Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
Handruin said:
[news] - XBIT - Ten DVD-Burners Roundup
- Thread starter Handruin
- Start date
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
Perhaps another option would be to get a ReplayTV (currently $199 at amazon.com for the 40 hour version, plus a $50 MIR till August 31st), capture from that, then stream via your LAN to your computer, and burn those files to DVD. Apprently speed is about 3MB/sec.
I'm playing with an interesting tool right now. I've installed adobe premiere 5.0 on my machine to edit my video since ulead sucks at video editing. After I edited my video, I decided to export my work back to an uncompressed state so that I could use TMPGEnc. However I ran into a little problem. My video export crossed the 2GB barrier only to cause an error in premiere.
So I hunted around the net only to find a way around my problem....why not export my premiere project directly to TMPGEnc?
I started here and downloaded the Premiere Video Server Plugin v0.951.
Next, I followed these directions on exporting my video in premiere to TMPGEnc.
As I type this post, premiere is somehow serving my project to TMPGEnc and that utility is producing me my MPEG2 output of the videofile which I will burn to DVD. I had no idea that a solution such as this existed.
I'm producing a video that is 720x480 @ 8000kbps. When it is finished, it should be roughly 80MB in size.
Now I need to learn how to make custom DVD menus. This is some fun stuff.
BTW, thanks Pradeep for the idea, I will research the ReplayTV soon. I didn't know you could connect them to a PC. Does it transfer DV across the LAN connection?
So I hunted around the net only to find a way around my problem....why not export my premiere project directly to TMPGEnc?
I started here and downloaded the Premiere Video Server Plugin v0.951.
Next, I followed these directions on exporting my video in premiere to TMPGEnc.
As I type this post, premiere is somehow serving my project to TMPGEnc and that utility is producing me my MPEG2 output of the videofile which I will burn to DVD. I had no idea that a solution such as this existed.
I'm producing a video that is 720x480 @ 8000kbps. When it is finished, it should be roughly 80MB in size.
Now I need to learn how to make custom DVD menus. This is some fun stuff.
BTW, thanks Pradeep for the idea, I will research the ReplayTV soon. I didn't know you could connect them to a PC. Does it transfer DV across the LAN connection?
Jake the Dog
Storage is cool
I use Ulead's DVD Movie Factory 2 to create all my own DVD's. works great. menu and chapter creation is a breeze and it's powerful enough to allow for some neat designs and styles. I think they have a demo for download too.
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
[quote="Handruin"]BTW, thanks Pradeep for the idea, I will research the ReplayTV soon. I didn't know you could connect them to a PC. Does it transfer DV across the LAN connection?[/quote]
Yeah the 5XXX series has an Ethernet port, you can hook up multiple Replay units together via switches etc. You can also use DVArchive (free)to transfer the MPEG2s that the ReplayTV uses to store video, across the LAN to a PC. Apparently they can be burned straight onto DVD (however there can be some glitches in the stream, so there are tools to "fix" the files before burnage. If you have broadband you can actually send recorded content from one ReplayTV across the country to someone elses ReplayTV. However the new 55XX series which has just been released doesn't allow you to send outside your home network. Also they have removed auto commercial skip to try to avoid all the lawsuits. So it looks like the 50XX series are the ones to get whilst they're still available.
I ordered mine yesterday, I'll let you know how it is.
P.S. I'm sure for the highest quality solution you can't beat the PC. I just like the simplicity of a near silent box next to the TV. I haven't owned a VCR in over 10 years. I look forward to being able to time-shift again.
If you have DirectTV then a DirecTivo may be more useful for you, as it records the digital stream. But no Ethernet loving, or digital audio out (Replay has it but it only outputs DPL).
Yeah the 5XXX series has an Ethernet port, you can hook up multiple Replay units together via switches etc. You can also use DVArchive (free)to transfer the MPEG2s that the ReplayTV uses to store video, across the LAN to a PC. Apparently they can be burned straight onto DVD (however there can be some glitches in the stream, so there are tools to "fix" the files before burnage. If you have broadband you can actually send recorded content from one ReplayTV across the country to someone elses ReplayTV. However the new 55XX series which has just been released doesn't allow you to send outside your home network. Also they have removed auto commercial skip to try to avoid all the lawsuits. So it looks like the 50XX series are the ones to get whilst they're still available.
I ordered mine yesterday, I'll let you know how it is.
P.S. I'm sure for the highest quality solution you can't beat the PC. I just like the simplicity of a near silent box next to the TV. I haven't owned a VCR in over 10 years. I look forward to being able to time-shift again.
If you have DirectTV then a DirecTivo may be more useful for you, as it records the digital stream. But no Ethernet loving, or digital audio out (Replay has it but it only outputs DPL).
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
MovieFactory is OK but it does weird things with native MPEG2 clips.
e.g.: I have two movies in MPEG2 format, each around 80 minutes long, that occupy a total of just under 4GB of space.
Ideally, I should just be able to add them to the project, make menus and write the disc. So I check the little box that says "don't recompress MPEG files" and hope for a decent outcome.
Nope. Moviefactory will come back after a few hours and tell me it can't fit the two files on a single 4.7GB image.
So I try again, fiddling with the MPEG settings so that the disc will supposedly hold 4 hrs. of MPEG2 video. Quality will of course be crap. Now Moviefactory will spend six or eight or ten hours recompressing, and come back and tell me that it can't fit both the video clips on the same disc.
Now I just put one video clip on each disc.
e.g.: I have two movies in MPEG2 format, each around 80 minutes long, that occupy a total of just under 4GB of space.
Ideally, I should just be able to add them to the project, make menus and write the disc. So I check the little box that says "don't recompress MPEG files" and hope for a decent outcome.
Nope. Moviefactory will come back after a few hours and tell me it can't fit the two files on a single 4.7GB image.
So I try again, fiddling with the MPEG settings so that the disc will supposedly hold 4 hrs. of MPEG2 video. Quality will of course be crap. Now Moviefactory will spend six or eight or ten hours recompressing, and come back and tell me that it can't fit both the video clips on the same disc.
Now I just put one video clip on each disc.
Jake the Dog said:
The A06 came with Ulead's movie factory, but I found that it won't do exactly what I need for the actual video editing part, so I used premiere. I also found that movie factory doesn't manage RAM very well because several time my machine bogged as it hit the swap file. (seems as though 1GB ram isn't enough) I was able to get a basic DVD menu working, but I'd like to make a move advanced menu system.
I need to figure out how to make a video into chapters. I suspect I need to make separate video files, but maybe not.
I use TMPGenc's DVD Author which is as simple as it gets for authoring. It will create the chapters for you without having to create seperate files. In fact I believe most authoring programs will do that for you. But with DVD Author you don't have to write the links yourself which is a pain with the other programs I've tried. It also is a burning program.
Ulead's movie factory makes it very easy to create chapter links. I was able to author my first DVD last night. Their menu system was rather easy to use, almost too easy. They don't allow for many customizations, but the amount the do have works well.
The one disappointment I had was the quality of video on my TV set. The actual quality wasn't that bad, it was the flickering.
I've read a ton of information online and I can't seem to narrow down the cause. Some say to try reversing the field order, so instead I tried making the video non-interlaced...that didn't solve the issue.
I captured video from a VHS tape using my radeon 64DDR video input many months ago so I don't remember how it was captured. All I can remember is 720x480 @29.97 FPS NTSC.
I'm sure I can figure out what the flicking is from, except every time I try a new method, I have to burn a DVD-R...and as I'm sure many know, they aren't very cheap.
Maybe the problem lies in my understanding of the terminology. I encoded my video as non-interlaced, but should I have deinterlaced it before encoding non-interlaced?...or are the two terms the same thing? I used TMPGEnc to encode as MPEG2 and I filled in a variety of settings...so many that it's hard to list them.
Once I figure out this task, I need to learn about creating Dolby digital 5.1 (AC3) audio and DTS. I found a few tools to do this, but I don't fully understand them yet. So much fun and not enough time.
The one disappointment I had was the quality of video on my TV set. The actual quality wasn't that bad, it was the flickering.
I've read a ton of information online and I can't seem to narrow down the cause. Some say to try reversing the field order, so instead I tried making the video non-interlaced...that didn't solve the issue.
I captured video from a VHS tape using my radeon 64DDR video input many months ago so I don't remember how it was captured. All I can remember is 720x480 @29.97 FPS NTSC.
I'm sure I can figure out what the flicking is from, except every time I try a new method, I have to burn a DVD-R...and as I'm sure many know, they aren't very cheap.
Maybe the problem lies in my understanding of the terminology. I encoded my video as non-interlaced, but should I have deinterlaced it before encoding non-interlaced?...or are the two terms the same thing? I used TMPGEnc to encode as MPEG2 and I filled in a variety of settings...so many that it's hard to list them.
Once I figure out this task, I need to learn about creating Dolby digital 5.1 (AC3) audio and DTS. I found a few tools to do this, but I don't fully understand them yet. So much fun and not enough time.
Why not encode it interlaced? All TV is interlaced so the lines won't show when you play it on your DVD player / TV set even though they will show on your PC. That could be your problem.
Does your Player play DVD-RW? Mine does and so I always burn a test copy first on a RW disk. I use the same disk over and over just erasing it inbetween films. Then if it's OK I burn the flick to a DVD-R.
Does your Player play DVD-RW? Mine does and so I always burn a test copy first on a RW disk. I use the same disk over and over just erasing it inbetween films. Then if it's OK I burn the flick to a DVD-R.
I did encode it as interlaced, but it flickered equally the same as non-interlaced. The lines aren't the problem, it's that at certain times, it looks like the screen is flicking (only in certain sections) and almost like it is tearing.
Unfortunately my DVD player does not play the DVD-RW...that was the first thing I tried since I could rewrite and not was a DVD. I'll eventually buy a DVD+RW because my drive may work with that, but I'm very doubtful.
I just bought a 50 pack of DVD-R 4x speed for $60 which seemed reasonable. It was $100 with 40% off.
Unfortunately my DVD player does not play the DVD-RW...that was the first thing I tried since I could rewrite and not was a DVD. I'll eventually buy a DVD+RW because my drive may work with that, but I'm very doubtful.
I just bought a 50 pack of DVD-R 4x speed for $60 which seemed reasonable. It was $100 with 40% off.
I won't be able to post a screen capture until wednesday next week. Long story-short, the DVD's I created were for a friend and he has them all right now. I don't want to burn another disk just for the screen capture. If only the DVD-RW worked in my player...
I'll have to use my digital camera to video my TV set while it happens...it only happens on my TV and I've never seen this with any store bought DVD.
The DVD-R pack is still available at compusa until tomorrow if you're interested. They have a 40% off coupon, just make sure to print it out and bring it with you, they gave me some shit about not having it when I bought the A06. So I remembered to bring it with me when I purchased the DVD's.
Hopefully memorex makes good media...I'm going to burn a data DVD backup tonight, so I'll let you know.
I'll have to use my digital camera to video my TV set while it happens...it only happens on my TV and I've never seen this with any store bought DVD.
The DVD-R pack is still available at compusa until tomorrow if you're interested. They have a 40% off coupon, just make sure to print it out and bring it with you, they gave me some shit about not having it when I bought the A06. So I remembered to bring it with me when I purchased the DVD's.
Hopefully memorex makes good media...I'm going to burn a data DVD backup tonight, so I'll let you know.
Instead of posting a screen capture...can I ask a big favor? 
What if I post the entire DVD in a zip file? If you have cable/DSL, would it be possible to download a 114MB file which contains the authored "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" files. The only thing they need is to be loaded into Nero as a video DVD. (the contents of the video are rated G, it's a burnout video of my friends Pontiac GTO)
If you say your DVD player plays DVD-RW, then I wouldn't be asking you to waste any media, only your time. If not, no big deal, I can wait until wednesday to take the picture.
What if I post the entire DVD in a zip file? If you have cable/DSL, would it be possible to download a 114MB file which contains the authored "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" files. The only thing they need is to be loaded into Nero as a video DVD. (the contents of the video are rated G, it's a burnout video of my friends Pontiac GTO)If you say your DVD player plays DVD-RW, then I wouldn't be asking you to waste any media, only your time.
If not, no big deal, I can wait until wednesday to take the picture.:thumbleft:
Thanks a ton!
The upload may take a while (should be ready by 3:00AM EST, but I suspect you may be sleeping by then). The file should read 114MB when it is done. final_cut
Thanks for any help you can give me on this. If you're busy or don't feel like messing with this, don't worry about it.
Thanks a ton!
The upload may take a while (should be ready by 3:00AM EST, but I suspect you may be sleeping by then). The file should read 114MB when it is done. final_cut
Thanks for any help you can give me on this. If you're busy or don't feel like messing with this, don't worry about it.
Ok I got it Doug. I see what you mean. I suspect that the "flickering" you discribe in the slide show segment is related to the same distortion as is in the action scenes. If you play the slide show slowly you can see the same horizontal field distortion. But because every frame is the same image the video appears to flicker.
If I understand correctly, you captured this from your TV as it played on your VCR? Where does the distortion first appear? Is it in the captured video before you have done anything to it?
If I understand correctly, you captured this from your TV as it played on your VCR? Where does the distortion first appear? Is it in the captured video before you have done anything to it?
Thanks for taking the time to look at the video, I appreciate the help. The source tape (VHS) does not have this flicking. I have not tried converting the raw video (unedited) into MPEG2 so that it is viewable on the TV by way of DVD. The only time I've ever seen the flicker is while this video is played on my DVD. None of the video displays this way on my PC. (my guess is that it has something to do with interlaced video and field order)
The actual capture setup was as follows:
VCR RCA cable connection into my old ATI video card which had RCA capturing ability. (Not the all-in-wonder)
I recorded the video by pressing play on the VCR and using Adobe Premiere to capture the video to an AVI file using MS-YUV as the compression. After the capturing was finished, I proceeded to edit the video and then compress it using TMPGEnc.
The actual capture setup was as follows:
VCR RCA cable connection into my old ATI video card which had RCA capturing ability. (Not the all-in-wonder)
I recorded the video by pressing play on the VCR and using Adobe Premiere to capture the video to an AVI file using MS-YUV as the compression. After the capturing was finished, I proceeded to edit the video and then compress it using TMPGEnc.
Hmm... well I have only played it on my PC and can see both the flickering and the distortion. So it is the file itself and not your DVD player. Do you still have the orginal capture file? If so can you edit a short clip (100MB or so) to post so that I can check it? You need to find out at what point the distortion originates. If it's in the capture file then it's hopeless for that file. You'll have to recapture it trying different codecs / programs to correct the problem. If it's in the video tape then there's no hope at all.
I find it strange that I can't see the same flickering on my PC, as I see on my TV. What refresh rate do you run your monitor? (CRT or LCD?) May be there is a chance I'm missing the flicking on my monitor because of my refresh rate. (100Hz) If you get the chance, can you try playing this on your DVD. You may see the really bad flicking I speak of. (In case it is different from your PC)
I'll admit the source video quality is not very good, so it's quite possible the tape is bad, or my VCR is doing a terrible job. (The VCR is a 12 years old Sony HiFi)
I still have the original file, it's roughly 1.5GB. The only part where I can give you a section from will be the action part; the intro fading slideshow was done in the editing of the video.
Can you send me the time on the video where you notice the flickering? This will give me a ball-park figure of where I should cut the video to upload.
I'll admit the source video quality is not very good, so it's quite possible the tape is bad, or my VCR is doing a terrible job. (The VCR is a 12 years old Sony HiFi)
I still have the original file, it's roughly 1.5GB. The only part where I can give you a section from will be the action part; the intro fading slideshow was done in the editing of the video.
Can you send me the time on the video where you notice the flickering? This will give me a ball-park figure of where I should cut the video to upload.
I will try it on my DVD player. It is very noticeble on my PC though. The action part is very noticeble too. Any part of the action segment will do fine as the horizintal distortion is continuous. A ballpark idea where it was particularly bad is where he goes turns left around the corner and drives up the street out of sight. My monitor is CRT and the refresh rate is 75mhz.
Now that you mention it, the problem looks very much like the tracking on your VCR was off when you captured it.
BTW you did an excellent job of putting it together!
Now that you mention it, the problem looks very much like the tracking on your VCR was off when you captured it.
BTW you did an excellent job of putting it together!
I also took a look at it, and I have a couple of screenshots I can send you of it. One shows a black line which shows up in different spots during the motion part of the video, and the other shows the interlacing artifacts. I'm not quite sure if either is the problem you're talking about. The interlacing artifacts are easy to get rid of, but the black line looks like it may be from the capture file.
Doug - In between the time I first viewed the video this morning and tonight I did a clean reinstall of Windows 2003 on my PC. I just played the video again and now I don't see the distortion on my PC. Beats me why! Anyhow I'll put it on a DVD-RW and try it on my DVD player.
Ok I played it on my DVD Player and it looks just like it did on my PC this morning. The same flickering and horizontal distortion. Go ahead and post the capture clip and I'll encode it with settings that I know are good, burn it and we'll see what we get.
The issue very well could be related to the tracking on my VCR. (supposedly it is automatic which may be the issue) I never noticed a tracking issue during capture, but perhaps this problem was masked for the same reason I can't see the horizontal noise on my PC.
I tried reducing my monitor refresh rate and I couldn't see the issue. However, I did notice in Premiere some of the horizontal issus, but I thought it had something to do with the smaller playback window. When played at 100% (720x480) I do not see the issue on my PC.
SteveC, I'd be interested in seeing the screen captures. If you want to send them via e-mail, send them to webmaster@storageforum.net. (If they are larger than 3 to 5MB, please let me know so I can figure out another way to transfer them.)
I do see the black lines you are refering to, those are from the original source video and I can't do anything about them. The interlacing artifacts are the ones that bother me the most. One clear section that drives me nuts is at 29 seconds. Right here I can see a ton of flickering in the sides of the trees. I believe this is the interlaced issue I'm trying to represent. It's almost like the sides of the trees wiggle even though the video is not playing any animation, just a still screen capture.
OK, so enough of my blabbering. I'm uploading an uncompressed section of the video here. I used winace to compress it because the video clip was 200MB for a 6 second cut. Winzip didn't compress it nearly as well otherwise I would have used that. If you can't open it, I will upload a winzip version. The file should be roughly 110MB when it is finished uploading. (Finished somewhere around 3:30PM EST)
Thanks a ton for helping me with this. I don't know how to resolve the flicking issue and I'd love to figure it out. I may just have to suck it up and get a decent capture board because this may be related to my old ATI card. Either that, or a new VCR.
I tried reducing my monitor refresh rate and I couldn't see the issue. However, I did notice in Premiere some of the horizontal issus, but I thought it had something to do with the smaller playback window. When played at 100% (720x480) I do not see the issue on my PC.
SteveC, I'd be interested in seeing the screen captures. If you want to send them via e-mail, send them to webmaster@storageforum.net. (If they are larger than 3 to 5MB, please let me know so I can figure out another way to transfer them.)
I do see the black lines you are refering to, those are from the original source video and I can't do anything about them. The interlacing artifacts are the ones that bother me the most. One clear section that drives me nuts is at 29 seconds. Right here I can see a ton of flickering in the sides of the trees. I believe this is the interlaced issue I'm trying to represent. It's almost like the sides of the trees wiggle even though the video is not playing any animation, just a still screen capture.
OK, so enough of my blabbering.
I'm uploading an uncompressed section of the video here. I used winace to compress it because the video clip was 200MB for a 6 second cut. Winzip didn't compress it nearly as well otherwise I would have used that. If you can't open it, I will upload a winzip version. The file should be roughly 110MB when it is finished uploading. (Finished somewhere around 3:30PM EST)Thanks a ton for helping me with this. I don't know how to resolve the flicking issue and I'd love to figure it out. I may just have to suck it up and get a decent capture board because this may be related to my old ATI card. Either that, or a new VCR.
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
It isn't Macrovision that's causing the flickering by any chance? Is it a commercial tape or one you recorded yourself.
Sits on dial up with no clue whats going on......
Sits on dial up with no clue whats going on......
There should be no macrovision on this video. The video is from a personal VHS camcorder.
I also got word today that the DVD I burnt for my friend has no audio on his home stereo system. (he did check other DVD's to verify normal audio was working) I'm strangely surprised because it worked fine on my DVD player...what about you flagreen, did you have audio when you played it on your DVD player?
I also got word today that the DVD I burnt for my friend has no audio on his home stereo system. (he did check other DVD's to verify normal audio was working) I'm strangely surprised because it worked fine on my DVD player...what about you flagreen, did you have audio when you played it on your DVD player?
Sorry about the delay on the uploading. It canceled out on me 4 times, and one time was my own mistake. I will start the upload again tonight, sorry for the delay.
SteveC also pointed out to me via e-mail that deinterlacing is in fact different than recording as non-interlaced. (Something I wasn't entirely clear on) I'm wondering if I should try deinterlacing the video and then compress as MPEG2 using TMPGEnc.
Have you done any DVD authoring with AC3 or DTS audio? I'm not talking about ripping a DVD, but creating your own?
I will start the upload again tonight, sorry for the delay.SteveC also pointed out to me via e-mail that deinterlacing is in fact different than recording as non-interlaced. (Something I wasn't entirely clear on) I'm wondering if I should try deinterlacing the video and then compress as MPEG2 using TMPGEnc.
Have you done any DVD authoring with AC3 or DTS audio? I'm not talking about ripping a DVD, but creating your own?
I haven't tried encoding with AC3 because I do most of my encoding with either Premier 6.5 or Main Concept's stand alone encoder (very fast - great quality). Usually I encode the audio in MPEG-1 audio layer II which is as tight a compression as AC3. I could use a stand alone program of some type I imagine to encode to AC3 but I hate messing sync problems and prefer not to create them in the first place.
I don't mess with deinterlacing period. If a file is interlaced I encode it that way. Works fine for me but most of the captured video I encode is from broadcast TV through my sony converter. Why not try what you mentioned and see what you think. But if the interlace noise is on the VCR tape then there is no way to remove it no matter what you do; GI-GO.
I don't mess with deinterlacing period. If a file is interlaced I encode it that way. Works fine for me but most of the captured video I encode is from broadcast TV through my sony converter. Why not try what you mentioned and see what you think. But if the interlace noise is on the VCR tape then there is no way to remove it no matter what you do; GI-GO.
Ok Doug I download the file and encoded it with TMPGEnc using the standard NTSC DVD template with no changes at all. It was encoded as "interlaced". I then burned it on a DVD-RW and played it. The wavy horizontal distortion which was on the full version (I double checked that it was in the same place on the full version by replaying it) was not present in the new encoding when I played on my PC or my DVD player.
Granted it is only a six second clip. But it did play normally. I can upload the new encoding to my web space if you wish. Let me know.
Granted it is only a six second clip. But it did play normally. I can upload the new encoding to my web space if you wish. Let me know.
I went ahead and upload it. You can download it here - http://home1.gte.net/res0hopz/Doug.zip
Thanks again for all your help. So I should go back into TMPGenc and use the default settings for NTSC DVD and leave it interlaced when I do my encoding to MPEG2?
I downloaded your encoding and it looks like you resized the file? My original file was 720x480 and I think your encoding was roughly 520x430, could that be part of my issue?
I'll give the encoding another try and burn a new disk. I'll let you know what happens.
I downloaded your encoding and it looks like you resized the file? My original file was 720x480 and I think your encoding was roughly 520x430, could that be part of my issue?
I'll give the encoding another try and burn a new disk. I'll let you know what happens.