DVD Architect

[newfielander]

I'm making a dvd and the orginal video files are HD video files,(I'll be using 7-8 video's, total time just over 2 hours)
I know there are several different steps and different ways to making a dvd, I can render them all together as 1 big file before adding them to DVD Architect using a different program, and have them compressed to DVD format, but I have decided to add all 8 HD files to my project in DVD A6 and than once my menu is setup the way I want it, I have use the program called Marks Bitrate Calculator to determine the bitrate I should use and in DVD A6 when i get to the final step of creating a dvd I put in the suggested bitrate for each HD file that I added. I'm hoping to render and burn/save all in the same step. Is there any issues anyone feel I will run into doing it this way?
I know this can work because i have it complete now BUT I'm just wanting the best quality possible in my final project which will be "burning it to a 8.5gb dvd. So is there anything i should do differently? I did it all in DVD Architect just to save time and also instead of rendering the HD files first with a different program, than taking that rendered file and adding it to DVD Architect and than creating a DVD/"dvd folder to burn to a disc later" it seemed to me it would be better to do it all in one step. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

[LMotlow]

I'm making a dvd and the orginal video files are HD video files

We need more information. What kind of "HD" are you starting with?
PAL or NTSC?
1920x1080 at 23.976 or 24fps progressive ?
1920x1080 at 29.97 or 25fps interlaced or telecined.
There are several other HD formats and framing types, including 1280x720 at 59.96 or 50 fps progressive and a few more variations for AVCHD.

[newfielander]

Hi LMotlow the settings in 8 out of the 10 files I am using are 1920/1080, 59 FPS, the other two are same as previous mention except they are 29 FPS, all the files are M2t files, I did find out when i tried to add MP4 files it would not work.

[LMotlow]

The 59.94 fps videos must be downsized to 720x480, interlaced to get 29.97fps, and re-encoded with MPEG2 for DVD. The GOP size for DVD has to be no less than 12 and no more than 18 frames.

Are the 29.97 videos interlaced or not? If they are they have to be deinterlaced, resized to 720x480, re-interlaced, and re-encoded as above. If they are telecined they have to be inverse telecined, resized to 720x480, and re-encoded as above but with telecine restored. If they are not telecined, they can be downsized directly to 720x480 but they should be re-encoded with interlace flags to match the other 8 clips.

Good luck doing that with DVD Architect . I suggest the free AVS2DVD. It uses Avisynth for better deinterlace, resizing, reinterlace, etc.
Technical Info for DVD-Video

[newfielander]

LMotlow thanks for you reply, i have done this already, and the quality is very nice, I don't understand why you are making it sound like its nearly impossible. So I guess I will convert all files into MPEG2 and than use that file in my Architect project and compare both results to see which is better.

[JVRaines]

It really comes down to which MPEG2 encoder you like better, the one built into DVDA or whatever you are using manually. Just make sure DVDA is happy with your pre-encoded files so it doesn't try to encode them again.

[newfielander]

As I have mention at the start, I added 10 separate files to my project ,created a single menu and added 10 scene selections. I was hoping that when i hit the first one (which is the start of my dvd) than the movie would play all the way through to the end of the last scene, I just realized it don't. Is there a way I can structure my project to make that happen?

[davexnet]

You make them individual chapters of the same title