Digital 8 to DVD

[LT. Columbo]

tmpgenc plus is pretty damn good

[shulthise]

Before you pick an encoder you have to know what do you want to encode to..
Before you decide what you want to encode to, you need to know the purpose of the encoding.. (e.g. do you want to play the encoded file on DVD devices, on PC, on Portable Media Player, or just for backup ? do All ? etc...)

For some purposes you'll need additional software or an overall solution; e.g. to play the captured video on DVD devices you have to encode the video to mpeg2, and then layout the video, audio, menu and other files in DVD specific layout before you burn it.

Another thing you have to consider is will the codec your video will require will even exist 1-3 years from now. You don't see a lot of the original DivX3 nowadays, right ? But WMV, although proprietary to Microsoft will most probably be backwards-supported years from today, maybe even on DVD or what ever video players that we’ll have then..

So, what is it ?

[bigd25]

I want to burn my home videos (taken with my digitial 8 camcorder) to dvd disc....

[shulthise]

This is what you do:

You transfer the DV from the tape to the defragmented hard drive. You mix the 4 cups of flower and baking soda in a bowl, add the salt and set aside for a minute. When the video transfer is done you load it in a video editor, like Virtual Dub (you’ll need the “Penny” encoder, I guess) trim it and cut out the messy/unwanted bits (don’t forget to set the video to “Direct stream copy”). You can also add titles, credits, butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla. When done, save the movie as AVI file. Lightly mix the eggs to the butter mix, add the flour mixture, then add the chocolate chips. Load the AVI file in the encoder/converter application, and encode it to MPEG2-DVD format (DVD required specific MPEG2 settings). Drop teaspoon fulls onto ungreased cookie sheet baked at 375f for 8 to 10 minutes. Load the MPEG2 file to a DVD editor/author app, like DVDLab or DVD Architect, set the scenes, menus, and press “BURN”.

[bigd25]

I understand that you have to encode it to MPEG2, as I stated before, I already did this using NERO Vision Express, but the quality was not very godd (very pixelated), I am trying to improve the qulaity when I burn it on DVD.......Now that I have my firewire card, I will transfer the video via firewire, but what software should I use to transfer the video.......Windv? And to encode as MPEG2?

[shulthise]

encode it to MPEG2...as I stated before, I already did this using NERO Vision Express … but the quality was not very good … I am trying to improve the qulaity when I burn it on DVD

My understanding is that your bad experience with Nero was the result capturing the video in low quality rather than Nero encoding/burning. You stated that you used the USB cable to capture the video from the camcorder, which from my experience results in a very bad quality video file. If your captured video is of low quality, you can’t expect the DVD encoding/burning to improve it.

.......Now that I have my firewire card, I will transfer the video via firewire, but what software should I use to transfer the video.......Windv? And to encode as MPEG2?

Now that you got the Firewire card your captured (or transferred) video will be at very high quality. So I suggest you repeat the process you followed before, only use the Firewire card and cable instead of the USB cable. I assure you the quality of the burned DVD will be much much better.
I’m not familiar with the Nero DVD options, but I’m sure this time the quality will be more than sufficient, and there’s a good chance you will not require any additional software (like encoders, DVD authors, and such)

The additional software is typically required for very high (professional like) quality videos (editing, adding effects, timeline, narrations, etc) and elaborate/special DVD layouts (like animated menu backgrounds and buttons, menu hierarchy, multiple media DVD, etc.)

I use:
Capturing/Transferring from the camcorder to the PC: MS DV codec for capturing on Windows XP, and recently the Panasonic codec (thanks reboot)
Editing the video: Vegas 4 for power editing, or Virtual Dub for simple editing
Rendering to MPEG2: MainConcept Plugin for Vegas
Encoder (for rendering outside video editor): MainConcept Encoder 1.4
DVD Authoring: DVD Architect for simple DVD or DVDLab for complex DVD

Hope this post helps,

Cheers

[bigd25]

Thanks a lot for the info....I'll repeat the process again using the firewire card....fingers crossed.....

[shulthise]

Just remember -
you'll need lots and lots of disk space available (15-20 GB)...
AND
Capture a 2 minute video file for triel and error before you do the whole thing...
You don't want to capture a video for 60-90 minutes, render and burn in for 30-60 minutes again, and find out you need to change something. try the process with a small file first. This way you can tackle any problem fast.

Good luck

[bigd25]

Thanks for all your help, I installed the firewire card captured my video used NERO again, and bingo, the quality is excellent!! The only questions that I have, is how come I can only fit an hour of home video on one DVD, I thought DVD's can hold up to two hours? The other questions I have, is when I capture video I'll have a dropped every now and then but it's only like a couple seconds ( seems to happen when footage shot on different day). I have plenty of disk space (120 gb hard drive) and defragged before I capture, but these "hiccups" every now and then occur.

[shulthise]

how come I can only fit an hour of home video on one DVD, I thought DVD's can hold up to two hours?

You should be able to burn 60-90 minutes of MPEG 2 DVD (6000-8000kbps) on a 4.7GB DVD media.
Printed DVD media can contain up to 9GB of data.. meaning 3-3.5 hours (typically 2 hour video + extras + menus and stuff). If you browse a printed DVD, say "saving private ryan".. you notice that there's a lot more than 4.7 GB of files there. This is why when you backup DVD you need to split them to two 4.7 DVD media.

If you want to burn more than one hour to a single DVD media you should try burning it on a Dual Layer DVD media. I don't know if your DVD burner is up to it or if you can afford the dual layer media.. it's expensive.

Alternatively, you can try to lower the bitrate to 4000-5000Kbps.. which will reduce the quality and might not play on some DVD players, but if you don’t discard of the original tape/DV than you shouldn’t worry about the quality.. you can do it again when dual layers are cheaper or when Blueray is out..

when I capture video I'll have a dropped every now and then but it's only like a couple seconds ( seems to happen when footage shot on different day). I have plenty of disk space (120 gb hard drive) and defragged before I capture, but these "hiccups" every now and then occur

The video hiccups can be the result of a slow processor or slow hard drive.
The hard drive should be at least 7200RPM, and I think you shouldn’t go for less than Pentium 4 for capturing DV.

[bigd25]

Oh OK, my hard is only 5400RPM, so maybe that's why....I do have a Pentium 2.0 GHZ processor though........Thanks again....

[shulthise]

oops.. i edited my previous reply while you replied to it sorry. Just added the alternative to DVD split..

[setarip]

To bigd25

One set of procedures (other posters may/probably will suggest alternative methods) would be:

1) Use "TMPGEnc" (or "TMPGEncPlus") to convert the .AVI (DivX-compressed or otherwise) to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (a different program than "TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)

You can obtain a FULLY functional free 30 day trial version of this commercial program at:

https://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html

**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress


If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode
(As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}