Music DVD?

[The Bog]

I would like to put a ton of MP3 music on a dvd playable by a standalone car DVD player.

My DVD player reads a CD with MP3's ok , but when I attempt to play a DVD with mp3's, it says that its not able to read it.

I thought I would try to create a menu and somehow link each song to play after the other.

Has anyone tried to author a music DVD with no video files? Is this possible?

Any other thoughts or solutions to get my DVD player to read my music. I would love to have all my music on one disc

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

Not many dvd player supports "dvd-mp3"
www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers

You must convert your audio to mpeg1 or ac3 or pcm(dvd-video standard) or else it wont work. Some dvd authoring software can help you do it, like for example add the audio and add a still picture to it. I don't know any tool that handle it very easy.

[Sartori]

It is possible but it`s a bit of hard work , I can tell you . This guide will give you a music vcd , which will hold about 8 - 10 albums . To make a music DVD change the resolutions to a DVD compliant one and the audio to 48khz and PAL resolutions to NTSC wherever you need to.

1. Using TMPGenc - cancel the Wizard (for some reason it won`t work with that , don`t know why) .
2.In the normal Video Source box , load up a picture , a black screen , white screen , pic of the group , album cover pic or whatever (in jpg or bmp form) - TMPGenc will accept that as the video source
3.Load up the Audio Source with a wav of your file (is there a way to make it accept direct mp3s ?) . The best way here would be to rip your OWN cds to a load of wavs (instead of mp3s) onto your hd . Make a note from the ripper program of the lengths of each track.
4.In TMPGenc Settings:
a.SIZE : change size back to 352 x 288 (240) because it will have changed to the size of the picture you loaded.
b.ASPECT RATIO : isnt important if you are using a black screen really but set it to whatever you normally set your vcds to if using pictures , say 4:3 625 Line (PAL) or NTSC equivalent .
c.FRAMERATE - important - set it to 25fps for PAL and 30(?)fps for PAL - this sets compliance for the mpeg .
d.BITRATE - now here is the cut , if using black screen I set it to whatever my audio bitrate is going to be , say 128kps (remember the audio is through your tv not a hi-fi) . If using a picture er... I just add on a bit more , say up to 200kps , the amount depends on the size and complexity of the picture .
e.MOTION SEARCH PRECISION : lowest

on the audio tab of the settings

f.SAMPLING FREQUENCY : 44100 for VCD or 48000 for DVD
g.BITRATE : whatever you want really , I set mine to 128 or 160 kps , a matter of personal choice .
h.AUDIO EDIT : if your wav doesn`t start smoothly , then just fade it in or out .

and on the system tab of the settings

i.STREAM TYPE : MPEG-1 Video CD (non-standard) for vcd or MPEG-2 SuperVideo CD (VBR) for DVD .

5.encode your file , do say a whole albums worth .
6.go into TMPGEnc , File menu and select Video Tools , then select Merge and Cut tab
7.set type to whatever you set it to in STREAM TYPE above , and with the ADD button , add in all the tracks to make a list .
8.select a location and filename for the output file , all the files are now merged into one big one .

If are making a black background / one background , you could join the wavs together for each album and then do one encode , which is quicker , if you are making individual pics then use above for each and then join at end .

9.I use DVD Movie Factory (no hard work for me) and each album is loaded as one video file , go to the second screen - the ADD SCENE selection .
a.SELECT TITLE/TRACK : select each video file in turn and then go throught the video , clicking ADD>> at the start of each song (use the times you wrote down earlier on and a bit of maths or use the play button to determine start times).
b.this will give you chapter points at the start of each song
c.do step a. for each video file/album mpeg
d.set background pic for disc and set Master video names ie album name , and each track name on the sub-screens for each album - on the SELECT MENU/TEMPLATE screen in the SELECT TITLE/TRACK option at the top of the screen
e. burn disc - this will give you a front screen of a list of all the albums , after you select one you`ll be allowed to choose an individual track from the album .

10.this is all dependant on your DVD player as to whether certain functions will work/be allowed - mine does .

Question Section:

Why join the files?
Some DVD players/software wont play the next track after the first finishes , so you would have to manually select the next , by making it one big file , the next track will play automatically

What About Nero?
Nero plays the next video file automatically but I dont know much about it (just used a trial and I wasn`t impressed)in terms of menus , chapters etc .
Couldn`t it be easier?
Use ordinary CDs and walk over to the DVD player and change them or shout to wife to do it for you - probably this will only work once at best.

Why Movie Factory?
It makes lovely vcds and svcds with great menus and chapters , I use TMPGenc to encode , and MF to make the disc . I assume as its called DVD MF it will make DVDs and not have to mess around making VObs and all the stuff people do with freeware tools to avoid buying something .

Couldn`t I use prog X or prog Y ?
Try it and post back

There are other ways , I`m sure , this is just how I did it .

Its now 3 o`clock in the morning , I`ll correct typos again because I`m knackered.

Sartori