Making Mixed Content DVD - Quality

Lcymru wrote on 9/11/2005, 1:32 PM

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, be here goes. I'd like to create a "compilation" DVD from a mixture of downloaded .mpg files of various quality (e.g., MPEG-1 352x240x32) plus segments cut from DVDs (MPEG-2 720x480x32) I have. My main editing/rendering tool is Sony's Vegas Movie Studio + DVD 6. I've been able to import the pieces I want into a time line in Vegas (after coverting the DVD AC3 sound to LPCM with Nerovison Express), and am able to edit as desired. I'm not sure what to do now to maintain the highest quality I can. That is, I don't know whether to render my compilation directly to MPEG, or instead to render to AVI (or DV AVI) and then import the AVI file back to Vegas and then render to MPEG. I was thinking that directly MPEG rendering already-MPEG-compressed content might degrade quality, and that maybe an intervening AVI step might be better -- but I really have no clue. Thanks.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 9/11/2005, 4:28 PM

MPEG -> AVI -> MPEG is still an MPEG to MPEG conversion, so there won't be anything gained by the intermediate render. Generally, going through fewer render steps preserves more quality.

djcc wrote on 9/15/2005, 8:41 PM

I have no idea if this will help, but here is a shot.

I recently did something I believe to be similar. I had multiple MPG files I needed to assemble into a single DVD.

I used MovieStudio to generate MPG files as necessary. I generated separate audio files as WAV files (48,000 Hz, 16bit PCM) to eliminate any re-encoding by DVD Architect.

I opened DVD Architect for each MPG file, selecting the WAV file for audio (instead of the audio from the MPG). This prevents re-encoding.

WIthin DVD Architect, I selected "make DVD", but only selected "prepare DVD". This creates the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders wherever you want them.

I then used DVD Shrink to assemble each of the resulting titles into a single DVD. Use google to find DVD Shrink - a valuable, and free, utility.

This might not be what you want, but hope it helps.