Any reason to author to DVD from MPG?

[tommyd17]

Hi,
It's been a long time since I've done any sort of video work.

I'm currently converting all my VHS tapes to MPG. I already know all the quality issues. I've converted a couple, and the result is fine by me. There are just some things I don't want to lose from these old VHS tapes I am going to throw away.

Way back when, I used to capture the VHS and end up authoring that result onto a DVD. Old dvd players didn't always just play MPG or AVI files. Now, it seems that most do. The one I have now will just play the MPG file when I rip from VHS.

My question is this, is there any reason I need to author to a DVD anymore? Are file sizes any smaller or anything when I author? I just assume save the MPG files to a DVD and be done with it, since I can watch on my player already. Other than I can't make menus and stuff, but that's not really important to me. If need be, I can always do that with one of the MPGs later.

Thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Size has only to do with bitrate. "Filesize = Bitrate * Running time". Period. Quality is a complex result of bitrate, codec efficiency & tweaks, and the complexity of the material. Authoring actually adds very slightly to the filesize (certain kinds of padding in the container), but not enough to worry about.

Will you always have that same player to play those files on? No.
Will your next player also be able to have the same (or better) capability?...

You have to decide that for yourself.
I personally want my clips to be as compatible as possible. With that in mind, I would convert my tapes to a strict form of MPG that is totally compliant with DVD, so that if I need to in the future, I can easily author the files then without re-encoding.

Remember, DVD-Video is a strict subset of MPEG. MPEG may not necessarily be DVD-compliant.

Scott

[enim]

Any reason to author to DVD from MPG?

Not Really, Now a days players are capable of handling many formats including mpg.

As said by Cornucopia DVD-Video is a strict subset of MPEG. MPEG may not necessarily be DVD-compliant,
Make sure that VHS tapes you are converting to MPG is DVD-compliant (not-neccessary atm) if your future requirement differs than present, just in case, as a safe-guard.

[hech54]

Hi,
It's been a long time since I've done any sort of video work.

I'm currently converting all my VHS tapes to MPG. I already know all the quality issues. I've converted a couple, and the result is fine by me. There are just some things I don't want to lose from these old VHS tapes I am going to throw away.

Way back when, I used to capture the VHS and end up authoring that result onto a DVD. Old dvd players didn't always just play MPG or AVI files. Now, it seems that most do. The one I have now will just play the MPG file when I rip from VHS.

My question is this, is there any reason I need to author to a DVD anymore? Are file sizes any smaller or anything when I author? I just assume save the MPG files to a DVD and be done with it, since I can watch on my player already. Other than I can't make menus and stuff, but that's not really important to me. If need be, I can always do that with one of the MPGs later.

Thanks!

Authoring changes nothing.
DVD is MPEG2.
As long as you are capturing normal 720x480 MPEG2 with 48k AC3, LPCM or MPEG audio, what you author to a DVD will be EXACTLY
what you have captured. If it isn't, you are doing something wrong or using the wrong software.

[tommyd17]

Thanks for you answers.

I've already ripped a few VHS tapes to MPEG. As I said, they play fine on my current DVD player, but I understand they may not play fine in a future one. One thing I did on those MPEGS was us 44.1, and not 48 for audio. Does this mean it is not "DVD compliant"? If so, why would they still play in my DVD player? Also, I'm capturing at 352x480.

I guess my next question would be, will I always(in your opinions) be able to find a dvd/blu-ray player that will play these files. If I have to pay $40 more, so be it. I'll be paying for the mistake of not capturing the VHS tapes correctly. I just don't want to make the mistake of throwing away the VHS tapes, only to find out 10 years down the line that my videos are gone forever.

Thanks.

[Cornucopia]

You lucked out. 48 is DVD-compliant, 44.1 is not. Luckily, 44.1 is AudioCD-compliant and your player is OK with that.

If in the future you have a different player that is more finicky, yes you will have to resample & re-encode the audio first for it to work. This could mean a SLIGHT loss of quality, but if your audio is being saved as LPCM, it probably won't even be noticeable.

Hard to say about the future. If consumer rights & opportunity expanded linearly along with technology, you would just get increasingly more capable & versatile players. Yet we have seen the rise of players that no longer play VCD or DivX, which should both be inconsequential to include in every modern player. This is because of Rights, Royalties & the Bottom Line. So beware of assuming too much.

Scott

[Kerry56]

352 x 480 is an accepted resolution for NTSC DVD-video. Audio has to be 48khz (96khz is allowed in PCM and DTS, but is very rare). So if you want to make DVD-video out of them, you'll need to re-encode the audio at least.

Beaten to the punch.

[tommyd17]

Is there an easy way to check if my finished capture is DVD compliant? I have plenty of other vhs tapes to capture, and will do the rest at 48khz. I just assumed less because I wanted smaller file sizes. Does it matter if it's 48khz pcm or MPEG Layer 2?

[smrpix]

Maybe you should rephrase the question. Is there really any compelling reason NOT to?

[tommyd17]

Maybe you should rephrase the question. Is there really any compelling reason NOT to?

It's just one extra step I'd rather not do, if it can be avoided.

[enim]

Is there an easy way to check if my finished capture is DVD compliant?

The simplest way to check, if you are on Windows, take your short-sample captured mpg to muxman.

[manono]

The simplest way to check, if you are on Windows, take your short-sample captured mpg to muxman.

Muxman requires demuxed elementary streams. Any MPG will be rejected. But, yes, if demuxed it's a good test of compliancy if it opens. It's an even better test to see if it'll mux/author.

[enim]

Originally posted by manono
Muxman requires demuxed elementary streams.

Thanks for completing.

[usually_quiet]

Is there an easy way to check if my finished capture is DVD compliant? I have plenty of other vhs tapes to capture, and will do the rest at 48khz. I just assumed less because I wanted smaller file sizes. Does it matter if it's 48khz pcm or MPEG Layer 2?

If you are burning "NTSC" DVDs, then it may matter. Some DVD players and some DVD authoring software don't care if you use MPEG Layer 2 with NTSC video, but others will. The DVD standard requires that one of the audio tracks on the disc must be either PCM or AC3 for "NTSC" DVDS. If you are burning "PAL" DVDs then MPEG Layer 2 audio is allowed by the DVD standard even if there is only one audio track.

[usually_quiet]

Repeated my post above by mistake instead of editing it.

[smrpix]

Maybe you should rephrase the question. Is there really any compelling reason NOT to?

It's just one extra step I'd rather not do, if it can be avoided.

Penny wise...