MyDVD / TMPGenc

[marc_fl]

Hi All -

Brand new to DVD burning and I'm trying to sort through everything I'm reading... (I think I'm having an information overload! lol)

I have MyDVD LE 5.2 that came w/ my Sony DRU 530 burner.

I used MyDVD to burn my first random test movie - it was orginally in DiVX format - about 90 mins long. MyDVD seemed to do everything automatically for me as far as encoding it to the proper DVD format for video and audio. I edited out some of the movie so it would fit on the DVD (600MB DiVX = 4.2+++ GIG DVD )

The process was pretty simple and straightforward -

My question is - what benefit will I get if I use TMPGenc?? From all I've read, the only thing I can see is that I may be able to encode at a lower bit rate (believe MyDVD uses 8000?) - to fit more video on one DVD... But won't that lower my pic quality??

Also - if I use TMPGenc, I understand that I will have to do audio separate from video?? (As opposed to having MyDVD do both).

Finally - if I do use TMPGenc - would I want to EDIT first (using MyDVD or Windows Movie Maker2) --> then encoded with TMPGenc ----> then author w/ MyDVD and burn w/ MyDVD??

I believe I read somewhere that if I encode w/ TMPGenc first and THEN try to edit w/ MyDVD, it will get RE-ENCODED by MyDVD - making the file size grow...

Is any of this correct? Or do I need to wait 2 weeks and re-read everything on this site again..

Thanks for any help!

[ZippyP.]

I haven't used MyDVD to compare but...

TMPGEnc has great flexibility, as you already discovered regarding the bitrate. It allows better control so that you can fine tune your output and the quality is first rate. You can set the resolution to any one of the DVD standards and you can vary the bitrate and encoding method as you wish. Yes, lowering the bitrate can reduce quality if it is reduced too much, but at 8,000 you have lots of room before you start to notice any difference.

TMPGEnc will encode your audio to MP2 format if that is what you want, DVD standard is AC3 and LPCM audio as well. TMPGEnc allows "editting" before encoding through the source range function. Mark your start and end points and you can delete any sections that you don't want, then encode only the parts that you want to keep.

Of course after using TMPGEnc you will need TMPGEnc DVD Author to author your mpeg and burn to disk. (You may be able to author and burn with MyDVD.)