Why does authoring give non-standard results?

[rrstudio2]

I have worked on a couple of longer project primarily involving putting family movies onto DVDs, and have tried a few programs but it seems like I get different results depending on which DVD player I play the DVD on. For example, I have exported several (5-6) MPEG files from Premiere elements. I then used Ulead MovieFactory 3.5 to make a menu and burn the CD. It seems that on some DVD players, the resulting DVD plays fine, however on others, it returns to the main menu after some titles about 60% of the time. So I then tried using these same MPEG files and making a menu using DVD-lab. I was able to import all the files okay with the exception of one which said it had an open GOP but should still play. So this time I tried the resulting DVD and it worked fine on more DVD players, however there is one DVD player I have that would not go to title 2 via the menu and when it would reach the end of title 1 it would pause and not play title 2 unless I did a time search and entered title 2 at a later time (not starting at the very beginning). So...there are a few things I don't get
1) Why is it that DVD behave differently on different DVD players? It doesn't seem all that complex and I can't see how the players are all playing the same disk differently? I can see how some DVD players may not be able to read a particular disk, but can't see how they read it but they read it in different ways.

2) So how am I supposed to make disk that play correctly in multiple DVD players? I don't think I am doing anything usual, but can't seem to get everything to play how I want it to play in various DVD players.

3) I suspect many of my problems are from the DVD authoring programs, since I used the same exact MPEG files, which makes me ask what DVD authoring program should I use?
a. I had been using Ulead's MovieFactory 3.5 however in a few projects have encountered this problem where the DVD returns to the main menu after certain chapters. The program has a setting to continue to the next clip at the end of each clip, but I don't know why this isn'y working. This problem makes using Ulead MF unpredictable.
b. This week I have tried out DVD-lab, but encountered this can't get the second chapter issue, plus this program, while allowing you to do a lot more, does not make it easy or quick to throw together a quick simple menu (i.e. you have to create the various movies in DVD-lab by putting the video file in, then adding the audio file and this takes a lot of time when you have 6 files to do. Plus, it is annoying how you can't hear sound in the preview and I don't like how it demuxes each file and saves those files- it junks up my hard drive.
c. What program should I use? I want want that I can easily throw 5-6 MPEG files into and it will generate a fairly simple menu that works. Things I would like are.... to manually adjust the scene layouts (Ulead MF allows you to chose from some, but it would be nice to place them where you want), to adjust the volume of the menu music without having to edit the file in an outside program, something that wil give consistent results on different players (this is the biggest request), perferrably the cost would be under $200. So what should I try next? Am I the only one having these issues or is making DVDs really still this complex and unable to give consistent results?

Getting frustrated...
Andrew V. Romero

PS: On a side note, does anyone else find that the MPEG files play fine on the computer but then on the TV the audio turns out being too loud and starts clipping ont he TV? Not sure why this is more noticable on the TV than on my computer.

[jimmalenko]

TMPGEnc DVD Author has a 30 day fully functional free trial and does everything I ask of it - multiple clip input, multiple tracks, simple menus from a limited range of templates or design your own, and doesn't take a degree in rocket-science to do the basics.

Might be worth a look

[Krispy Kritter]

To correct audio issues...especially when using multiple clips, you can extract the audio using a program such as GoldWave. Then adjust the volume and remux into the video.

[gavinmcnab]

If the data rate of a dvd is to high then some players won't be able to handle it. This may be the problem but only if its >8mb/s

[guns1inger]

The issues could come from a number of places. I have created many, many disks using DVD Lab and now DVD Lab Pro, and have never had it do anything I hadn't told it to do (sometimes I had told it to do the wrong thing, but that's my bad). Your issue sounds more like a bad burn or corruption somewhere, and that you can bypass the bad spot by jump to a different section. Datarates that are too high can cause abberent behaviour.

You do not have to demux when importing, however DLP does prefer to use elementary streams. I have never found this an issue because I always generate and work with ES source.

You will never get a disk that will be perfect on every player using common household items. Different players play -R or +R differently, different brands of media, or even different batches of media within the same brand can play differently in the same player, let alone across different players.

I suspect DVD Lab is not for you. Tmpgenc is probably a better bet, although you may find it's features limited once you get a bit further into authoring.

Until then, set your sights a little more realistically and understand that until you are replicating using a pressing plant, you will net get 100% success (and even with pressed disks, 100% is not achievable)

[rrstudio2]

Thanks for all the helpful tips. Interestingly, as I mentioned, I have one DVD player that will not start playing title 2, and another that does not allow you to fast forward in chapter 2. In watching the bit rate at the beginning of title 2, the bit rate does jump up to 10 according to my DVD player so perhaps that it the problem. I will keep a close eye on the bit rate to make sure that it doesn't go too high in my next project.

I do like the more advanced features of DVD-lab however it seems like you really have to want to spend a lot of time on the menu, you can't just throw together a quick menu with several different files. By the time I finish a project, design covers, and art for the DVD itself, I just don't want to put a lot of time and effort into a menu. Menus, at this point for me, are just a navigational tool, they should have a customizable picture, music, allow you to place scenes where you want. So I think for my purposes, DVD-lab has a few too many advanced features, that while nie to have, do make the program a little more cumbersome that I would like for my projects. I will try the TMPGenc "Tasunami" DVD author, which is cheaper and comes with an AC-3 encoder. I am just a little leary about TMPGenc because for some reason, I have never gotten the TMPGenc Plus encoder to encode my DV-AVI files very well, quality is very poor. I had a long thread about this a while ago and it was never really resolved. I suspect something with it and my computer just do not get a long. I look forward to downloading it and giving it a fair trial.

Thanks,
Andrew V. Romero

[guns1inger]

For quick menus, I just grab and appropriate frame from the preview window, and drag it to the menu screen while holding down the shift key. Add a few text items for buttons, and you have a clean looking menu in about 30 seconds.

For more impressive, but still stock, menus, I have a set of photoshop PSD files I have created with backgrounds and buttons. Load 'em and link 'em and it's all done.

I actually find DLP faster to use than some prettier package, such as DVDA.