store will let you exchange/return it after opening.

EDIT - Just saw your question on dual layer recognition - Generally speaking all dvd players will read dual layer COMMERCIAL discs - the official ones you buy. Unless it was a really early first gen player that was single layer only most (ie 90-95%) of the dvd players will read official dual layer discs. The tricky part as you found it is dual layer recordable media. You'll have to do some online research to check out compatibility. The dvd players link under the LISTS category on the left of the screen has a large database of dvd players with user reviews on playback quality and many listings on media compatibility and what it can and can't play. As always you can also search the manufacturer's website. These days they usually have a pretty good archive of discontinued models so you might still be able to find official specs even on an older model.

[aruba92]

It is a brand new Toshiba DVD/VCR combo recorder (D-VR610). Has HD upscaling to 1080p. I could actually copy the VHS tapes to DVD directly, but some have issues with copyright protection. I just picked it up on newegg last year. I am going to see if I can get a small pack of Verbatem DL discs and try that.

[sanlyn]

It is a brand new Toshiba DVD/VCR combo recorder (D-VR610). Has HD upscaling to 1080p. I could actually copy the VHS tapes to DVD directly, but some have issues with copyright protection. I just picked it up on newegg last year. I am going to see if I can get a small pack of Verbatem DL discs and try that.

A copy-protected VHS won't record on most DVD recorders. The best (and only recommended) way around that is to use a high-quality TBC between the tape and the recorder. Many in this forum are very pleased with the AVT-8710 TBC which accepts composite or s-video (and is probably one of the best composite-to-svideo converters I've ever seen). I'd avoid the cheap "stabilizers" being sold; most of them can defeat copy protection, but the image suffers quite a bit. The AVT-8710 also has a few simple but effective proc-amp controls for contrast, tint, etc.; they are remarkably clean filters for a TBC in this price class.

[aruba92]

I did a search here and I did find out that the Toshiba is not compatible with DL discs. I also have found that capturing the movies as an AVI seems to produce much better quality once burned to the DVD. Like you said find a system that works and go with it. I will probably go with the 2 disc idea. Not really an issue being that most of the time speaking for myself, I end up pausing a movie here and there for a break. Than you for your responses.