from capture to burn ... making DVD with freeware

[lordsmurf]

I've been playing with this concept for a while now. What do you find to be the best method for capturing, encoding, editing, authoring, and burning... all for FREE with legitimate FREEWARE.

No trials, no shareware ... FREEWARE or FREE SOFTWARE only.

I've not been able to find a perfect method yet.

CAPTURE:
MPEG2 ENCODER:
AUDIO CONVERSION: BeSweet,
EDITING: TMPGENC,
AUTHORING: DVDAuthorGUI
BURNING:

Let's put together a good method. I know this is asked often.

Even if we can really afford software, this is the fun part of the hobby: doing things just because we can. 8)

The card being used is the $10 AVerMedia card, which took up the whole budget.

[disturbed1]

To capture - Free VCR (my fav) or Virtual Dub.

If you capture to avi, QuEnc is a good mpeg2 encoder with 2pass vbr. Based on ffmpeg.

You can also edit (AVI) with Virtual DUB, or AVIUtilities (VFAPI based app), avisynth.

Burning - DVDAuthorGUI can out put an iso file, then burn with DVD Decrypter (or burn4free). Or use imgtools to create the img file, then DVD Decrypter to burn

[lordsmurf]

If you capture to avi, QuEnc is a good mpeg2 encoder with 2pass vbr. Based on ffmpeg.

Interesting.
Now, what about the script to go with it?
I'm not good at those.
Need help there.

[disturbed1]

AVSedit

Get it from www.avisynth.org

QuEnc only works with YV12, you if you captured to YUY2, need to add

converttoyv12(interlaced=true) at the end of the script.

If you script comes out looking funky (blue and grey no other colors) put

swapuv()

in it to fix the colors.


AVSEdit is pretty slick, gives you a list of filters installed in you plugin directory, double click on a filter, and it adds it to the script, highlight the filter, and the parameters come up on an editable plane on the left. BUT, I did notice 1 or filters didn't have the right parameters, but these weren't the "common" ones everyone uses.

[BrainStorm69]

As far as capturing goes, I'm pretty satisfied with Virtual VCR right now when I capture using my AverTV Stereo using the BTwincap drivers.

[housepig]

for capture, I'd go with Virtual VCR - got almost as good results with that as I do with iuVCR.

for free burning, you can go the ImgTool -> Decrypter route.

but how often do people get burners without some sort of burning software, even OEM drives?

[liquid217]

just for reference, dvdauthorgui uses the exact same tool used in imgtools classic (mkisofs.exe) to generate the iso. (although using imgtools classic is handy if you want to verify the dvd set before creating the image)

[burnman99]

Capture: Amcap, Virtualdub, FreeVCR, VirtualVCR
Convert: FlaskMpeg will convert both video & audio to DVD
Editing: Tmpgenc, Zwei-Stein is an interesting free video editor, AviSynth2
Still Editing: The Gimp, or Serif Photo Tools 5.5
Authoring: DVDAuthorGUI or DVDStyler although i think only the former allows for motion menus, but not sure.
Burning: various including Burnatonce & Deepburner

Hope this helps.

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[burnman99]

actually flaskmpeg will not convert avi to mpeg. My bad. However quenc will do video & avi2mpeg from bbmpeg will do the trick too.
I will try to make a 2 menu dvd w/chapters and an intro this weekend with all freewre.

Wish me luck!

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[lordsmurf]

I want to try all this too soon. For fun, mostly.

[FOO]

My only weak link in all of this is the MPEG2 encoder.
I tried them all (that I was aware of) a long time ago and they were all terrible. Has bbmpeg improved ?
I'll have to try quenc and see how it does.

[FOO]

QuEnc Initial results look surprisingly good compared
to TMPGenc @ 4000kbps 2pass vbr.
I can't really tell the difference. I need to try it with a
better source

[burnman99]

Okay Folks, have completed the mission! here are the tools i used:

Virtualdub 1.5.10
Avisynth 2.5.5
Huffy Codec 2.1.1 (2.2.0 doesn't work for me)
Quenc .51 (AVI to M2V)
FFMPEGUI 0.3 (AVI to AC3 or MP2)
DVDAuthorGUI 0.984
Burnatonce 0.995 (You may substitute any ISO or other freeware burner here)

you may download the results at http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/rogergray1964

Be advised it is 44 files of a self-extracting zip (Only way Yahoo would take it)

extract this and it's a VIDEO_TS folder ready for burning to DVD/MiniDVD
i also included the 2 Menu AVS files that were used for the motion menus.

Let me know what you think!

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[nelson133]

If you are using one of the DV import boxes, WinDV, DVIO, or the new Stoik Capture program weork very well and are free. The Stoik lets you use any one of a number of codecs for capture and in the limited time i have uaed it, I've been pleased with it. Nyah Levi

[Ejoc]

I like this list of tools. I tried em out, and was quite happy with QuEnc. My only problem is with ffmpeggui. If I use AVISynth to cut out parts of the movie, my audio will be off, unless I run the .avs thru Virtualdub and save out the .wav, then encode that (extra step and HDD space).

Now I can encode everything, but DVDAuthorGUI wont let me cut out scenes like TMPGEncDVD can.

Basicly, is there free software to allow me to:
1) convert audio from a .avs to .AC3
2) convert audio from a .avs to .mp2

[burnman99]

actually ffmpegui will read avs files. However you have to physically type in the name of the file in the box to get it to work. But it does work!

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[Ejoc]

When I actually try to do the conversion it gives an error:

[burnman99]

Hey Ejoc, I'm having problems getting it to work now. I'm positive it did work before, but can't remember how. Am checking it out!

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[choirislife923]

i dont know about free, but for low budget, try your nearest used software/bookstore or yard sales. i found a copy of adobe premiere pro on sale for $25. i almost fainted, lol.

in case you are still wondering, yes i snatched it off the shelf. the catch was the disc was somewhat scratched up...no problem! DVD Doctor to the rescue !