Questions that NEED answering!

[TheFool]

im probably not the only one with these questions, so i desided to make a list of questions regarding the problems ive encountered during my 2 weeks since i started with converting avi files to dvd...

what software i have:
-VirtualDub v1.5.10
-VirtualDubMod v1.5.10.1 [Build 2366]
-DVD2SVCD or AVI2DVD v1.2.2 [Build 1]
-Nandub v1.0 rc2 [Build 1852]
-IfoEdit v0.96
-GSpot v2.21
-TMPGEnc Plus v2.5
-TMPGEnc DVD Author v1.5.20.62
-TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress
-DVD Shrink v3.1
-DVD Decrypter v3.2.2.0
-Nero 6.31 Ultra
-NeroVision Express 2
-Cucusoft AVI to VCD DVD MPEG Converter Pro
-BeSweet v0.7 b4
-Gordian Knot v0.28.8
-vStrip GUI v0.8f

1.) When and what type of audio format is it really nessesary to decompress the audio with VirtualDub v1.5.10 to have the audio and video sync using TMPGEnc Plus v2.5 or TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress?

2.) What program do u recommend to author a movie for dvd from the list above? If you recommend something other than in that list plz say.

3.) I used GSpot v0.7 b4 to see what audio format my .avi files were before i try type of converting and it seems like VirtualDub v1.5.10 can never decompress AC3 audio. Is it nessesary to decompress it (if not already answered by Q-1)?

4.) What would u say is the best combonation of software from the above list would be the best for manually converting AVI files to DVD?

5.) I can never seem to convert any AVI file with AC3 audio, but am sure i have all the codecs, decoders, etc i need for it. Why is that, and what programs do u recommend i use to get this job done?

6.) I got some videos that i backed up as VCDs and SVCDs on my computer. What programs and what steps would be best to use to convert them to DVD?

-I ASSURE U IM NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLIGAL!!!!! THIS IS ALL FOR MY PERSONAL USE!!!!!-

if u can answer atleast 1 of these quesitons i would be so far better off... i really dont like voicing my questions unless im really stuck in a dead end... I think of it like this... if these questions are answered fully and to the point, then any other newbie that reads it would be much better off (including poor me )... not only that, but the more i know, the more questions i can answer for other people so we are all better off ...

im going to be sticking around here for a while since ive found a real intrest in learning about audio and video formats and converting them to other formats and burning them to disks... i use my video camara alot these days and knowing this stuff would help me alot, and im sure ill be asking more questions in the future as well

thanx ahead of time...


-Chris

[reboot]

1.) No, it's not always necessary to decompress audio. Some content has VBR audio that can go terribly out of sync in Tmpgenc (or any encoder) and thus extracting a full process .wav in virtualdub is the best bet.
2.) DVDLab. Hand's down the best "bang-for-the-buck" authoring software there is. Ulead DVD Studio and TDA are worth considering.
3.) No. If you have AC3 audio, just extract it as-is (HeadAC3he is the perfect app for this) and then remux in your authoring app. Again, DVDLab will do this, some others cannot handle AC3 audio, and it must be converted in another application. AC3 is fully dvd compliant, and also smaller filesize than comparitive mp2/raw/wav.
4.) Virtualdub to edit/extract audio. Mainconcept mpeg encoder to encode. DVDLab to author. Additional apps that really come in handy are Audacity (for audio manipulation), DVD Decrypter and DVDShrink to rip, Nero to burn.
5.) AC3 doesn't need converting. Extract it, save it, reuse it during authoring.
6.) ISOBuster and DVDLab. One to rip the mpeg from the (S)VCD, and DVDLab to reauthor them to dvd. If your standalone player will play (S)VCD, you don't need to re-encode. Get ~3 SVCD, and ~6 VCD movies on one dvdr. You can't improve the quality, so why re-encode and lose more quality? Most other authoring apps will NOT accept anything but compliant dvd aspect video. DVDLab is an exception.

[TheFool]

why is it that every time i try to encode using the video from the AVI and the extracted AC3 audio

TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress says:
Invalid sample format. (error code 0x80048002)

TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 says:
The error occurred when ACM was initialized.

TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 says:
Illigal audio format. You can only use the following formats: AC-3, MPEG-1 Layer-2, or Linear PCM

apparently im not doing something right here... i used nandub to save the audio as .wav then i renamed the extention to .ac3 (i tried both they dont want to encode)...

what do u guys recommend i do?

[reboot]

Because tmpgenc doesn't do AC3.
You can't simply rename a file from .wav to .ac3 and expect it to work.
Either extract the audio and save as .wav, or extract the AC3 and preserve it for the authoring process.
Use something like Goldwave or Soundforge to rip the audio, resample it to 48khz, and save as .wav PCM 16 bit, stereo.
Don't bother muxing it during encoding, mux it during authoring instead.

[oldman1221]

dvp video format

i have a video file "vdp-bigb" that plays great on my VLC media player but will not play using WIN media player. can anyone give me some info on the "vdp" format and how i can convert it to Divx sure need your help with this problem. oldman1221