Modes to Burning On DVD

[DVDHelpPlease]

WinDVD has the option before burning the choices of format:

DVDHQ
DVDGQ
DVDSP
DVDLP
DVDEP
VR


So that I have room to fit more or else on a 4.7 GB DVD+R.

I was wondering since TMPGEnc DVD Author may produce better quality if it too has these choices of format?

Also is there another capturing/burning program that produces great quality (better than WinDVD) but has these choices?

And any comment on the different qualities in the formats, please let me know your opinions.

Thanks!

[bugster]

WinDVD has the option before burning the choices of format:

DVDHQ
DVDGQ
DVDSP
DVDLP
DVDEP
VR

They are not really 'burning' options but encoding options.

For best quality use dedicated tools for each task. That means use a dedicated mpeg encoder to convert your source files to DVD compliant mpeg-2. Options include TmpGenc, Mainconcept, Procoder etc. Learn how to adjust the settings and especially bitrate to get the quality and size of output you want. Then use a dedicated Authoring app for adding chapters, menus etc and producing a set of DVD compliant files. Many authoring apps will burn the DVD too.

All-in one apps genearlly do not give you the control needed to produce the best quality, though they have their place for simple conversion jobs.

As for the options in WinDvd I would expect quality to get lower as you go down the list, but so will filesize so you will get more on the disk.
Do not use VR mode if you want it to play back on a standalone player. This is a DVD recorder mode.

[DVDHelpPlease]

But once I captured the video with WinDVD, it produces a mpeg file, would that file already be encoded with the Intervideo codec and be too late to use a dedicated mpeg encoder to convert to DVD compliant mpeg-2?

Hmmm I also just tried importing the WinDVD mpeg file into TMPGenc and it says the file cannot be opened or supported. What do you suppose that means. Also if I import it into Windows Movie Maker, it treats it as an audio file even though Windows Media Player can play the video.

[bugster]

WinDVD has encoded it to mpeg. Hopefully a DVD compliant one, but as I said, you have little control over the final quality doing it that way as all you have are a few basic presets. If you are happy with the quality then fine.

Once you have the mpeg file, you need to author a DVD-Video. There are plenty of tools for this in the tools section of this site. Once authored you can burn.

AFAIK, Windows Movie Maker does not handle mpeg's, only avi and wmv, even though WMP plays them.

If your mpeg file is just a little too big, you can author anyway and then use DVDshrink before burning. If it is a lot too big you are better to re-encode. You can use TmpGenc to do this if you frameserve using DVD2Avi. Search for a guide on this, it is not difficult.