Yeah, i did not mean ripping DVD's.
I have digital Camcorder and make hom videos (well music videos for family and friends.
A little side buisness.
Well I used to make VCD and SVCD until I got DVD+-RW
Well I want to make DVD's so they can play on DVD player and watch the true resolution and music I score on it.
Well 2 DVD I tried to burn did not work correct.
So I want to be able to do this by using the best solution as possible.
i have heard of Ulead and Daxtor. You recommend any of this?

I think I'd concentrate more on the media and format of your DVD's & how well they work on your set top box. ALong with the above site, check out DV.com & see if you can find an article they did a while back on the extreme incompatibility prob. - check out the dvd forum while your there in case it'll help.

FWIW, I think you won't find too many cases were the DVD layout is wrong (that the authoring software screwed up).

mike

Hi Dnez,

Ok, I'll try to help out here as best I can! I , too, do only home videos and so far have been lucky with the ones I have done! BUT, as an example of the confused world of burning DVDs I can say that a DVD I burnt would play on MY Playstation but would not on my friend's!!! The two Playstations were bought within 6 months of each other, but mine probably had a newer chip than my friend's which may account for the fact that it could read my DVD but his couldn't. This is a good example of what is happening today with home made DVDs. There are a number of issues which affect compatibility:
* The set-top DVD player (that is, the home DVD connected to the TV set) Some are more home burnt DVD friendly than others - check DVDhelp.com There is a very long list of players which have been tested by users and tell you what works best with each one, especially as regards dvd format (ie: +RW + R; and/or -RW -R).
* The software you use to burn the DVD. I first used Mydvd and didnt like it. I have tried Ulead Movie Factory (good low price) and Dazzle DVD Complete (also good but slightly more $) Now about to use DVD Architect which is integrated with Vegas 4..There are other better more expensive apps, but that is all I have tried so far...
*The DVD burner: the newer the better
* The media you use: that is, the brand of DVD disk you are burning your videos onto. This is probably the most important factor in playability on home dvd players! General opinion says, buy known brands (Maxell, Apple, TDK, Sony, HP ...- the last three brands I have tested and work for on my player; haven't tried the first 2...) I have tried a Memorex once and it didnt play on my Sony DVD player.
* Before you burn a +/- R disk, try your player with a RW. RW are reputedly LESS compatible on players but if it doesn't work, you don't have to throw it into the waste basket!

As far as the quality of your videos, you must avoid re-compression from your burning application. That is, once you have created a Mpeg-2 file, if your authoring/burning application makes you re-compress, you will lose a lot of quality. It is also best to keep bitrates under control. I normally compress my MPEG 2 files using a Variable bitrate of max=8000 kps, average=6000 kps, and minimum of 4,000 - I think!). To be on the safe side, burn with a dvd compliant template: I always use the standard dvd Mpeg-2 template on Vegas Video 3. Once you get one to work, then you might want to experiment...

One last thing, but especially important: Make sure you are rendering your files to MPEG2 according to your region!: that is PAL or NTSC depending on where you live/where you bought the player!! Otherwise they will not playback properly, of course, if at all...

I apologise if you know all of this, but just trying to help out with the little knowledge and experience I have from making my own dvds and from what I have read and learnt from these wonderful forums...

I hope this has been of some help!

Let me know if you still have problems!

Best of luck

Paul.

Awesome. Thanks for input. Just one last question.
You mentioned that re-rendring losses quality...
Well I use Vegas 3 and render to MPEG-2 NTSC... Well When I use something liek MYDVD or something to burn into a DVD is that the same as re-comprosing it?
Or when I render to MPEG-2 is that the only compression, and then use MYDVD...
Thanks

Dnez,

Unless you have a programme such as TMPEG (which in my opinion gives you a similar -maybe veeeeryyy slightly better, but not worth the effort- quality as the MAINCONCEPT MPEG2 in Vegas) or CCE (which is a pro application and costs lots of $$$$) you should do the MPEG2 compression in VEGAS VIDEO 3. Once you have this file, load it into the authoring application, prepare the dvd (menus, chapters etc) and burn the disk. IF the application, when you are about to burn the disk or when you import the MPEG2 file, tells you something like "this file is NOT MPEG2 DVD compliant; the file will be compressed..." then you will lose quality if you allow it to do so: this is because in effect you are compressing your original video twice (once in Vegas Video 3 and a second time in the authoring application) . Re-compression of the file has nothing to do with "mutliplexing" which every authoring programme has to do to create a dvd: I believe mutiplexing is the creation of a video file and audio file which is needed to create a dvd, but implies no loss of quality. You should only be worried if the application says it is going to compress/re-compress your original MPEG2 file/s...

By the way, the MPEG2 files I have created in Vegas Video 3 and used to create DVD have a VERY good quality! Yours should come out very good too!

Good luck once again!

Paul.

FWIW: Multiplexing -> muxing: creates one file from two separate input streams, normally one or more audio & 1 video... demuxing does the reverse.

Get into separate streams because the mpeg2 doesn't really interleave the audio the same way as other video formats (ie: avi files etc.) Not a bad thing necessarily, as that's where you get your vob files with one video & 2 or more audio streams based on surround, language, etc.

Mikkie,

Thanks for that clarification! Not an expert as you can see and was actually typing from memory (very bad one at that!!) So does the authoring app actually de-mux then?

Cheers,

Paul.

Some demux & create VOB files
Some only accept elementary streams (not muxed) & create VOB files