IFO, BUP, MPEG2 and Burning. Sorting it out

[tmh]

Hard to believe I keep asking beginner questions when I've been doing this stuff for over 2 years now, but I seem to have short-cut a bit and just get the projects done without knowing how some of steps really work. now I'm "back into it" and have another basic, but hard to follow topic to clear up. I just re-read the "What is DVD" section but I still don't know what actually needs to go on the DVD.

So far, I've used Nero Express as my DVD burning tool with pretty good results. however, I really don't know what Nero does with which files. When Nero allows me to "add files", I just select all the output files from the Authoring step. These appear to be IFO, BUP and MPEG2 files (is BUP and MPEG2 the same thing?) a few of each. Now, today I was reading about a tool called ImgBurn that users say is great for burning ISO files. Is this different than what I'm doing in Nero? What IS an ISO file for?

My projects are all camcorder DV footage and stills, so maybe this is quite different than someone copying a DVD or using a different process. I'd like just a quick bit of help understanding the burn aspect. Thanks.

[Bjs]

Dvd = folders

Audio_ts
Video_ts (ifo's , bup's , vob's here)

Bup is copy of ifo (a backup incase)

Imageburn is dvd decrypter in disguise , that's all it is ...

Imagetool's is another , simple to use dvd burning tool , use nero's api to burn .

Ghostburn : free

1: Unique api
2: Restricted to 4.3gig project's
3: Burn's all iso type's , including bootable's .

Avs disc creator : free
Appear's to have same function's as ghostburn
Can burn iso's without finalization ... come's in handy .
Dosent suppot bootable iso's
Overview

AVS Disc Creator is a compact and fully functional application that lets the user record CD, DVD and new generation Blu-Ray discs.

The software has a very easy-to-use and understandable interface that lets you create your own data discs effortlessly in just several mouse clicks.

AVS Disc Creator supports writing to the following disc types:

CD-R, CD-RW, CD-RW High Speed, DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-RAM, BD-R, BD-RE, BD DoubleLayer-R, BD DoubleLayer-RE

System Requirements

Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP/2003 operating system (all of the last updates installed are recommended);

Pentium III 800 MHz or higher;

128 MB RAM;

CD-RW, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, DVD-R/RW/DL, DVD+R/RW/DL, DVD-RAM, BD-R/RE drive with 1394, USB2.0, ATAPI, SCSI, or CardBus interface;

At least 10 megabytes of free hard disk space; up to 100 Gb to create an ISO-image of a four-layer Blu-Ray disc;

Enabling the DMA mode is recommended for proper use;

Administrative privileges are required for installation.

http://www.avsmedia.com/

[tmh]

boy, I WISH I knew what any of that meant! Thanks as always for trying to help, but that may have confused me even more. What file is the actual video? It's not the IFO I'd assume because that's a tiny file. The mpeg2 file seems to me to be the video file, right?

Also, I'm not sure if you're saying I'd use something like Imgburn AND NERO Express to burn or one or the other. Also, are they for different situations? Have folks found better burn success with one vs. the other?

[LloydAZ]

boy, I WISH I knew what any of that meant! Thanks as always for trying to help, but that may have confused me even more. What file is the actual video? It's not the IFO I'd assume because that's a tiny file. The mpeg2 file seems to me to be the video file, right?

Also, I'm not sure if you're saying I'd use something like Imgburn AND NERO Express to burn or one or the other. Also, are they for different situations? Have folks found better burn success with one vs. the other?

The video, audio, and subtitles are contained in the various VOB files. IFO contains the "InFOrmation" about the DVD (Chapter points, which audio and subtitle stream is which, etc...) The BUP is a backup of the IFO file.

Using the DVD-Video template in Nero Burning ROM will work. Just drag all of the files created in the authoring stage into the VIDEO_TS folder and burn away. Though there are some people out here that swear that Nero doesn't write the DVD properly, I've never had a problem with it.

Alternatively, and what I've been doing lately, is after authoring the DVD, use IMGTool Classic to create an ISO image of the directory on the hard drive that your authored DVD resides in. Then use IMGBurn to burn the imaged DVD onto a DVD disc.

You can think of an ISO image as a big ZIP file (though it doesn't actually compress the data) that contains all of the authored DVD files. You can even use various tools to mount an ISO image and make it appear as an actual drive on your system and play back your DVD from it.

I hope this clears things up a bit.

[BobK]

Imageburn is dvd decrypter in disguise , that's all it is ...

Except of course, that Imgburn doesn't decrypt anything, or rip, or read disks. It only burns. But other than that, it's the same.

Imagetool's is another , simple to use dvd burning tool.

Except of course, that Imgtool only creates ISO files from authored DVD files and doesn't actually burn anything, so technically it wouldn't be counted as a "burning tool".

[tmh]

You can think of an ISO image as a big ZIP file (though it doesn't actually compress the data) that contains all of the authored DVD files. You can even use various tools to mount an ISO image and make it appear as an actual drive on your system and play back your DVD from it.

I hope this clears things up a bit.

Yes, that helped a lot. thanks.

So, an ISO "image" is a ONE file that has the info from all the authored files in it? If I burn the ISO to a disc does it play in a stand alone player just like the burned Authored files? Is there plusses and negs to one vs. the other? How 'bout HD space?

[jimmalenko]

You can either load all the files from the authored VIDEO_TS directory thru Nero (or other burning software) into a corresponding VIDEO_TS directory on the burnt disc or you can create an ISO image of the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders and then just burn that.

In the end the output is eactly the same - a burnt disc with an AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folder on it. It's just two different paths post-authoring to get to the same point.

[tmh]

OK. That's pretty clear to me now. Thanks a ton guys.