AVCHD to DVD headache

[rdoty]

I'm hoping somebody on here who has a Canon video camera, which records in AVCHD format, has discovered an efficient way to create good DVD's. I've tried several softwares - all of which claim to be the perfect answer to this dilemma - but I haven't found one that does a good job. If you haven't actually worked with this oddball format you can't appreciate what a nightmare it is to get a good DVD.

Over the years I've tried Roxio, AVS, Wondershare, iOrg AVCHD converter, Windows DVD Maker and a couple of others, some paid and some free. Some were so user confusing that I just gave up and threw them away. A couple were TOO simple i.e. there was no control over the process. What I have left right now is the iOrg AVCHD converter, Wondershare DVD Creator and Windows DVD Maker.

Here's were I'm at. The iOrg AVCHD converter seems to do a pretty good job of converting to other formats e.g. .avi, .mov, .mpg and .wmv. I've converted several AVCHD files to both .wmv and .mpg. I have two files, total time 1 hour 10 minutes, that I need to run sequentially on a DVD i.e. "stitch" them together or at least just have a small blip between them. If I try do a DVD in DVD Creator it won't do the two together even though their ad implies that it will and there's a setting in options that says to play sequentially. I've wasted numerous blank DVDs trying and it's always the same - one file records and the other is just black space. I've tried the .wmv files in Windows DVD Maker - sounds like a natural, right? DVD Maker keeps saying that it's missing some kind of conversion filter. If I try to use the .mpg files in DVD Maker the videos record sequentially but the audio is out of sync. Another issue is the time that it takes to do the burn process - almost 3 hours!

BTW, I've uploaded some converted files to YouTube and they play perfectly, it's only trying to get them to DVD that's a nightmare.

Soooooo, I'm hoping to find some answers here. I just don't think it should be this hard to create a DVD. Maybe I'm using the wrong file format or maybe there's a "perfect" DVD authoring software out there that won't break my bank - or maybe is free.

[Baldrick]

Have you tried ConvertXtoDVD? Easy and not so expensive.


If you want more advanced menus and editing try TMPGEnc Authoring Works.


And what free converters have you tried? AVStoDVD and DVD Styler for example.

[rdoty]

Thanks for the leads. I did a quick look at all of them and two of them looked like they might do the trick. Also got a private lead who had very good luck with Corel Video Studio Pro X7. I'll do more in-depth review today and likely will download one (more!) today and hope that my headaches go away.
My experience, which admittedly isn't a lot, really points at two major issues...one is dealing with a video format that may be too sophisticated for most of the free and low buck authoring software - including Windows - and two, the lack of clear, comprehensible documentation. There was one, I don't remember which software it was but it was fairly pricey and loaded with every whistle and bell under the sun, but it was almost impossible to understand how to use it. I created DVD's with titles, music, editing, zoom, etc. and I could play them on my computer but they wouldn't play on any DVD player including BluRay. There were so many optional settings and no explanation for most of them that it was like playing golf blindfolded (I play golf!). Gave up on it after wasting way too many hours on it - and several on the phone with support - and threw it away. I had another, a free one, that I swear to god that the secretary or girlfriend of the developer must have written the instructions with a really bad hangover. So now I'm on a renewed quest to get this right.

[joeandmarg0]

Try the trial version of Nero,or buy an earlier one,if you can.

[rdoty]

Thanks for the suggestion - Nero was one of the softwares I used several years ago which I finally dumped. That was about five or six years ago and I see they have a new "2016" version so maybe I'll give them another look. As I recall it was one with apparently good feature set but very not very intuitive but I may be wrong.
I did download a copy of ConvertXtoDVD5 which seems to do a very good job of converting directly from AVCHD (m2ts) to DVD with one problem....it slaps a big ugly titleset/project number on the screen at the beginning which I still haven't found a way to eliminate. Again, documentation is very limited and many of the settings have no explanation. If anybody can tell me how to get rid of that ugly wart I'd appreciate it!