I-Author

[razmalaidogg]

Does anyone know how to obtain the I-author software? I am interested in using it with DVD2SVCD but I can't seem to locate it.

Thanks!

[adam]

The web site for the company that makes it is http://www.enreach.com. They don't have I-Author listed anywhere on there so if you are interested in purchasing it then e-mail them and ask them about it.

[homerpez]

I know this really isn't the best place to ask, but since the topic is entitled "I-Author"...

I'm wondering if it has the ability to do "off-spec" SVCD's? I'm interested since when I use NERO, I get no FF/RW or GOTO, when I use TSCV, VCDImager, even a custom XML script, I cet track chop-offs on multi-track discs. Supposedly I-Author has none of these defects.

I'm basically just interested in making a "plain" SVCD (no menu, just Next/Prev, FF, RW, GOTO), 5-8 movies on 1 CD as a multi-track.

They are VBR (typically in the 880 to 2520 bitrate range), and the audio is 128k/sec. Otherwise, the resolution is typical NTSC SVCD (480x480).

Should it work, or no?

[adam]

Well the settings you are proposing dont sound off spec at all but regardless I-Author itself works very well for creating compliant svcds and also handles non-compliant svcds as long as the resolution isnt too off spec. That is the one thing it seems to be strict about. You can mix and match formats, for example a svcd at 352x240 but nothing completely non-standard.

The multiplexor itself does not deal with off spec material well though. It also doesnt even consider the fact that media exists that is larger than 74 mins, I-Author is just that old. So your best bet is to multiplex in bbmpeg instead and use mpgxmps (just do a search) to create an I-Author compatible mps file. I always use this method and I use I-Author to create all svcds that I make and I have never had any problems with it at all. Even though it does have some bugs I still believe that I-Author is the absolute best authoring program for both compliant as well as off spec svcds, and maybe even vcds for that matter.

And to address your specific concerns...I have never experienced track cut offs and the ff, rw, next previous and goto always work perfectly and I have tested them on numerous dvd players.

[homerpez]

I've been able to multiplex the movies correctly with it, luckily, but I still run across the 74 min error... at least I think...

Any time I add even 2 or 3 movies, it says "disk will be X bytes over available space", X meaning whatever size the MPEG's take up! So, on my 80-min disc, over 805,000 something were "over the limit" and it would not make the disc. This makes I-Author useless to me.

Oh, well... I guess I'll continue to wrestle with VCDImager, GUI's...

[adam]

There is a simple patch which eliminates the 74 min barrier for both the multiplexor and the program itself. You should be able to find it on the internet but if not let me know and I'll send it to you.