VCD conversion to DVD using Vegas 7

[nizam]

Dear Friends,

after a long time i am back in to this forum for your help again, Can some one help me on this i wanna combine 2 VCDs in to 1 DVD using Vegas 7 , i know i have to convert VCD files in to .avi and please tell me how can i do that ,also when i combine i wanna the movie to play continously , no one should know about the split also the audio what format i choose ac3 stereo or PCM stereo , which one sounds better , can some one explain to me step by step how to get this sorted out please help me

Rgds

Nizam

[senu]

Nizam.. you still owe me!!!

Anyway what you ask is fairly simple
You do not need to convert the VCD to AVI as such
What you do is Explore the VCD
Then open the folder MPEGAV
This contains the actual video files . They are mpeg1 files
However you find them called AVSEQ 01, 02 ect with a filename extention *.dat

You need to rename them as *.mpg As such AVSEQ01.dat becomes AVSEQ01.mpg
If you cannot see the *. dat extention you need to change your file properties in Windows explorer

Like THIS

Unless you rename them, they will not be visible to Vegas ( or any other video editing software for that matter,) as video files.
Once renamed as *.mpg, it then becomes a simple matter of importing them into Vegas File> import > media browse to where the newly renamed file is and edit them the usual way by dragging to timeline and trimming ect
You ,of course later output to mpeg2 for DVD.
As you are going from a smaller sized lower bitrate format (mpeg1) to a larger size file with bigger pixel dimensions and higher bitrate ( mpeg2), being in a DVD will not necessarily improve video quality which wasn't there in the first place

The joining video clips (or lack of) are down entirely to your own editing skills..
As for audio AC3 is a small size good to excellent quality audio which is perhaps just a bit lower on the Hi fi scale than PCM (CD audio quality but much larger size)
In practice ,the quality difference is not much if the AC3 is well encoded
Whether as Ac3 or PCM if the original audio is not up to scratch , which ever way you encode for DVD will not improve it

[nizam]

Thank you very much Senu, I know i owe you big time, the only reason i wanna do this i wanna combine 2 VCDs which is one movie in to 1 disk DVD , but can i get this in to one 4.7 gig single layer disk .please let me know.

Rgds

Nizam

[nizam]

Hi Senu

I did exactley the same way you told me got it all right apart from when i get to the last bit i got the file name : Movie name .ac3
file type : dolby digital.ac3 or dolby digitalac3 i cannote remember
Audio 192kbps etc etc , but when i click on save a window poping up saying if you need to utilize the sourround sound you need to buy sony AC3 encoder, Do i really need that , actually i like to do it as NTSC widescreen video stream , but then it says Audio none , how can i get audio when i make file type as MPEG2 and NTSC widescreen video stream using DVD architect 4.I know you helped me in a similiar situation before , but now asking the same help again , Sorry for that , Please help me

Nizam

[senu]

Instead of using DVDA templates, why not just use a Mainconcept Mpeg2 with a DVD PAL or DVD NTSC template rather than DVD Architect streams... and dispense with the need for surround,
You can import your mpeg2 ( with sound combined) into DVDA you know

Otherwise to remind you ,If you must use separate streams, encode the footage : once as Mpeg2 DVD Architect stream . name it say..Nizam.mpg, then also save it a second time as audio.. Nizam.wav,( ac3, mp3) ect,and save both files Nizam.mpg and Nizam.wav to the same folder.. DVDA will pair them up

I gave it a go just now and I dont get a prompt to buy the encoder.. give me a call if that happens again and again

Also why do you need to make the DVDs NTSC? are they going to the US?
In my experience most VCDs are from PAL sources

[nizam]

Hi

I rendered the video as DVD Pal in Vegas but then the problem is when itry to make the DVD using DVDA it wont fit in to a 4.7 gig single layer disk, if you click on File , Optimise DVD you get a window which you click on fit to disk but because i rendere the video as DVD Pal it only compressed up to 6.5 gig which is too larger than 4.7 gig, so in DVDA i have to render the video again to DVD NTSC which brings it to 4.5 gig , Please tell me why is DVD Pal takes more space than NTSC , is there any way to get round it ,Torender in DVD NTSC it took more than 8 hours.Please shed some light on this.

Nizam

[senu]

When you import into Vegas, Use an NTSC template.. When you render to mpeg2 use DVD NTSC
That way you shouldnt need to rerender in DVDA
As I said going from mpeg1 PAL to mpeg2 NTSC involves encoding to mpeg2 and transcoding from PAL to NTSC. this makes it harder to retain quality, optimise for space, and do it quickly
As for the space issue How long is the Video.. 2 Hrs?.. If you are using PCM that may be why it wont fit.. Are you now able to use ac3?

[nizam]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, i did,nt use PCM i use AC3 which is fine , video is probably 2 hours 30 minutes long, but what i cannote figure out is why is it takes more space when it is in Pal ? I would prefer to do the DVD in Pal which i wanna fit it in to a 4.7 gig single layer disk, Please help me.

Nizam

[senu]

If you prefer PAL why use NTSC at all? Im not sure why it is bigger size but Im also not a fan of putting too much on a 4.7 DVD disc even though it is possible
You may need to use a variable bitrate to "tell" the software now much you want it to compress the mpeg2.. You probably have a high minimum rate of fixed bitrate which is why you cannot get it to put compress the DVD into 4.7Gb
I do however think quality will suffer even if you succeed

[nizam]

Dear Senu

How do i tell the software to get a variable bit rate, or with the help of DVD Architect is there any way of putting in two disks rather than compressing the picture .But i prefer to put it in one disk?

[redsox_mark]

In Vegas, when you do render as, if you select MPEG2 and one of the DVD Architect Video Stream templates they default to VBR. You can change the settings (e.g. the bitrate) by clicking on the "custom" button.

DVD architect doesn't automatically split over multiple discs, if you want to use multiple discs you would need to do this manually (render out a part 1 and a part 2 in Vegas and author one disc with part 1, the other with part 2).

[nizam]

Hi

When i render in Vegas i select as DVD NTSC beacuse i am converting a VCD to DVD formatt , so that means after selecting the template click on custom button and choose variable bit rate, is that mean i can fit to one disk when i make DVD with DVDA, Please explain

[redsox_mark]

Variable bit rate doesn't allow you to fit more - you fit more by reducing the bitrate. What VBR does do is help maintain the quality when using a lower bitrate.

You said your video is 2 hours 30 mins? You need to select a bitrate that will fit. Use a bitrate calculator like http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
A rate of 3800 would fit 2 hours 30 mins. Makes no difference if it is NTSC or PAL.

[nizam]

Hi

thanks for the info, i did have a go, it shows 3 bit rates Maximum bps, Average bps, and minimum bps and it was showing a bit rate of 8000, 000 something like so i got cnfused , so can you please shed some light on this and explain to me a bit more detail ?

[senu]

Originally Posted by nizam

Hi

thanks for the info, i did have a go, it shows 3 bit rates Maximum bps, Average bps, and minimum bps and it was showing a bit rate of 8000, 000 something like so i got cnfused , so can you please shed some light on this and explain to me a bit more detail ?

In order to encode any other video file to mpeg2 files for DVD, the parameters of frame rate, pixel size ( for PAL or NTSC are applied) and bitrate. The first 2 parameters are fixed and the last varies
The Minimum. Average Maximum Values refer to the encoding bitrate (per second)

For bitrates per second , 3,000.000 is 3Mbps and 8,000.000 8Mbps

The lower the bitrate, the more time you can fit onto a specific size
As such
If say , you encode the same video file at 3, 6, and 8Mbps to mpeg2 respectively , you could end up with file sizes of say 150 Mb, 350 Mb or 1Gb from the same video file
This means that to fit more of a video file on a given size of disc, you need to use a lower encoding bitrate.
However, lower bitrates result in poorer looking video.
Lower bitrate are better for scenes where there is less movt.( to ensure smoothness and less "jaggies"). If you encode a fast scene with a low bitrate it may come out looking unsatisfactory (or worse really awful!!)
However depending on the original video material , encoding an mpeg2 at too high bitrates may not nessesarily result in better video quality even though you may end up with a bigger file size. Also some DVD players find it hard to decode very high bitrate encoded mpeg2s

The aim is therefore to get the encoding bitrate that will preserve good quality without being too large. As you know audio and menus also use up space, and choosing ac3 ( as you intend) is a good space saving format

Some software ( and even setoop DVD players) can show you what bitrate the mpeg2 they are playing was encoded at if you turn on display info

HTH