I need to shrink mpeg files to get on DVD??

[sshaker2]

Hi anyone...I hope someone can help me a bit.
Have converted x-vid avi files using tmpgenc and virtualdub to mpeg but they are around 2.5 gig each and I want to get them down to 4.1gb.
I use U-lead DVD workshop which is a pain to edit then burn with copy2dvd.
What is a better way to do it?

On another note...
Is there better software to handle captured video from my VCR?
I have a Snazzi PCI Card which captures with Movie Mill. Quality ios quite good but do I need to de-interlace the file?
Probably a dumb question
Thanks for any help.

[gonwk]

Hi sshaker,

I was just curious ... why even bother to convert from AVI to MPEG ... is it only so you can view it on your TV ... if so, just buy a DivX capable player and you'll save yourself a ton of pain and money ...

On the capturing item ... I think I have seen some posts here ... if you do a search you might fins them. I persoanlly don't have 1st hand expereince on this ... so sorry can't help you.

G!

[MilesAhead]

Hi anyone...I hope someone can help me a bit.
Have converted x-vid avi files using tmpgenc and virtualdub to mpeg but they are around 2.5 gig each and I want to get them down to 4.1gb.
I use U-lead DVD workshop which is a pain to edit then burn with copy2dvd. What is a better way to do it?

I rarely edit so I don't have much advice there. But for conversion, I used TMPGEnc for quite a while. Then when I tried some newer freeware I found that TMPGEnc was very CPU intensive for the frames per second throughput. Unless you need a specific feature of TMPGEnc try freewares d2mp, FAVC or DVD Flick.

Also you can do quite a bit with AviSynth and QuEnc. Whenever I wanted to hard sub VobSubs during an Avi=>Mpg conversion I used TMPGEnc because it would pick up the subs during the processing. Come to find out I could do the same thing with QuEnc using an AviSynth script with a VobSub() command to add the hard subs. And QuEnc would run nearly twice as fast!! So try a few tools on a slice of .avi and see what you like.

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

@ Miles ... long time no see dude ... with sshaker's permission

Miles, I like to ask you since I have not really messed around with AviSynth and "Scripting" ... can you post a dummy-proof guide on how you do the QuEnc deal and Avisynth and Vobsub thingy!?!?

Thanks,

G!

[MilesAhead]

Hey gonwk! If you have .avi files that aren't funky then often you can use a simple script like this:


LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\FAVC\Avisynth Plugins\VSFilter.dll")
AviSource("C:\SomeFolder\SomeMovie.avi")
LanczosResize(720, 480)
VobSub("C:\SomeFolder\SomeMovie")

(In the case of VobSub subs the .idx and .sub files should both be in the same
folder. Don't put an extension in the VobSub() function.. just the basename
of the sub files. Before hard subbing I always use the VobSubStrip utility to
create an .idx/.sub pair with only English subs. To hard sub an .srt file instead, use TextSub("SomeMovie.srt") instead of the VobSub function.)

If you don't have FAVC installed chances are VSFilter.dll is on your PC
someplace already.

A good idea is to cut a small slice of the .avi and just use a one-liner:
AviSource("movie.avi") and see how it comes out. If it looks ok but
is stuck up in the top left of your TV screen then it will probably be
ok with the 4 line script. If you get funky color blotches or some other
weirdness then you might have to mess with SwapUV() or some other
functions to fix it up.

Anyway the script has to have an .avs extension and feed it into QuEnc. Check out a guide for QuEnc settings. Or just run FAVC using QuEnc and while it's running look at
the settings in the Advanced Settings page.

If you use the DVD Profile settings in QuEnc then the output should be a .mpg file with navpacks. Just feed it to an authoring program like DVDAuthorGUI. On the SUPER download page there's a link to more complicated scripts if you need to fix up your video with filters. If you have clean-looking clear input video though, usually a few lines is all you need. Also you can cheat and load an .avi into d2mp and cut paste and edit the .avs script it produces. Also there are specialized editors for AviSynth with push buttons that generate the script for you. Another alternative is to run FAVC
with "Don't start batch file" checked in the Advanced Scripting tab. Then look at the .avs scripts it produces.

If you try it let me know if you like it.

[gonwk]

Hey Miles,

YOU are the Man ...

Wow, a heck of "Guide" ... making of a "Sticky" ...

THANKS PAL.

G!

[src2206]

Hello G! I can give you a better idea to get a basic AVISynth script, just use FitCD (no offence MilesAhead ). Its freeware. But obviously not for very advanced use.

To the thread starter

BTW, though the converter suggested by MilesAhead is pretty good, may I humbly suggest HEnc. It is improving day by day and its a freeware. Some of the veterans in this field say that it is now as good as CCE.

If you are looking for a free all in one conversion software, go for AVIToDVD. This one will give you the option to use QEnc (as suggested by MilesAhead) and HEnc and two others (never use those, so can't remember the names).

[MilesAhead]

Hey Miles,

YOU are the Man ...

Wow, a heck of "Guide" ... making of a "Sticky" ...

THANKS PAL.

G!

Sure thing dude. Take a look at some of the output from FAVC. The script uses variables with error-catching routines. Also on the web I'm sure there's docs for AviSynth filters and functions.

btw src2206, if you are talking about HC Encoder, FAVC also has support for it. The fun thing about FAVC if you have multi-core hardware it launches an instance of the video encoder for each core. Blazes through the video encode portion of the conversions(at least it does with QuEnc.
I haven't tried HC yet.)

[src2206]

Hello MilesAhead

I am talking about Hank Free Encoder, yes I think the abbreviated term is HCEnc. Sorry for that.

BTW, by FAVC do you mean this: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tools...Submit=Search? I would surely like to give it try, as I have a C2D processor. Could you please tell me what other other encoders it supports beside QEnc and HCEnc?

May I suggest humbly to use HCEnc, I promise that you'll be amazed by the speed and quality.

If you try let me know please.

One more thing, there is another front end DVD conversion tool AVI2DVD. It has a good encoder support and provides more versatility in terms of menu creation. You may check this out too (if not done already).

[MilesAhead]

that's the one

Hello MilesAhead

I am talking about Hank Free Encoder, yes I think the abbreviated term is HCEnc. Sorry for that.

BTW, by FAVC do you mean this: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tools...Submit=Search? I would surely like to give it try, as I have a C2D processor. Could you please tell me what other other encoders it supports beside QEnc and HCEnc?

Yup, that's the one. The author has a thread on another forum for support and suggestions. If you read through it you'll get a good idea the strengths and issues with this software. IMHO it's most useful if you run it and leave the machine alone(surf using another PC) since it tries to maximize use of the resources on the machine. If you want to convert video in the background it's prolly not for you. But get the skinny straight from the author. He's very responsive to user input. Here's the link:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=106677&highlight=FAVC

One more thing, there is another front end DVD conversion tool AVI2DVD. It has a good encoder support and provides more versatility in terms of menu creation. You may check this out too (if not done already).

It's great there's so much good freeware out now. A lot of them are front ends to AviSynth but some not. Used to be I used TMPGEnc Plus a lot. About all I did with AviSynth is make a one line script for .avi files it coughed on. But so many tools are using AviSynth now that it's tough to avoid learning a little bit about it. I'm still a novice, but in a way that's kind of the fun part. It's all new and you're not aware of the limitations of the software yet.

[src2206]

Hello MilesAhead

AVI2DVD started as a conversion tool as the name suggests, but with time it has grown up to become a basic DVD authoring tool. Now you can create Menus with it too. But as I said its still Basic in nature.
The author also have a highly responsive support forum here: http://www.trustfm.net/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4

[MilesAhead]

That's cool src2206. The more easy to use menu tools the better. Myself I have no need for motion menus(I hate any user interface that makes you wait.. the little vid might be fun the first time but tedious if you have to keep putting the disc in.) SVCD2DVD has a nice little menu maker. You can do bitmap buttons or text with no need to use a graphics app. It also has simple layout capabilities to make it easy to space the buttons evenly etc.. It doesn't have a feature to put a title on the entire menu but you can rename the "Play All" button. So I stick that at the top and rename it
to the menu title... devious individual that I am!!


It's handy if you happen to have mpg files that are already DVD compliant. Then you just load 'em in to add a menu. Does the authoring without reprocessing the mpg files. Main shortcoming is it only likes .sup subtitle files. That's one reason I was so glad to find out about the VobSub() function. Too often the type of subtitle file you happen to have is what limits your conversion and authoring choices.