Trying to make a DVD-VCD using Capty

[MichaelLAX]

I am still trying to determine if Capty can be used to create a DVD-VCD with MPEG-1 files, or if it will just transcode the MPEG-1 files to MPEG-2 and then compile a normal DVD. Previous threads had a split opinion on this topic.

I digitized three one hour programs using Pixela's PixeDV to MPEG-1. Wanting better quality, since it is MPEG-1, I set the bit rate to 2 instead of the VCD standard of 1.15.

The resulting files were approx. 1020 MB each. When trimmed of commercials they dropped to about 770 MB each.

I then brought them into Capty to author a DVD at the Low Resolution setting (4 bits). The compiling process added another 12 hours to the normal 2-3 hours to compile. Looking at the intermediary files I could see that each of the three files were taking 4 hours each to transcode from MPEG-1 to MPEG-2. These files expanded to approx. 1.3 to 1.4 Gig each. I also used PixeDV to confirm that these were MPEG-2 files.

It seems that Capty automatically computed the space available for the DVD and transcoded the files to MPEG-2 using the appropriate bit rate.

The resulting DVD had a menu with a selection for each of the 3 programs and each program was marked so that chapters could be selected to more the viewing forward. This is a plus, as while Capty authoring of VCDs does allow for a master menu with multiple programs to select from, it does not allow for chaptering.

Of course, this experiment fails to answer the ultimate question: Can Capty be used to create a DVD-VCD that utilizes MPEG-1 files? It did apparently let me put more content on one DVD (135 mins) that I would normally expect. However, using a lower bit rate for MPEG-2 digitizing (2 or 2.5), I could have probably achieved the same result with no transcoding delay.

The next experiment will have to be with more programming, so that we can really stretch the capacity limits, and back to the standard 1.15 bit rate for VCDs (since this may have forced Capty into the transcoding mode).

[MichaelLAX]

This time I took two Marx Brothers movies and digitized them at the VCD standard of 1.15 bits. A Night at the Opera, about 90 mins, resulted in an MPEG-1 file of 902 MBs and A Day at the Races, about 2 hrs, resulted in a file of 1.05 Gigs.

I authored a DVD in Capty using these files, with markers in each movie. Capty took 2-1/2 hours to compile and burn at 1X, so seemingly there was no transcoding time. However, at looking at the intermediary files, the first movie had a 1.78 Gig file and the 2nd 2.14 Gig.

The quality was better than I expected, but of course it is B&W.

[stacian]

Yes, Michael.. I believe you are right about Capty encoding the files into mpeg-2 however I have not experienced the long encoding times you have experienced. Perhaps we are using computers with fairly different hardware? As you know, I have a 1 ghz iMac. A full DVD has taken me a max of 5 hours to encode and burn.

[MichaelLAX]

The amazing thing when compiling the Marx Bros. movies is that it went thru the full compile and 1X DVD burn in 2-1/2 hours! This is my normal compile and burn time. My last session was an additional 12 hours of transcoding, so Capty must just love MPEG-1's at 1.15 bits...

The next experiment will be 4+ hour of content.

[MichaelLAX]

OK, so it works!!!

This time I took 6-1/4 hours of programming ( 3 episodes of "West Wing" with commercials, Frontline from PBS and two HBO shows (Real Time with Bill Maher and Dennis Miller: The Raw Feed) with a 15 minute short film from one of the Encore channels thrown in for good measure. I had digitized this content from my DirecTiVo using PixeDV set at MPEG-1 standard settings (1.15 bits and 44MHz audio). The hours ran from 551 MB to 686.8 MB (on one episode of West Wing, I forgot to turn off the digitizer until about 8 mins after it ended, but I did not want to delay the process by doing any trimming), with the full hours running approx. 600 MB and the short film was 136 MB.

At first I set Capty to PCM audio, low resolution and 128Kbit audio. As I attempted to insert the 4th hourly program into the main menu, it told me that I had exceeded the size limits.

So I tossed that one out and restarted with the same settings, except I chose MPEG-1 Layer II audio instead of the uncompressed PCM. This time I was able to insert all six hourly episodes and the 15 min short film with no problem. I used Capty to chapter the West Wing episodes to advance to the end of the commercial breaks on all 3 episodes, and I had all seven shows listed with captions on the original menu screen (altho only 6 fits to a screen, the last one is on the "next" screen).

It compiled and burned to a 1X DVD-R in about 4 hours, as would be expected from a near full compliment of content. From the time involved, it is clear to me that no transcoding took place. I looked at the temporary files involved and they were slightly larger, again (as in the Marx Bros burn), expanding to fill the size of the full DVD; this time they added to 4.4 Gig from their original 3.74 Gig MPEG-1 digitized size. If this expansion is linear, it may be possible to go to 7 hours and 22 minutes of content (and with commericals trimmed, it may be possible to go to 9 or 10 hourly episodes on one DVD!).

The quality was the same as when I had burned the individual content to a CD-R or RW and played it in my DVD Player (MPEG-1 quality); I didn't expect any improvement.

But for my purposes, in the future, when I want to "collect" a season of an episodic series (such as when HBO returns "Curb Your Enthusiasm" next month), I can digitize each episode to MPEG-1 and store each episode temporary on a CD-RW. Then after I have collected 7 - 10 of them, I can bring them back to my hard disk (and erase the CD-RWs for reuse), and use Capty to catalog them on one DVD. Hence a season will fit on about 3 DVDs. Half hours will fit accordingly.

In the end, I am not really sure that this is really a "VCD on DVD." I have seen elsewhere that the DVD specification allows for burning either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2s. So technically speaking this is really just a DVD that has been authored with MPEG-1 files. In the end, this is probably just as well, because if indeed the DVD specification does allow for DVDs to be authored from MPEG-1 files, the chances are that these DVDs will play in more DVD players in that many will not play "VCD on DVD." Of course, using compressed MP2 audio will limit the number of machines that will play them, but I have found that most DVD players that can play MP3 audio disks can also play DVD Videos with MP2 audio.