Comments

lmiller wrote on 8/13/2003, 9:36 PM
OK. I've just spent a while searching thru old threads/messages to find an answer to my question. Seems like the poor quality is just the nature of a VCD. My Sony VAIO came with a DVD burner, so I guess I just need the software to burn them, since VF won't. Suggestions please.
discdude wrote on 8/13/2003, 10:22 PM
If your computer came with a DVD burner, the software to use it should be bundled with it. I don't know what Sony uses, but MyDVD or Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator seems quite popular among OEMs.

The bundled software maybe not be very good, but it is a start. If you do decide to upgrade, take a look at the brand new ScreenBlast Movie Studio.
miketree wrote on 8/14/2003, 3:41 AM
The easiest to use software i've found is Ulead Movie Factory. The results are pretty good too
Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/14/2003, 7:58 AM

Also note that VCD (MPEG1) is the lowest quality digital you can output. The output is, I believe, 360 x 180 pixel frame -- about a fourth the resolution of your original digital video.

The next step up is SVCD, which uses something like a 480 x 320 pixel frame.

DVD quality output is MPEG2 and createsa 720 x 480 frame, the same as the digital you put in.

Although there are other factors involved, these defaults settings alone make a huge difference in how things look on your TV.
Chienworks wrote on 8/14/2003, 11:13 AM
VCD is 352x240
SVCD is 480x480

I dunno about VCD being the lowest digital quality you can get. Try WindowsMedia at 32kbps. That's pretty wretched ;)
ChristerTX wrote on 8/14/2003, 2:35 PM
I suggest DVD MovieFactory from Ulead. I use it on my Vaio with great results.

/ Christer
lmiller wrote on 8/17/2003, 6:46 PM
Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. I sure can't locate any DVD-burning software that came bundled on my new Sony VAIO. Bummer. I will try the Ulead program or one of the others suggested.
lmiller wrote on 8/17/2003, 7:03 PM
Will all these packages (MyDVD, Ulead DVD MF2, etc.) pretty much duplicate what I already purchased VF for, as far as creating the movies??? Seems like a waste that I just spent the money for VF and now I'll have to spend another chunk of change for something that will pretty much do the same thing, except adding the DVD burning ability. Or is VF that much better for creating movies/adding titles/music, etc. that I will still be glad I have VF????
IanG wrote on 8/18/2003, 4:42 AM
I don't think you'll regret buying VF! My limited experience of these authoring packages is that their NLE capabilities are very basic. On the other hand, there's a lot more to authoring a DVD than just burning it.

So here's a question for the more experienced authors (i.e. just about everybody!) - when you're putting your masterpiece together in VF, do you plan ahead and do anything to prepare for the authoring? And if so - what?

Ian G.
lmiller wrote on 8/18/2003, 8:16 PM
OK. I purchased the MPEG upgrade for VideoFactory so that I can save in MPEG2, and I've downloaded a trial version of Ulead DVD MF2.

I tried to burn a DVD with a test video I created in VF. Step 1 of the burning process went fine, the video/audio multiplexing and Finalizing VOB steps went fine. But part way thru the Recording DVD step, my burner spit the DVD out and I got the error message: "Failed to record data to the disc. Error: DVDR-INC-SPTI-2A-02-03-0C-00"

I was using a DVD-R.

Any suggestions........
IanG wrote on 8/19/2003, 2:19 AM
That may be a bug in MovieFactory. There's a patch here.

Ian G.
miketree wrote on 8/19/2003, 3:52 AM
What brand of media are you using? DVD media varies greatly in quality.

lmiller wrote on 8/19/2003, 7:34 AM
I'm using Memorex DVD-R.
I'll also try the patch from IanG.
lmiller wrote on 8/19/2003, 8:11 AM
I tried the patch from Ulead that IanG suggested. This time, I got thru the "Recording DVD/Fixating DVD" step, 100% complete. But then it spit out my DVD and got a similar error message, just one number different than before.

I went back to Ulead Technical Support to e-mail them, but, of course, since I'm not yet a registered user (trial version: you think I'm going to buy this if I can't get it to work...), it wouldn't let me. So I e-mailed them thru the customer service page (didn't need to be a registered user there). Hopefully, I'll hear something from them.

But if anyone's got any other suggestions, I'd appreciate it....
lmiller wrote on 8/19/2003, 9:25 AM
I found another patch on Ulead's website that seemed to address the DVD compatibility problems. So I finally seemed to have gotten a DVD burned with Ulead MF2 with my test video produced in VF.

Unfortunately, I find the quality of this DVD is no better than the VCD I burned right out of VF. Are there some settings I'm missing when I produced the video in VF or burned it in MF2???

Also, the DVD played fine on my DVD player on my TV, but would not play on PowerDVD in my VAIO. PowerDVD just locked up. What's up with this???

This is a very frustrating business for a newbie to all this video stuff. I'm about ready to give it all up.
pete_h wrote on 8/19/2003, 4:38 PM
If your original stuff was not that great in quality then it may not look any better.

When I first started making DVD's, I was taking the 'mpeg1's' created by making VCD's and using them as my input..... oh well I was new at it and did not know any better.

When I used the original DV-AVI's instead as input, the DVD quality was a lot better then the VCD's previously burned.