Software or hardware problem? (DVDDcrypter/DVDShrink/RecordNowDX)

[nltnhan]

Would IfoEdit be capable of doing the same DVD authoring as the TMFGEnc DVD Author? I don't need menus as well as other "extras" from an authoring tool, so I'd think IfoEdit would suffice for my need. I've actually tried to author my .m2v and .mp2 files (converted from .mpg files with TMFGenc) using the IfoEdit. It worked fine, except that I don't know how to combine the authoring of multiple .m2v (and .mp2) files together. What I mean is that following the IfoEdit authoring guide, all I can author (using the "Author new DVD" option from the "DVD Author" drop down list) is only one set of .m2v and .mp2 files, but my home movie has 7 set of those files. When I tried to use the "Author new DVD" option again to attempt to author the next set of .m2v and .mp2 files, the output files (like .IFO, .BUF, .VOB) turned out to have the same names (like *_0.IFO, *_0.VOB for both times of authoring, instead of *_0.IFO and *_0.VOB for the first file set authoring and *_1.IFO and *_1.VOB for the second file set authoring and *_2.IFO and *_2.VOB for the third file set authoring, and so on) as the first authoring I did. And I don't think I could simply rename the output files. My guess is that I'd need to tell IfoEdit that I have multiple movie file sets to author into one movie so that it'd know to create the DVD structure correctly. But I don't know how to do that! Read the guide many many times, but it didn't mention about this. BTW, the guide I've been using is from http://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/120013.php

How do I post cross forums, like DVD Authoring forum?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[ormonde]

You certainly can use IFOEdit for basic authoring, but I find the program to be a bit arcane for this purpose. Why don't you just "Multiplex your .m2v and .mp2 files together to form a "New" mpeg 2 file with TMPGEnc? ("File" > "Mpeg Tools"). Then, use can just drop the file into "TMPGEnc DVD Author" follow a couple of basic steps and output to a DVD file structure. Also, if your OS is Win 2000, or XP, you can "Burn" the project straight to disk right within DVD Author.

[nltnhan]

To ormonde:

Thanks for your reply! The reason I'm not going forward with the TMPGEnc DVD Author is simply because it's not a freeware. Actually, the TMPGEnc is not a freeware itself if I wanted to do MPEG2 conversion for more than 30 trial days (I think I'd need this conversion for my future home video making). So, I wouldn't want to pay for both software if I didn't have to. (I paid for RecordNow and never successfully used it for anything ) At the same time, I really appreciate the effort and generousity of those who produce those high quality freeware!

I've also just found another free DVD authoring tool that has high rating from the dvdrhelp.com. The tool is a combination of DVD Author and DVD Author GUI. Any comments on this tool?

[ormonde]

"Any comments on this tool"

Sorry, I'm not familiar with it.