DVD Maestro and .mpg files...

[spudz2]

My favourite authoring program is Maestro and I use it a lot with .m2v and .ac3 files and from dvd rips etc...

My question is can Maestro import a straight mpeg2 file that already has the audio in it such as I have? I tried importing it and it said it wasn't a valid format or something. Am I missing something or does it not support these files? The file is a home movie that was originally a DV file and I converted it with TMPGENC to a valid DVD specs MPEG2 file..

All I want is to burn the file to a DVD and have it autostart with no menu and have chapter points every 10 mins or so.. That's it.

Can I not do this with Maestro and this .mpg file?

Spudz

[dc91gt]

I'm not sure, as i usually author with maestro with seperate streams.

Just demux it in tmpgenc and then import the video/audio.

-d

[spudz2]

Thanx! I'll give that a shot and see what happens.. Will let you know..

Spudz

[BJ_M]

it will not accept muxed files --

[Cornucopia]

That's right, Maestro only accepts elementary streams--unmuxed, separate Audio (WAVE-LPCM, AC3 or MP2, maybe DTS) & Video (MPG2 or MPG1) files. Kinda makes sense, since the authoring has to mux it anyway when it compiles to a disc image/VIDEO_TS folder.

Just open up TMPGEnc and do Tools/Simple Demux or Tools/Demux! It should accept the results fine after that.

Scott

[spudz2]

That's kinda what I figured but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything when I tried to import it.

Originally I captured it from my DVCam into a DV file which was huge on my HD.. I then converted that large dv file to a DVD complient mpeg file with tmpgenc. Which made an mpeg with audio and video together. Obviously I should have made the video and audio seperate as now I just have to demux it to bring it into Maestro..

Could I have done this with Tmpgenc and if so I guess I just did it wrong?

Spudz

[Cornucopia]

Obviously I should have made the video and audio seperate as now I just have to demux it to bring it into Maestro..

Could I have done this with Tmpgenc and if so I guess I just did it wrong?

Answering in reverse order:
No-you weren't really doing it WRONG. You just took a shortcut (muxing early) that turned into a long detour.

Yes, at least I have been able to do this with TMPGEnc, Maestro, and muxed MPEGs in the past.

Yes. Next time, modify and save_as the stock TMPGEnc template so that you have an alternate that specifically does elementary streams ("ES") e.g. DVD-NTSC-ES4Maestro.mcf or whatever.

Happy authoring,

Scott

[jimboy435]

You can use ULEAD DVD Movie Factory to import your mpegs and burn a DVD movie. I did the same and I have chapters and all in that. Don't need to encode or demux any audio..Use ULEAD DVD Movie factory..I think a trial is there on their website.

[Cornucopia]

...but spudz2 was really only asking about Maestro, which he/she said was a favorite. And to be brutally honest, Maestro can author rings around DMF with its eyes closed.

Remember, Maestro can do:
up to 8 audio streams
up to 32 subtitle streams
up to 9 multiangle video streams
playlists and chapters
motion menus and/or still w/ audio
complete menu and button creation control
settop machine variable reads
programmatic control and conditions, even temp/accum/timer values
incorporate 5.1 sound
incorporate AC3,MP2,LPCM,DTS
incorporate MPG2 and MPG1
seamless branching
NTSC and/or PAL, any/all regions, copy protectable
DVDROM/WebDVD ability
DVDonCD/cDVD/miniDVD ability
file concatenation (MPEG merge/cut)
closed caption support
scriptable subtitle support
works w/ all valid DVD bitrates
incorporate layered photoshop files
WON'T automatically re-encode your material
has emulation and preview
4:3 and 16:9 support


AND it's easy to use!

Like the topic says...

[joshan]

i tryed to import m2v and a mp2 audio file into dvd maestro but i get a warning at the end of the compile: the audio must be ac3 or pcm

(the video works great )
(and the audio is 48000/384)

[Tivo Homer]

There are a bunch of ways to create the PCM audio file from your mp2 and it's pretty quick and easy, you just have to have the disk space to store the WAV file. If you are already using TMPGEnc, it can do it.

1. Load up your audio file.
2. Go to FILE / OUTPUT TO FILE and choose WAV FILE.
3. Hit the SETTINGS button.
4. Under FORMAT choose PCM.
5. Choose the appropriate settings for your PCM WAV File. I've used 44.100 kHz, 16 Bit Stereo 172 kb/sec. Save it and away you go.

I've also created PCMs out of WINAMP before as well.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Tivo Homer

[Cornucopia]

joshan--Ignore the warning. Maestro knows what the DVD spec is supposed to be; it's just telling you that MP2 w/o a PCM or AC3 does not follow spec. These days there are plenty of players that will still play the movie anyway. However, of course, YMMV. If you're not worried about it, go ahead and use it! If you ARE worried about sticking to standards, you should go for PCM or AC3, either instead of OR in addition to MP2.

Tivo Homer--Yes, that's certainly one app to do the job. I usually prefer CoolEdit, ProTools, SoundForge-some dedicated audio editing app, but there are lots of choices.
However, spudz2 is trying to make a DVD and 44.1 is NOT standard for that and MANY players will balk at that difference. Also, (s)he's already got it at 48k, so there's no need to change unless he/she was going to switch to making a (S)VCD.

All--Try to save your source files so that if you need to reencode you can do it with the highest quality. Reencoding from an already compressed file just compounds the artifacts and grunge. Most TV/Sat caps and DV xfers are LPCM/WAV spec at 44.1 or 48k-make a copy if you've got the drive space. It's often worth it.