Any pointers for better quality DVD authoring?[Solved]

[hstrent51]

Perhaps the .ts files are not DVD compliant. AVStoDVD is able to use mpg and ts files as-is, as long as they're fully DVD
compliant, not sure about DVD Flick.
Here's a DVD compliant file for you to try. It was originally a capture from live TV, converted by Tmpgenc VMW 5, interlacing retained.

No go on my DVD player. Message on screen says, "No video, no audio". However, I can play the DVD on my computer.

[usually_quiet]

It does exceed the capacity of a single layer disc. I'm burning it to DL discs. 6.47 gb.

Then I guess it is time to post the MediaInfo report for the TS file from the HVR-1600, so we can see what you have.

If you have not used MediaInfo, download it from VideoHelp's tools section. MediaInfo's installer will try to install adware as well as the program you want, so be sure to read carefully and decline the offer to install the adware instead of blindly clicking through the installation. If that concerns you, downloading the portable version (found under "More download options:") avoids the possibility of installing adware. However you will need to unpack the archive to a folder using 7-Zip or similar.

After opening MediaInfo, open the TS file with it, then click on "View" on the Menu Bar, and select "Text" from the dropdown menu. Copy and paste the report into your post.

[sophisticles]

Do as jagabo suggested and up the capture settings to the max, which should equal 1-2gb of disk used for every hour of recorded video.

I suggested 9000 kbps which will give about 4 GB/hr , 1 hour per DVD. High action sports requires lots of bitrate to retain image quality.

That capture card is not capable of capturing at a rate of 4GB/hr, according to the website it captures at a max of 2GB/hr.

[jagabo]

Perhaps the .ts files are not DVD compliant. AVStoDVD is able to use mpg and ts files as-is, as long as they're fully DVD
compliant, not sure about DVD Flick.
Here's a DVD compliant file for you to try. It was originally a capture from live TV, converted by Tmpgenc VMW 5, interlacing retained.

No go on my DVD player. Message on screen says, "No video, no audio". However, I can play the DVD on my computer.

How do you expect to get any reasonable help if you don't tell us what you did? If you just burned 2man.ts to a data disc -- of course your player didn't play it, DVD players don't play TS files, the only play properly authored movie DVDs. If you authored a movie DVD (VIDEO_TS folder with IFO, BUP, and VOB files) without reencoding the disc should have played.

Attached is an ISO image (in a ZIP file) of 2man.ts, properly authored, without reencoding. Extract the ISO image and burn it to a disc using ImgBurn's Write Image File To Disc function. Only very very old DVD players will not play the disc because they don't support DVD+R or DVD-R media.

[hstrent51]

Do as jagabo suggested and up the capture settings to the max, which should equal 1-2gb of disk used for every hour of recorded video.

I suggested 9000 kbps which will give about 4 GB/hr , 1 hour per DVD. High action sports requires lots of bitrate to retain image quality.

That capture card is not capable of capturing at a rate of 4GB/hr, according to the website it captures at a max of 2GB/hr.

That would be about right since 3.5 hrs. of football broadcast makes a file of something over 6 gb. And the capture software for the card (Win-TV7) is set for the best capture rate, though those options are not expressed in numerical bit rate terms.

[usually_quiet]

Do as jagabo suggested and up the capture settings to the max, which should equal 1-2gb of disk used for every hour of recorded video.

I suggested 9000 kbps which will give about 4 GB/hr , 1 hour per DVD. High action sports requires lots of bitrate to retain image quality.

That capture card is not capable of capturing at a rate of 4GB/hr, according to the website it captures at a max of 2GB/hr.

Where did you find that information on Hauppauge's website?

I found information that contradicts your statement. The WinTV 7 recording profiles listed in the HVR-1600's FAQs indicates the "Best" profile would record at 4GB/hr.

The WinTV application has to convert analog signals to digital in order to record. There are four recording profiles. The following list shows recording file sizes for burning to 4.3Gb DVD:
Best - Approx 1 Hour+
Better - Approx 1 1/2 Hours
Good - Approx 2 Hours
Fair - Approx 3 Hours

[usually_quiet]

What cable service do you have?

Me or the OP, hstrent51? LOL We both have Comcast. See hstrent51's initial post.

[jagabo]

With Hauppaugue capture devices/software you can usually change bitrates in the Registry. Here's an example (different device):

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/367173-HD-PVR-2-Issues-after-recording-for-30min?p=...=1#post2347350

A quick search tuned up this for the 1600:

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?22055-WinTV7-recording-bitrate-control...454#post102454

[hstrent51]

Okay, side step here but not totally unrelated to the present discussion as it involves a change in player hardware I indicated was coming soon. Well it came. The pioneer bluray burner and the Samsung BD-F5700 Wi-Fi bluray player just arrived. Haven't installed either yet but I have a question about the Samsung bluray player. It has both ethernet and wifi connection ability. Directions don't say what they are for. What on earth use are they? I'm trying to imagine their purpose. Why would someone connect their blura player to their network? I know, stupid question but I'm a 63-year-old AV ignoramus. I still remember when having a Hifi phongraph was something to brag about. In general, I'm pretty tech savvy with computers. I have my own PC repair business and am into overclocking but have little experience with AV.

[usually_quiet]

Okay, side step here but not totally unrelated to the present discussion as it involves a change in player hardware I indicated was coming soon. Well it came. The pioneer bluray burner and the Samsung BD-F5700 Wi-Fi bluray player just arrived. Haven't installed either yet but I have a question about the Samsung bluray player. It has both ethernet and wifi connection ability. Directions don't say what they are for. What on earth use are they? I'm trying to imagine their purpose. Why would someone connect their blura player to their network? I know, stupid question but I'm a 63-year-old AV ignoramus. I still remember when having a Hifi phongraph was something to brag about. In general, I'm pretty tech savvy with computers. I have my own PC repair business and am into overclocking but have little experience with AV.

Blu-Ray players may require firmware updates as time goes on, to play newer Blu-Ray movies. There are online digital copies (UltraViolet) bundled with some purchased Blu-Ray movies and there are streaming services like Netflix that are accessible by some Blu-Ray players. Some Blu-Ray players also play a few types of video files from network attached storage.

[hstrent51]

Okay, side step here but not totally unrelated to the present discussion as it involves a change in player hardware I indicated was coming soon. Well it came. The pioneer bluray burner and the Samsung BD-F5700 Wi-Fi bluray player just arrived. Haven't installed either yet but I have a question about the Samsung bluray player. It has both ethernet and wifi connection ability. Directions don't say what they are for. What on earth use are they? I'm trying to imagine their purpose. Why would someone connect their blura player to their network? I know, stupid question but I'm a 63-year-old AV ignoramus. I still remember when having a Hifi phongraph was something to brag about. In general, I'm pretty tech savvy with computers. I have my own PC repair business and am into overclocking but have little experience with AV.

Blu-Ray players may require firmware updates as time goes on, to play newer Blu-Ray movies. There are online digital copies (UltraViolet) bundled with some purchased Blu-Ray movies and there are streaming services like Netflix that are accessible by some Blu-Ray players. Some Blu-Ray players also play a few types of video files from network attached storage.

Ah! Thanks. It did come with a Netflix flyer so I'm guessing it can use that service. But for my purposes the firmware updates would probably be what I would use the network connectivity ability for.

When I get this thing hooked up I'll get back with you guys to let you know if it plays my .ts files.

[jagabo]

When I get this thing hooked up I'll get back with you guys to let you know if it plays my .ts files.

What difference does it make? Are you going to buy one for your friends too?

[hstrent51]

When I get this thing hooked up I'll get back with you guys to let you know if it plays my .ts files.

What difference does it make? Are you going to buy one for your friends too?

I hope I'm wrong but that comments felt like it had an edge to it.

I was referring back to the posts dealing with the problem I was having playing .ts files on my current DVD player and as to whether or not the issue being the player itself or the files not being fully DVD compliant. If the files will play on the new bluray player then I would assume the vintage of the old player being the issue instead of the capture device. It might be of general value knowledge.

[jagabo]

I was referring back to the posts dealing with the problem I was having playing .ts files on my current DVD player and as to whether or not the issue being the player itself or the files not being fully DVD compliant.

I've never seen a DVD player that plays TS files. DVD players are only guaranteed to play properly authored DVDs. And Blu-ray players are only guaranteed to play properly authored Bl-ray discs and properly authored DVDs. Anything beyond that is up to each individual manufacturer and model.

Nobody is telling you to simply burn your TS files onto a DVD. That's almost certainly not going to work on a DVD player. They're telling you to use proper DVD authoring software that doesn't reencode the MPEG 2 video that's in those TS files because that MPEG 2 data is already DVD compliant. The right software will simply take that MPEG 2 data out of the TS files and put it into VOB files. Then create the IFO and BUP files that tell the DVD player what to do with the VOB files.

[hstrent51]

Thanks for the clarification. I misunderstood. What you describe is what I've already been doing I think but I still have one fuzzy area. Are you saying DVD Flick is not "proper DVD authoring software". It seems to go through a process where by it encodes both video and audio and then recombines them. In fact it displays a checklist menu of what it has already done, what it is currently doing and what it yet needs to do. Is it really encoding or just extracting mpg2? Or does the term "encoding" refer to building the VOB, BUP and IFO files?

[manono]

Are you saying DVD Flick is not "proper DVD authoring software". It seems to go through a process where by it encodes both video and audio and then recombines them.

If your TS files are already DVD compliant, you don't want it to reencode them. Based on the picture you included, it is reencoding. You just want them 'authored' (made into a proper DVD with VOBs, IFOs, and BUPs) playable by any DVD player. Just burning the TS to a DVDR doesn't make it a DVD. It's a data file - still just a TS file - unreadable by most DVD players.

Me, if I were doing it I would first check the TS in MediaInfo to see if it looks okay. Next I would demux (separate) it into audio and video using DGIndex (File->Save Project File and Demux Video). And finally I'd open both the audio and video in Muxman and have it create a 'real' DVD. If it doesn't open one or the other or the authoring fails for one reason or another, then you know one or the other has to be reencoded.

That's just one of several ways of making a DVD from already compliant files. Some authoring programs, for example, will accept the TS as input, demux internally, and then author without reencoding (if they're already DVD-compliant).

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for the clarification. I misunderstood. What you describe is what I've already been doing I think but I still have one fuzzy area. Are you saying DVD Flick is not "proper DVD authoring software". It seems to go through a process where by it encodes both video and audio and then recombines them. In fact it displays a checklist menu of what it has already done, what it is currently doing and what it yet needs to do. Is it really encoding or just extracting mpg2? Or does the term "encoding" refer to building the VOB, BUP and IFO files?

DVD Flick and AVStoDVD (which somebody else mentioned) are DVD converters as well as authoring programs.

The converter part means they will re-encode video and audio that is not DVD compliant or too large to fit on the DVD media However, if the video and audio files that someone opens with them are compliant and can fit on the DVD media selected, then they don't have to re-encode.

AVStoDVD can definitely be set up not to re-encode DVD compliant files, and simply author them. AVStoDVD can also be used to encode to a target size and for DVD compliance without authoring, if someone wants to do that. I don't recall if DVD Flick does the same or not. I haven't used DVD Flick in several years.

The authoring part means that they will create the files (VOB, BUP, IFO) and folders (VIDEO_TS, AUDIO_TS) needed for the Video DVD structure that is required for a DVD player to play the DVD.

[hstrent51]

Okay, here's the MediaInfo data requested:

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : C:\Users\Steve\Desktop\Seahawks vs. Cowboys-2_20141012_1511.ts
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 6.47 GiB
Duration : 1h 39mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 9 274 Kbps
Law rating : None

Video
ID : 1001 (0x3E9)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 1h 39mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 8 428 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.814
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00

[jagabo]

Are you saying DVD Flick is not "proper DVD authoring software".

No. It it appears to be proper DVD authoring software but it looks like it is reencoding your source video unnecessarily. The fact that changing the bitrate to 9000 kbps gave better looking video implies this. You can also tell by how long it takes. Reencoding an hour of video will take on the order of an hour (depending on your CPU, settings used, etc.) whereas remuxing should take only a minute or two (depending on the speed of your drive(s), etc.).

Regrading the MediaInfo report you posted: MediaInfo isn't always accurate. But given the size of the file and the running time it's reasonably accurate in this case. That should look pretty good when burned to a DVD (without reencoding). Even if you reencoded it at a similar bitrate it should still look pretty good.

[hstrent51]

But how do I remux the captures without encoding if this is unnecessary? Is there another app besides DVD Flick that you would recommend to avoid this?

[manono]

I already recommended Muxman. Others, such as DVDFlick and AVSToDVD will accept the TS as input (?) and if you have them set up not to reencode compliant sources (I don't know as I don't use them) then they won't reencode. Muxman is a pure authoring program and couldn't encode anything even if you wanted it to. Sometimes those all-in-one programs can be confusing.

To use Muxman you'll have to demux following the instructions I gave before. It only accepts elementary streams (separated audio and video).

[usually_quiet]

But how do I remux the captures without encoding if this is unnecessary? Is there another app besides DVD Flick that you would recommend to avoid this?

DVDAuthorGUI is another authoring program that requires the source video and audio to be de-multiplexed, which is normally used to produce a DVD with a menu.

[hstrent51]

What cable service do you have?What cable service do you have?

I gave that info at the beginning of the thread but this thread has gotten pretty long. Comcast.


Is there a way to add information to the user's post template? What we call a "Sig" over on Overclockers fourms?

[usually_quiet]

What cable service do you have?What cable service do you have?

I gave that info at the beginning of the thread but this thread has gotten pretty long. Comcast.


Is there a way to add information to the user's post template? What we call a "Sig" over on Overclockers fourms?

Yes V.H. has sigs and you can post information about your other hardware in the computer details for your profile.

zbgsdfgarg and his post may disappear soon. See my post, #37.

[hstrent51]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

[usually_quiet]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

Yes. You should see a text box for editing the thread title in a thread that you created when using the "Go Advanced" option to edit one of your posts.

[jagabo]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

So what was your solution?

[hstrent51]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

Yes. You should see a text box for editing the thread title in a thread that you created when using the "Go Advanced" option to edit one of your posts.

I did that but it doesn't show up in the thread title once I save it. I'm looking at it right now as I type but when I Submit Reply to save the change it is not visible in the Newbie/General discussions forum view.

[usually_quiet]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

Yes. You should see a text box for editing the thread title in a thread that you created when using the "Go Advanced" option to edit one of your posts.

I did that but it doesn't show up in the thread title once I save it. I'm looking at it right now as I type but when I Submit Reply to save the change it is not visible in the Newbie/General discussions forum view.

Maybe it only works when you edit your initial post for the thread, or maybe the thread title is too long once you add "Solved", so the addition was omitted.

I know I added "Solved" to one of my own thread titles in the past, and I'm sure that is how I did it.

[hstrent51]

I'm done with this one. Any way to edit the thread title to add [Solved]?

So what was your solution?

With regard to the initial issue specified in the thread title the fix was changing to a higher encoding bit rate in DVD Flick.

But there were some misconceptions I had with regard to DVD authoring in general that also got addressed along the way and I feel, though certainly no expert, a better grasp on some of the basics of AV recording and authoring.