New here - Quick questions

[ImportGuyR34]

Hello everyone. I have been doing this for a while now, but only a certain way as it was the easiest, and best quality way I figured out. I used to use two programs : TMPGEnc Plus (To convert AVI files to mk2 files I think it was) and then TMPGEnc Author (to obviously author the files and burn to dvd). I reinstalled my computer and the HDD that had this progs on there got wipes, I'm pretty bummed. I liked it this way because I had a lot of control over the quality of the video that was being put on dvd.

I got the TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4, but I have limited control over anything and doesn't come out quality that I like.

I was curious if anyone knew of where to get those two programs I used to use or if there is another way of doing this that is similar?

Thanks,
James.

[jman98]

Welcome to the forums. I am going to ask you something very bluntly. I am not trying to offend you but I'm also not going to sugar coat this either.

Is there a really good reason why you are going to all this trouble? You could just buy some kind of media player like a Western Digital player or something similar and not convert anything and just play the files as they are. It would save you tons of time and the quality would be better than doing a conversion from AVI to DVD from a file that was DVD to start with.

[ImportGuyR34]

No offense taken lol. I just prefer having the ability to put them on DVD. Easier to bring to places to watch movies for me than something such as the WDP.

[TBoneit]

OTOH the Western Digital Hub is fairly small and light, includes a 1Tb laptop drive. Easy to take a lot of stuff with you that way. If I were still traveling a lot that is the way I'd go.

[yoda313]

You could use format factory to do what you want. Or avstodvd.

You mentioned mk2 - I believe you mean m2v which is a mpeg2 video file without audio. Just fyi.

If you want to make a video_ts folder that can be burned immediately with a menu than avstodvd is the better choice. It has a menu wizard and creates a final structure for burning to dvd.

Format factory can create mpeg2 files which you can load into an authoring program of your choice. It can also create vob files but I don't think it has any rudimentary authoring capabilities - they would still have to go through another program. Hence avstodvd is better if you just want to stick in the file and get a dvd folder out after it processes it.

[ImportGuyR34]

Thanks for the response Yoda. Does avstodvd give me options to change the resolution size and settings and such for better quality? Like instead of 4:3 I can make it 16:9?

[yoda313]

Yes and no.

You can change the bitrate but it won't make it magically better. You can't make something out of nothing. Filters can make enhancements but if its junk to begin with that is what you're stuck with.

As far as 4:3 to 16:9 you can crop and stuff but do you want it stretched? Otherwise you have to add side pillar bars and it will have the horizontal bars so it looks like a postage stamp inside the frame.

Is it letterboxed? Widescreen but in a 4:3 frame not flagged 16:9? If so then its worth fooling with. You have to get the pixel count of how far up and down the bars are inside the 4:3 frame and then crop on the avisynth tab on avstodvd. I don't have the details handy in front of me as I have only done this once on a letterboxed vhs capture I did once.

You can search the forum for letterbox to widescreen conversion information. If its another process you're looking into I would advise against it. Its best to leave full screen as full screen otherwise nasty distortion and squattiness will result and that is not good on any screen.

Edit - you can change the resolution too but only to a small degree as the dvd format has fixed ratios it can use - mainly 720x480 (full d1 ntsc) and 352x480 (halfd1 ntsc). There are cropped ratios you can use but that is more complex and you'd have to search the forum for your particular needs.