Converting AVI to DVD (VOB files) - what tool do I want?

[Ronaldus]

I bought a camcorder which does analog AV capture and came with a free Pinnacle Studio 8. I bought a cheap firewire card, and using Pinnacle I've had no problem capturing good quality AVI files. However, Pinnacle Studio's results from encoding the AVI to DVD are always unsatisfactory to me. First, it wastes about 1 GB on LPCM audio tracks, and if I select MPEG1 audio encoding it wastes about 500 MB. The average movie's DD5.1 audio is around 300 MB, and I just have simple 2.0 sound! Plus, Pinnacle does not fill up the DVD as full as it could be in "Automatic" mode. It seems to use a fixed bit rate calculated too conservatively. I don't know how to calculate the right rate on my own, but I had hoped it would figure it out closer than wasting about 150 MB on every DVD.

I want a tool to convert AVI to VOB files, but tools like AVI2SVCD only mention VCD and SVCD -- not DVD. Will those do what I want? TMPGEnc is mentioned a lot, but I'm unclear if I need the "DVD Author" version for $70 or if the plain "TMPGEnc" will work. What tool(s) do I need and are there any guides on making ready to burn VOBs from AVIs? (I couldn't find any)

I'm hoping a simple and cheap tool exists which will take my AVI files, convert the audio into DD2.0 around 200 MB in size and convert the video into VOB files using a variable or fixed bit rate that nearly fills the DVD? Sure, it would be nice to have Pinnacle Studio's editing and menu generation features too, but I could get by with just the encoding for now.

I have a couple other questions: (1) I have an AVI file I want to get rid of the audio track while converting to VOB/DVD -- where should I look to learn how to do that? (2) My camcorder has a 12 bit and 16 bit audio mode -- should that setting have any impact on the quality of the audio captured in my AVIs? I can't hear any difference, so am I wasting space using 16 bit?

[donpedro]

(1) I have an AVI file I want to get rid of the audio track while converting to VOB/DVD -- where should I look to learn how to do that?

What do you mean by this ? How can you remove sound from video in PS8 ?

DD2.0 ? Do you mean 2 channel AC-3 ? It is not cheap to get that one, I believe. Even worse to get DVD Authoring tool that understand AC-3.

[FulciLives]

I want a tool to convert AVI to VOB files, but tools like AVI2SVCD only mention VCD and SVCD -- not DVD. Will those do what I want? TMPGEnc is mentioned a lot, but I'm unclear if I need the "DVD Author" version for $70 or if the plain "TMPGEnc" will work. What tool(s) do I need and are there any guides on making ready to burn VOBs from AVIs? (I couldn't find any)

Well TMPGEnc is also known as TMPGEnc Plus with the first one being a reference to the "trail" version and the later being a reference to the "full" version though must of us here just call it TMPGEnc even though we really mean the "full" version which must be bought.

TMPGEnc DVD Author is a completely different program.

Basically TMPGEnc is an MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoder that can do MP2 audio or LPCM (aka WAV) audio. TMPGEnc DVD Author is just an authoring program to create a DVD but you must "feed" it proper DVD complaint video and audio and that is what TMPGEnc is for (since it will convert the AVI to MPEG-2 DVD complaint format).

When you convert your AVI file with TMPGEnc you can do MP2 audio or LPCM WAV audio or you can JUST do the VIDEO and NO AUDIO.

Many people prefer to use another tool for the AUDIO such as BeSweet which can convert the audio in the AVI into a 2.0 AC-3 file which is the way to go as the quality is nearly as good as LPCM but at a much smaller size as well as being more compatable than MP2 audio.

My camcorder has a 12 bit and 16 bit audio mode -- should that setting have any impact on the quality of the audio captured in my AVIs? I can't hear any difference, so am I wasting space using 16 bit?

You should always use 16-bit 48k stereo audio. This is the format that DVD uses. If yo use 16-bit 44.1k audio or 12-bit audio then it has to be converted by means of "sampling" and quality will be lost.

Hope this helps.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[donpedro]

Many people prefer to use another tool for the AUDIO such as BeSweet which can convert the audio in the AVI into a 2.0 AC-3 file which is the way to go as the quality is nearly as good as LPCM but at a much smaller size as well as being more compatable than MP2 audio.

Hmm... so is this conversion to AC-3 sound completely free ??? No need to buy codec ? Thanks.

[FulciLives]

Many people prefer to use another tool for the AUDIO such as BeSweet which can convert the audio in the AVI into a 2.0 AC-3 file which is the way to go as the quality is nearly as good as LPCM but at a much smaller size as well as being more compatable than MP2 audio.

Hmm... so is this conversion to AC-3 sound completely free ??? No need to buy codec ? Thanks.

Yes BeSweet is free and is an audio encoder that can do many different formats including AC-3 audio.

It seems to convert to AC-3 best when you feed it a WAV file as opposed to an MP3 or MP2 etc.

However since it is free (you knew this was comming right?) it is not 100% great because some DVD players do not like 2.0 AC-3 audio as created by BeSweet. From my experiences and readings though there seem to be VERY few DVD players that have such problems with Pioneer models being the biggest slice of that pie (i.e., the players that DO have trouble).

Also from what I've read it seems that you are best to use 224kbps or 256kbps when using BeSweet. Although 192kbps is considered fine for 2.0 AC-3 audio some players don't like that bitrate with BeSweet created AC-3 audio files.

There are other AC-3 audio encoders out there but most cost an arm and a leg

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ZippyP.]

There are other AC-3 audio encoders out there but most cost an arm and a leg

ffmpegGui is free, haven't tried it though.

[Ronaldus]

Thanks for the replies to my post. I know it's a bit late, but I have some more questions after reading this and looking at various encoding/authoring threads.

Remembering my goal is to convert an AVI file into VOB files for DVD playback, I think this is how it's supposed to work:

#1. I capture to AVI with 16-bit LPCM audio from my camcorder.
#2. I encode the AVI to MPEG-2 using an encoder program such as TMPGenc (free version). I assume I would also change the audio from LPCM to MPEG-2 at this step? If I want 2-channel AC-3 then I have to use BeSweet first?
#3. I load the MPEG-2 into an editor program to trim out unwanted portions, insert chapter marks, and add a simple menu with thumbnails. I then re-save as MPEG-2? I have Pinnacle Studio DV 8, but I don't recall an option to save the edited timeline as MPEG-2 or AVI. Do the chapter marks and menu get encoded into the MPEG-2 or AVI for the "authoring" program. I suppose it would be better to skip #2 and use AVI all the way through, but my impression from other threads is that authoring programs do not load AVI files? If they did, then what good is the "encoding" step?
#4. I load the edited MPEG-2 (or AVI) file with chapter marks and menu into an "authoring" program which converts MPEG-2 into VOB format? (For instance, I could use TMPGEnc DVD Author)
#5. I then burn the VOB files with my burning software.

If the above is wrong, it is because after spending many hours reading on dvdrhelp, I'm still very confused. For instance, I understood most of what "FulciLives" said, but not the important part about feeding it DVD compliant video and why it's different than the encoder. I have not found any step-by-step guide that takes me from the beginning with an AVI to a VOB explaining all the terms so I know what a "codec" is or what "authoring" vs. "encoding" means.

It seems strange this takes so many steps and so many different pieces of software. All I want to do is get some VHS tapes onto DVDs I can play back and keep the quality close to the original as possible (not that VHS is that great). I already have the capture software for step #1 (Pinnacle Studio) and Nero for step #5. I downloaded TMPGEnc freeware and the trialware TMPGEnc DVD Author version hoping I can figure out what to do with each. I also found a CD called "Ulead Video Studio Basic SE 4.0" that I think came with my firewire card. Would that be of any use to me in this process?

Could someone point me to a step-by-step guide, a thread that answers my question, or enlighten me on the editing/encoding/authoring steps above which are my main source of confusion? If I get this working I will be so grateful to all of you, but so far it's just been trial and error. Pinnacle Studio is the only tool I've used in detail, and the quality of its VOB results are too poor (i.e. fixed bitrate, wasted disk space, and a massive 1 GB LPCM audio file when 2-channel AC3 would be just as good) -- otherwise I would just use Pinnacle which I guess does all of the above steps except #5. Thanks so much!

[Gazorgan]

Good luck editing MPEG streams. It's tricky. Edit the AVI (VDUB will do straight cuts for free) instead then encode.

Chapter marks are part of the Authoring process.

MP2 Audio isn't standard for NTSC land, but 98% of the players will accept it( particularly if thye play SVCD's).

I know it's a lot. Imagine it without tools like TMPG Author (IFOEDIT is powerful but very very hard to use). You basically have it right, jsut edit the AVi first. You can Frameserve it if your short on space (don't have to save an edited version).