DVD WRITER,IS IT WORTH IT?PLEASE TELL!

[tommydamic68]

HEY GUYS,THINKIN OF BUYING PIONEER A04 THIS WEEK.IVE PRETTY MUCH GOT SVCDS DOWN TO A PAT ON 2 CDRS EXCELLENT
QUALITY!CAN I FIT 2 MPEGS(700 MB EACH)ON 1 DVDR?IS QUALITY BETTER THAN WHAT IM GETTING NOW ON CDRS?PLEASE TELL.THANKS GUYS!!!(USING SMART RIPPER,DVD2AVI AND TMPGENC...)

[agzz]

ehh, using the smae files? no. but you have 4.3GB to play with on DVD-r that gives room for higher bitrate etc

[SLK001]

Tommy,
Once you go DVD, you'll never go back to SVCD. Where 2500kbps used to be your upper limit, it will now be your lower limit.

[Anonymous65]

Actually, I just downgraded from DVD-R to just plain CD-R. DVD creation is a very slow process. Making the VOB and burning is very slow. On a 1.5GHz PC it takes over 1 hour to just make a mpeg file to VOB's and burn it, not to mention the time it takes to encode the mpeg file in the first place. The only way to go is real-time captures using software or hardware encoders at high bit rates. Capturing 720x480 at almost uncompressed AVI is just not really feasable, it takes up to much space and require a lot of CPU power. However, if you're into movies, then the 4 gig DVD disks are very nice. But, if you're into 30 or 60 minute TV shows, or other short video, then VCD and SVCD is fine (and much cheaper and faster to make).

[kv5]

Go 4 It !.........

Got the Pioneer myself and havent looked back yet.

[mpb]

Pioneer A04/104: BEST BURNER EVER!!!!

It is a reliable and stable enough hardware solution that you need only find a DVD-writing software you are comfortable with.

For backing up DVDs, I use dvd decrypter, ifoedit, and then just burn the result as a data disc with Prassi Primo (which also works for data CDR and mp3 discs, etc, and came free with the drive)

For making my own DVDs, I capture to divx 5 with Virtualdub, and then either convert to mpeg2 with TMPGenc, or if the file is already MPEG1/2, I let Ulead DVD factory convert it for me, and it makes nice compliant DVDs. UDF is also nice for burning ISO's of DVDs that were less than 4.7GB. Without editing anything, I was able to back up DVDs like Austin Powers, Gattaca, and Fifth Element. Just rip, save, and burn from image.

One thing with the Pioneer A04/104: If you have a slow PC, wait before buying one. The price will drop as time goes by, and anything less than about 1.5ghz isn't fast enough to get work done at a rate you'll be able to tolerate. Also, once you do get it, do not underestimate VCD!!! I have used TMPGenc with tweaked, high-quality settings to create VCD mpeg-1 files, at 1150k, that look razor sharp and had friends of mine swearing it has to be DVD. It's all in the encoding, and 34 cents a throw is a lot better than two bucks per, so do consider making VCDs for anything that you're not hardcore-bent on "preserving". For anything from a VHS source, you're just wasting space using DVDs anyway, since a well-encoded VCD will exceed the quality ceiling of what VHS tape can deliver anyway. Half the time I make VCDs on my 104 instead of DVDs these days. (I rarely make any SVCDs because if it's good enough to convert to MPEG2, it's good enough to make a DVD out of, I figure.)

My current project is making VCDs of all the Futurama episodes. I get three per CDR, and sometimes four if I cut out opening sequences and do a little time compression and trimming work during credits and long empty scenes. As long as I'm not affecting any episode content, I figure there's no harm in editing it to the hilt.

-mpb/az

[Anonymous65]

Also, in addition to having a fast CPU (>1.5GHz), you might also want to use Win2K or XP as the OS. I had a heck of a time getting it to burn under WinMe. I'm not sure if that was a hardware problem, or a OS problem.

[spidey]

Mpb -

If you're capping for a DVD, I wouldn't recommned capping to DivX. You'd want to be uncompressed so you have no loss on your capture. If you're capping to a compressed format such as DivX, then re-inflating it back up to an SVCD, you are greatly sacrificing your quality.

[mpb]

It's true that compressing in any form can result in a loss of image quality, but there's a specific reason I capture to Divx directly and I'm surprised it isn't better known.

Firstly, I can do it with no frames dropped, so at least it's not a technical issue. I get about 32% CPU usage when I'm capturing.

Now let's say I were to convert what I captured to mpeg2 for a DVD. The highest bitrate you can use is 9800kps, or roughly 10,000kps. Most encoders don't want you to do anything over 8000, but for the purpose of this principle let's say we're using the full 10,000. Divx is better compression than mpeg2 is, and a divx file encoded at about 4000kbps is as good, mathematically and visually, as an mpeg2 at 10,000kbps. So basically any divx from 4000k on up, is better than a DVD can ever look. Since I plan to archive the stuff to DVD, I capture at divx 4800-5000k (just to be sure), and it looks crystal clear. Well, limited only by the clarity and resolution of the source video. And it's big, but a HELL of a lot smaller than AVI uncompressed. I cap the audio to PCM 48mhz to simplify further conversion. I know a lot of people capture TV shows to divx at about 500 to 800k, and that's cool for watching, but the quality begins to deteriorate visibly at those low bitrates.

I can understand capturing in a quality that far exceeds the original source in order to capture every bit of detail possible, but there's really no point in capturing at any higher quality than your archival destination is capable of interpreting. Once cpus speed farther up, I'll just capture directly to high-bitrate mpeg2. I am curious if any powermac users here have had good luck doing that. I'm told it's possible with the new macs.

So in answer to your question, essentially, I do it because the mpeg2 file you make from a high-bitrate divx will look exactly the same as the one you make from the same source material, captured uncompressed.

Am I missing anything here? I've only been doing this stuff for a few months now. tips and tricks appreciated.

[ChrisX]

If the DVD Writer is worth buying is really up to you. Once you got the DVD-R, you have to very patient with it as it is very slow at 2x. It will take a long time to burn and to process your own DVD disc.

Once you got the DVD Writer, you'll never go back to VCD and SVCD. This is like having a DVD player, never going back to VHS.

I am more incline to wait until a faster writer is available. When will the 8x DVD writer be available? Who knows when.

I am for the Pioneer and the DVD-R and DVD-RW. Don't get the DVD+R & DVD+RW as they aren't compatible in all drives and have only a small support. The majority rules the DVD burner and we must have compatible equipment for all to share.

[Anonymous65]

I'm wondering how people get good Divx video. All the captures and conversions to Divx that I have done over the past looks bad. The video is made up of small dots, and it's very soft. How do you get Divx video look as sharp and clean as mpeg-2?

[jolo]

Took a while, but when I get a good Divx movie, use VirtualDub and Tmpenc, the results have been very good.

All of course depends on the source, I do extract the sound to wav and use toolame. Folowing the instructions on this site for Tmpenc work great. I also make sure I set very high quality, which is slower, but the results are excellent. So good, that I stopped foolwing around with SVCD, didn't feel that it was worth the extra CDs.

[mpb]

I'm wondering how people get good Divx video. All the captures and conversions to Divx that I have done over the past looks bad. The video is made up of small dots, and it's very soft. How do you get Divx video look as sharp and clean as mpeg-2?

The secret is to use as much of one's available resources as possible. Divx downloads are always encoded at FAR too low a bitrate for optimal quality. It's been a while since I made that other post up there, so I'll update y'all with my latest methods. Well, my latest methods that are for this sort of work. I now capture laserdiscs through a DV cam and that's entirely different.

I now capture for TV/divx in Virtualdub (winxp pro), at 352x480, with a deinterlace filter applied that discards one field. This leaves 352x240 progressive. Now technically I could just cap outright at 352x240, but for some reason, capturing every scanline interlaced and deinterlacing in the filter yields a FAR sharper image. I don't entirely understand why, but I surmise it is because the straight cap at 352x240 gets pieces of both fields, which we don't want.

This is for broadcast TV shows. The intended "final" destination is a MPEG-1 file that is formatted for DVD, that is at ~1850k video and 192-224k audio, audio at 48khz. You would not BELIEVE how nice this is turning out, but more on that in a moment. The shows I've been working on are Crank Yankers and some Arizona Diamondbacks baseball games, and music videos off MTV.

I capture to divx AVI with the bitrate set at 1-pass VBR at 2400k. Audio is PCM at full rate, uncompressed. The output file is far smaller than uncompressed, but still large... about 1.5 gigs per half hour. However, and I have done side-by-sides on this... it looks JUST like uncompressed. I mean you literally cannot see any difference in this file. No guff.

So the finished DIVX file gets saved on data disc for safekeeping, and then for archiving, I encode with TMPGenc to mpeg-1, CBR 1850k or VBR with an 1850k ceiling and 1150k floor, 48k audio, nonstandard, with a 1:4:3 GOP, high quality motion detection, and then author that to DVD-R in Ulead. The resulting DVD is outstandingly clear, and I get plenty of minutes on each disc... several hours, actually.

I would not recommend this method for material that people intend to archive for the HDTV era... such as dv-cam family videos, hi-8 stuff, laserdiscs, or DVD rips. That sort of stuff should be captured with huffy and then encoded VBR multipass (or CQ) to mpeg-2 with CCE or tmpgenc. My above method is meant to maximize what clarity and resolution can be had on a normal TV broadcast or VHS tape, while not wasting resources on information that isn't there (i.e. useless higher resolutions.)

If anyone has some webspace, I would be happy to post last week's Crank Yankers, so you can sample the output quality.

[yg1968]

The information on DVD+R/RW also needs to be updated. DVD+R has been shown to be at least as compatible as -R discs and +RW (with the occasional help of a bitset utility) has been proven to be more compatible than +RW with DVD players.

See this thread:

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/resources/compatibilitylist_dvdvideo.html