MPEG's onto DVD????

[disc-crazy]

Hi There, just wondering if there is any way of burning MPEG4 files onto a DVD so that they're playable on DVD player???

[reboot]

Yes.

[ignignot]

Originally posted by reboot
Yes.

hehe... well I guess that's all he asked

Most standalone players won't play MPEG-4 files directly. You'll need to convert to MPEG-1/2, and author as a DVD to be able to play it in a standalone player.

[reboot]

Ooooohhhh, he wants' to know HOW to do it...
ignignot has you steering in the right direction. You will need to transcode the file(s) into an mpeg 1/2 format, and author.

[nhojnhoj]

please be gentle with me, this is my first branch out from anything other than using shrink and decryptor. i`m trying to burn mpegs downloaded over the internet.

so, if an mpeg is in mpeg4 format it needs to be converted to mpeg 1/2 or it wont work in the dvd player- i think i`ve got this far correctly!

so now you`ve got your mpeg1/2 file on your hard drive what program do you use for authoring?

and then presumably you can burn it with nero? but with which settings?

if somebody could just point me in a direction i`m happy enough to dig myself, only im not sure where im looking at the moment.
its all very confusing

[ignignot]

I use a program called TMPGEnc DVD Author. You can download a free 30 Day trial here:

http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tda.html

[nhojnhoj]

i read something on afterdawn that nero can author and burn directly from the mpeg?

[reboot]

Yes, nero (Nerovision Express) can, but please don't. Nero's encoder/transcoder is really bad, and can almost guarantee out of sync audio, dropped frames, and any number of other disagreeable things.

Ideally, one needs to transcode the file to mpeg2. TMPGEnc can do this with the VFAPI mpeg plugin. Alternatively, you can transcode it in something like Womble, or even VCDGear may do it.
Once transcoded, it needs to be authored. That is to put the mpeg into it's dvd specific files (vobs and such). TMPGEnc DVD Author is one way to go, Ulead DVD Studio is another. I find them both severly limiting, and prefer to use DVDLab, although it has FAR more versatility, it is also more confusing to use at first.
Excellent guide for it here: http://www.videohelp.com/guides?link=602

[ignignot]

"Yes, nero (Nerovision Express) can, but please don't. Nero's encoder/transcoder is really bad, and can almost guarantee out of sync audio, dropped frames, and any number of other disagreeable things."

Maybe now that the author of DVD Shrink is working with Ahead software we can look forward to them releasing some worthwhile software to do this in the future

[reboot]

Nero's single biggest downfall has always been their encoder. If they'd stuck to producing burning apps, they'd still be in the lead. Branching out into the realm of digital video may have been a good idea, but there just wasn't enough research done, before they committed to a particular encoder engine. As it is, the one they use is tediously slow, and innaccurate. Everthing else they've done is pretty good quality, even the PlaySkool interface is appealing to beginners, and the wizards make most things fairly easy. Nerovision express is a really good (S)VCD authoring program, but falls apart once the editing process is done, and it needs to transcode. It's going to complain about filesizes too big, ask if you want to reduce quality, then complain that it can't do it anyhow, you have to do it manually, then it won't let you specify non-standard bitrates, can't accept AC3 audio, and generally makes you redo everything anyhow, thus doubling the time involved in the project.
If they could simply go with an encoder engine that is proven reliable and fast (Canopus, Mainconcept, or CCE), or even TMPGEnc (slow and blocky though it is), at least the product would work.
As it stands, Nero is still great for burning, Nero Recode does it's job with no complaints, their cd-rom speed tools are excellent, but Nerovision Express is a sugar coated scorpion that's not quite dead, and as pretty as it looks, it will sting you every time.

[ignignot]

"TMPGEnc (slow and blocky though it is), "

I'll give you the slow part, but TMPGEnc has always yielded excellent results - especially compared to Canopus and Mainconcept, tried both of them once & they resulted in absolute crap.

[reboot]

Then you had the wrong settings.
Mainconcept yields a better finished mpeg than tmpgenc at the same quality settings, especially in high motion sequences, and usually at least 50% faster too.
TMPGEnc tends to get blocky, especially on plain black no/low motion stuff. It's just the way it's done on low bitrate scenes to save space on VBR.
Canopus may take roughly the same time as tmpgenc, but it's output quality is superb.
There are numerous tests, with framegrabs on the net, and through my own testing I tend to agree with them.
You have to know what to change though, as the defaults are not optimized for quality, but are a compromise usually.

[nhojnhoj]

thanx for the help
i thought it would be straight forward, obviously not the case

[ignignot]

Once you get familiar with the process it is actually pretty straightforward. You just have to find the encoder/settings that suit you best.

Good Luck

[nhojnhoj]

just one more thing...

before i launch myself in to this,

if the files are intended to go onto a vcd does all of the same still apply or is the method different.
and if there is more than one clip, can i just drag and drop them all in to the burn window and leave the burner to sort it out?