Burning multiple VOB with Toast

[nd32k3]

Ok this has been a long process and I still do not completely understand how to do this.

First, I have about 20 TV shows on my iBook in the AVI container. I converted all of them to VIDEO_TS with ffmpegx. Then I put all of them into Toast. DVD-Video from VIDEO_TS only allows you to burn one DVD, so I used the normal DVD-Video. When I put the entire VIDEO_TS folder in, it gave me an error, then as I finished burning, there was also an error at the end. Then I tried it again and I thought I had it figured out, by dragging episodes by just the VOB file. I burned the first four episodes onto a DVD that worked in my DVD player. I did this without re-encoding. Is re-encoding a necessary step? I did 'Encoding Custom' then 'Re-encode Never'. By doing this I was able to fit more shows onto a disc and it went much faster since it just Multiplexed instead of encoding everything which takes forever. But then I tried it again, and when I put the second disc in my DVD player, it says 'Cannot Read Disc'. But I did it the same way? I think atleast. I burned it by creating a 'DVD-Video' format Disc (not DVD-Video from VIDEO_TS, because thats only one).

My question mainly is, how do I get this to work?

Is it necessary to encode everything and just click the 'Encoding: Automatic' option, or is it something else? What about the thing that sometimes pops up asking about 'PAL' or 'NTSC' format? It says its in NTSC but standard is PAL.

I have no idea what Im doing and Ive wasted so many blank DVDs. It seems that everyone I try launched DVD Player when I put it in, but says Cannot Be Read when I put it in one of my DVD players (4). But I know the problem isnt with the DVD players because the one that I burned that works plays on all of them, but the ones that dont work say cant be read by all of them.

Thank you so much to whoever can help me.

[Frobozz]

Your Location says you're in the United States. So why do you say the standard is PAL? And why did you involve ffmpeg before using Toast? Why not just have Toast encode those AVI's to MPEG as part of its process? And why create VIDEO_TS folders when you still wanted to add more titles to the VIDEO_TS? About the only thing that makes sense to me in your approach is turning off the automatic re-encode in Toast's custom settings.

What I'd do is drop the AVI's I want on the DVD (up to about 2-1/2 hours worth for best quality) into the Toast Video window (with DVD-video as the format), set up the menu the way I want and select Save as Disc Image. That way I could mount the disc image to preview the DVD with DVD Player before burning the disc image to disc (using the Toast Copy menu).

If you have a mix of NTSC and PAL videos they all need to be the same as you've set for your format in Toast preferences. Assuming NTSC, Toast will ask if you want any of the PAL ones converted and your answer should be yes.

[nd32k3]

I used something else because when I first tried it with Toast only, it did not work. Forgot to mention that. So I figured if I give Toast a format that DVD players can read (VIDEO_TS) then that will work. Would there be something better to convert to besides 'To DVD' in ffmpegx? But Ill give it another go, the way you said.

[nd32k3]

Why is it that when I burn a DVD is will launch on my iBooks DVD player when I put it in but then when I put it into a DVD player it says Cannot play? AHHHHH

[Frobozz]

If we go back to the PAL/NTSC thing, DVD Player doesn't care which it is but your set top DVD player probably is NTSC only. So it will refuse to play a PAL DVD.

What ffMPEG created for you in addition to the VIDEO_TS folder are the MPEG2-encoded videos. That's all you needed with Toast. It didn't need to become VOB's or authored into a VIDEO_TS folder when you're going to have Toast create a new VIDEO_TS folder with its own menus and multiple titles.

Still, your process does work as long as everything is NTSC at the end. Toast has to re-encode any PAL videos to NTSC because the resolution and frame rate is wrong for an NTSC DVD player. Alternatively you could buy a DVD player that supports PAL playback to an NTSC TV. I think Philips sells a cheap one.

[nd32k3]

Ok I just clicked preferences and it said TV Standard PAL. So I clicked the NTSC button. Ill give this another go and hopefully this will work!

[nd32k3]

Actually, how do I fit more shows onto one disc? I have the AVI's, and when I put them right into Toast, I can only fit three of them onto one DVD - NTSC format I cant not re-encode because they are AVI movies. So they need to be converted. If I do use ffmpegx and I create the MPEG-2/VOB files, can I press the re-encode never button, then put the MPEG-2/VOB files into Toast? Which should I use, the MPEG-2 or the VOB?

[Frobozz]

The AVI's must be converted to MPEG 2 files for use in a video DVD. Toast should be able to do this but your experience is that you needed ffMPEG to do this conversion which is fine to do. The limit of how much can fit a DVD is determined by the length of the video and the average MPEG 2 bit rate. Generally it's a good idea to not put more than 2-1/2 or maybe 3 hours of video on a single-layer DVD in order to keep good picture quality (assuming you're using AC-3 audio). If you keep lowering the bit rate and lower the resolution (i.e use 360X480 instead of 720X480) you can get more video on a DVD but the picture quality suffers a lot.

Once you have an MPEG-2 file Toast should automatically not re-encode it unless there is something out of spec about the MPEG file. But to be sure you can force the setting in Toast, as you have done. You don't need VOBs; MPEG 2 files are fine. It doesn't really matter though, as Toast works with either.