Optimal Toast DVD settings

[MikeBintouch]

On my first try to make a DVD, I ended up with disk that had no sound and low resolution image. I had started with four high-resolution .mkv files I had downloaded. From something I read here, I set Handbrake to output to AppleTV 3 and I ended up with four .m4v files. I put them in Toast and ended up with a DVD that has audio and good resolution. The only problem was that it took one full day for Toast to transform the files before burning.

I would like to end up with files that require no transformation by Toast and will quickly go directly to burning. What are the best settings for this in Handbrake? I am in PAL country, so that is the resolution I want to end up with.

Thanks for your help.

[hech54]

Apple TV, m4v or Handbrake have nothing to do with the creation of a DVD. But since you are on a Mac I'll stop right here.

[smrpix]

I would like to end up with files that require no transformation by Toast and will quickly go directly to burning. What are the best settings for this in Handbrake?

Handbrake cannot do this.

[MikeBintouch]

I would like to end up with files that require no transformation by Toast and will quickly go directly to burning. What are the best settings for this in Handbrake?

Handbrake cannot do this.

Do you mean that the best settings for Toast cannot be made in Handbrake? Is there another program that can do that?

[smrpix]

It's tough an a mac. Compressor can do it. Sorenson Squeeze can do it. Toast does it. Encore can do it. iFFmpeg is capable but you may have to write your own presets. DVD requires properly configured mpeg2 video, one of a few audio types, and proper authoring. See "What Is/DVD" at the top of this page if you're not familiar with DVD specs.

[MikeBintouch]

Thanks. So, the only successful option then is to spend a full day on this?

[hech54]

Thanks. So, the only successful option then is to spend a full day on this?

On a Mac?....most likely yes.

[smrpix]

Thanks. So, the only successful option then is to spend a full day on this?

A more powerful machine and optimized software would help, but given the information you've provided, yes.

[Hoser Rob]

There's definitely not enough info here.

What settings did you use in handbrake? Did you shrink the input files? Did that take an unreasonable amount of time? Did you use the fastest (ie lowest video quality) setting?

In any case, there is no magic speedy converter. Esp for something that creates dvd compliant format video. That format doesn't support crf encoding, which does give you good quality and speed. So you need 2 pass encoding for decent quality for dvd burning, which is slow.

Also, you should not be using the .m4v files you created as input for Toast if you re encoded the input files at all. Use the original files.

[MikeBintouch]

There's definitely not enough info here.

What settings did you use in handbrake? Did you shrink the input files? Did that take an unreasonable amount of time? Did you use the fastest (ie lowest video quality) setting?.

I used the setting for AppleTV 3. It's a preset - you select it and it makes all the correct settings..

In any case, there is no magic speedy converter. Esp for something that creates dvd compliant format video. That format doesn't support crf encoding, which does give you good quality and speed. So you need 2 pass encoding for decent quality for dvd burning, which is slow.

Also, you should not be using the .m4v files you created as input for Toast if you re encoded the input files at all. Use the original files.

From what I have read and witnessed myself is that re-encoding is something very, very slow in Toast. Handbrake can recode a file in less than 15 minutes on my computer. I have four files I'm trying to make into a DVD and in about one hour I can have the files ready in Handbrake. The problem is that Toast decides what it is going to recode and what it is not. And I have no idea what it considers acceptable (which is why I posted here). Because in my first, unsuccessful, attempt, Toast went almost directly to burning, and took less than 15 minutes to make a DVD that worked but was missing audio and had low resolution.

[smrpix]

Handbrake can recode a file in less than 15 minutes on my computer...The problem is that Toast decides what it is going to recode and what it is not.

That's wonderful. But Handbrake can't produce DVD compatible files so it does you no good. Toast "decides" to produce files that can actually be played on a DVD player -- which is what you need.

Please post a Mediainfo report of your original .mkv files and one of the .vobs Toast creates on the disk.

[MikeBintouch]

OK. First the .mkv file:

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.36.0 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 01 Feb 2015 14:52:38 CET
Report for file: scott.and.bailey.s02e05.720p.hdtv.x264-tla.mkv

General / Container Stream #1
Total Video Streams for this File.................1
Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
Audio Codecs Used.................................AAC LC
File Format.......................................Matro ska
Play Time.........................................45mn 51s
Total File Size...................................734 MiB
Total Stream BitRate..............................2 238 Kbps
Encoded with......................................no_varia ble_data
Encoding Library..................................no_variab le_data
Video Stream #1
Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
Codec (FourCC)....................................V_MPEG 4/ISO/AVC
Codec Profile.....................................High@L 4.1
Frame Width.......................................1 280 pixels
Frame Height......................................720 pixels
Frame Rate........................................25.000 fps
Total Frames......................................68792
Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9
Scan Type.........................................Progr essive
Color Space.......................................YUV
Codec Settings (Summary)..........................CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Codec Settings (CABAC)............................Yes
Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................5
Video Stream Length...............................45mn 51s 680ms
Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
Video Encoder.....................................x264 - core 122 r2184 5c85e0a
Video Encoder (Settings)..........................cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Video Stream Language.............................English
Audio Stream #1
Codec............................................. AAC
Codec (FourCC)....................................A_AAC
Audio Stream Length...............................45mn 51s 680ms
Number of Audio Channels..........................2
Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R
Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz

Here's the a .vob report:

General / Container Stream #1
Total Video Streams for this File : 1
Total Audio Streams for this File : 1
Video Codecs Used : MPEG-2 Video
Audio Codecs Used : AC3
File Format : MPEG-PS
Play Time : 46mn 17s
Total File Size : 1 008 MiB
Total Stream BitRate : 3 043 Kbps
Video Stream #1
Codec (Human Name) : MPEG Video
Codec Profile : Main@Main
Frame Width : 720 pixels
Frame Height : 576 pixels
Frame Rate : 25.000 fps
Total Frames : 69445
Display Aspect Ratio : 16:9
Video Standard : PAL
Scan Type : Interlaced
Scan Order : TFF
Color Space : YUV
QF (like Gordian Knot) : 0.269
Codec Settings (Matrix) : Default
Video Stream Length : 46mn 17s 800ms
Video Stream BitRate : 2 791 Kbps
Video Stream BitRate (Nominal) : 3 000 Kbps
Video Stream BitRate Mode : VBR
Bit Depth : 8 bits
Video Stream Size : 924 MiB (92%)
Audio Stream #1
Codec : AC-3
Audio Stream Length : 46mn 17s 792ms
Audio Stream BitRate : 192 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode : CBR
Number of Audio Channels : 2
Audio Channel's Positions : Front: L R
Sampling Rate : 48.0 KHz
Sampling Rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit Depth : 16 bits
Audio Stream Delay : 1s 320ms
Audio Stream Size : 63.6 MiB (6%)
Menu / Chapters Stream #1

It's a shame that Roxio provides so little information on what file format would be most efficient to use. And my first unsuccessful attempt (low resolution and no audio) required almost no encoding. The whole process, as I recall, took about 15 minutes.

[smrpix]

It's a shame that Roxio provides so little information on what file format would be most efficient to use. And my first unsuccessful attempt (low resolution and no audio) required almost no encoding. The whole process, as I recall, took about 15 minutes.

But your 15 minute encode was a failure.

There are no file format options. If you are making a DVD it must be mpeg2 video. The AC3 audio is also the best choice. (You should have room to raise the video bitrate if that's adjustable.)

The other encoders I mentioned earlier may be able to do it quicker. It depends as also mentioned earlier, on your system specs.

There is nothing abnormal about your 720p .mkv nor your 576i .vob. Everything appears to be working as it should -- it's just slow.

[MikeBintouch]

It's a shame that Roxio provides so little information on what file format would be most efficient to use. And my first unsuccessful attempt (low resolution and no audio) required almost no encoding. The whole process, as I recall, took about 15 minutes.

But your 15 minute encode was a failure.

Yes, you are correct, but I have learned since then. Handbrake has a quality setting that automatically changes depending on which sort of encoding you do. After it changes, you can change it back. Also you can change the audio output. Of course, making these changes may also lengthen the re-encoding by Toast.

There are no file format options. If you are making a DVD it must be mpeg2 video. The AC3 audio is also the best choice. (You should have room to raise the video bitrate if that's adjustable.)

I tried that, encoding to mpeg-2 and AC3 audio. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to try it yet. I will try it and if it helps, I will post back.

The other encoders I mentioned earlier may be able to do it quicker. It depends as also mentioned earlier, on your system specs.

There is nothing abnormal about your 720p .mkv nor your 576i .vob. Everything appears to be working as it should -- it's just slow.

Yes. The fact that differences in Handbrake encoding can have a difference in Toast processing time is why I had posted here. I will be very curious whether encoding to mpeg-2 and AC3 will help at all.

Thanks in any case for your help and advice.

[Hoser Rob]

Handbrake, as mentioned ad nauseum, does not output DVD compliant video.

There are other Mac DVD authoring/encoding programs. Many are free, and unfortunately just because someone charges for a program does not in any way mean it's better than free ones.

[Keyser]

Handbrake, Handbrake, Handbrake... Forget about Handbrake. It doesn't do what you want. If you convert your MKVs with Handbrake you're just wasting time and quality because Toast must reencode them to MPEG2 anyway. Feed your original MKV files to Toast and... wait!

[MikeBintouch]

Handbrake, Handbrake, Handbrake... Forget about Handbrake. It doesn't do what you want. If you convert your MKVs with Handbrake you're just wasting time and quality because Toast must reencode them to MPEG2 anyway. Feed your original MKV files to Toast and... wait!

Well, I tried that and there is good news and bad news. There were four files, one that had been encoded in Handbrake and three original .mkv files. I put all four in Toast and saved it to a disk image. The good news is this cut at least four hours off the processing time. The bad news is that one of the three .mkv files, which had AC3 audio, was recognised as Dolby Digital by Toast and the resulting DVD has no audio for that one file.

I've downloaded a couple of other encoders and will give them a try.

[MikeBintouch]

I've now made two DVDs that work without problems. I've also discovered a couple of things that can perhaps help others.

The first, and this I consider a bug in Toast, is that once all files have been added, if any say in the Toast overview that audio is "Dolby Digital", Toast will spend hours re-encoding the files, but the file with Dolby Digital will end up with no audio. There seems to be no workaround for this in Toast.

If you remove this file from the Toast list of files, then run it through Handbrake using the AppleTV 3 preset, you will end up with a file that Toast can burn to DVD with audio. There may be other programs that can do this, but since I already had Handbrake, I used that.

My biggest discovery was also my happiest. Once you have burned a disk or saved it as a disk image, do not close Toast. If, as in my early experiment, I discovered a problem with one file (no audio), once you have fixed the problem and re-add it to Toast, the entire process of re-encoding and burning or saving, will be reduced from 20+ hours to around 1 hour. If you close Toast and then reopen it to add the corrected file, you will need around 20 hours again.

A small, but annoying problem: if you look at the files in the default Toast overview, you cannot reorder them by dragging. However, if you change the overview to the list view, then you can drag the files into the correct order.

And finally: if you are using a custom image for the menu background, you need to find an image with empty space on the left side. You can edit the colours and file names on the menu page, but you cannot change the location of the file menu links.

[smrpix]

Glad you got it working and thanks for the specific info. You've discovered some of the reasons Toast is never the ideal option, though it may be the best choice in certain circumstances.

[MikeBintouch]

Thanks for the kind words and your helpful advice. Yes, with all the little and not so little problems with Toast, it seems rather disappointing that there is no open-source project to replace it. I would imagine that the re-encoding could be a lot faster if some dedicated programmers tried to improve it.

[Herve]

Hi, here are some infos/explanations (PS: I do not defend Toast, I don't use it anymore )

audio is "Dolby Digital", Toast will spend hours re-encoding the files, […] no audio.

Toast uses QuickTime features to convert your file to DVD
If your file is not natively compliant with QuickTime features, the conversion could not succeed
PS: Toast has a second option, give a compatible file for DVD-VIDEO (from a third software) and click on the checkbox/preference "do not re-encode" (…Toast will only write the structure, without re-encoding, while keeping your already compatible file). PPS: Toast "authoring" (menus and structure writing) is very poor, but it will does the job (=do not fail).

About Handbrake:

using the AppleTV 3 preset, you will end up with a file that Toast can burn to DVD

So you convert your file to an Apple's QuickTime compliant file (see previous paragraph )

If you close Toast and then reopen it to add the corrected file, you will need around 20 hours again.

Toast already converted your file (its conversions are located in its temporary folder, but every app's temporary folder is deleted when you quit the app). So you avoid a part of the conversion, so it's speeder. PS: 20 hours for a DVD is an incredible duration, what -so old?- computer do you have? …I did not encounter these durations since my old PPC 200MHz!!!

annoying problem:[…]dragging.

About dragging … I didn't notice it (but I don't really use it to do DVD-video )
From memories, Toast has some "dead zones" in its GUI, to manage to re-order file (or change its name) you have to move the location of the thumb into the Toast window (playing with its sliders). I don't know if it is the reason of your concern.

[…]custom image for the menu background[…]

Toast menus feature is poor. About customized background menu, the main concern is the "square" or "wide screen" format (not well displayed during settings, so you don't know exactly what you have done).

My own conclusion:
Toast succeeds when you give a pre-encoded file to it (with the check "do not reencode")
I don't use it for DVD (too poor) but I sometimes used it for BluRay (same way to do, 1st I encoded the file with another soft, 2nd I give files to Toast, 3rd I asked it to create the disc structure without re-encoding)

Hope these explanations could help you
Bye

[usually_quiet]

I know that I am late to this party, but for future reference, DVDStyler is a free OSX-Compatible DVD video converter and DVD authoring program. It looks like it can accept H.264 and AAC in an MKV container and convert to DVD compliant MPEG-2 and AC3.