Just got a DVD burner (now what programs do I need?)

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

Just got a DVD burner for Christmas and I just need to know the basic programs I need to accomplish the following:

Convert Xvid files to DVD format and burn them onto DVD's.
Make 1:1 backups of DVD's.
Make interactive menus for my DVD's.

The drive came with the following programs: Nero burning rom 6 SE, InCD 4, Nero Vision Express 3, Nero BackITup, Nero showtime 2.

So if you could just tell me what programs I need and if the ones I have are any good, that would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[redwudz]

1. DivxToDVD is the easy way. Better is individual programs to encode the audio and video, then an authoring program to put it all together.

2. A dual layer DVD disc and DVD Decrypter or similar. I would use DVD Shrink instead, along with DVD Decrypter or DVDFab Decrypter as needed. DL discs are expensive.

3. TMPGEnc DVD Author or similar.

Good freeware programs to have also:

VirtualDub
Gspot
Xvid codec
VLC Media Player
Audacity

There are a lot more. That's just a few I use commonly. Nero is OK for burning, doesn't do a lot more very well, IMO. Don't install InCD, it doesn't get along well with other programs.

[sacajaweeda]

Reading. Lots and lots of reading. Guides to the left. Search button, too.

Welcome aboard & Merry Non-denominational winter holiday!

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

ok thanks for the help.

Now what I was going to do with the Xvid files was make DVDs with episodes of some shows on it. I will probably try DivxtoDVD to test it and see how it works. But on the site, it says a lot about the program Avi2DVD (or something like that). Is that a good idea for this? And if I am going to use separate burning programs, what should I use? (I know nothing about authoring, etc. just yet)

[redwudz]

If you are dealing with the 'average' Xvid file, DivxToDVD works fine. Or probably AVI2DVD, though I haven't tried it.

For quality, the method I use is to save out the MP3 audio with a program like VirtualDub as a WAV. I usually convert the WAV audio to AC3 with ffmpeggui and put it into TDA when I author. AC3 I just take out and put back in during authoring.

I use TMPGEnc Plus encoder to convert just the Xvid video to MPEG-2 video. You can use the 'wizard' until you learn the program, then you can make adjustments as wanted to get the desired quality and length.

Then take the MPEG-2 video, along with the new audio and put them into TMPGEnc DVD Author to author and burn. Or you can burn with Nero Burning ROM.

If you are doing a PAL to NTSC conversion, it gets more complicated. That's why I usually suggest a program like DivxToDVD for beginners.

EDIT: Nero is fine just for burning. Or you can use DVD Decrypter and burn as an ISO. The burning program is not as important as the rest of the process. You do need to find DVD discs that work best with your burner and your players or you will soon learn the meaning of the term 'coasters'. You can research DVD media, burner and player compatibility to the left. <<<<<

[FulciLives]

There are so many different ways to do this thing or that thing it can sometimes be hard to say which is "best".

For DivX/Xvid AVI to DVD I use the following:

1.) Use GSpot to indentify the properies of the AVI file. For instance you want to know if it has AC-3 audio or something else. Usually it will either be MP3 or AC-3 audio.

2.) Extract the audio from the DivX/Xvid file. If it is AC-3 then you use one method if it is MP3 then you use another method. For AC-3 I just demux the audio using VirtualDubMod but you then have to process the AC-3 file using AC3Fix or you will get errors later on. For MP3 audio the best method is to load the AVI into an audio program such as GOLDWAVE. Once it is loaded you want to save the audio as a 16-bit 48k Stereo PCM WAV audio file. GOLDWAVE works very well for this but is not freeware ... someone already mentioned AUDACITY which is the same kind of program but is freeware and I am guessing it works the same as GOLDWAVE.

Obviously if the audio is AC-3 that will be what you use on the final DVD. However if you converted your MP3 to WAV then you have 3 options. Leave it as a WAV file (option 1) which is DVD compliant or convert it to a more compressed format which will leave space. The compressed formats are MP2 and AC-3 with AC-3 being the preferred format. There are a few tools for converting to WAV from AC-3 but the only really good working solutioin is BeSweet or ffmpegGUI. At least those are the two best freeware solutions and should work the same although it seems ffmpegGUI is the more popular one.

3.) Once you have your final audio file and know the size of it you have to use a bitrate calculator to determine the bitrate you will use for the video. One of the best bitrate calculators is right here ---> CLICK HERE

4.) You need a MPEG-2 encoder. There are many options but I would suggest TMPGEnc Plus for ease-of-use (and great quality) or Cinema Craft Encoder (aka CCE) which also has great quality and is faster than TMPGEnc Plus but can be a bit more difficult to work with as you need to use AviSynth. The nice thing about TMPGEnc Plus is that it has a lot of options built-in for resizing the video and this will be needed for DivX/XviD AVI to DVD. However this can also be done with AviSynth and a tool that makes using AviSynth easy is called FitCD.

5.) After you got the video and audio you need to use an authoring program. One that works very well and is easy-to-use is TMPGEnc DVD Author. There is also a newer slightly-more-robust version called TSUNAMI MPEG DVD AUTHOR PRO and if I were you I would go with the PRO version.

6.) Burning. There are many ways to do this. Just about any DVD Authoring program will create a VIDEO_TS folder with your video and audio files etc. within it. The best method is to create an ISO IMAGE file. This is best done with ImgTools (be sure to use the classic version). You can then burn that ISO IMAGE file using ImgBurn. I use TMGPEnc DVD Author which has the ability to create an ISO IMAGE file so I use that function but then I always burn with ImgTools eventhough TMPGEnc DVD Authorhas burning capabilities.

I hope this helps. There are guides that will fill in the "finer details".

As for DVD back-up you will need a ripper. The best is DVD Decrypter but it is no longer being updated. Use it whenever you can but if it isn't working for you (some newer DVD discs don't work now with it) then use DVDFab Decrypter. For single layer discs that is all you really need to use (along with ImgBurn for burning). For dual layer discs you can use a dual layer blank or you can compress the dual layer original down to a single layer size. For this the freeware program DVDShrink works wonders.

Also be sure to use quality blank DVD-R discs. The best are the Taiyo Yuden brand which can be bought at RIMA.COM ... I cannot stress how important it is to be carefull what kind of DVD recordable blank you use! See this website for some information ---> CLICK HERE

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

alright, thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it. I will start off easily and eventually progress onto some better programs but your help will definately come in handy. Thanks again!