DVD software...what do you use ?

ncpl

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Hi,

I've been getting to grips with my new pc and trawling through a bunch of old DV tapes to make classic family DVD's. So far: so good.

I use Roxio 6 and am wondering if the picture Q varies between different DVD apps. I see pro's and con's mentioned in various threads and observe a fair degree of difference in image quality between my original DV fottage and the final DVD. I have been using lowest compression throughout.

So, why is it that Hollywood movie picture quality is stacks better than my footage on DVD ? Do different apps compress better/worse than others ?

I accept that DV footage needs to be compressed to fit on a disc.

What are you folks using and how well does it fair ?

TIA
 
any comments ? U-lead, Pinnacle, Premiere etc etc

Is there any difference between the quality of MPEG compression used in these different packages ?

Have you changed packages and found it better/worse/same ?
 
Rarely use such tools, when I do, for historical reasons, I use Premiere 7 but that's only for MPEG-2 video, not MPEG-4 which is what's used on DVDs AFAIK.

You ask about quality, the probable main reason for the difference is that the material which ends up going through the coder is far higher quality than your recordings, thus there's far less coding noise etc.
 
I agree that 'proper' commercial cams have far superior quality to start with, but DV footage isn't exactly shabby.

I just ran my fourth project through my DVD player and plasma to show the family and the digital blocks are aweful....most noticable on reds and blues. Roxio 6 / low compression.

That's the reason why I'm curious about other apps. I don't want to just keep buying new ones on a suck-and-see basis. I'm hoping that one stnads above the rest and it's already been found.

cheers
 
Originally posted by KraGorn
Rarely use such tools, when I do, for historical reasons, I use Premiere 7 but that's only for MPEG-2 video, not MPEG-4 which is what's used on DVDs AFAIK.


Hi,

Actually, DVD-Video is MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 is DivX and XviD. :)

PS: My first post in this forum, good one, already on my favorites. :clap:
 
Originally posted by ncpl
I agree that 'proper' commercial cams have far superior quality to start with, but DV footage isn't exactly shabby.

I just ran my fourth project through my DVD player and plasma to show the family and the digital blocks are aweful....most noticable on reds and blues. Roxio 6 / low compression.

That's the reason why I'm curious about other apps. I don't want to just keep buying new ones on a suck-and-see basis. I'm hoping that one stnads above the rest and it's already been found.

cheers

Try TMPGEnc or Mainconcept MPEG2 to encode in MPEG-2 and TMPEnc DVD Author to do the authoring.
 
I am encoding with TMPGENC as it does a better job of encoding than ULead DVD movie factory which I use for burning.
 
Mike/Martin

Thanks for the TMPGENC info. I've just had a look at their www and am pleased to see a trial version.

Would I be right to assume that the encoder and author apps work nicely together ?

cheers
 
Originally posted by ncpl
Mike/Martin

Thanks for the TMPGENC info. I've just had a look at their www and am pleased to see a trial version.

Would I be right to assume that the encoder and author apps work nicely together ?

cheers

Yes, Encoder produces a MPEG-2 video and Author accepts it, without reconverting.
 
Originally posted by MartinImber
I am encoding with TMPGENC as it does a better job of encoding than ULead DVD movie factory which I use for burning.

So how do you do that then? I have TMPGEnc and use Ulead VideoStudio 7 to edit footage. I would rather convert it to DVD in TMPGEnc, but don't know how to go about getting the edited footage to TMPGEnc? Would I assume you save the edited footage as the same as the DV footage and then use TMPGEnc to use the AVI file? Also do you need to extract the audio as a WAV like you do with DivX and Xvid files?
 
I use Adobe Premiere 6 and at the end of the editing I can just save the whole edit as one AVI file. This has a separate video (AVI) file and audio (WAV) file. I would assume you can also do this in UVS7.

ncpl, I use Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3 to encode (sometimes encode from within Premiere) and create disks with chapters and munu's. Quick and easy prog to use and also available as a 30 day trial via a free download from www.ulead.co.uk

Mark.
 
Originally posted by ncpl
Hi,

I've been getting to grips with my new pc and trawling through a bunch of old DV tapes to make classic family DVD's. So far: so good.

I use Roxio 6 and am wondering if the picture Q varies between different DVD apps. I see pro's and con's mentioned in various threads and observe a fair degree of difference in image quality between my original DV fottage and the final DVD. I have been using lowest compression throughout.

So, why is it that Hollywood movie picture quality is stacks better than my footage on DVD ? Do different apps compress better/worse than others ?

I accept that DV footage needs to be compressed to fit on a disc.

What are you folks using and how well does it fair ?

TIA

Hollywood for a start have fantastic lighting, cameras & post filiming treatment of the film before it gets anywhere near DVD. With the amount of money spent you can never hope to produce that quality. When it comes to the actual process of DVD encoding & authoring they are again using very expensive hardware encoders that will perform Variable bitrate encoding on small sections rather than across the entire movie in one go to achieve effective bitrate management. They can also fully exploit the DVD spec with the authoring tools they use.

You should however be able to produce DVDs yourself that should appear no worse than your DV footage.

The tools I currently use are
Vegas for editing
Canopus Procoder for encoding
Pinnacle Impression pro OR ReelDVD for authoring
RecordNow Max for burning.

If you are looking for a good quality budget encoder (& can't afford Canopus Procoder which is far more than just a MPEG encoder & has come down in price) look at TMPGEnc as already suggested or CCE Basic , they probably offer the best bang for buck.

The DVD authoring packages available vary in price greatly & in their individual exploitation of the full DVD spec. You can pay anything from £20 to £20k (for Scenarist). You are best initially looking at the features each offers & base your choice then on what product meets your needs & budget best. Then search out the views of people who have used it regularly (always useful to look at the help forums of the product makers for any disgruntled customers).

Good luck
 
Thanks Guys,

I had some time at the weekend to try the TMPGENC trial. Apart from there being no install, the app seemed to work OK. There are clearly many more options in it than any other app I've seen so far.

I recompiled the same avi that troubled me before. I used std PAL and didn't tweak much. Results were actually slightly worse. Bright reds were very blocky in parts. On the orginal DV footage they are fine, so, I kind of know it's the compression.

I'll do another few tries when time allows to see if I can improve it but no-way is on par with the original fottage (or even close)

If I'm missing something (obvious or otherwise), pls shout

cheers

Nick
 
Rui's guide will give you a good idea what all the settings in TMPGEnc will do for you.
 
That looks like a great read. Thanks for the link.
 

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