Family Holiday DVD: Help Needed :o)

Soniclight wrote on 12/22/2008, 12:24 PM

I know, I'm late but my stepsister knows she'll get the goddies post Dec. 25 :o)
OK, now for the facts and question:

Facts

-- She does not have a computer, just a basic non-HD consumer DVD player.

-- I have as of yet no real experience in creating a DVD = I gotta keep it simple

-- Content to be put on DVD:

A) A few short (under 5 minute each) SD vids I made.
B) A compilation of my artwork stills made in Vegas as slide-show.

Since there is so little content, I could have two choices:

1. Use of menu (I'd have to finally crack open Architect and learn how to make one).
2. Auto/self play in the tradition of using an .exe in CDs (one show, no menus).

In both cases:

Q: Once I have the final renders of the above, what is the best,quality preserving codec to use for such a DVD? I can get overwhelmed with the slew of options and types.

Thank you, oh ye Wise Wunes of The Vegas Realm :o)

Comments

AtomicGreymon wrote on 12/22/2008, 12:36 PM

If she doesn't have a computer, she'll have to play it on her DVD player, so just having the video files burned to a DVD in some kind of autoplay form isn't really viable.

As for codecs, since it'll have to be a DVD-Video for her to play it on her player, the only codec you can use is MPEG-2. The Mainconcept MPEG-2 encoder included in Vegas works pretty well for SD stuff. There are a few templates that are specificly tailored for DVD Architect depending on whether your stuff is fullscreen, widescreen, etc.

It isn't too hard to do a basic DVD in DVD Architect usings one of its default menus.

jrazz wrote on 12/22/2008, 12:56 PM

In DVDA just go to File/New and choose the option without menus. Then you just drag your video stream (DVDA NTSC (I think you are on the west coast of the US) if you are doing 4:3 or DVDA NTSC Widescreen for 16:9) and if your audio is named the same and in the same folder it will be brought over as well (it will need to be AC3 and if you don't have much experience with it, use the Studio version. )

j razz

Soniclight wrote on 12/22/2008, 2:00 PM

OK, thanks for replies. Looks like it won't be so difficult after all. BTW, I have VP8, which I should have mentioned. And, yes, I'm in California and use NTSC.

I also just realized that I never loaded up Architect that came with VP8 - lol
Got some installing, and probably some app updating to do.

randy-stewart wrote on 12/22/2008, 8:09 PM

One other point, before you render the .veg file to MPEG-2, put markers (put cursor at the begining of each segment, hit the M key) at the start of each video. Then when you select the render template, check the "include markers" box on the lower left side of the render template box. DVDA will recognize the markers as chapters. That will allow the viewer to hit the next chapter button on the DVD remote instead of fast forwarding. You don't have to name the markers and you can still use the automatic play the movie option in DVDA as mentioned previously. Hope that helps.
Randy

Soniclight wrote on 12/23/2008, 2:16 AM

Thanks, Randy, useful. I use markers/regions a lot, so good to know

blink3times wrote on 12/23/2008, 3:57 AM

"(it will need to be AC3 and if you don't have much experience with it, use the Studio version. )"

Using the studio version will cause a recompress for the audio (at least it does for Blu Ray). The pro version does not recompress.