Vegas straight-to-DVD solutions?

NickHope wrote on 12/10/2005, 10:07 PM
For quick and easy DVDs my normal workflow is Vegas > Debugmode Framserver > Cinemacraft Encoder > TMPGEnc DVD Author > Nero Burning ROM.

I'm currently teaching a friend how to edit and make DVDs and I'm wondering if there is now some software available that can combine some of the latter steps to simplify the workflow. He will be making new DVDs of scuba diving trips every day.

Cyberlink Power Producer seems like it would combine some of the steps. Does anyone know if one can frameserve to it? Or does anyone have other suggestions?

Thanks,

Nick

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 12/10/2005, 10:45 PM
A bit obvious, I know, but Vegas > DVDArchitect is only two steps, and Markers from Vegas carry through as Chapters, complete with names, in DVDA.

I guess it depends on the features you need in your final product - DVDA has a fair range of features now.
NickHope wrote on 12/11/2005, 1:02 AM
Thanks Peter.

Actually we're looking for an even more simple/cheap solution than DVD Architect. The DVDs will not need menus.

I've since found this page which shows a lot of options. I wonder if anyone has experience of using any of them in conjunction with Vegas.

Nick
farss wrote on 12/11/2005, 2:24 AM
You can just take the avi file into DVDA and have it do the whole job to create a single movie DVD with no menus.
Alternatively there are STB DVD recorders.
Really depends on the quality of final product you're looking for, don't forget that it takes a bit of work to get the best possible result from mpeg-2 encoding. If you're only looking to fit say 60 minutes of vision onto a DVD then it's not really much of an issue though.

BTW I've found very high quality underwater footage one of the hardest things to encode.
Bob.
NickHope wrote on 12/11/2005, 10:41 PM
Thanks Bob. STB recorders are not really an option as he'll be burning a few DVDs a day and I guess they'd only record in real time. The videos will be about 30-45 minutes long and the workflow I'm using already would probably turn out quicker.

Personally I haven't had much of a problem getting good encodes of underwater footage. I use CCE or Procoder and burn at 8000 if I have room. I even got great results at 4750 encoding 2-pass VBR. To be honest even my VCDs done in TMPEG used to be perfectly acceptable for souvenir scuba diving videos.

Nick
farss wrote on 12/11/2005, 11:34 PM
It varies, I've encoded 16:9 footage from a typical DV camera no sweat whatsoever but the other stuff that came off down scaled HDCAM of schools of bright striped tropical fish was a nightmare, even at 8Mb/sec CBR.
Actually, I think the problematic footage was staged in a tank, the water is just too crystal clear to be real.
Bob.
murphy wrote on 12/12/2005, 8:42 AM
I use print to tape from the Vegas timeline to a JVC DVD recorder that has firewire in. Couldn't be easiser.
I make copies of these with Nero and never had a problem .