AVI to DVD woes!

[Efrain Ruiz]

Ok guys, I have followed MANY AVI2DVD guides and have become very much proficient in the use of TMPGEnc, VirtualDubMod, DVDLab and many other utlities, and still, I manage to create many coasters!

My DVD+-R/RW recorder is a Sony U18A.



I have at home a Toshiba SD1200 and a Playstation 2, which I use to test my burnt DVDs.

I have made more than 40 DVDs and some will not work on either players, while some will work on the PS2 and not the Toshiba and others the other way around.

I know that this can be in part because I bought a spindle of generic DVD -R discs just so I can learn all of this stuff, but come on, not all 50 discs can be bad! I just bought a 10-pack of Maxell DVD-R 2X discs and so far, the same situation. On some of them, the playback is jerky on the PS2 and some won't even play.

I have been burning the DVDs with Stomp's RecordNow Max, because the ones that I have successfully burned has been with it. Nero and others have yielded coasters.

I think the main problem has to be with the vast amount of options in TMPGEnc. Most of the AVIs are in PAL format and I guess the settings are very much the culprit. I have been selecting 3:2 Dropdown for the most part. Is this ok? Should I perhaps try Progressive or Interleaved?

Any ideas on what are the ideal settings for good DVD burns?

Another thing, for low resolution AVIs, is it best to encode them in the nearest DVD resolution or go for the highest at 720x480?

Also, regarding bitrates, should I encode using the same bitrate as used on the AVI or always go for the highest possible bitrate available?

Thanks for ANY help fellas!

[ZippyP.]

Most of the AVIs are in PAL format and I guess the settings are very much the culprit. I have been selecting 3:2 Dropdown for the most part. Is this ok? Should I perhaps try Progressive or Interleaved?

3:2 pulldown is used when your video is 24 fps (NTSC), don't use it for PAL. As for interlace/progressive, I just match it to the source type (I don't touch it) and have no problems.

Another thing, for low resolution AVIs, is it best to encode them in the nearest DVD resolution or go for the highest at 720x480?

It is best to go to the nearest resolution. Upsizing the resolution is not recommended as you cannot create resolution when it has been lost.

Also, regarding bitrates, should I encode using the same bitrate as used on the AVI or always go for the highest possible bitrate available?

The bitrate of the avi is not relevant to the bitrate of the mpeg. For the best quality use the highest bitrate possible to fill up the disk.

[Efrain Ruiz]

3:2 pulldown is used when your video is 24 fps (NTSC), don't use it for PAL. As for interlace/progressive, I just match it to the source type (I don't touch it) and have no problems.

Holy cow!! I have been using 3:2 pulldown on EVERYTHING I convert! Hmmmmmm So this could probably be one of my biggest mistakes when converting! So, if the video is PAL, just leave it as the source? Cool!

As for bitrates, is it possible that if I use a very high bitrate such as 5,000+, the PS2 or DVD player have problems playing it? I ask because all DVDs which don't play on either the PS2 or Toshiba, they all play correctly on my laptop. I thought that perhaps these players did not have enough juice to play such high bitrates. Or am I wrong?

[ZippyP.]

As for bitrates, is it possible that if I use a very high bitrate such as 5,000+, the PS2 or DVD player have problems playing it? I ask because all DVDs which don't play on either the PS2 or Toshiba, they all play correctly on my laptop. I thought that perhaps these players did not have enough juice to play such high bitrates. Or am I wrong?

The dvd spec allows bitrates up to 9,000 so any worthwhile dvd player should handle 5,000 easily. Your mileage may vary. Try some test encodes and see if it makes a difference.

[jimmalenko]

Ok guys, I have followed MANY AVI2DVD guides and have become very much proficient in the use of TMPGEnc, VirtualDubMod, DVDLab and many other utlities, and still, I manage to create many coasters!

You call this proficient ?

I think the main problem has to be with the vast amount of options in TMPGEnc.

I think PICNIC is the problem.

Most of the AVIs are in PAL format and I guess the settings are very much the culprit. I have been selecting 3:2 Dropdown for the most part. Is this ok?

Hell no. What guide did you get this from ? 3:2 pulldown is only for NTSC 23.97fps source. The pulldown makes it play at 29.97fps, which puts it back into DVD specs.

Another thing, for low resolution AVIs, is it best to encode them in the nearest DVD resolution or go for the highest at 720x480?

resizing up is a bad idea IMO. For the best output, go to nearest DVD resolution and make sure your bitrate is appropriate.

Also, regarding bitrates, should I encode using the same bitrate as used on the AVI or always go for the highest possible bitrate available?

You will find that codecs used in AVIs are generally more proficient that MPEG-1/2. Therefore you need a much larger bitrate in MPEG-1/2 to retain the same quality. Exactly what that bitrate needs to be is determined by the time of video you wish to put on the DVD, and the quality of the video that is acceptable to you.

As for bitrates, is it possible that if I use a very high bitrate such as 5,000+, the PS2 or DVD player have problems playing it? I ask because all DVDs which don't play on either the PS2 or Toshiba, they all play correctly on my laptop. I thought that perhaps these players did not have enough juice to play such high bitrates. Or am I wrong?

Most DVD players complain at around 10.08MBit or higher. A bitrate of 5000 will not be the cause of your PS2 or Toshiba playing them. You will find that your computer is much more tolerant on out of spec DVDs, because it sees them essentially as media files in general and can therefore adapt to a lot more different settings on playback, whereas the PS2 and other DVD players require well-defined specs.