Multiple Mpeg-1's ->1 DVD

[Scav2003]

I'm trying to put a number of .avi's on to a single DVD at a lower quality.
(I've found that if I encode them to mpeg-1 with ffmpegx then put them into toast, I can get about 6 hours on a single DVD)

On a disc I was putting together last night, and these were PAL encoded, the mpegs play fine, but after Toast burned them to DVD (as PAL still), the audio would get out of sync on the lengtheir programs.

Is there a better way to go about this? It seems to be Toast where things are getting mucked up.

(I've done this with other PAL programs without the problems...and strangely, these mpegs wind out with about twice the bit rate than other Mpeg-1's that I make with ffmpeg x or that my Eye-TV makes).

[alph]

You don't give a lot of detail, but here are a few things I'd suggest.

-I'd use mpeg2 and not mpeg1. In my experience it's of better quality, and it's implementation is more standard these days in stand alone dvd players.

-The same goes for AC3 in terms of audio. (I make these comments about video and audio formats because sometimes players will lag in decoding)

-When wanting to lower quality make sure to use a bitrate that is logical for the video size. I like using half-dvd, 352x576 for pal. Using half-dvd and ffmpegx's default bitrate with the "best" button you can get about 5 hours on 1 dvd. You can always go smaller with 352x288 and possibly get 8 or more hours on 1 disc.

-Lastly, make sure you are using the latest version of Toast, 6.1.1. Toast 6 is nearly essential for making DVDs, and since 6.0.7 it has really improved greatly.

Alph

[Scav2003]

You don't give a lot of detail, but here are a few things I'd suggest.

-I'd use mpeg2 and not mpeg1. In my experience it's of better quality, and it's implementation is more standard these days in stand alone dvd players.

I'm home now, so I can give more details. the VHS-level quality of Mpeg-VCD is fine for this stuff---various tv shows that a friend has encoded for my from his pc capture card...I found taking the avi's to mpeg-1 it lowers the quality to a 6-hours per dvd (dvd video)

-When wanting to lower quality make sure to use a bitrate that is logical for the video size. I like using half-dvd, 352x576 for pal. Using half-dvd and ffmpegx's default bitrate with the "best" button you can get about 5 hours on 1 dvd. You can always go smaller with 352x288 and possibly get 8 or more hours on 1 disc.

So, I should chose mpeg 2, at a half dvd autosize? Then put the resulting mpeg in Toast?

-Lastly, make sure you are using the latest version of Toast, 6.1.1. Toast 6 is nearly essential for making DVDs, and since 6.0.7 it has really improved greatly.

Hmm..looks like I'm still at 6.0.5 guess I'll run off an update!
Thanks!!!

[alph]

I understand not wanting to re-encode from mpeg1 to mpeg2.

Given your version of toast was 6.0.5. I'd simply go back and try what you had done originallly, but with Toast 6.1.1. There is a chance the latest version of Toast will avoid those sync problems you ran into.

Alph

[Scav2003]

I understand not wanting to re-encode from mpeg1 to mpeg2.

Given your version of toast was 6.0.5. I'd simply go back and try what you had done originallly, but with Toast 6.1.1. There is a chance the latest version of Toast will avoid those sync problems you ran into.

Well, I updated Toast last night...so I'll try an encode with the current mpegs with it to see how it works...if that doesn't work, I can always re-encode the .avis with the mpeg2/half-dvd (is that the right combo?) you suggest.

Right now, I'm experimenting with these to get the formula right...once I know how to do it right, I can swing into cleaning hardrives

[Scav2003]

Ok...I redid the DVD, using the original MPEG 1 files with Toast 6.09 and it looks like the sync problem went away.

I also did a mpeg 2 encode at half dvd, and it certainly seemed to work out a bit smaller file size and dvd'd pretty well...maybe a bit better quality, than the mpeg....though took a huge length of time for the encode (on dual 2ghz G5).

I'll report on as I go...Thanks for the help!!!

[von_spooky]

I too have been doing some multifilm dvd's and the programs i found to work the best are the tmpegs. I use tmpegdsc which allows you to add as many avi's as you like in one go and then just simply compress all of them together so that they will fit onto the dvd. Encode them all as seperate clips. When this has finished use tmpeg dvd authour to create the menus and playlists and then burn with nero or similar. Obviously the more you put on the worse the quality but if the original is of dvd quality they compress really high. the problem with the sound sync i was getting is that i wasnt recoding the sound track to the proper bitrate and sample before hand. goldwave and virtualdub are very handy for this task.

[alph]

To improve speed make sure you use the DVD ffmpeg preset and not the DVD mpeg2enc. What I do is select the DVD ffmpeg preset then go and modify, manually, the autosize to DVD (for 4:3) or DVD 16:9 depending on the aspect ratio you want , and then I change the width from 720 to 352 for half-dvd.

Also, if you have Toast 6.0.9 I'd suggest getting the free update to 6.1.1. Having the latest version of Toast is always the way to go.

Cheers
Alph