All-In-One DVD Converter that retains the most quality?

[Brent.M]

I am not computer illiterate but am certainly not savvy on the video/audio side of things.

I have been using FAVC which suits my requirements perfectly only, it is pot luck whether it generates a full DVD or encode or not. FAVC (tried both 1.06 & 1.07) has with HCenc has been good to me. But had enough of crossing my fingers in hope it'll work, wasting time.

I have had a look around and taken a peek at HCbatchGUI but it all goes straight over my head.

So out of desperation I am asking what alternative method(s) to generating a full DVD at best quality encode out there?

I don't mind learning at all but since I convert .mkvs and .avis on a weekly basis it would be a bonus if isn't more hassle to achieve than it is worth.

Thanks

[Krispy Kritter]

FAVC is typically reliable, however you could also give ConvertXtoDVD or DVD Flick a try.

[minidv2dvd]

the film machine works fairly well.

but nothing is going to make a quality dvd out of poor source material. what or where are you getting the mkv and avi files from?

[Seeker47]

FAVC is typically reliable, however you could also give ConvertXtoDVD or DVD Flick a try.

The learning curve with ConvertX is pretty minimal . . . but I'm saying that with a very shallow understanding of what improvements might be achieved by tweaking their various settings. (Setting Quality / Size targets for individual clips, if that is possible ?) Given good sources, and if you can avoid overloading what you're trying to fit onto a DVD, the results can be very good. I know some folks here feel that the ConvertX people are just ripping off FFMPEG, but I feel that their program "shell" -- which in my opinion is more than just a front-end -- adds enough real value as to have made the purchase worthwhile.

Some are very partisan in favor of AVStoDVD, with its two-pass approach. My first experiment with that did not go so well, but it is more complicated than ConvertX. I look forward to trying it out again, in a later version, once I have the better computing horsepower to do it justice.

Avanti is another one in this general category.

[Brent.M]

@Minidv2dvd
No s**t.


Thanks for the suggestions, heard of them all but I will check them all out.

The .avis are typically
Video: 1 000 Kbps , 624 x 352
Audio: 128 Kbps, 2-channels,MP3. Or higher
The .mkv are are typically
Video: 3 000 Kbps, 1280 x 720
Audio: 384 Kbps, 6-channels, AC-3. Or higher

So, what my first post/title should have said is what app is best for retaining as much quality as possible.(title now changed) (Yea, it's technically the encoder not the app of course.)

FAVC results using HCenc set to "Quality" retains and produces excellent quality. Which is why I have been using it. Quality is at the top of the list for me.

Tried using FAVC 1.06 twice today with a .mkv but the video & audio was 2x as fast and not understandable sounding.

mkv file info:

General
Complete name                    : ********
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 1.09 GiB
Duration                         : 41mn 46s
Overall bit rate                 : 3 746 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2009-04-02 02:51:05
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.3.0 ('Freak U') built on Oct  7 2008 20:39:59
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 3 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@4.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 41mn 43s
Bit rate                         : 3 205 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 3 359 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16/9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.145
Writing library                  : x264 core 67 r1123tw
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=3359 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Language                         : English

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 41mn 46s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz

Have done similar if not identical quality matroskas in the past using the same settings. I wouldn't say "no problem" as it's pot luck. 70% of the time it produces a DVD.

There was mention of lowering the video Bierate to 7000 due Muxman can be possibly being sensitive to spikes. Didn't resolve anything anyway.

FAVC 1.07 supposedly has problems retaining AC3 audio.

[Brent.M]

So I tried the following:

AVStoDVD
Didn't work. Can't remember why. Possibly didn't like the HQ matroska?

DVD Flick
Minor jumps in video every several seconds. | Quality OK, not what I am used to with FAVC/HCenc but satisfactory I guess.

ConvertXtoDVD
No video problems | Quality OK, again, not what I am used to with FAVC/HCenc but satisfactory I guess. Pretty fast for "High quality encoding".

I will have to take snapsshots to compare next time. Bit hard to judge from memory. I wasn't thinking. Just a tad fed up with all this converting.


If you were going to produce the best possible HQ DVD you could what would you do?

[guns1inger]

I have been using AVStoDVD, and only had one video that it refused to encode. Usually when this happens with FAVC (which balks at MKVs more often than AVStoDVD), unpacking the MKV with MKVExtractGUI, then creating a new MKV with just the audio and video tracks I need fixes the problem.

The cost of the convenience with ConvertXtoDVD is that the quality, while not bad, is not as good as AVStoDVD/FAVC. The next version of ConvertX will offer 2 pass encoding, although we will have to wait to see what difference, if any, this actually makes.

If I had a quality source, I would write my own avs script, encode with HCEnc doing a two pass encode, then author with DVD Lab Pro.

Otherwise I would learn how to get the best out of AVStoDVD, and also how to rebuild MKV files, which are notoriously unreliable for conversion because of the amount of crap you can store in that container format.

[MysticE]

You might also look into trying a recent build of ffdshow and the Haali splitter.

[zoobie]

I installed a recent version of ffdshow then removed it. It took along with it a mpeg codec of mine...

[Brent.M]

You might also look into trying a recent build of ffdshow and the Haali splitter.

How would those help me?

I remember having Haali Splitter installed when I first used FAVC; the Tray icon would show up on encoding. What's that about?