Burning MPEG-2 Files to DVD Without Re-Encoding?

[sbowline]

I've been using mencoder and ffmpegX to make NTSC spec MPEG-2 files to burn off to a DVD. I was surprised to learn that Quicktime cannot open or play these files without an additional plug-in. So it should come as no surprise that iDVD will always re-encode your files for DVD regardless of their source format.

What products are available that will let me create simple DVDs and accept pre-formatted and encoded video - WITHOUT re-encoding (only VOB creation and burning...) ?

ffmpegX has a nice "author as DVD" option for single files, but I'd like to do something a little nicer. Not too fancy - anything of the same level as iDVD would suffice.

I should also mention that I've been attempting to re-encode my video with something that Quicktime _can_ read so that I can use iDVD. I figured if I scaled and encoded it with a high quality process at a high bit rate I might be able to live with the extra encoding step. However, I can't seem to encode with a codec that Quicktime can read. Using mpeg4 in mencoder doesn't work, and neither does h263+. This is all complicated by the fact that my files are in the Real Media format, and ffmpegX (which will write a playable MPEG-4 .MOV file) cannot decode them - only mencoder with the latest RealVideo codecs is able to do so.

It's never as simple as it seems....

[Frobozz]

Toast 7 and CaptyDVD 2 are two good options. I'd only choose the latter if it is important to have customized menus and/or specific chapter menu points.

[rumplestiltskin]

Agreed; Toast 7 is the easiest way to go in your situation. I've even seen some customized Toast menus if you don't like the simplicity of what ships with Toast.

[sbowline]

Agreed; Toast 7 is the easiest way to go in your situation. I've even seen some customized Toast menus if you don't like the simplicity of what ships with Toast.

Toast sounds perfect, but I've been having difficulties verifying that it will let me create the VOBs and title sets from already properly formatted MPEG-2 files - without re-encoding them. You're sure?

[rumplestiltskin]

Yes; you may select "Never" in the "Reencode" popup menu when you select "Custom" encoding. This will work as long as your MPEG2 files are properly encoded in the first place.

[sbowline]

Yes; you may select "Never" in the "Reencode" popup menu when you select "Custom" encoding. This will work as long as your MPEG2 files are properly encoded in the first place.

Sweet! Thank you for taking time to reply.

[nitosoft]

we just released an app that is perfect for your goal. hawkeye 1.0 released

[myDVDEdit]

MovieGate !!!

Jérôme