Best/Fastest way to compress mpeg2 file to DVD-R size file?

[cephraim]

Hi,

I've got DVD2One, InstantCopy, NERO and MyDVD.

Have captured some TV shows for my kids into "DVD" format with ATI's All in Wonder Card. Some of these MPEG2 files are larger than 4.7G/4.3G.

What's the fastest/easiest way to compress/transcode these files to fit on a DVD-R?

MyDVD seems to be able to do it, but only after converting the single mpeg2 file to multiple 1G IFO/BUP files, etc. I don't need chapter selection or menu capability for these discs, just the ability to fast forward.

Can DVD2One do what I want?

Thanks,
Eph

[ghoster]

well i guess if you could make them into vob files and then you could run them though dvd2one to make it fit on a dvd. what comes to mind on how to do it is to get tmpgenc go to mpeg tools and go to simple demultiplex. it will make a m2v and mp2 file once that is done. get ifoedit to make those file into vob files by authoring it. now you can use dvd2one to make it fit on a dvd.

[cephraim]

Yeah, that's what MyDVD is doing, creating the 1GB VOB files and associated IFO/BUP files.

Just seems like there should be an easier mpeg2->mpeg2 converter.

Or, am I wrong in believing that a DVD player can play an mpeg2 file directly without all the support files?

[neomaine]

cephraim,

I myself am doing this as well with some fairly great success with an older ATI AIW Radeon 32DDR.

If your not already, be sure to use MMC 8.1 for your captures. ATI has done a bang up job on this release. For my settings in ATI, I change the Full DVD setting to vbr 6000 max and 3500 avg. This gives an mpg file anywhere from 1.1 to 1.5 (usually 1.1.- 1.3) gig per hour depending on the material. And, in perfect sync.

I then use TMPGenc to cut the commercials out (not that great, still looking for something more accurate) and end up with something about 60-75% of the orignal size. Many episodes get down to 550-600meg without commercials. I'm fitting anywhere from 5-7 episodes per dvd-r this way.

[cephraim]

neomaine,

Thanks. Wasn't aware of the new MMC release. Looks like they finally got a lot of things working (like pause live TV).

re: "Full DVD"
Is that one of the new capture mode names?

I'll try your method for future recordings, thanks.

Eph

[Raen]

There zre several ways to do this, but none of them are really fast

You can run the MPG2 through TMPGEnc and use its DVD template and lower the bitrate(making the file size smaller.) And thne use MyDVD and make your dvd

Not real familair with MyDVD, if it allows you to write to hardrive and make files over 4.3 gigs you could make the dvd on the harddrive then feed it throught Instant Copy. However the dvd file has to be smaller then 9 gigs, as IC7 messes up if your VOB files go above 09.

The new version of dvd2one should also work, but if your using the 1.0 release then it limits you to stripping out one 'episode' as the first version only does 'main movie' transcoding.

How many hours you trying to get on a dvd?

[cephraim]

The show was only 1.5hrs., but, for some reason, ATI AIW captured it to about 5.8GB.

Again, it looks like MyDVD was able to convert it to multiple VOBs and associated IFO/BUP files. So, I s'pose I'll just use DVD2One to make it fit on a DVD-R now...

Thanks again.

Eph

[jpconard]

I have experimented with this as well, the sample I tried was a 2 hour MPEG-2, captured with WINDVR2, at 8500 bitrate, with audio at 224 bitrate (48KHz). Filesize 7-8GB.

Using TMPGENC to demux and IFOEDit to author took 55 min (total, don't remember the breakdown of each step).
Then of course DVD2ONE or DVDSHrink is needed to get it to fit, another 15-30 minutes.

Nero to burn another 50 minutes.

Notes: IFOEDIT has trouble authoring with captured files bitrate 9000 or more. I also left the commercials in (no cutting, just demux & author, and transcode).

Method 2 - imported MPEG2 file into NEODVD, took 80 minutes to create DVD file set, transcode, and burn (same times as above). NEO (basic) converts the audio from MP2 to PCM, where method 1 does not.

A third method is to capture straight to DVD file set (VOBs) with NEODVD, this will save you roughly 1-1.5 hours converting MPEG to DVD files (for a 2 hour video file). But unfortunately NEO cannot be scheduled to record while I am at work like WinDVR2 can.

DVDSHrink can clip (start and end) the DVD title set, without re-encoding, and is pretty fast.

Also I am having trouble cutting the commercials with TMPGENC tools, it used to work fine, now when I import the MPEG2 file, it freezes. Can still demux it, etc. Tried to re-install TMPGENC with no success. Is my MPEG-2 file too large (7-8GB)? If anybody has had this problem let me know. Technically TMPGENC tools say they should only be used with MPEG2 files created with TMPGENC.

I haven't tried playing MPEG2 on my APEX player directly, you would still have to make the file size smaller with REMPEG2 or re-encode with TMPGENC (takes too long). Then it may work on some players but not others.

The quickest way was a NEO capture direct to DVD files (VOBs), and the quality was good as well as audio sync. The drawback is no scheduling.

[cephraim]

Hi,

I've tried the TMPGEnc demux, followed by IFOEdit DVD Author method several times now and keep coming up with the same problem: audio out of sync with video.

Is there an easy solution to this?

I also noticed in one run that the video seemed to be running too fast! What causes that?

Thanks,
Eph

[cephraim]

FYI, I gave up on the TMPGenc/IFOEdit method.

Found Ulead's Movie Factory 2.0 does EXACTLY what I want all-in-one.
Even provides an automated way to add a menu with chapter selection capability.

Very nice.

Eph