Looking for the Best quality DVD.

[biglittlekitty]

Is TMPGnc Plus 2.5 (which DVD burning software??) going to give me the best quality DVD reguardless of space on my hard drive or length of footage on my final dvd? ( no less than 20 mins though... ). I just burned my first DVD using a JVC high end dv cam and MySonic. When I played it on my TV it was grainy and not what I expected. I rendered dv and audio interleaved then used MySonic to burn the DVD.
TWO QUESTIONS ? ?
Which render option will give me the best quality file suitable to a final DVD?
Which DVD burning software should I use? It depends how I render the file.

Im looking for the best quality 20min-60min DVD I can make for TV viewing.
Any render software solutions combos would be greatly appreciated.
Is this question asked often... Redundant?


:cool:

[Ivan]

Use anything by MySonic. Ulead DVD Studio is a good program and so is Adobe Encore. Neither is free but both are better than MyDVD.

Ivan

[John Melvin]

I have been using TMPenc plus DVD Workshop and the last project I did was beautiful. It was displayed on a large screen 10 X 10 feet and it was awesome. I personally could not believe how good it was.

Eugene taught me how.

John

[sbrandt]

John,
Man... that's a wicked looking golf club.

Is what Eugene taught you in the archives on this forum or was it a private lesson by way of eMail or something?

I really need to learn exactly that combination of TMPenc and DVD workshop... that's what I have.

PLEASE fill us all in on the proper way to get good results!

[John Melvin]

You can find Eugene's recipe on the safe harbor website. I am trying to think where I have that material but cannot right now.

If you do a search on DVD on Safe Harbor site you will find it. If not email Eugene and he will send you the recipe. I have what I consider an ideal pref file for VT3 and TMPenc that I could send you if you would like it. It is the same Eugene uses.

Over 100 tour players use that club. Vijay, Azinger, etc. Last week the winners of the PGA and the Senior Tour both used our club.

Sure did work for me.

Let me know if you want me to send you that file.

you can email me directly jnmelvin@sbcglobal.net

John

[sbrandt]

Oops... I meant TMPGEnc.

[John Melvin]

I have Eugene's article if you would like it. Send me an email and I will mail it to you.

John

[biglittlekitty]

Thanks,

So its TMPGnc and DVD Workshop...

What format should I render in TV2 to the get best Results?

[sbrandt]

biglittlekitty, et al,

Here's Eugene Kosarovich's TMPGEnc recipe courtesy of Doctor John Melvin's excellent file archiving skills.

Doctor John's comments:
"The word file is how you do it and the *.mcf file is the TMPGenc preferences file for Toaster Edit. Pretty simple process. Just create your project then open TMPGenc and select the Toaster Project and use this *.mcf file and I think you are good to go. Use either PCM audio or ( I am blocking the name of this codec but it is the one you have to pay extra for). It should create two files a mpeg 2 file and a .wav file."

And NOW... I'm going to attempt to attach an actual loaded zip file that just MIGHT actually attach to this post...or not.

[sbrandt]

No applause please... just throw money.

[sbrandt]

From Doctor John,

<Add this fielding test to Eugene's instructions in TMPGEnc.zip. - cut and paste it to a text file and add that file to the TMPGEnc.zip, so you have everything all together when you need it.>


"RTV is normally Top Field first (Field A).
DV is Bottom Field first (Field B).
VT-Edit Projects are Top Field first (Field A).

Do the test:

1) Load your source.
2) Under settings>>advanced, select the deinterlace filter.
3) Select Even-Odd field (field).
4) Scrub some motion in your video.
5) If it scrubs normal you have the correct fielding, if it BOUNCES when scrubbing, you have the wrong fielding.
6) Try both fieldings with this test so you can see what I mean by bounce.
7) Disable the deinterlace filter when you are done and go with the fielding that is correct."

[ScorpioProd]

Ah, better actually do the fielding test.

The stuff where which fielding is which changed with Newtek's latest patch. (I wish they wouldn't keep changing that!)

Type-2 DV is still Bottom Field first (Field B).

But VT-Edit projects loaded directly have changed to Bottom Field first (Field B).

But again, do the test to be sure.

[John Melvin]

Eugene:

What program are you doing the fielding test in?? I have not ever had to do this because your documentation set it up correctly to start with. Never had to think about it.

Thanks

John

[sbrandt]

EUGENE,

Do you know how Encore compares to this combination of TMPGEnc and DVDWorkshop? ...I mean in terms of the quality of the final mpeg. I know Encore has lots of composition tools that DVDWorkshop doesn't. Have you tried the new DVDWorkshop? If you have, how does it stack up in this mix?

(I'm just full of questions...)

Thanks!
Sam

[ScorpioProd]

John, well, if your DVDs look good, then your fielding must be right, and you don't need to worry about the test. :)

I mean the fielding setting in TMPGEnc, based on the input source file or project.

Sam, I don't have any personal experience with Encore, so I really can't comment on that.

I haven't tried DVD Workshop 2.0 yet, though I expect I will in a couple months. I'm letting others check for bugs first. :)

See, when the AC-3 upgrade to DVD Workshop came out last year, there was a bug that wouldn't let you use TMPGEnc encoded files with it! That took about four months before a patch fixed it. So I'm being careful.

[biglittlekitty]

Thanks everyone. Still not there yet.....
Why cant I come out the toaster as a rendered file suitable to dvd without using TMPGEnc or another compressing/render phase? Then just use a DVD authoring application to create menus and burn. Right now I am comming out of the Toaster as a RTV file with seperate audio wave file. (uncompressed thats a lot of file to store and time). Then I use TMPGEnc to convert to Mpeg w/ audio as one file - then to Adobe Encore to Author the DVD. Even though Adobe Encore can render a DVD compliant file itself, I do not use that option. Seems like alot of money to use to use menus and burning options only. Why cant I come out of the Toaster as one Mpeg NTSC file thats ready for the authoring/burning application? No second render/scrub. A one shot out of the toaster would really speed things up. I am a newbe. I've learned alot....... but still.... Do most toaster users use another authoring application besides VT?

By the way I could not get ULeadworkshop 2.0 to work. ( errors on the trial).

What is the difference between TMPGEnc plus 2.5 and TmPGEnc DVD Source Creator 2.0? Options?

Is a 2 pass vbr better quality than cbr one pass?

Thanks Guys.

[John Melvin]

I think the answer to your question is very simple. VT3 will not do that. It will not encode your project to mpeg II.

If it does then I have missed something.

But, the toaster edit project to TMPGenc and then to DVD workshop is painless and very quick.

John

[RayLarson]

Right now there is a bug with T3 Timeline to Tmpeg. 3rd party Transitions will not render (and I have had problems with Newtek transitions).....my suggestion, simply render to an .avi and either encode with Tmpeg as Mpeg2 or let DVD workshop do it (personally, the Tmpeg encode is cleaner)

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by biglittlekitty
Why cant I come out of the Toaster as one Mpeg NTSC file thats ready for the authoring/burning application? No second render/scrub.

The fastest solution, if your encoder is on your VT[3] system, is to simply do a File | Save As... *.avi in VT-Edit. This saves instantly and does not require a render at all. The tiny avi file can then be loaded into the encoder of choice.

If you're using TMPGEnc, then you can load the VT-Edit project directly into the encoder, again eliminating any need for an initial render before performing the preferred 2-pass vbr MPEG-2 encode.

[biglittlekitty]

Thanks everyone.

I will try the .avi file out of the toaster to TMPGEnc 2 pass vrb to MPEG-2 encode.

I tried to string 5 MPEG-2 files to one using ( Easy Joiner 2.5 ) to Adobe Encore as one file. Adobe Encore did not allow me to burn it. The application stated the the file was too big. I know it fits. I put all the files on a DVD as seperate files and had half the disk free.

Does anyone know of a joiner application that Encore will reconize and allow me to author with out re-encoding to a New MPEG-2 file? And if I have to string up seperate files to make one and re-encode does the re-encode effect the quality of the
MPEG-2?

If Toaster would render out to an Mpeg-2 file this whole process would be faster and easier. Do they ever plan to incorporate an MPEG-2 encoder into the toaster?

[John Melvin]

I can only guess that this will be an option. Not sure when. I understand that the NAB announcement is supposed to be very significant. I am sure Digital Fusion will be involved in some way.

John

[mgrusin]

If Toaster would render out to an Mpeg-2 file this whole process would be faster and easier. Do they ever plan to incorporate an MPEG-2 encoder into the toaster?

One reason that VT does not currently do this is that the VT architecture was designed to be realtime. MPEG encoding is extremely processor intensive; on my machine it takes about four hours to encode one hour of footage. When we start seeing machines that are four times faster (sooner than you think), then I'll expect to see realtime MPEG software encoders being incorporated into VT.

Until then, Newtek has gone to quite a bit of trouble to make it easier to transfer footage from VT to external encoders.

-MG.

[ScorpioProd]

Note that if you are using the virtual .avi method with TMPGEnc, you will need to render out your audio to a wav file to drop into TMPGEnc for the audio part. The virtual .avi uses a compressed audio that isn't compatible with all applications.

IF you are using just the TMPGEnc plug-in with the VT-Edit file, it will take care of the video and audio.

But there may still be some issues left in the TMPGEnc plug-in, but they should be fixed in the next patch, so I hear.

As for MPEG-2 from the VT itself, well, I don't think it's a bad idea, but I don't see it as that important right now compared to other improvements, as long as there is an easy way to use virtual AVIs or plug-ins direct to proven MPEG encoder programs.

Only reinvent the wheel when there is nothing else left to do.

[Sledgehammer]

I cannot help but notice lots of folks here describe the best method as using TMPEGenc plus with DVD Worshop. I have tried a couple of times to get this to work, and have had less than stellar results (So far, cannot get a working DVD)

I tried just loading in the VT3 .avi that I "rendered" from my VTedit project, and that took right into DVD workshop. A little weirdness aside (the audio would start from the beginning regardless of where you started playback), chapter points were selected, first play put in place, menu created and the disc came out great.

It took several hours to render the final mpeg, longer than the TMPEG render and making me think that DVD Workshop is not multithreaded. The DVD looks great, though, so I have to wonder whether there is some reason to use TMPEG in the first place.

[Scott Bates]

I've been feeding TMPGEnc my VT[3] project files with no problems, authoring and writing an .iso disk image with DVD Workshop and burning with DVD Decrypter. I tried encoding in Workshop once and didn't like the results. I've only had one "reject" DVD in a year and that was from someone who was using their kid's Playstation as a DVD player.

[Lord Beowulf]

I use the VT[3] Project file with TMPGEnc and then put the MPEG-II file directly into Adobe Encore. No Problems till now and the results are very good. I would say best and easiest way, thou.

Beo