Need cheap solution

[TheManuel]

The typical paradigm:
Bought all the hardware needed and now facing the grim reality of having to acquire software.

Is The TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 and TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 bundle for $99 the most cost-effective way to go?

I know the encoder is top notch. As far as authoring, I don't need a professional setting; just a tool to create decent menus with custom backgrounds for my home videos. Nothing too fancy.

Please tell me your opinion and/or recommend any other cheap authoring software.

Thanks in advance.

Manuel

[Tommyknocker]

What program did you get with your DVD burner?

[DaBarrister]

Depends on what you want to do, and what software you have now. There are tons of freeware progs that will do a workmanlike job. If you want to get fancy, then the price goes up. Can you give us more info?

[TheManuel]

The DVD writer came with PowerDVD and Sonic myDVD, widely regarded as rubbish. Quite frankly, I have not even bothered to try them.

What I would like to do is make high quality video DVD's off my home Hi8 camcorder tapes. I would like to put menu's on them but these can be rather simple with just a custom background (e.g., a photograph) and the ability to select scenes. Sub-titles do not concern me and I don't see myself offering options in the menu other than the selection of scenes or chapters.

[gcgreen]

I have been using TMPGEnc DVD Author for about 6 months now; used Ulead Moviefactory 2 before. I definitely prefer TMPGEnc DVD Author. I use it for home movie transfers from Hi8. You can customize the menu appearance easily (background, size and placement of thumbnails, etc.)

Only problem I have had with TMPGEnc DVD Author is that sometimes a burn would fail. Since then I create iso image and burn with DVD Decrypter.

Hope this helps.

[Gazorgan]

Both have 30 day free trials. Give them a whirl. If you like them, $99 is pretty cheap.

[noki]

gcgreen

I use it for home movie transfers from Hi8.

what do you use to transfer the Hi8 video to your PC (VC Card, breakout box adapter)? and what format do you save them as? thanks

[gcgreen]

Capture with ATI AIW 8500DV. Computer is P4 with 1GB RAM with 400GB HD (2x200GB) on RAID config as cap drive and a 100gig HD used to author DVDs. I will seldom have over 10 dropped frames per hour of capture. Usually cap directly to mpeg2. Have tried cap to avi first and then converting to mpeg with TMPGEnc but did not notice any significant improvement in quality.

[yodel]

I like Studio 8 a lot, to edit .avi and easy to set settings for the dvd format, or a vcd format Tempg DVD Author is good for simple authoring,
DVDLab is for more sofisticated authoring.... Nero 6.3 for burning,
I use IfoEdit for checking/playing end product, NOT PowerDVD !
If it runs good in IfoEdit, (DVD play function) then it runs ok in standalone.

[fmctm1sw]

Cheaper yet is dvdauthor and it's associated GUI by Liguid217.
Total cost = 0$

[chakrax]

Manuel,

I'm exactly the same boat as you (I got PowerDVD & MyDVD bundled with my LiteON LDW411S), and I'm looking for a cost effective software solution. I'm pretty much set on TMPGenc for encoding. The TMPGenc DVD Author bundle is attractive and the tools do what I want.

However, this bundle will not do slideshows easily! For that reason, I was considering the DVDLab. It is available bundled with TMPG DVD Source creator for $128. I really like DVDLab and the powerful authoring support it provides; slideshows are exceptionally easy. But - DVDLab had trouble burning disks, and did not complete the first DVD project properly that I was able to finish on DVD Author.

So, I think I've hit upon a solution that works for me. I will use TMPGEnc + DVDA for movies, and use Sonic MyDVD for still shows. The still show piece of MyDVD is quite good, I like the flexible menu creation. The only drawback, in my opinion, is that MyDVD will only do PCM audio (eats up space).

I think DVDLab is a good product. But I doubt that my future lies in DVD authoring so I'm happy to live within the limits of DVDA - it does what I want.

Good luck.

-Chakra.

[TheManuel]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
I'll take it easy and try the Sonic stuff first to see if it does what I need before blowing it off completely.
If that does not satisfy me, then I'll try the TMPGEnc DVD Author or whatever it's called (these software names pile up really quickly on my feeble mind).

By the by, I'm using the AverMedia DVD EZ Maker to capture with VirtualVCR which has produced very good result considering the humble capture card and computer I have.

Regards.

[fritzi93]

I'm with fmctm1sw, DVDAuthor will do the job, nothing fancy, and free.

Here's one better: instead of TMPGEnc, you could go with XMPEG using bbMPEG as a plugin for your encoding. Also free, although not as user friendly as TMPGEnc. I've spent a few evenings playing with this combination, mostly on tweaking settings and clearing up some aspect ratio problems. But I've done a couple successful conversions now and the results of this limited sample compares favorably to TMPGEnc. If you go this route, you'll need to be up on DVD specs to deal with all the settings, and need patience too, but once you're good to go, just save the profile.

[fmctm1sw]

I'm with fmctm1sw, DVDAuthor will do the job, nothing fancy, and free.

Here's one better: instead of TMPGEnc, you could go with XMPEG using bbMPEG as a plugin for your encoding. Also free, although not as user friendly as TMPGEnc. I've spent a few evenings playing with this combination, mostly on tweaking settings and clearing up some aspect ratio problems. But I've done a couple successful conversions now and the results of this limited sample compares favorably to TMPGEnc. If you go this route, you'll need to be up on DVD specs to deal with all the settings, and need patience too, but once you're good to go, just save the profile.

You are using BBMpeg to encode? What kind of conversion times are you looking at?

[fritzi93]

From a VCD source, it converted at about 15-16 frames per second, with the following output settings: 720x480, 2 Mbit/sec CBR, audio converted to 48,000 Hz, 128kbit/sec. From an SVCD, it converted at about 8-9 fps, the only difference in output was 3 Mbit/sec VBR, just to try variable bitrate. I haven't tried a full AVI yet, but I tested a short clip, and it looked like it would convert about like an SVCD. Not real fast. (I discovered the 720x480 output was necessary, as one of my players wasn't having it any other way. I also tried 352x480, no dice.)

The quality certainly seems to be very good, no synch probs or flaws of any kind these old eyes can detect. For someone who needs an encoder rarely and doesn't need blazing speed, this setup suits me fine. Most movies could be encoded overnight I suppose.

As to DVDAuthor, it'll create the necessary dvd structure, as I've done a couple successful test burns on a rewritable. Don't know much yet about menu or chapter creation in this prog, other than the fact that the options are there.

Yeah man, call me a cheapskate.

[fmctm1sw]

Yeah man, call me a cheapskate.

Cheapskate? I don't mean to toot my own horn but you obviously havn't read my thread about pulling a Sony VCR out of a trash can (it's now my VHS capture machine). A few guys here offered me a remote out of sheer pity Being cheap as well, I will recommened AVI2VCD for your AVI to standard VCD converts. I think it may be faster than BBMpeg (I know.. that isn't saying much). But it may be worth a look for you....

[fritzi93]

Don't know why, but AVI2VCD doesn't want to work properly on my machine, although I've used the audio decompressor on occasion when TMPGEnc pukes on an audio input.

Also, it seems DVDAuthor has some problems on my machine as well. (The website admits it's still a bit buggy). DVDAuthor will successfully author a movie with chapter points, but doing a menu gets sticky. It'll accept a compliant menu still and mp2 audio track, creating menu buttons and actions to go with them goes fine. But after clicking accept, the program disappears, poof! gone!, and you never get to the actual authoring stage. Now, this might be because of multiple title sets, I'll have to try it on a single movie.

Oh, I might mention that XMPEG/bbMPEG can go considerably faster if the conversion is not to 720x480. My APEX took anything I tried, but the Sylvania would accept nothing but 720x480.

[liquid217]

fritzi93, practically every problem associated with the menu editor usually is because of the mpeg2 filter installed on the pc. I personally use powerdvd's filter. It seems to be the most reliable. If you have that installed allready, try reinstalling powerdvd. As a test, goto start...run...type mplayer2 goto file..open... and open either the mpeg2 still or another mpeg2 stream. Then goto file...properties...advanced... Under "filters in use" you will find the directshow filter that is being used to decode the mpeg2 stream. Be careful that you don't have extra directshow filters running that aren't needed. A lot of the "codec packs" found on the internet include filters that aren't needed, and sometimes can cause abnormal behavior.

[fritzi93]

Liquid 217, thank you very much, it'll save me slogging through trying to make it work. The DVDAuthor guide mentioned trying PowerDVD filter in case of difficulties, but I hadn't yet considered exactly how to approach this. Thanks again. 8) No codec packs here, my last comp got boogered but good by the infamous Nimo Codec Pack. Curse you Nimo!

[fritzi93]

Yeah, that was dead on, problem solved.

The Manuel, apologies for hijacking your thread. Anyway, DVDAuthor will do the job, I got a nice operable menu now. Very easy to do, just open a jpg in Paint, resize to 720x480, add text, and convert to m2v still in DVDAuthor. Then add buttons and corresponding actions and you're done. Supposedly motion menus are also possible. Worth a try, you might like it. Ditto for bbMPEG and XMPEG, if you're not in a tearing hurry. :P

[yodel]

Is there also a binairy version available of dvdauthor ?
I found only the source/compile versions..