im using DVD-A exclusively, for DVD and BD.

i edit/export in intermediate, convert to h.264/mpeg2 on external encoder, author BD "with no recompress", change the project to DVD, change files for DVD, author dvd, no recompress either.

so its easy for me to author both, and encode with external and "way faster" encoders than DVD-A (BD takes 20 hours on my pc, versus 5 hours on other encoders)

DVD-A does not use all the cores on my CPU, others use all.

Only DVDAPro 5.0b - this is the most versatile creative package at the lowest possible cost. My sources are HDV and prosumer MXF for video - all prep done properly in the VegasPro editor for conditioning the files and adding markers.

DVDAPro has the very best menu options creator - all customization done with assistance of Photoshop. On-video screen menus is a big hidden plus for working with DVDAPro.

I'm struggling with why DVD Architect is re-rendering your files.

Could you post screen shots of the Vegas Pro render templates that you're using?

That usually happens if you don't render the audio separate.

OldSmoke may have figured it out. I didn't render the audio separately. I'll also check which template I used.

I understand that DVDA re-renders HDV (MPEG2) but TMPGEnc Authoring Works does not.

DVDA does not re-render my AVCHD video but re-renders the audio unless rendered separately. TAW is not fussy.

DVDA has a bug or incompatibility in authored BDs that shows up on some BD players, notably older Panasonic. If a sub-menu below the top menu is accessed, the skip chapter function does not work. TAW does not have this problem.

I use TAW for best BD compatibility, but setting the chapter markers by hand is rather tedious, so I still use DVDA as well if I am only making ISO files to play on my media player.

I have had no problems making DVDs with DVDA. The MPEG2 video and the AC3 audio need to be rendered separately, of course.

I use TAW for best BD compatibility, but setting the chapter markers by hand is rather tedious

Actually, this is quite easy to do. Here's how. Place markers on the Vegas timeline where you want chapters. Change time format to Absolute Frames. Then select Edit Details (Alt-6)-show Markers. The frame numbers of your chapter stops will be shown. Select all, then Copy. The only problem will be the decimal point and trailing zeroes. If you only have a few chapters, the easiest thing might be to simply edit those out in Notepad. If you have a lot, then open Excel, paste into any column. Then format the column for integers and Copy again. Open Notepad and Paste. You should see the column of absolute frame numbers minus the decimal point and zeroes. At that point, simply save as "Name of your file".keyframe. When you import your file into TAW, there will be a message that keyframe info has been found. That's it. No more looking for those frames in TAW. Hope this saves you some time.

wwaag

Interesting note wwaag,

One of my 'problem' for other authoring program is the chapter marker issues.
I always placed so many markers more than scene selection page requirement, so my viewers can push 'Next' button to skip and search instantly in the timeline...

Put TAW on my list for experiment...

Set

I use Adobe Encore almost exclusively for both DVD and Blu-ray. It is fully integrated with Photoshop and it will accept pretty much anything I throw at it. I am particularly addicted to the Flowchart window, it shows the entire project at a glance and allows you to visually create the disc's navigation by just clicking on a menu, link in a menu or media file and just dragging the Pick Whip to any other element. I just doesn't get any easier. Encore produces highly compatible discs, Adobe licensed Sonic Solutions's AuthorScript authoring technology as the underlying DVD and Blu-ray engine, Sonic Solutions is the same company that makes Sonic Scenarist.

John

Are you able to author AVCHD to a BD in Encore without re-encoding? I haven't found how to stop it.

wwaag

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. One minor difficulty I had was that Vegas expresses marker position in seconds plus frames whilst TAW uses seconds and milliseconds, with possibly one frame uncertainty.

I've been using DVDA since Version1 and it's never re-rendered my video. The audio sometimes, but never the video.

If DVDA wants to render your video, then you did something wrong when preparing the files for DVDA.

Steve

Have you tried to make a BD using HDV?

Sure, frequently. I edit in Vegas and "Render As" an MPEG file using the appropriate BluRay template. Then I use DVDA to make the an file which I burn to the BD disc.

Sure, DVDA won't rerender because you already re-rendered in Vegas.

My point is that if you render HDV to an HDV template in Vegas, it will smart render if practicable, giving the best quality and very fast render. Such rendered file is re-rendered unnecessarily by DVDA, whereas TAW accepts it without rerendering.

When comparing the HDV template rendered file with the BD template rendered file using Mediainfo, the only significant difference that I can see is that the HDV has format matrix as custom rather than default.

I use DVD-A to author both DVDs and BDs. I make an ISO file in DVD-A and burn to disk with BurnAware Premium.

I've never had a problem with DVD-A 6.0 in the little bit that I've used it. Nevertheless I use 5.5 (or whatever version that is, not at my computer right now) just because I've read so many bad things about 6.0. One day I will need to give 6.0 a through test.

I have menus and sub menus but everything is petty simple. I render compliant video and audio files in Vegas so DVD-A does not recompress. It does recompress menus with composited graphics, but that is not a big deal to me.

DVD-A takes about 8 and 13 minutes to churn out an ISO for, say, a 30 minute DVD and BD, respectively. This on my two year old Dell XPS laptop.

Regards,

Kimberly

I also use DVD-Arc pro to author both DVDs and BDs. I render an .iso file and burn that via ImageBurn. I couldn't live without ImageBurn's verification process, especially with finicky DVD-9s (Dual layer)

If, for whatever reason one uses a program stream ( audio + video ) from one of the MainConcept .mpg templates in DVDA, is there a quality hit in either audio or video?

"If, for whatever reason one uses a program stream ( audio + video ) from one of the MainConcept .mpg templates in DVDA, is there a quality hit in either audio or video?"
- There shouldn't be, If DVD-Arc indicates re-compression is necessary on the rendered video files, something is amiss, either format or overall size.

Thanks for the info..

As expected, it does redo the audio stream but not the video..

So, I was confirming the audio does not suffer if this route is taken?

"So, I was confirming the audio does not suffer if this route is taken?"

The audio might suffer. Some MPEG-2 Program Stream templates use MPEG audio, which is lossy. Check the Audio Tab on the render template.

PCM would not be lossy, but probably won't be an option in the Mainconcept render templates.