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  1. I shoot a lot of mini-movies with my digital camera, and they shoot at ultra low resolution. How can I make them compatible for a DVD?

    I know they won't be the best of quality, but I'd like to archive them and be able to play them back on a TV if possible.

    What authoring app can transcode these files? Can I open them in Adobe Premiere Pro or in DVD-Lab and it'll re-encode/transcode/format/whatever into the DVD-spec?

    Or do I have to re-encode them with ProCoder 2.0?


    Thanks.
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  2. By the way, here's the info I was able to retrieve in Winamp about the specs of the file.

    FYI, the length is incorrect... all of them are when I play them in Winamp it's weird.

    Audio: 32000hz, 16bps, 1ch (64kbps)
    Length: 0:48:09
    Bitrate: 64kbps

    Seems like there'd be a lot I'd need to change, huh? I mean I'd have to change the audio to 2channel 48khz, etc... Seems like a lot of work.

    Has anyone had any experience with this?
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  3. Originally Posted by cirving
    Audio: 32000hz, 16bps, 1ch (64kbps)
    Length: 0:48:09
    Bitrate: 64kbps
    Thats the audio specs, what are the video specs? Try opening them in Gspot and posting ac sreenshot.

    Anyway, you have to make them DVD compliant. Probably easiest would be to encode them to VCD spec, but with audio at 48khz. TmpGenc could do this.
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary...
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  4. If you have procoder 2, just encode them to 1/4 D1 mpeg-2 (that is 320x240 resolution), with 48khz audio.
    You can then author them in dvdlab.
    Cheers, Jim
    My DVDLab Guides
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  5. Reboot is right but he left out some info he probably assumes you already know. As the risk of telling you what you know...

    A DVD will only play certain frame resolutions (NTSC): 720 x 480, 704 x 480, 352 x 480, 352 x 240. The audio on a DVD _must_ be 48 khz.

    So what you're going to have to do is import your MPG files into a program that can convert 'em to one of the above frame resolutions, and you're also going to sample-rate-convert your 32 khz audio to 48 khz.

    A variety of programs can do this, some of it freeware. For instance, you could use VritualDubMod to read your MPG files, write AVI files in the correct frame resoultion for DVD, and split off the 32 khz audio track as a WAV file. Then you can use Goldwave to sample-rate-convert the 32 khz wav file to 48 khz, and use Lame or BeSweet to convert the 48 kz wave file to mp2 (mpeg-1 layer 2) or Dolby AC3.

    You can use QuEncode to turn the resized AVI file back into MPEG-2. You can then feed the video stream and audio stream into a DVD authoring app and author a DVD of your video and burn it to disc.

    One nice thing about digitla video is that all the programs mentioned above are freeware: GoldWave, VirtualDubMod, Lame, BeSweet, QuEncode. None of 'em cost anything.
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  6. Instead of so many steps (which may be needed to insure audio sync) just try one in Canopus.
    Let it do audio and video.
    See if the resulting mpg is in sync.
    If it is, author it.
    If it is NOT, then it's time to dig out Virtualdubmod, Goldwave, and/or Ffmpeggui.
    I would NEVER use Besweet, because it's so f'in complicated, and there are much simpler apps to work with.
    I also would not resize the frames in vdubmod and write another avi. Canopus does a much nicer job, and if the source needs filtering, then frameserve it.
    This is all assuming you already have Canopus, as you mentioned in your first post.
    Cheers, Jim
    My DVDLab Guides
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  7. Oh excellent! That's a terrific solution, because I feared I'd have to use all those tools when I started... and usually that's when I start to decide it's too much work to bother :P

    However if ProCoder can handle the task I'll definetely try it out! Thanks for both of your advice though, I may still do it the other way if I have to (i.e. if it's not in sync).

    Thank you again
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  8. Oh wait... which resolution though?

    "1/4 D1 mpeg-2 (that is 320x240 resolution)"

    or

    "A DVD will only play certain frame resolutions (NTSC): 720 x 480, 704 x 480, 352 x 480, 352 x 240."

    I'm aware of what the audio needs to be at, but I'm not so sure about what video resolution most DVD players will play... I didn't know it would even play anything lower than 720x480.
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  9. The lowest is 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL).
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  10. Member GeorgeW's Avatar
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    imho, when using such low bitrates/resolution for DVD, I find that mpeg-1 looks better than mpeg2. If you do go with mpeg-1, you can at least go up to 1856kbps on your video bitrate (whether your source vids will look good depends on the quality/bitrate they were recorded).
    George
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  11. Member craiggus365's Avatar
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    Just as an idea - I have been using Rad Video Tools, i think the guide here is under Bink for my Digital Camera movies and it actually makes the video much more watchable and i am doing a MOV>MPEG4 conversion. It is free and really makes a significant difference.
    "Quit Playing With The Clock..."

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  12. Member solarfox's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by cirving
    Oh wait... which resolution though?

    "1/4 D1 mpeg-2 (that is 320x240 resolution)"

    or

    "A DVD will only play certain frame resolutions (NTSC): 720 x 480, 704 x 480, 352 x 480, 352 x 240."

    I'm aware of what the audio needs to be at, but I'm not so sure about what video resolution most DVD players will play... I didn't know it would even play anything lower than 720x480.
    Spectroelectro's numbers are correct -- I think reboot accidentally confused 1/4-D1 with 1/4-VGA. (Standard VGA is 640x480, so 320x240 would be 1/4 of a VGA screen.)

    720x480 is the standard resolution for DV camcorders; it's what you'll get whenever you import video as DV-type-1 or DV-type-2 over a Firewire/IEEE1394 link from a DV camcorder, or from an analog-to-DV converter such as the Canopus ADVC-100.

    704x480 is "Full Broadcast D1" resolution; it's the "standard" resolution for MPEG2 for display or broadcast on a standard NTSC TV set. (Note that all these numbers are for NTSC, by the way.) Note that the 720x480 is also sometimes referred to as "Full-D1", but IMO this one more clearly deserves the title since it's an even multiple of the half- and quarter-D1 resolutions below. Arguments to the contrary will be cheerfully ignored. :P

    352x480 is "Half-D1" since, obviously, it has half the pixels. This is a pretty good final resolution to encode material sourced from VHS tapes, since most VHS doesn't have a full-D1's worth of horizontal detail anyway (although "resolution" is somewhat subjective when dealing with analog vs. digital, so your mileage may vary depending on the source) and it lets you inch the bitrate down some.

    352x240 is "Quarter-D1". It's the same resolution as VCD, and would probably work best for your application if your camera's mini-movies are at this resolution or smaller.

    The only problem you might run in to is if your camera shoots movies in 1/4 VGA (or 160x120, which I think is called QCIF) -- going from 320x240 to 352x240 will stretch the picture horizontally a bit, unless you can get your encoding program of choice to preserve the source's aspect ratio and center it with blank space to either side. (I know how to do this in Media Studio Pro, and I'm sure other high-ends like Premiere can do it too, but I'm not sure what free/shareware tools would have this capability. I'm sure someone else here will know, though!)
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  13. The Old One SatStorm's Avatar
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    Just to add:
    Many users suggest mpeg 1 over mpeg 2 with low bitrates and 1/4 D1
    The reason mpeg 1 looks better mpeg 2 at 352 x 288/240 has to do with the bad mpeg decoders the DVD players have.
    Especially when you use 352 x 288 interlace (possible for PAL users), most cheap DVD standalones gonna output it with some kind of flickering or jilter, that makes it unwatchable at times! Using progressive make it blured.
    So, we end up using 352 x 576/480, because that framesize is handled better by the cheap mpeg decoders most cheap DVD standalones today have
    La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli
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  14. Spectroelectro's numbers are correct -- I think reboot accidentally confused 1/4-D1 with 1/4-VGA. (Standard VGA is 640x480, so 320x240 would be 1/4 of a VGA screen.)
    You caught me!
    352x480 is "Half-D1" since, obviously, it has half the pixels. This is a pretty good final resolution to encode material sourced from VHS tapes, since most VHS doesn't have a full-D1's worth of horizontal detail anyway (although "resolution" is somewhat subjective when dealing with analog vs. digital, so your mileage may vary depending on the source) and it lets you inch the bitrate down some.
    Probably the best solution, depending on the resolution the cam uses.
    Satstorm has added some very valid advice!
    Cheers, Jim
    My DVDLab Guides
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