DVD maestro help!

[FusionMafia]

I just tested the DVD maestro and cannot import any video files. The help file is missing so that doesn't help.
What formats does it import?

[kabanero]

Supported Assets
You’ll need to edit your video, audio, and other assets outside of DVDMaestro. However, your Spruce authoring software is able to work with a wide range of audio, video and other assets — practically every asset supported by the DVD-Video Specification. Here’s a rundown of all the currently supported asset formats:
Still Assets
You can import a wide range of still image formats, for use as background images or
subpictures in DVD Menus:
• Bitmapped images (.bmp)
• Adobe Photoshop files (.psd — Photoshop native files, with layers)
• TIFF images (.tif — Tagged Image File Format)
• JPEG images (.jpg — Joint Photographic Experts Group)
Note: Due to the nature of JPEG, highly compressed JPEG images may suffer from unwanted artifacts when imported into Spruce authoring software. Still images can also be used as “slides” within a DVD Movie presentation, either silent or accompanied by a soundtrack.
Chapter 2: Fundamentals 2-15
Video Assets
Your Spruce authoring software also lets you import both video formats of the DVD-Video Spec — including both types of common MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) files — for use in DVD Movies or in “dynamic” DVD Menus:
• MPEG-1 video (.m1v, .mpv, or .vbs)
• MPEG-2 video (.m2v or .vbs )
Note: Spruce authoring software can import MPEG video files with extensions other than those listed above; for the details, please see Chapter 4 (“Importing MPEG Video Files with Non-Standard File Extensions”).
Note: Spruce authoring software imports elementary (not multiplexed) MPEG video streams.
Audio Assets
DVDMaestro and DVDConductor also support a broad range of audio file formats for use in DVD Movies or in “dynamic” DVD Menus:
• MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio (.m1a, .mpa, or .abs)
• Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio (.ac3 — mono up to six channels)
• DTS multichannel audio (.dts)
• WAV audio (.wav — Windows uncompressed PCM audio; most common Windows audio format)
• PCM audio (.pcm — “raw” pulse code modulation audio; similar to WAV, but without “header” and other file information)
• AIFF audio (.aif — Audio Interchange File Format uncompressed PCM audio; most common Macintosh audio format)
Note: Spruce authoring software imports elementary (not multiplexed) MPEG audio streams.
Subtitle Assets
Finally, although you can create individual DVD Movie subtitles directly using your Spruce authoring software’s Subtitle Editor feature, you can also import three different subtitle file formats:
• Spruce Technologies format (.stl)
• Daikin Scenarist™ format (.son)
• any bitmapped image (.bmp), TIFF (.tif), or even JPEG (.jpg) file
Note: Typically, both “.stl” and “.son” file types are a list of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of subtitles, each with their relative timecode location embedded and hidden as part of the file data. These are the file types that DVDMaestro and DVDConductor use for creating an complete subtitle stream, from the start to finish of a DVD Movie (or a portion of a DVD Movie). On the other hand, you can import bitmapped images for use as individual subtitles without any embedded timecode information.

[FusionMafia]

WOW!
Thank you for all that valuable information!
Do you have the help file? Is there any possibility you couls e-mail me that?

[lucindrea]

any idea why a 23.97 mpeg pulled down to 29.97 gives me a "invalid framerate" when trying to compile in maestro?

[kenj]

I tried everything but cannot import a .m2v file (extracted with SmartRipper) into DVD Maestro 2.9, each time, I get an error message. Has this already happened to anyone ?
I think there should be a problem, because the movie is 2 hours long, but when I open the .m2v file in Windows Media Player, it says that it last 59 minutes, I think.
Thanks for any help !

[samwise]

are you sure that your mpeg(m2v) data is at DVD specifics IE

Your Video is 352X480 or 704x480 or 720x480 (NTSC)
or 352x576,704x576 or 720x576 (Pal)

Also your sound also needs to be 48khz, not 44khz

[kenj]

Actually, this is what I have :
- source DVD 9 is ten chapters (2 movies), I just extract the 5 first chapters with SmartRipper.
- this way I get a .m2v file (3.5 Gigs), and when I drop this file into Windows Media Player, the time length show 59 minutes instead of 2 hours. Has this ever happened to someone ? (bad file length shown, but you can read it fully for 2 hours).
- when I try to import this file in DVD Maestro 2.9, I get this annoying 'file parsing error' !
Is there a problem with SmartRipper ? I really have no idea ...