Authoring w/ MPEG-2....HELP!!!!

[fenster1977]

Okay, I thought I had finally figured out a way to avoid problems with making DVD from home movies.

I captured my analog movies through a DV camera using the AV to DV conversion feature. I captured it in DVD quality, MPEG-2 format, audio at 48khz. It takes alot of room, but I wanted to avoid having to rencode it.

The final file ended up being just under 2 hours (it was a 2-hour 8mm tape). I imported into Encore, put a simple menu on it and tried to build it.

BUT IT SAYS IT'S TOO BIG, BY ALMOST AN ENTIRE GIG!!!!

What's the deal? Now Encore is transcoding it which is taking forever. Why is this necessary?! Even Encore said it didn't needed to be transcoded, that is, until i went to burn it. It's just one <2 hour clip in MPEG-2.

What can I do in the capture process to aviod any re-encoding?

thanks for any help

[MrMungus]

Use TMPGEnc DVD Author. No re-encoding.

[fenster1977]

thanks...

but why is that? Why is a standard MPEG-2 format not good enough, and why does this other app not need to re-encode?

i just don't understand.

They put 2 hours movies, plus all kinds of features on DVDs in 480i quality, and I can't fit this crappy home movie on there.

What am I missing?

[ZippyP.]

What am I missing?

It's not the time, it's the bitrate. The file size is determined by the bitrate (in kilobits per second) and the running length of the clip. The audio and video each have a bitrate and the total bitrate mulitiplied by the length gives your final size. You can fit 1 hour of top quality video on a disk or 8 hours of mediocre quality, it's all in the bitrate. Somehow your total bitrate was too high.

BTW, there's a bitrate calculator in the Tools section to help you select the correct rate to fit a disk.

[fenster1977]

Then if I plan to put 2 hours of clips on DVD, then what bitrate should I capture them in to make authoring go as smoothly as possible?

What's the best app to capture from DV...one that I can adjust the settings on accordingly?

I really don't even need to do much editing other than pulling out blank frames and inserting chapter marks. I don't really need outstanding raw footage to work with. I just want MPEG-2 clips that I can drop into an authoring program and crank out a DVD.

thanks for the input so far

[You_Are_Alive]

Check your audio, if its not in .ac3 or .mp2, there's the problem. You've captured the audio in .wav format.

[fenster1977]

i guess it's these cheap capturing and authoring apps i'm using like Pinnacle, WinDVD, and Roxio.

They all say they make DVD authoring easy, but they don't even give you the tools you need to capture good video to work with. Before I tinkered with them, they were all capturing the audio in the wrong rates, so the sync was all messed up. And now this.

Encore seems to work well, but it doesn't have capture capabilities.

I'm pretty handy with video and computers in general, and I'm having a hell of a time doing a simple transfer. Does the layperson ever succeed in doing this? Because the industry sure make it sound easy these days...

[andkiich]

Not trying to be an a$$hole, but it's not the tools its the operator. You need to do more research on the DVD process, learn the tools you are using, and things will come out better.

Read the guides on this site, they will help too.

There is a bitrate calculator on this site that will help you determine what to set based on length of video.

[ZippyP.]

Suggestion: Transfer the DVD footage to your PC as-is rather than converting on the fly. Take your DV-avi and edit and convert to mpeg afterwards with something like TMPGEnc. It might take a little longer but it'll be a better product and you'll have more control.

[Gazorgan]

2 hours?

Why? Why a 2 hour chunk? I can't believe you didn't need any editing?

Try capturing logical chunks. It makes Authoring a lot easier.

[MrMungus]

I really don't even need to do much editing other than pulling out blank frames and inserting chapter marks. I don't really need outstanding raw footage to work with. I just want MPEG-2 clips that I can drop into an authoring program and crank out a DVD.

Then use TMPGEnc DVD Author. It does *exactly* what you're asking for without re-encoding the file based on your cuts and chapters.

[fenster1977]

Suggestion: Transfer the DVD footage to your PC as-is rather than converting on the fly. Take your DV-avi and edit and convert to mpeg afterwards with something like TMPGEnc. It might take a little longer but it'll be a better product and you'll have more control.

That's just it...I don't need any more control. These are a family member's home movies that they want on DVD just so they will keep longer. They don't even really care about the chapter markers. They're more than happy with popping in a DVD and watching it all the way through. Plus, the quality of these tapes are pretty crappy anyway...

That's why I wanted to do it an easier way. There's at least 20 of these tapes, each 2 hours long. If it were my own project, then I would definitely take the time to do it right. But it's just not worth it if I have to capture each tape in real time and then do all sorts of re-encoding, etc.

Thanks for the help...I'm gonna try adjusting the bitrate on capture. If that doesn't work, I'll try TMPGEnc DVD. Any more suggestions are welcome

[muskgrave]

I understand your dilemma and it seems like the poor quality home video doesn't need to take up nearly as much space as a high quality dvd but it's exactly the opposite.

Why is this? well because the beauty of mpeg encoding is that from frame to frame it only changes the sections of the video that change. On a professional movie with stable cameras and and lots of still scenery the mpeg file can have a substantially lower bitrate (on average, you will see a vbr peak during fast action) because it doesn't have to redraw every frame every time..You see, the better and more stable the source, the lower your bitrate needs to be. With a home video you've got grandma holding the camera shakin like a leaf and you've got all sorts of instabilities like the tape flickering cause it's old and etc. etc. etc... Therefore you need to crank the bitrate way up there to compensate..otherwise you will have a bunch of little squares and other atrocities from the mpeg trying to make sense of all that motion and keep it under x bitrate...I hope that hasn't been too much rambling and it makes some sense to you.

I just recently put my wedding video on dvd and I put 53 minutes of video, 5 minutes of slideshow (just mpeg, not individual chapters), and both with 192k DD 2.0 audio and it was about 3.7gb. I used 8000k bitrate and it needed every bit of it.

dlv

[Gazorgan]

In that case use 1/2D1 and a bitrate in the 4000's. You can get 2-3 Hours on a DVD with no problem. It's better than VHS quality. You can be artifact free. Going full D1 means you have to short the bitrate to get 2+ hours.

[PhreakPhish]

i did a 4000 and a 6000 mpeg clip trying to see the difference on my computer but couldnt find any - you might be better off if you want more space to cut the bitrate to 4000 - but if they have a HDTV you might be able to tell the difference -

[Matt D]

Here's an easy way to capture footage which will go directly to DVD with absolutely no problems: Use a capture card that creates all the directories and VOB files you need automatically.

I use an AverDVD card that was $50 at compusa and all you do is start the capture, it encodes the video on the fly (and does a damn fine job), makes the VOBs for you and then you can either author immediately using the included NeoDVD software or TMPGEnc DVD author or DVD Shrink if you desire.

I've done many discs this way, and IMO it's so easy a child could do it.