NEWBIE: From Avi to MPEG-2 burn to DVD

[trash]

Sorry here is the file in gif format

I have a question if I have all video, audio DVD compliant already, can I just use any other DVD authoring tools that will let me combine the episodes and subtitle together. The reason I ask is cos the DVDLABPRO is very expensive and I cannot afford it. For the purpose that I am using do you think some other software such as Nero would work? Would other dvd authoring tool not enable me to have as good a result as a more expensive tool such as DVDPROLAB . I guess the question is does the more expensive tool really makes a better quality DVD.
Do I then need nero7 which is what I have been reading a better tool for making DVD than Nero 6 ? Of course nero 7 is a lot more expensive.
As for the freeware GUIforDVDAuthor, it mentioned that it needs to be nero to burn so if I dont have nero then I cannot use GUIforDVDAuthor?

Thanks again for all the help

[guns1inger]

What you pay for are features. TDA would be enough for most of what you do, but if you want the ability to have seperate episodes that you can play in isolation, as well as the ability to have a play all function, then you need something that supports playlists. Not many packages do, and certainly not cheap ones.

So you have a decision to make : spend the money, or rethink what you want.

As to your playlist issue, your menu should look something like this

Episode 1 ->(link)-> Movie 1
Episode 2 ->(link)-> Movie 2
Episode 3 ->(link)-> Movie 3
Play All ->(link)-> Playlist 1

[Nelson37]

GFDA will use Nero to burn directly, however it can also make a DVD folder which you can burn with any burning software on the planet. I use CDBurnerXpPro, which is free.

The authoring program has nothing to do with quality, assuming it creates a working disk. Every one I have ever tried will do the play all function in addition to the single episode play. Essentially if you play the first episode without returning to the menu, that is play all. Perhaps the "feature" of returning to the menu is missing, but this is what I wanted, anyway. Am not making a menu disk, am making a video disk. I often use no menu whatsoever.

Concentrate on simple authoring, get it to work first, then work on making a better menu.

I forget if DVDLab demo will stop working in 30 days, if so and you do not wish to purchase the full version, do not waste another minute learning to use a program you will be unable to use after the demo expires. Total waste of time and effort.

[Nelson37]

Correction, I am actually using the burner which came free with my DVD burner, part of the Ulead suite. Any prog which can burn a DVD will work just fine for burning the DVD folder made by GFDA. In the time you have spent trying to get DVDLab to work, you could have been done by now and watching your new video disk. My first attempt worked and took less than 10 minutes to finish my input.

DVDLab disks, on those few that did burn successfully, also failed to play on my PS2. They did work on two standalones. Same files, authored in two other progs, worked fine on PS2 and two other players. Takes about one minute with GFDA to create a motion menu, with backround, subtitles, chapters, ac3 sound, boom, done. Folder creation takes maybe 5 minutes more, then burn. Not a single failure on over 2 dozen disks. Just verified the "play all" function, play the first and all play in sequence. This prog is right up there with Vdub for general function and usefulness.

[guns1inger]

GFDA wont do what he want to do though. It will make a disc that plays each on it's own, or a disc that plays them all in sequence, but not a disc that does both.

Not a single failure on over 2 dozen disks

I can say the same about DVD Lab Pro for me, but the number of discs authored is far higher.

[Nelson37]

Yes, it will. Each menu item, when launched, will not return to the menu after finishing, but continue on to the next item in sequence. Now if you play Item #2 of three, after #2, then #3 will play, and then the menu. Selecting Item #1 will effectively result in all 3 videos, or whatever number is present, playing in sequence. At least it does for me.

DVDLab seems to work great for lots of people, however I have seen many report problems and/or failure. Probably fewer users for GFDA, but I have not seen anyone reporting complete failure with this prog. I'm sure some are out there, but it seems to be more reliable in general. In addition to being Much simpler to use, and free.

I never got to the point of trying subtitles and chapters with DVDLab, but GFDA does those as well. The only thing I would like to do and haven't achieved yet is to select the particular sequence to be used as the motion menu, at least not in a simple fashion. Making your own short clip does work. However, the automatic method works just fine, it just may not pick the sequence you ideally want.

Whatever your preference, I don't think you could possible argue that DVDLab has a high learning curve, while GFDA is quite simple. For a newbie just starting out, and most especially one on a budget, IMO the choice is a no-brainer.

[guns1inger]

You still don't understand what he is trying to do. He wants to play video and have it stop after video one. He wants to play video two and have it stop after video two. Same for video three. He also wants to hit play all, and them all play in order, one after the other.

Even TDA can do what you are proposing, but not what he is asking for.

As for DLP, there are a lot of features it has that I don't use, or think don't work particularly well. Motion menus and transition can be clumsy, many of the effects are cheesy, as are the supplied templates. That doesn't worry me because I do all of that in the prep stage anyway. It is features like playlists (both title and chapter) that I like it for. As to the learning curve - that's a state of mind. I found it easy to pick up, but then I also prefer Vegas to Premiere (for a variety of reasons), and Fusion to After Effects (if only my budget would allow it). They suit the way my mind works, I guess.

[trash]

Basically I want to thank you everyone for all your help and encouragement so far. There seem to be a disagreement as to what tool I should use to rip the dvd. I understand there is a many tools out there. I really appreciate all the help and do not want to offend anyone by chosing one over the other. Please do not feel offended if I chose one over the other.
However I did pick the GUIfor DVD only because it is free. I have however, the following question

1) I am not sure if the conversion is complete. It seems that way only cos it did make a OTS folder. I have included a screenshot only because I think there is something missing. When I click on one of the video the subtitle is not showing up. Anyway please confirm if I am doing this right by the screenshot.

2 If the OTS is correct then how can I preview this to make sure that subtitle is in synch before I waste a blank DVD.
I tried to use the powerdvd and also dvd decrypter. However, maybe I do not understand but it looks as if the decrypter only allows me to decrypt a dvd also in the drive. I am only trying to preview the DVD to make sure that it is correct. Please let me know if there is a way.

Once again thanks for all your help. I am almost at the end but seems like it is still very far away.



video_ts.gif

[manono]

You gotta quit hiding your file extensions.

You can't just play a vob and expect to see selectable subtitles. You have to play the DVD, like with PowerDVD or WinDVD or similar. To play in PowerDVD, I click on an IFO, and not a vob. I assume your verson is the same. Maybe with newer versions you click on the VIDEO_TS FOLDER. But it looks to me like you have all the files you need to burn to disc.

[fritzi93]

If you do the DVD2SVCD process, and learn what every step in that log does and why, you will have advanced your knowledge tremendously. As a bonus, you will have a whole collection of extremely useful tools. Almost all free.

Good point, I learned a good deal from using DVD2SVCD. Although I haven't used it for nearly two years now, IIRC I took my first baby steps with Avisynth, editing the script in DVD2SVCD. Now I usually begin with FitCD, since I habitually make mistakes when calculating for resize.

[trash]

Sorry I did not mean to hide the file extension. Here is a screenshot of the powerdvd. I have a trial version of the powerdvd and looked everywhere and does not look as if I can click on an IFO. What I did was I clicked on the video_ts file and the screen shot is what came up. Then I hit play but then it has no subtitle and no audio.
Did I do something wrong.

[manono]

Based on that new screenshot, it still looks to me like you're playing vobs and not a DVD.

You could always burn it and try it in the standalone.

My version 4.0 of PowerDVD is quite old (but works), so if it's different now, I'm sure someone else can tell you.