Experimenting with DVDAuthorgui

[AlecWest]

All I see are rave reviews for this utility:

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDAuthorgui

But, experimenting with it, I get nowhere fast. It recognizes the m1v and mp2 files. But, when I click the "Author DVD" button and enter a folder name, I get this:



I don't understand what it means by "reinstall." There is no "installer" for this utility. Anybody have any clues to what's going on here?

[liquid217]

You have the 'gui only' version, which is used to upgrade the package as updates are made. Get the full version from the link in my signature.

[daveoggy]

You have probably downloaded the wrong distrobution i.e. the 'upgrade' rather than the whole package. Check in the DVDAuthor folder for a subfolder called 'bin' (I think) with lots of other executables in.

In that case redownload and extract paying more attention to the download description

[daveoggy]

Damn Liquid that was some fast posting

[AlecWest]

You have the 'gui only' version, which is used to upgrade the package as updates are made. Get the full version from the link in my signature.

Nope ... downloaded the whole enchilada (the top link on their download page):



. Now what?

[daveoggy]

Where and how have you unpacked this program. I'm not sure if it make much difference but something might jump out as wrong. I simply right click and unpack with Winrar onto my desktop into deafault folder and it always works fine.

[liquid217]

make sure you are extracting all of the contents of the package (including the 'bin' folder)

if nothing else, try this installer
http://home.arcor.de/neroplugins/other_progs/dvdauthorgui/

[AlecWest]

Where and how have you unpacked this program. I'm not sure if it make much difference but something might jump out as wrong. I simply right click and unpack with Winrar onto my desktop into deafault folder and it always works fine.

I created a folder named DVDauthor and used Unrar to open the RAR file into that folder.

[daveoggy]

Now this might sound stupid but try unpacking directly into a folder on the root of your C drive. you may have something in your existing path which DVDAuthor doesn't like. Make sure the DVDAuthor executable is in that first folder.

Hmmm. Unrar, never used that, is it a command line util? If so there may be a switch to make the program recreate subdirectories. (Thinking like the -d switch in pkunzip)

[AlecWest]

if nothing else, try this installer
http://home.arcor.de/neroplugins/other_progs/dvdauthorgui/

That worked ... but ... it keeps giving me warnings about the MP2 file ... saying I need to remultiplex it. Odd ... I've already burned a DVD with another utility using the same MP2 file and it was fine.

[daveoggy]

MP2 files are a bitch to do right!!! In my experience you absolutly MUST use toolame.exe and besweet GUI. Also never go from AC3 directly to MP2 always encode like this:

Non-MP2 format ---> WAV Stereo (BeSweet) Then

If required Wav Stereo ---> Wav Stereo 48KHz (SSRC) Then

Wav Stero 48Khz ---> MP2 (Toolame)

Trying to do too many steps at once seems to cause problems.

[daveoggy]

Hold on a sec! Are refearing to the verbose stuff that DVDAuthor spits out? I was worried about his at first but now assume that whatever problem it's detecting, it's fixing, as everything I've ever done works 100%

[AlecWest]

MP2 files are a bitch to do right!!! In my experience you absolutly MUST use toolame.exe and besweet GUI. Also never go from AC3 directly to MP2 always encode like this:

Non-MP2 format ---> WAV Stereo (BeSweet) Then

If required Wav Stereo ---> Wav Stereo 48KHz (SSRC) Then

Wav Stero 48Khz ---> MP2 (Toolame)

Trying to do too many steps at once seems to cause problems.

I used a variation of the above. First, I loaded the MPEG1 file into VDub. Then, I chose "Save WAV." Then, I used a program I have called Total Recorder to change it to a 48khz WAV. Then, using tooLame, I created a 48/224 MP2 file. Then, I want back to DVDAuthorgui and ran the puppy again. Didn't get any error messages this time. But ...

It created two directories ... VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS. The VIDEO_TS has these files in it:



But, the AUDIO_TS directory is empty. Something tells me that's not a good thing.

[liquid217]

that is perfectly normal. audio_ts is reserved for DVD-A

[AlecWest]

that is perfectly normal. audio_ts is reserved for DVD-A

Well, hehe, I am on a learning curve here. So, if I'm understanding correctly, the ONLY time there'd be files in the AUDIO_TS directory would be if I was creating an "audio DVD." Correct?

In any case, DVDAuthorgui is now in my arsenal (grin). While I have other capture software/hardware coming ... and other editing tools ... part of what I want to do is "convert" some of my old VCDs into DVDs. Reason? In my first experiment in doing this (using ArcSoft ShowBiz), I noticed that the quality of the DVD was better than the VCD was on the same player. And, I suspect the reason for this is because my player probably grudgingly plays VCDs (with video/audio artifacts in tow). But reburned to a DVD, my player produces a very good quality considering the MPEG1 source ... with no audio clicks/pops and no video "smearing" as seen when playing the VCD.

[liquid217]

that is perfectly normal. audio_ts is reserved for DVD-A

Well, hehe, I am on a learning curve here. So, if I'm understanding correctly, the ONLY time there'd be files in the AUDIO_TS directory would be if I was creating an "audio DVD." Correct?

That is correct, although the audio_ts folder might be used for some other purpose than just for DVD Audio.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#struct

[daveoggy]

I'm glad your sorted now. I will have to investigate the tools you used to create your MP2 I've never heard of them.

[AlecWest]

I'm glad your sorted now. I will have to investigate the tools you used to create your MP2 I've never heard of them.

By "VDub" I mean VirtualDub. Total Recorder has been around for years. I'm on v4.2 right now ... v5 is now available from http://HighCriteria.com for just under $12. It's primary function is to capture anything going through a sound card and save it as a WAV file. But, it does a certain amount of cross-conversion between audio formats (not MP2, though).

I use it primarily to capture telephone interviews I do from time to time using a special hookup I got at Radio Shack (no, not a suction cup, hehe) ... then transcribe the interviews for magazines. But, I've found a lot of other neat things to do with it.