Question if this Ezcap capture is ready to be made into DVD

[jimdagys]

I just bought the EZcap usb capture device and wanted to know if the captured file is DVD ready, meaning can I just use
GUI for DVD Author and turn into DVD (no encoding or alterations)? (See G-spot screenshot of a capture.)
I have a netbook 1.6Ghz Atom processor/1GB RAM Windows xp sp3. Some people said these specs are too low
(Ezcap website says minimum 1.7Ghz cpu needed). However, I have captured several clips, and the results seem pretty good. The cpu during capture runs at about 70%, which doesn't seem too high.

[davexnet]

Seems OK. You can certainly try it...
If there's a problem the authoring program should tell you.

[yoda313]

I agree with davexnet. Looks ready to go.

Please note in the lower right hand corner of the screenshot for gspot there is a resizing description. It says "none already dvd format". That refers to the resolution. It is 720x480 and 4:3 no problems there.

Mpeg 2 is your video source in the first box. However that bitrate might be a little high for some strict dvd authoring programs. It shouldn't be an issue really but I think there is some limit on the true dvd spec but I don't know what it is off hand. Though it really shouldn't be an issue.

The only POSSIBLE issue you might run into is the audio.

Its mpeg2 audio.

In the strictest sense of the dvd spec you have to have either ac3 audio or pcm audio as one of your available tracks.

However in the past I had captured videos on a capture card that only recorded with mpeg audio and made dvds that played ok. You might run into an oddball dvd player that wouldn't like a mpeg audio only dvd. But I would hazzard a guess that any "modern" dvd player would have no issues with it.

If you wanted to be a 100% sure you could demux the audio and convert to ac3 then use that as your audio source.

I believe tda does offer the conversion to ac3 automatically. I don't know about guifordvdauthor - I've used a few times but not in a long time.

Again I'm nitpicking here about the mpeg audio. Its a real minor technicality but if you run into a strict dvd player it might not like it - something like a real weird off brand or some no name portable dvd player or car dvd player might not like it without ac3 or pcm audio.

But by and large it should be ready to go no issues.

Edit - just a refresher from the "what is dvd" link:

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbit/s* (9800 Kbit/s*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbit/s (1856 Kbit/s) MPEG1 video
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
29,97 fps*
23,976 fps with 3:2 pulldown = 29,97 playback fps (NTSC Film, this is only supported by MPEG2 video)
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720x480)


Audio:
48000 Hz
32 - 1536 Kbit/s
Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.

Extras:
Motion menus, still pictures, up to 32 selectable subtitles, seamless branching for multiple storylines, 9 camera angles. And also additional DVD-ROM / data files that only can be read by computer DVD drives.

Total:
Total bitrate including video, audio and subs can be max 10.08 Mbit/s (10080 Kbit/s)


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The total video bitrate can be 10080 and I guess that your sample is ok with that. I don't know how you add the video and audio bitrate together. If it is as simple as adding the two together you get 9995 which is inside the max.

Please note the bolded line in the audio. Again I"m sure that is probably just the strict definition and you probably won't run into any players that can't handle just mpeg audio but you never know.

Edit - also I know you were asking about authoring but I want to mention playback issues you might have with the mpeg2 audio - you shouldn't have any problems authoring with it since it is 48khz which is what dvd needs.