Making a DVD!

[Adam Wakely]

Well I made my first test DVD! I used my Pioneer DVR-A04 writer and Media Studio Pro 6.5. Even though it doesn't look as good as my original mini DV tapes (but damn close!) I happy! :) Finally, no more crappy VHS copies that make my hard work look bad!

[Ken Tanaka]

Isn't that a kick?! It's just plain ol' clean fun. Congrats to you.

[Chris Hurd]

Ditto. I remember how I felt when I did this for the first time not too long ago. It's an important step. Good on ya,

[Jeff Donald]

Wow, I can do this on my desk top. What a cool feeling. Tell us how your clients like the DVD, too.

Jeff

[Adam Wakely]

I'm a bit disapointed in the time it takes to render the MPEG2 file. 4 hours is a long time! The writing time is alot quicker though.
I'm using Media Studio Pro 6.5 with the DVD plug-ins. I'm not sure if it can be any faster but it's sure worth it in the end.

Now I notice that I'll have to edit my videos "different" because of DVD. Very interesting and fun stuff.

[Dan Uneken]

'Now I notice that I'll have to edit my videos "different" because of DVD. Very interesting and fun stuff.'

Please explain? Thanks!

[Rob Lohman]

If you want better quality try looking at TMPGEnc at
www.tmpgenc.com .... 4 hours for MPEG2 encoding is nothing!
Especially for something like TMPGEnc. I recently had a 48 hour
encoding with that (to test some things). TMPGEnc can deliver
very very good mpeg2 and the package doesn't cost an arm
and a leg. Try the trial version out.

[Adam Wakely]

What I mean by different is that I have to think of my videos like a DVD! All in chapters! I save my fades at the end instead of the begining of a clip as well. Each chapter needs to be created seperately as 1 video file.



<<<-- Originally posted by Dan Uneken : 'Now I notice that I'll have to edit my videos "different" because of DVD. Very interesting and fun stuff.'

Please explain? Thanks! -->>>

[Adam Wakely]

Thanks Rob. I tried it out and a 9 min avi file created by my Raptor DV card took about 60min to convert to a Mpeg2. It was actually longer than the DVD plug in software with Media Studio Pro 6.5 . Unless I'm doing something wrong I'll stick with what I have.

[Rob Lohman]

Yes, TMPGEnc will be alot slower. That is what i said. Quality
should be better though.

You do not have to create different movies for each chapter.
Chapters are defined when authoring a DVD and can happen
in any part of the movie stream. Make one file and make chapter
stops inbetween. All the hollywood pro's do it this way too.

Good luck.

[Adam Wakely]

Rob: I'm able to up the quality in my M.S.P. DVD plug in (higher rate). But instead of 2 hours to a DVD I would get less. Is the same thing or does tmpgenc do something different?

Thanks...

[Don Parrish]

I have a question, I also want to create DVD's, I was looking at the pioneer 7000. An interesting interview the other day on CNBC had a CEO talking about the gigabyte virtues of DVD vs megs of CD. He said ( I believe he was in the music business) He doesn't believe the standard has quite been agreed upon and his company was not going to go DVD any time soon. So here is my question, Why can't we use the same commercial standard used in creating DVD's movies ?? That format seems to be what we are all trying to duplicate anyway!!

[Rob Lohman]

Adam,

There can be a huge difference in quality between programs. This
happens because of differences in algorithms and such. It has
nothing to do with filesizes. Especially in the beginning of mpeg2
software encoding there were products out there that produced
absolute crap at the EXACT SAME settings as other products.

See it like this. Every whiskey is not the same. Even if it comes
at the same bottle size. Now I don't know the quality of the
product your using. But you can download a demo version of
TMPGEnc to see for yourself. CCE (CinemaCraft Encoder) is even
better but that thing is way way expensive. I suggest you
download both there demo's and play along.

MPEG2 encoding can have many options (progressive encoding,
different matrixes, zigzag scanning, DC precision levels, variable
bitrate (VBR) and constant bitrate (CBR) encoding) and it all boils
down to reading the manuals and trying. Best results are usually
achieved through 2 pass VBR encoding, but that takes the longest
time too. Expect long long encoding times for MPEG2 if you want
top-notch quality.

There is some information available on how to use these products

CCE:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/cce-advanced.htm

TMPGEnc:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/tmpg-dvdencoding.htm

now these articles are mainly targeted towards ripping a DVD
or re-encoding MPEG2 at lower bitrates. The articles do tell you
what to use to get optimum quality though, so it might be a
good/interesting read.

Other interesting reads on the subject:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgencexplained.htm
http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgenc.htm
http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgencdvd.htm

....

CentralFla,

What he probably is talking about is the two different DVD
recording standards: -R/-RW and +R/+RW (I'll not go into DVD-RAM)

You can never burn a industry compliant disc. Period. But then
again you can also not burn a industry compliant CD-ROM or
Audio CD, now can you? Why? Because the industry discs are
PRESSED and not BURNED. The structure, however, on those
disc can be compliant. And that is the exact same thing with
DVD. The difference is only physical:

- On a consumer DVD disc (be it -R or +R) sector size is smaller
so that CSS encryption cannot be used.
- Dual layer discs cannot be made by the consumer because
these need to be pressed (dual sided DVD-R exists, so you can
use that)

That is the only downside. My first point can even be removed
if you buy (a very expensive) DVD-RA (Authoring) burner with
authoring DVD-R media. Pioneer sells this. Then you can even
have encrypted fully compliant discs. Now what this guy probably
was talking about is that some discs do not play in certain
players. That is true. But remember that in the beginning of CD-R
burning not all discs played on every CD-Rom player or audio
set (some still don't). DVD recording is just starting so give it some
time to settle. And if you want a disc to sell commercially just have
it pressed from your DVD-R master. That is not too expensive
these days.

Now on to the other side of the story. The structure on a DVD
disc (like the structure on a CD-R or audio disc) can be made by
us 100% (so that includes moving menu's, region protection,
macro vision, chapter stops, seamless branching, multiple
languages, subtitle tracks, Dolby Digital Audio, DTS audio and
DVD-Rom). You just need the right tools. If you shell out the
money to buy a professional authoring package like Scenarist
you can do most of that. It all depends on tools and skills.

So to answer your question: we can use the same standard
used to create the DVD's movies are made on commercially
(as you put it).

Hope that explains it a bit.

[Don Parrish]

Thanks Rob

Have you taken a look at the pioneer 7000. It is supposed to be an all in one unit with firewire and direct DVD burning????? I just purchased the full version of vegas video 3.0 and will be looking for some way to make DVD's.

[Rob Lohman]

No CentralFla... They are just too darn expensive. Is this unit
only a standalone or not? Cause my primary reason for getting
a DVD buner (which I will in a couple of months) is for data
storage. I just have too many CD-R's to keep track off. Another
fine thing is that I can more easily store my original DV clips
without reverting to tape. Lastly it is another great thing that
I can make my own DVD-Video of my completed projects ofcourse!
Sweet!