Couple of questions about joining and converting

[thedown90]

I have a bunch of .avi's that makes up season of a TV show. I want to join them all together then make my own menu so that one can choose the episode they want to watch. Iam a newbie at this....I know some but not alot. I have been using Virtual Dub to join the .avi's which was going good until i ran into the snag of the avi's werent the same?? if that makes sense one was divx and other other div3. I used GSpot to find that out. Well anyways I want to know of someone can help me on how to join all my .avi's and then convert the one big avi to DVD, but in good quality, i dont want to loose any quality like i did with winavi.
Next Question:
When creating a menu with DVD Lab, can i lets say instead of joining all the avi's just convert each avi to DVD? and then make it so that my menu will choose the episode (meaning each avi that has been converted so have like 5 avi's that have been converted to DVD on one DVD-r) and i just throw all the ifo and bup files into the video TS folder when i burn it? or would that just not work
Could someone please give me a hand ??
Thanks!

[jimmalenko]

Don't join the AVIs - convert them all to individual MPEG files (guide here, or look in the guides section), then use your authoring software to make all the menu connections you need - again, try the guides section, as I'm sure there's a few guides on DVD-Lab in there.

[thedown90]

now i have used a program (MainConcept MPEG Encoder) and it gave me the option of making a "DVD" and the output was a .mpg Now im used to getting the folders with Audio TS and Video TS. Is what you are saying going to give me the mpg? or the videoTS output? or Does it matter? The reason im aksing is b/c when its done in the videoTS arent all the files the same(VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO etc....)??
Also i have used winAVI and wasnt pleased with the quality of the output.
Will this give me excellent quality?
Sorry about all the questions but im a noob.

[jimmalenko]

I don't know if DVD-Lab accepts authored content (VOBs), but you could always just demux your M2V and audio out of them prior anyway. TMPGEnc will produce MPEG files, or your M2V and audio file separately if you prefer.

[thedown90]

im not sure what you mean but i know when i put a Vob in DVD-lab it did something like what ur saying it just didnt have audio. But which way would you recommend that would be easiest? And just to clarify this way http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm will give me the vob and stuff not a mpg output?

[jimmalenko]

im not sure what you mean but i know when i put a Vob in DVD-lab it did something like what ur saying it just didnt have audio. But which way would you recommend that would be easiest? And just to clarify this way http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm will give me the vob and stuff not a mpg output?

That guide will give you an MPEG. I personally think you are much better off using dedicated tools, as then you have far greater control over everything that goes on. You can even set them to output a M2V and audio file, so that DVD-Lab doesn't have to demux them. IMO you're taking 3 steps forward and 2 back if you're using something that encodes and authors in the one go.

[thedown90]

Thanks for the reply. Now will the mpeg work the way i think it will. I will just get 1 mpeg, i would drag that into the dvd lab....and it would keep it mpeg.....and then i can burn the mpeg on a DVD using nero and putting the mpeg into the video TS folder? or is there more converting i have to do?
Once again thanks for ur patience

[jimmalenko]

Convert each AVI to it's own MPEG file, then use DVD-Lab, add each MPEG file, create your connections/menu and output. Then burn the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders that DVD-Lab creates for you.

[thedown90]

alright thanx for your help