nero vision or DVD lab for burning my MPEG2 files

[duffbeer911]

Hi, I've got some MPEG-2 files I've captured using a USB2 capture device and USB2.0 DVR. The only editing I do it trimming the head and tail of each clip. Each clip is about 20 minutes long. I have about 3 per disk.

I've used nero express. Just importing the files. Creating a menu with 3 buttons and hitting burn. It does a re-encode and burns.

Would I be getting better results using DVDlab? The reason I ask is that i read dvdlab doesn't re-encode. Is this right?

Any advice to my procedure would be great thanks.

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, If your mpegs are DVD compliant, and the "authoring app" decides to reencode anyway, I'd hit "uninstall" for that app at once.
For "quickndirty" (not so dirty, but quick, anyway) authoring, I suggest TMPGEnc DVD Author. DVD-Lab is much more powerful, but for your needs (as stated), really overkill, and I'm not sure there's any option to even trim the video in DVD-Lab (much less reencode). That's really not a task for the authoring stage IMO (should be done before authoring, but is incorporated in TDA, and is rather convenient at times.

/Mats

[duffbeer911]

ok thanks - maybe it doesn't do a "re-enocode" but it does do a "transcode" process.

Besides ease of use and interface, would I see any difference results in the actual vision quality using a different authoring program?

[mats.hogberg]

Well, an application that doesn't reencode/transcode your carefully crafted source material will produce better end product than those which insists on reencoding/transcoding. Besides that, the difference between different authoring apps is what it allows you to do, and how much it helps you alonge the way. The visual quality of the main movie will be the same regardless of app.

/Mats

[Phantom Of The Opera]

I absolutely agree with Mats Hogberg. Forget about Nero Vision Express, or any other authoring application that insists on re-encoding your compliant MPEG2s. Use Tmpeg DVDAuthor or DVDLab instead.

[reboot]

DVDLab only insists on 48khz audio, but will transcode it if needed. Other than that, you can author ANY video aspect, with only a warning.
No guarantees that out of spec video will play on your standalone, but DVDLab will do it nicely.

[gsh]

DVD LAB can trim the end of clips, but not the beginning.