AVStoDVD Support Thread

[manono]

I didn't understand all of that about ConvertX and AvsToDVD, but the encoder in ConvertX is inferior to the HCEnc you can use in AvsToDVD. I hope you chose that one. Is the rudimentary menu AvsToDVD makes that much inferior to whatever you can make in ConvertX? In any event, because both make only basic menus, I don't think it should be the determining factor as to which program to use. AvsToDVD is way better. And this from someone that uses neither program but is familiar with the programs used within AvsToDVD.

I will be using Convertxdvd to make a pal dvd with a menu for the footage.

Why? You didn't reencode the DVD you already made using AvsToDVD, did you?

[manolito]

Alright, if you are still interested in trying the MotionProtected FFS conversion:
To avoid your error you should extract the 3 files from the following archive into your "AviSynth\plugins" folder. This way the necessary plugins will autoload and make your conversions independent from the A2D LoadPlugin commands.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/d66dbg


To answer your other questions:

1. Yes, interlaced DVDs are part of the standard, and every player which conforms to the standard will be able to play those DVDs.

A little background information:
Old CRT TV sets play interlaced content natively because they always display their input field by field.
Modern playing devices (LCD, Plasma, Projectors) can only display whole frames, so any interlaced source must be deinterlaced before playback. This can be done by the TV itself, or it is done by the (upscaling progressive output) hardware player. The million dollar question is if the resulting quality will be better if you let the hardware do the deinterlacing (this must happen in real time), or if you get better results if you deinterlace your source during encoding (this can take very long depending on the software deinterlacer). I don't think that this question has been answered once and for all yet.


2. I do not really understand your question. What kind of filters are you talking about?

3. Yes, if the source specs are the same, you can concatenate the source files into one output file. Load your source files into A2D, then click "Tools -> Join Source Titles".


Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

In addition to manono's post, I also see no reason why you would want to use ConvertXtoDVD together with AVStoDVD. The conversion quality of A2D is superior to ConvertX, and the menu creation capabilities of both programs are pretty similar.

If you need more menu power I suggest you take a look at DVDStyler. It can take MPEG2 files created by AVStoDVD as its input, you can specify to not reencode these input files, and it has very powerful menu creation capabilities.


Cheers
manolito

[jjcinema1]

manolito and manono, I am so sorry I feel like a right plunker now as I did re encode the mpeg with convertxdvd . I did this as I wanted to use a customised menu template I had created but I did not know about avstodvd having a menu creation tool so i will look into that.

I also never knew that avstodvd using the HCEnc was a superior program to convertxdvd as Im not sure what encoder convertxdvd uses. But upon you guys advice here I will be using avstodvd from now on.

manolito

Thanks you for answering my question. The background information on interlacing was very informative.

The filters I was referring to where the resize filters like spline, linear, Lanczos ext. Im not sure if these apply in avstodvd but when i used convertxdvd for many years i was used to the default linear one so I do apologize for any confusion I may have caused over filters ect.

Thank you also for advice on how to join multiple mp4 files to one mpeg2 file using avstodvd, this feature will prove to be very useful to me in the future.

In addition to manono's post, I also see no reason why you would want to use ConvertXtoDVD together with AVStoDVD. The conversion quality of A2D is superior to ConvertX, and the menu creation capabilities of both programs are pretty similar.

If you need more menu power I suggest you take a look at DVDStyler. It can take MPEG2 files created by AVStoDVD as its input, you can specify to not reencode these input files, and it has very powerful menu creation capabilities.


Cheers
manolito

Now that i know conversion quality of A2D is superior to ConvertX i will be using A2D from now on. I do like my menus as I think they complete a DVD project so I will have a look at the menu creator within A2D and then also DVD STYLER and see how I get on.


I will try the MotionProtected FFS conversion step just to see what the result looks like compared to the interlaced step. out of the two which would you say would be the best to go with to maintain the smoothest footage and best quality possible?

Many thanks Guys for you input

[manolito]

I will try the MotionProtected FFS conversion step just to see what the result looks like compared to the interlaced step. out of the two which would you say would be the best to go with to maintain the smoothest footage and best quality possible?

The Best is always in the eye of the beholder...

MotionProtectedFPS has its virtues, but a lot depends on the source characteristics. There is a tendency for warped vertical lines, and for anime content it does not work too well.

The other approach to drop fields instead of frames and create an interlaced target file is more universal. But interlaced encoding is less effective than progressive encoding, it needs more bitrate for the same quality than progressive encoding.

So at the end of the day it is totally up to you which approach works better for your needs. Do some testing...


Cheers
manolito

[djdelarosa25]

Hey there! I converted this MKV to DVD using AVStoDVD, but the audio was out of sync. Here are my settings.

Interestingly, converted it via ConvertXToDVD and all was well.

P.S. The audio from the MKV was DTS

[jjcinema1]

I will try the MotionProtected FFS conversion step just to see what the result looks like compared to the interlaced step. out of the two which would you say would be the best to go with to maintain the smoothest footage and best quality possible?

The Best is always in the eye of the beholder...

MotionProtectedFPS has its virtues, but a lot depends on the source characteristics. There is a tendency for warped vertical lines, and for anime content it does not work too well.

The other approach to drop fields instead of frames and create an interlaced target file is more universal. But interlaced encoding is less effective than progressive encoding, it needs more bitrate for the same quality than progressive encoding.

So at the end of the day it is totally up to you which approach works better for your needs. Do some testing...


Cheers
manolito

Thanks Manolito
u[on doing some tests I think I prefer the interlaced step, as its more universal as you say but Im happy with the resukts and as a bonus the interlace step seems a lot quicker to complete than the MotionProtectedFPS method

Thanks

[_MrC_]

Hey there! I converted this MKV to DVD using AVStoDVD, but the audio was out of sync.

Please post the AVStoDVD project log file.



Bye

[manolito]

I bet it's the old M$ DirectShow filters issue again...

[_MrC_]

I bet it's the old M$ DirectShow filters issue again...

And you will easily win...



Bye

[_MrC_]

AVStoDVD 2.8.4 Final is available to download.

Just minor fixes from latest Alpha.



Bye

[jjcinema1]

As I used to use convert xdvd to put 2 movie on a dvd at once or 4 episodes of a tv series can avstodvd allow me to do this? Also would it be best to encode all my mpeg2 files with avstodvd and use dvd styler to creat a detailed menu or would i have to reencode everything again?

Thanks

[manolito]

Yes, AVS2DVD will let you put several clips or episodes on 1 DVD, no problem at all.

For menues, it all depends on your needs. AVS2DVD creates nice looking menus by using pre-created templates. Only a few templates are included with the software, but MrC has many more templates available for download on his SourceForge website.

These templates can be modified in many ways, but a few restrictions remain. The max number of titles is limited to 60, and at the moment there is no way to create submenues for chapters or subtitles. This will change in the future (Sir Didymus expanded the BatchMux software a lot recently), but it depends on how much time MrC will be able to spend on the project.


DVDStyler has its main strength in menu creation. The transcoding capability was added much later, it uses FFMpeg (like ConvertX), but only CBR is supported out of the box. (It can use FFMpeg VBR and High Quality modes with the help of a plugin I wrote for it.)

There is no need to reencode source files which are already DVD compliant. You can do the actual conversion with AVStoDVD and just create muxed MPEG2 files. Then use these files as the input for DVDStyler and specify to not transcode them.

Menu creation in DVDStyler is much more powerful than in AVStoDVD, but it does have a slight learning curve. It also offers ready made templates which are very easy to use.


Bottom line: You need to define your menu creation needs first. Chances are that AVS2DVD already has everything you need. If not, check out DVDStyler.


Cheers
manolito

[djdelarosa25]

Hey there! I converted this MKV to DVD using AVStoDVD, but the audio was out of sync.

Please post the AVStoDVD project log file.



Bye

I already deleted the original project log that was converted with Wavi+Aften as the AC3 Audio Encoder. Tried to convert it again with FFmpeg (Safe mode) selected, still same results. Here's the log. Wasted two hours of my life.

[djdelarosa25]

Also, there's this weird artifacting that I get in the beginning of the movie. Lasts for a few seconds. It existed both on my first project and this one.

[djdelarosa25]

What's interesting is that ConvertXToDVD delivered better quality and at the same time, did the conversion a lot faster than AVStoDVD (it was really noticeable, AVStoDVD had a lot of pixelation). Strange.

[_MrC_]

@djdelarosa25

thanks for reporting the log file. Very likely it is a directshow codecs issue.

See Help/FAQ/General/Q1.5 and, in case, Help/FAQ/GUI/Q2.7



Bye

[manolito]

What's interesting is that ConvertXToDVD delivered better quality and at the same time, did the conversion a lot faster than AVStoDVD (it was really noticeable, AVStoDVD had a lot of pixelation). Strange.

There must be something wrong with your settings then. ConvertXtoDVD uses FFMpeg for encoding, either in a Constant Quality 1-pass mode or in VBR 2-pass mode. It is hard to believe that it delivers better quality than HCenc in 1-pass or 2-pass VBR mode when using identical output settings (bitrate, frame size etc).

If this pixelation still occurs after configuring your DirectShow filters correctly (LAV is the preferred method today), then some further analysis will be required...


Cheers
manolito


//EDIT//
Just noticed that you kept your DTS audio track which has a bitrate of 754 kbps. This causes a very low video bitrate of 3105 kbps. You can specify to reencode audio to AC3 (either 6-ch or downmix to stereo) to get a higher video bitrate.

//EDIT2//

I already deleted the original project log that was converted with Wavi+Aften as the AC3 Audio Encoder. Tried to convert it again with FFmpeg (Safe mode) selected, still same results. Here's the log. Wasted two hours of my life.

Not true. Your log clearly shows that you used HCenc and not FFmpeg safe mode for video. And for audio you specified to keep DVD compliant audio tracks, so your DTS audio stream was not touched at all.

And I am sure everybody here on this forum is very sorry for the precious time you wasted... (Do you have an idea how much time other people wasted for helping users like you? Not to mention how much of his lifetime MrC wasted for writing this software)

[jjcinema1]

I agree with manolito , i have just joined the forum and if you have a problem you should do you best to give as much information to the ones who help us on this forum, it takes a lot of time research for the guys on here to be able to help with issies that non experienced users like myself have so instead of just talking an answer its good to listen to the reasons behind their advice and learn new stuff so we may be able to help others as well.just my opinion though lol!

I have moved from convertxdvd and i can say avs2dvd is way better equality so i can agree with manolito here as i have saw it for myself.

Now to a little question for manalito if you dont mind me asking. I have tried to use dvdstyler to add two movies on the same dvd as i did with convert xdvd but its saying i will have to reencode probably due to the size but since dvd styler doesnt use HENce just ffmeg would it not just be the same as me encoding with a2d and then using convert xdvd just for the menu so really im loosing quality?

Also the menus in a2d are really good i just wish i could get a root menu for each title but hopefully in the future this feature will appear. I have a question , i used to do 2 movies on a dvd with cxd and wad happy with the quality but since using a2d with your help i have been impressed and will ise it in future. But if i do 2 movies on one dvd with a2d in theory should the quality be better due to it useing hence and not ffmeg like cxd?

[jjcinema1]

I agree with manolito , i have just joined the forum and if you have a problem you should do you best to give as much information to the ones who help us on this forum, it takes a lot of time research for the guys on here to be able to help with issies that non experienced users like myself have so instead of just talking an answer its good to listen to the reasons behind their advice and learn new stuff so we may be able to help others as well.just my opinion though lol!

I have moved from convertxdvd and i can say avs2dvd is way better equality so i can agree with manolito here as i have saw it for myself.

Now to a little question for manalito if you dont mind me asking. I have tried to use dvdstyler to add two movies on the same dvd as i did with convert xdvd but its saying i will have to reencode probably due to the size but since dvd styler doesnt use HENce just ffmeg would it not just be the same as me encoding with a2d and then using convert xdvd just for the menu so really im loosing quality?

Also the menus in a2d are really good i just wish i could get a root menu for each title but hopefully in the future this feature will appear. I have a question , i used to do 2 movies on a dvd with cxd and wad happy with the quality but since using a2d with your help i have been impressed and will ise it in future. But if i do 2 movies on one dvd with a2d in theory should the quality be better due to it useing hence and not ffmeg like cxd?

[davexnet]

Yes, you can usually squeeze out the best quality by using hcenc in two-pass mode. The size need by the menu varies, some are more elaborate,
with video or audio.

If you want do encode the video in AVStoDVD but do the authoring in DVDStyler,, you may run into size issues, depending on the menu.

You can add two movies but he bitrate willl fall quite low for video as has been discussed before.

[manolito]

@ jjcinema1

if you want to do the conversion in AVStoDVD and use DVDStyler to add te menu, you should reduce the target size in A2D to make room for the menu. Another option is to use a custom target size in DVDStyler and then use DVDShrink to fit the target size for a DVD5. As long as the reduction is at about 5% you won't see a quality decrease.

Your other question about the general difference in quality between FFmpeg and HCenc is not so easy to answer...
HCenc is generally considered to be the best free MPEG2 encoder available. I don't disagree. FFmpeg has the reputation to be the Swiss Army Knife which can do almost everything, but the quality will not be on a par with specialized tools.

For MPEG2 encoding I can say that using the FFmpeg default settings will indeed result in less than optimal quality. But if the right parameters are used, FFmpeg can deliver excellent quality output. The problem is to find these high quality parameters. FFmpeg documentation is a major disaster, you depend entirely on user input from the internet.

I wrote FFmpeg plugins for AVStoDVd, DVD-RB and DVDStyler which enable the use of high quality 2-pass VBR parameters. So far feedback has been very positive. So if for some reason you cannot use HCenc and still need very high quality encodes, you might give my plugins a try.


Cheers
manolito

[jjcinema1]

@ Manolito

I have saved a created a test menu template I would like to use in dvdstyler. I would honestly prefer to use if possible a2d to convert my 2 movies with HCenc . my menus are basic and includ root menus for each title.

how can I find out what size my menu is in order to know what custom size to make my a2d output mpeg stream files to add to DVD styler and use the no reencode option?

If I add both movies to a2d and convert will they come out as 2 separate mpeg2 files or one large mpeg2 file?

Many thank
jjcinema1

[manolito]

If you already created an (oversized) DVD structure in DVDStyler you can easily determine the size of your menu. The two files VIDEO_TS.VOB and VTS_01_0.VOB contain the menu. Just add their sizes and add a little bit more for security.

Otherwise it will be trial and error selecting a custom size in AVStoDVD. Full DVD5 size would be around 4400 Mb, maybe start with 4390 and see where it gets you...

If you add two separate movies to A2D it will always create 2 separate MPEG2 files.


There is one other thing you need to know if you want to go this route:
If your 2 or more movies you want on 1 DVD have a different aspect ratio (one is 4:3, the other one 16:9), then A2D causes no problems because it always creates a new title set (VTS) for every clip. DVDStyler has a different philosophy, by default it only creates one VTS and puts all titles into this same VTS.

This is no problem as long as all the titles have the same aspect ratio. Titles with different ARs in one VTS are not allowed by the DVD standard. In such cases DVDStyler will try to reencode one of the titles to stay compliant. If the user overrides this by specifying "Copy" then DVDStyler will obey, but you will get all kinds of trouble upon playback.

The correct way to handle this is to tell DVDStyler to create a new VTS for a title with a different AR. This is easy, after adding the first title to the time line just add a new VTS (right click on the time line) and add the second title to this new VTS. If you don't need the VTS menu which has been automatically added, just delete it.


Cheers
manolito

[jjcinema1]

@ manolito

Thanks for the response. On my test menu would I have to add up the sizes of 3 of the .VOB files as I have the following created:

VIDEO_TS.VOB (Main Menu allowing user to pick Movie 1 or Movie 2) Size 28KB
VTS_01_0.VOB (Root/Sub Menu of Movie 1 Displaying a few details of that movie) Size 48KB
VTS_02_0.VOB (Root/Sub Menu Of Movie 2 Displaying a few details of that movie) Size 50KB

Total Menu size 126KB
I understand that this size will vary if I add more to each menu ect but as a rule of thumb I just add these 3 VOBs up + a little more KB just to be safe to get my over all menu size?

If you already created an (oversized)

There is one other thing you need to know if you want to go this route:
If your 2 or more movies you want on 1 DVD have a different aspect ratio (one is 4:3, the other one 16:9), then A2D causes no problems because it always creates a new title set (VTS) for every clip. DVDStyler has a different philosophy, by default it only creates one VTS and puts all titles into this same VTS.

This is no problem as long as all the titles have the same aspect ratio. Titles with different ARs in one VTS are not allowed by the DVD standard. In such cases DVDStyler will try to reencode one of the titles to stay compliant. If the user overrides this by specifying "Copy" then DVDStyler will obey, but you will get all kinds of trouble upon playback.

The correct way to handle this is to tell DVDStyler to create a new VTS for a title with a different AR. This is easy, after adding the first title to the time line just add a new VTS (right click on the time line) and add the second title to this new VTS. If you don't need the VTS menu which has been automatically added, just delete it.

I probably do have files that will be different aspect ratio, when I was making my test menu I noticed that DVD styler added new Video files as the one Title set, But due to me wanting 1 main menu and then 2 separate menus for each title I rearranged them like this (Please see my attached image file". Is that what you mean just add the second movie or whatever as a new title set altogether?


[Attachment 36754 - Click to enlarge]



Also I wouldn't mind looking and trying your plugins for DVD Styler if you think they would be good for my projects in using DVD styler menus and adding 2 movies per DVD ect. I dont see a plugin section in DVD styler so where can i get them and test them out. DVD Styler and AS2DVD are way better programs than cnvertxdvd I love the customisations in dvd styler and the quality of a2d. I wish I had found these sooner

Thanks
jjcinema

[manono]

Total Menu size 126KB
I understand that this size will vary if I add more to each menu ect but as a rule of thumb I just add these 3 VOBs up + a little more KB just to be safe to get my over all menu size?

Your menus are simple static menus? Then you can safely ignore their size when figuring how large to make your DVD. Your MPEG-2 encode can vary a heck of a lot more than that. I thought maybe your menus were motion menus with some real size.

[jjcinema1]

Total Menu size 126KB
I understand that this size will vary if I add more to each menu ect but as a rule of thumb I just add these 3 VOBs up + a little more KB just to be safe to get my over all menu size?

Your menus are simple static menus? Then you can safely ignore their size when figuring how large to make your DVD. Your MPEG-2 encode can vary a heck of a lot more than that. I thought maybe your menus were motion menus with some real size.

Yes my menus are just static. I love the animated menus but for my own projects I like to use the static ones as they do take up less space as well which is a bonus. Loving DVD styler but I would like to find out more about manolito plugins and how they work to keep quality pretty good. Great program and great advice from you guys here.
Thanks

[manolito]

Yes, your way to create separate VTSs for each title in DVDStyler is absolutely correct.

You can get my ffmpeg_vbr plugin (or add-on) right here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/dvdstyler/discussion/318795/thread/4a559ea3/#ab9e

I wrote it to overcome DVDStylers main weakness, i.e. the limited transcoding quality. But be warned, this is not for noobs who do not know how to extract files to a specific folder or how to rename files in Explorer. And users should also be familiar with the concept of video bitrates or they should know what CBR and VBR means. Please read the PDF documentation before using it...


Cheers
manolito

[jjcinema1]

Yes, your way to create separate VTSs for each title in DVDStyler is absolutely correct.

You can get my ffmpeg_vbr plugin (or add-on) right here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/dvdstyler/discussion/318795/thread/4a559ea3/#ab9e

I wrote it to overcome DVDStylers main weakness, i.e. the limited transcoding quality. But be warned, this is not for noobs who do not know how to extract files to a specific folder or how to rename files in Explorer. And users should also be familiar with the concept of video bitrates or they should know what CBR and VBR means. Please read the PDF documentation before using it...


Cheers
manolito

Manolito Thank you for your links. I have sucessfully downloaded and extracted the plugin. Very nicely put together credit to you my friend. I know you say in order to use the plugin I have to edit the ff_vbr.ini so I am using NotePad++ hopefully that should be ok as I used this in the past to edit ini files.

So from what I believe the normal Default DVDstyler uses ffmeg in a CBR (Constant Bit Rate) mode and this can lead to lower quality conversions and by using your plugin it allows DVDStyler to use VBR (Variable Bit Rate) in a kind of High Quality mode to give a better quality conversion. Im I far of ? lol!

if I want a step up from the default DVDstyler setting as it wont use HCenc encoder what values do I edit in the ff_vbr.in ? Also with your plugin will I still get a higher quality encode over convertxdvd as it uses FFmpeg?

Thanks

[manolito]

For starters the default values in ff_vbr.ini are quite useable. But everyone has different needs, someone puts speed over quality, others who have a very fast computer might want to use the highest quality settings each and every time...

The plugin uses the concept of video bitrate thresholds which I stole from AVStoDVD. In the INI file you define bitrate thresholds for using 1-pass VBR, 2-pass VBR, HQ or XHQ and for custom quant matrices. This way DVDStyler will automatically switch between different modes according to the video bitrate.

One thing you have to know is that I regard 2-pass VBR as a sub-case for VBR and XHQ as a sub-case for HQ. If VBR is not specified then the 2-pass VBR setting will have no effect. And if HQ is not selected then the XHQ setting has no meaning.

Example:
Let's say you always want the best possible quality. You would then unconditionally use 2-pass VBR and the XHQ (Extreme HQ) modes. To achieve this you need to set
VBR_threshold=1
twopass_threshold=1
HQ_threshold=1
XHQ_threshold=1


For more support on DVDStyler you should join the DVDStyler support forum at SourceForge.


Cheers
manolito