DVD-Lab User Guide

[Ramon]

Has anyone bought the User Guide for DVD-Lab by Alan Gruskoff? I'm trying the basic DVD-Lab and am quite confused even after reading some tutorials as regards encoding. I understand DVD-Labs doesn't have a built in encoder, so does the finished article have to be encoded with something like TMPGnc ?

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but I can't seem to get my head around it (perhaps it's a case of can't see the woods for the trees).

[lechtin]

You must encode (for example with TMPGenc) before you use DVD-Lab, preferably as elementary streams (video and audio separate).

[Ramon]

Thanks lechtin - I somehow had the idea I should encode AFTER I used DVD-Lab.
Things are clearer now - appreciate your help.

[babyboo]

Not to confuse things further but if you intend to do motion menus you will need to use an encoder "during" your Dvd Lab work. For instance...you setup your motion menu and use DVD Lab to render it in uncompressed avi. You then run that avi through your encoder and add the resulting MPEG into your project. As I said though...you will only need to do this if you are making motion menus.

[Ramon]

Thanks babyboo - to start with I shall do only the basics as I need to take things real slow.
Do you mean that I will end up with 2 MPEG's and they will be merged in DVD-Lab?

[babyboo]

If you are referring to the motion menu creation that I mentioned...then I would have to say no. Basically, you add one or more mpegs each as a seperate movie. The motion menu mpeg would be added as a separate movie as well, the only difference is that you would drag it to the menu and DVD Lab would use it in place of a regular static menu. Since most DVD players will not play MPEG files just burned on a DVD, DVD Lab will take your individual movies (movie clips that you previously encoded using your MPEG encoder), and create the file structure that DVD players require in order to play your DVD. Hang in there. DVD Lab is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

BTW...the help file is really quite good. I believe it is the same as the one that is here http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/Help/index.htm

[painkiller]

If you don't mind me adding my 2 cents:

1) First you capture your videos to your hard drive.
(Depending on what you use & how you do it - you may need to encode the resulting file after the capture, or not. If you capture digital video, you typically have an AVI type file. This you need to encode to an MPEG file (for cdrom or dvd). If you use something like Hauppage's tv boards - they have a hardware encoder that can give you the MPEG format you are ultimately after. MPEG-1 for VCD on cdroms, or MPEG-2 for DVD.)

2) Encode the AVI file to MPEG-2 if you intend it for putting on a dvd. Otherwise, if you captured to MPEG-2 as described above - then you shouldn't have to do this step.

The above steps use other software/hardware. After these steps, you start using your dvd authoring software, in this case - DVD-Lab.

3) If your encoded file only created a single mpeg file, rather than the two companion elemental stream files, then when you import the mpeg file into DVD-Lab assets (video & audio window lower left corner) it will ask you if you want to create those elemental files. Say yes to its default.
(When you look in your hard drive directory after this import, you wind up with a total of 3 similarly named files.)

You can add more, and different, video files like this into DVD-Lab - in preparation for using all/some or just one for your dvd.

Good luck.

[Ramon]

Thanks babyboo and painkiller. Obviously you guys are familiar with DVD-Lab.
I'm fairly new to all this, although I've now purchased a TBC-1000 and a DAC-100 and use Scenalyzer to capture and TMPGEnc Plus to encode. Haven't really done enough to be comfortable with the procedures yet, but hopefully that will come in time.
I appreciate all the help I can get.