Newbie seeking some advice, please. :)

[Gun]

High guys

I'm a newbie here, looks like a cool place with a lot of knowledgeable people

Ok, I'm hoping you guys can help me out here. I have various video file formats on my HD that I would like to convert to DVD. I've tried a few converting/burning softwares, but they either don't have good menu builders in them, or they don't support menu background music.

I'm looking for something that is:

Easy enough to use
All in one conversion/burning
Supports many file types
Supports menu background music
Has a decent menu creator. Whereas I can create various windows..maybe up to 10 and add a background picture

And last, but probably most importantly. A program that states before the converting/burning whether or not the selected files will fit on the disc. I've selected files recently that totalled to less than 4.7GB..only to find out after hours of converting that they wont fit on the disc.

Guys, I would very much appreciate your help or advice as I'm a newbie and pretty clueless to all this

Gun

[thecoalman]

Ulead DVD Workshop , you don't have to convert if the video is already compliant even if the videos have varying bitrates, resolutions or even aspects. It will handle many types of videos.

[Gun]

Thanks thecoalman

Ulead DVD Workshop looks great, but I don't have the cash to buy the full version.

Do you know of any cheeper alternatives, mate?

Gun

[yoda313]

Here is a good selection of dvd authoring tools found in the "TOOLS" section on the left <...........

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/authoring-dvd

Dvdauthorgui is a freebie you can try out. Most have a trial period so you can see which you like better.

[guns1inger]

IMO, there is no program that does all you want and does it with any real quality. None of the all-in-one converters have great encoding engines or do well with menus. There are plenty of tools to produce good DVDs with nice menus and with good quality output, but you have to learn how to encode video with a good mpeg-2 encoder, encode your audio, and author with a good authoring tool. If you want a single program to do all of this then you have to accept limited menu design, average quality conversion, and occasional (or more frequent) audio sync problems.

[GimpGuy2000]

Hi Gun,

Actually, I'm a newb here myself and everyone helped me a lot. What I ended up using was DVD Flick to create the files, Gui for DVD author to create the menus, etc... and then DVD shrink to put it into an ISO and image burn to burn it to DVD so it works on home player. Although IMG burn will put it to image so I could have skipped DVD shrink, cut out that middle man so to speak. Anyway, it worked great. I did learn as well, you must read, read, read. Even with all the help, there is understandably no way for people here to tell you everything, there is a lot of info. So truly, I am far from an expert but just letting you know what worked for a fellow newbie.

Cheers,

Paul

[guns1inger]

Imgburn will also burnt the video_ts folders to a DVD without the needless conversion to ISO.

[thecoalman]

Thanks thecoalman

Ulead DVD Workshop looks great, but I don't have the cash to buy the full version.

Do you know of any cheeper alternatives, mate?

Gun

Ulead Movie Factory. In some respects better than Workshop and much cheaper. Menus are templated which is its biggest drawback but it's the same for any application in its price range.

For your needs there probably isn't a better choice, specifically the ability to encode/author multi formats. most of the all-in-ones are crap as Gnslinger suggested but Ulead uses Mainconcept for encoding which produces very good results. Has free trial so there's no harm in giving it a try, if you have a lot of Divx clips make sure to test the results from them.

[GeorgeW]

Thanks thecoalman

Ulead DVD Workshop looks great, but I don't have the cash to buy the full version.

Do you know of any cheeper alternatives, mate?

Gun

Ulead Movie Factory. In some respects better than Workshop and much cheaper. Menus are templated which is its biggest drawback but it's the same for any application in its price range.

For your needs there probably isn't a better choice, specifically the ability to encode/author multi formats. most of the all-in-ones are crap as Gnslinger suggested but Ulead uses Mainconcept for encoding which produces very good results. Has free trial so there's no harm in giving it a try, if you have a lot of Divx clips make sure to test the results from them.

Agree with thecoalman that if DVDWS is out of your range, then DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus could be a good option. And as he said, in some respects it is better than DVDWS2.x -- even though the menus are wizard/template driven, they do offer some "semi-pro" menu features such as automated menu fade-in/out, button fly-in/out, and Scene Selection menus (also known as "Switched Menus"). Added bonus is "basic" HD-DVD Authoring (if you think you might need that at some point).

If you need more control over menu and dvd playback sequence, then DVD Architect Studio 4.0 is only $49. It allows you control over what assets go on which menus, and manual setup for how many menus you want to have. It does NOT have the automated menu features of DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus, but what you gain is having more control for menu setup/Playback sequence.

Regards,
George

[guns1inger]

While both of these options do have a good quality encoder and varying degrees of authoring capability, I suspect that they will have some severe shortcomings if your source material is anything other than DV avi or mpeg. They will not like Divx/Xvid/RMVB/MKV etc. They will not like VBR MP3 audio, and probably not OGG and other formats. They simply are not designed for handling the myriad of formats used to compress the crap out of video and audio. Very few products capable of producing quality output are.

If your source is DV avi from your camcorder, then seriously consider these options.

If your source is a variety of downloaded materials in a number of formats then either accept mediocrity, or learn how to use the best tools for each stage to wring the most that you can from often substandard source material.

[GeorgeW]

While both of these options do have a good quality encoder and varying degrees of authoring capability, I suspect that they will have some severe shortcomings if your source material is anything other than DV avi or mpeg. They will not like Divx/Xvid/RMVB/MKV etc. They will not like VBR MP3 audio, and probably not OGG and other formats. They simply are not designed for handling the myriad of formats used to compress the crap out of video and audio. Very few products capable of producing quality output are.

If your source is DV avi from your camcorder, then seriously consider these options.

If your source is a variety of downloaded materials in a number of formats then either accept mediocrity, or learn how to use the best tools for each stage to wring the most that you can from often substandard source material.

guns1inger has a very valid point -- on the Ulead forums, alot of issues stem from the use of xVid/DivX source videos (and probably from other source types). MF6+ does have DivX Decode/Encode options -- but due to various "mixes" of codecs (or even different versions of the same codec), you can't be sure if it will handle all varieties of source material. DVDA Studio is probably more restrictive regarding source codecs -- luckily, they both have Trials, so you can at least see if your material will work with them...

Regards,
George

[Gun]

Hi again, guys.

Big thanks for all the help and advice.

I DL'd the trial version of DVD Workshop 2 last night. I'm going to have a play around with it, to become familiar with how these programs work. Then, once I've learned some techniques, I'll go for one of the cheeper options you guys recommend.

Guys, you know when you create chapters that will be shown in the menu. Can I take a snapshot anywhere in a given chapter, then use this snapshot for the menu picture?

Gun

[thecoalman]

Then, once I've learned some techniques, I'll go for one of the cheeper options you guys recommend.

You may want to consider using the cheaper ones first, they are cheaper for a reason such as less features.

[GeorgeW]

Guys, you know when you create chapters that will be shown in the menu. Can I take a snapshot anywhere in a given chapter, then use this snapshot for the menu picture?

DVDWS2.x -- in the EDIT step, move the slider anywhere along the timeline for the video Title. Then down the right-hand side (where the chapter thumbnails are), rt-click on a chapter, and use Set Chapter Thumbnail

If you do save off a snapshot (or want to use a picture for the chapter thumbnail), just drag-and-drop the image onto the thumbnail (in the MENU step).

Regards,
George

[Gun]

Cheers GeorgeW

Ok, I'm in the middle of converting/burning 4 files to DVD using DVDWS2.

The Disc Templates setting is: Good Quality (Approx 90mins per DVD). I had to change to this from High Quality, as the original required / Available disc space was 4.7GB / 4.4GB.

Now, the Required / Available disc space is: 2.8GB / 4.4GB.

At the moment it is 1/3 of the way to converting the 3rd file, yet the elapsed overall time is 03:03.

Guys, Is this normal?...it seems to be taking ages

[Richard_G]

At the moment it is 1/3 of the way to converting the 3rd file, yet the elapsed overall time is 03:03.

Guys, Is this normal?...it seems to be taking ages :o

Yes. Depending on the format of your original files, it can take hours. If you find an encoder that is faster, chances are the quality won't be as good. Like anything, the longer you spend at it, the better then end result and software is no different. I usually set it to run overnight with the options of to burn to disc and create an iso file on the hard drive.

[Gun]

Total converting/burning time was 06:05:35.

The quality seems pretty good and the menu background music is a cool addition. Also, I like how the menu windows play for a certain time, didn't know you could do this.

Overall I'm happy with the outcome..even though it took a lifetime Next time, I'll take your advice Richard and set it away during the night.

Oh yeah, one last thing...just a few questions. Originally, the file size was 4.7GB (HQ), I reduced it to Good Quality (2.8GB) so as to fit on the disc. After I had done this, I realised I could've fitted more on the disc, but was unsure whether I could go back and do this, so I went ahead anyways. Guys, Is there a way of keeping track of the final file size (in good quality mode), before I come to the 'Burn Project To Disc Screen'?

Also, when creating the menu..can I add my own text in the middle of the screen..something like 'My DVD'?

Cheers

Kev

Edit: LOL, I just realised in my first post I spelt Hi as High...DOH!

[thecoalman]

Total converting/burning time was 06:05:35.

Only way to make that faster is with faster CPU.

but was unsure whether I could go back and do this, so I went ahead anyways.

You can go back and change anything you want at any time, you can even save it as project file and open it later.

Guys, Is there a way of keeping track of the final file size (in good quality mode), before I come to the 'Burn Project To Disc Screen'?

Not sure if DVDWS2 has the fit to disc option, I'm using an older version and I know that doesn't have it. Check in the manual. If not you can use the bitrate calculator here: https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm Then set a custom bitrate.

Also, when creating the menu..can I add my own text in the middle of the screen..something like 'My DVD'?

You can add anything you want, most consumer authoring applications are templated. DVDWS has templates but you can start with a clean slate if you want. Besides adding text you can import graphics or even use video as backgrounds or buttons. The directions for DVDWS2 may be slightly different but to add text switch to menu on the top, look to the left and you should see a tab that says "text". Gee who would of thought of that.. :P Click the tab then Click the preview pane and type away. Check the manual.

You keep using DVDWS you aren't going to want to downgrade when the trial runs out.

[MsJoeCool]

I think what I'm doing is similar to this, but I'd like to make sure before I start. I have a DVD from a live performance. I want to create chapters and upload a chapter to MySpace. Are the softwares and steps already outlined what I should attempt?

Thank you for your help!