Author Topic: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file? (Read 125513 times)

4wd · « **Reply #25 on:** June 20, 2009, 07:40 PM »

One more thing I forgot to mention, a free video converter that you may not even know you had - I certainly didn't until a vague mention on a site stirred up long dormant memories

If you have a recent ATI video card, (I have a HD4850), then there's a video converter you can download along with the latest Catalyst Control Center - the ATI Avivo Video Converter.

Choose a video file, choose the output format, (iPod, MPEG4, Portable Media Center, MPEG1, Super VCD, DVD, MPEG2, etc), choose the output quality, hit Start.

Results are a decent quality, (possibly a bit softer than I'd like), even though it does screw things up sometimes, (eg. PAL avi converted to NTSC MPEG even though it correctly recognised it at 25fps).

And it is fast, 349MB 48 minute 624x352 MPEG4-ASP video converted to 1.2GB, 8Mb/s 480x272(?!) DVD, (this is not a DVD compatible frame size - wth are they doing!?), in just over 5 minutes.

Then it's just a matter getting them onto a DVD, either by authoring or as files.

One thing, make sure the Catalyst Control Center is in Basic Mode or else you'll have a very hard time finding it.

Personally, I don't use because of the limited control you have over the output - if they added options for output resizing and sharpness, then I might start using it more often and get some use out of the GPU.

Innuendo · « **Reply #26 on:** June 20, 2009, 07:51 PM »

I would have mentioned the ATI convertor, but I thought he was looking for a DVD authoring program rather than a video transcoder.

Oh, and to let you in on ATI's dirty little secret, their convertor doesn't use the GPU at all. When it was first released it was said it would get the ability to use the GPU at a later date. We're all still waiting for that day to come.

4wd · « **Reply #27 on:** June 20, 2009, 10:35 PM »

I would have mentioned the ATI convertor, but I thought he was looking for a DVD authoring program rather than a video transcoder.
-Innuendo (June 20, 2009, 07:51 PM)

Initially it was about an enquiry about AIO types, video transcode to DVD, eg. ConvertX-to-DVD, WinAVI Video Converter, etc.

But it's kind of digressed, (as is usual here

), into what people think is the best as asked back here.

Oh, and to let you in on ATI's dirty little secret, their convertor doesn't use the GPU at all. When it was first released it was said it would get the ability to use the GPU at a later date. We're all still waiting for that day to come.

Yeah, I read all that when it first came out and to be truthful, any decent encoder will currently knock it for six, (eg. ffmpeg, which the majority of freeware is based on: Avidemux, mencoder, etc), in terms of speed/quality ratio and configuration but I thought I'd mention it just for completeness because it is one of the easiest to use and the output is still decent.

Plus it's something easy to try if you have an ATI GPU, even though it doesn't use it - I'm still searching for the mythical GPU based video encoder, there's only one that I know of and unfortunately it's expensive and nVidia only IIRC.

Edit: I found a link that says they switched it on starting with driver 8.12 - still, the performance gains currently aren't anything that couldn't be achieved through code optimisation.

Innuendo · « **Reply #28 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:06 AM »

Whe

But it's kind of digressed, (as is usual here ), into what people think is the best as asked back here.
-4wd

I always end up using Nero for both situations. I keep meaning to find something more advanced, but it suits all my current needs in that regard.

/quoteEdit: I found a link that says they switched it on starting with driver 8.12 - still, the performance gains currently aren't anything that couldn't be achieved through code optimisation.
[/quote]

I don't believe them.

They've said they have 'switched it on' in the past and someone comes along and hacks the converter to run on some integrated graphics chipset and there's no improvement at all.

Innuendo · « **Reply #29 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:09 AM »

On a related topic, if someone's looking for ways to shrink down DVD9 discs down to DVD5 for back-up purposes I have to say there's nothing better than DVD Rebuilder Pro from http://www.jdobbs.com/.

Only reason there hasn't been a new version in such a long time is because at this point the software is feature complete & bug-free. No one's been able to suggest anything that needs adding.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #30 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:32 AM »

On a related topic, if someone's looking for ways to shrink down DVD9 discs down to DVD5 for back-up purposes I have to say there's nothing better than DVD Rebuilder Pro from http://www.jdobbs.com/.

Only reason there hasn't been a new version in such a long time is because at this point the software is feature complete & bug-free. No one's been able to suggest anything that needs adding.
-Innuendo (June 21, 2009, 09:09 AM)

Also Dobbs is busy shrinking BD dics!

I have DVD-RB and it's great. Esp. if you have quad core you don't mind using HC with best profile, since it runs 4 copies! I'm too stingy to shell out for the paid encoders at this point. Maybe if I get a liquid nitrogen cooled TV or something I'll think about it.

Innuendo · « **Reply #31 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:52 PM »

I have DVD-RB and it's great. Esp. if you have quad core you don't mind using HC with best profile, since it runs 4 copies! I'm too stingy to shell out for the paid encoders at this point. Maybe if I get a liquid nitrogen cooled TV or something I'll think about it.
-MilesAhead

If you tried any of the paid encoders you'd be very disappointed. I've tried them all and HC is equivalent or better in every situation.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #32 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:59 PM »

If you tried any of the paid encoders you'd be very disappointed. I've tried them all and HC is equivalent or better in every situation.
-Innuendo (June 21, 2009, 09:52 PM)

I've heard good things about HC all around. I've used it quite a bit with FAVC. Just seems to be a mysterious problem muxing and authoring at the end of jobs sometimes(has something to do with FAVC not HC.) Can't figure it out. But since it looks like FAVC is no longer being developed I'll have to get in there and edit the batch files and quit once I have the audio and video output and just author with DVDAuthorGui or something. If I could get the same kind of results with FAVC I get with DVD-RB it would be great.

sajman99 · « **Reply #33 on:** June 22, 2009, 04:10 PM »

I definitely agree with comments about the HC Encoder being a quality freeware encoder. For ease of use, I suppose something like DVD Flick http://www.dvdflick.net/ is good because it supports many file types, but for quality DVD Flick's encoder (ffmpeg) cannot match a HC based tool like AVStoDVD http://sourceforge.n...t/projects/avstodvd/, FAVC http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/, or FilmMachine http://members.home.nl/thefilmmachine/, (and DVD Rebuilder as Innuendo has recommended for DVD to DVD).

Along with other improvements, the latest version of the HC Encoder (.24 beta as I write this) has a "1 pass VBR" parameter which really saves lots of time.

@MilesAhead: I hate to hear about FAVC's possible demise. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've used FAVC with HC encoder for the last year and never had any issue with it whatsoever.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #34 on:** June 22, 2009, 04:39 PM »

Strange. I often get results that seem to complete ok but the authored DVD is not complete. Many times it just seems to be the .ifo files aren't updated properly. I don't understand why it happens. One of these days maybe I'll figure it out. I hope Mr Odwin is just taking a sabbatical. I don't see him responding to the usual support forum and people there pretty much assume it's no longer being developed. I hope they are wrong.

susanzhai · « **Reply #35 on:** August 21, 2009, 02:21 AM »

I think Wondershare Video to DVD Burner is the best one amoung the ones i have used,which has been working smoothy for me for 1 year. Reasons are as following:
1. Acceptable and reasonable price.
2. Easy to use and kindly interface.
3. Most pop format video supporting.(including AVI, MP4, MPG, MPEG, 3GP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, DAT, MOV, FLV, MKV, M2TS, TP, etc.)
4. Fast burning speed and high compatibility.
5. Powerful video editing. (including trimming/cropping/effect setting and customizing dvd menu)
6. High quality dvd without any lossing.
7. Multiple output formats.(burn video to dvd folder or iso image)
You may have a try.

sajman99 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 01, 2009, 10:10 PM »

I think Wondershare Video to DVD Burner is the best one amoung the ones i have used...
-susanzhai (August 21, 2009, 02:21 AM)

I've been seeing the Wondershare products mentioned lately, but I've not yet tried any of them. Does anybody happen to know what encoder this particular software uses-- ffmpeg, hc encoder, etc.? Just thought I would ask among the DC experts before checking it out myself. For $39.95 I would hope the results would be significantly better than those produced by freeware like FAVC, AVStoDVD, etc.

CleverCat · « **Reply #37 on:** October 01, 2009, 11:50 PM »

I probably should have mentioned this in my last post, but I'll share my solution with you. I used to run around scurrying for the best ways to put divx files on DVD & I finally got fed up one day & bought a DVD player capable of playing divx files that had a USB port on the front of it.

Now I just put my video files onto my USB flash drive & plug it into the DVD player. Saved me a crap-load of money in blank DVD discs.
-Innuendo (June 19, 2009, 10:06 AM)

Can u recommend any good DVD Player with USB models - we have Phillips and LG here at mo....

MilesAhead · « **Reply #38 on:** October 01, 2009, 11:53 PM »

@MilesAhead: I hate to hear about FAVC's possible demise. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've used FAVC with HC encoder for the last year and never had any issue with it whatsoever.
-sajman99 (June 22, 2009, 04:10 PM)

btw have you tried FAVC HC with Predictive Quantization setting? I've been using it a lot. When in a hurry I used to do QuEnc but I'm finding this a good compromise between speed and quality. The output looks almost as good as 2 pass HC but it's only a bit slower than a 1 pass. It kind of skips around taking samples, then does a 1 pass encoding. Going from low bitrate to higher such as when the input is .avi or .wmv it seems to give really good results. Esp. too if the input is 720p .avi or .wmv the output DVD looks great.

Innuendo · « **Reply #39 on:** October 02, 2009, 12:39 PM »

Can u recommend any good DVD Player with USB models - we have Phillips and LG here at mo....
-CleverCat (October 01, 2009, 11:50 PM)

I'm just using a cheapie Phillips model that I bought for less than US$50. It's only flaw is if you're playing a Divx file & the bit-rate gets ultra-high during a scene it'll stutter a bit till the bit-rates drop back down to sane levels. I run into such stuttering in probably 1 out of 100 shows/movies I watch, though.

sajman99 · « **Reply #40 on:** October 02, 2009, 01:34 PM »

@MilesAhead: I hate to hear about FAVC's possible demise. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've used FAVC with HC encoder for the last year and never had any issue with it whatsoever.
-sajman99 (June 22, 2009, 04:10 PM)

btw have you tried FAVC HC with Predictive Quantization setting? I've been using it a lot. When in a hurry I used to do QuEnc but I'm finding this a good compromise between speed and quality. The output looks almost as good as 2 pass HC but it's only a bit slower than a 1 pass. It kind of skips around taking samples, then does a 1 pass encoding. Going from low bitrate to higher such as when the input is .avi or .wmv it seems to give really good results. Esp. too if the input is 720p .avi or .wmv the output DVD looks great.

-MilesAhead (October 01, 2009, 11:53 PM)

HC all the way. People much more knowledgeable than me over at the Doom9 forum have indicated the HC encoder produces output very closely approximating the highly regarded CCE encoder's ouput. Their informed opinion is good enough for me.

I had very good results using FAVC's predictive quantization. It saved lots of time and the results were virtually identical to 2-pass VBR. BUT the issue I had was that PQ mode was less precise in terms of file size-- often undersizing and occasionally oversizing (yikes!).

However, I haven't used FAVC for some time. AFAIK Mr. Odwin is still MIA with no new FAVC version since 1.07, and his program is getting less useful with each release of the HC encoder. I mean, HC Encoder now has its own 1-pass VBR and there was a new release just days ago with several new features. AFAIK FAVC cannot utilize any of the new HC features, including settings like AQ and LUMGAIN.

I really hope Mr. Odwin returns to update FAVC by incorporating the newest HC Encoder settings. If he does, I'll definitely be downloading as soon as possible.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #41 on:** October 02, 2009, 02:09 PM »

I really hope Mr. Odwin returns to update FAVC by incorporating the newest HC Encoder settings. If he does, I'll definitely be downloading as soon as possible.

I feel the same way. I sent an email to the support address on the download page. Got no bounce and no reply. It's been over a month. Looks like 1.07 is it.

sajman99 · « **Reply #42 on:** October 02, 2009, 02:40 PM »

I really hope Mr. Odwin returns to update FAVC by incorporating the newest HC Encoder settings. If he does, I'll definitely be downloading as soon as possible.

I feel the same way. I sent an email to the support address on the download page. Got no bounce and no reply. It's been over a month. Looks like 1.07 is it.

-MilesAhead (October 02, 2009, 02:09 PM)

Well, crud to that. And some people say no news is good news.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #43 on:** October 02, 2009, 04:32 PM »

btw sajman are you using the HC gui, batch or another gui or wrapper program with the 0.24 beta? I'm looking around for easy to use front ends. Right now I'm doing a job with AvsToDVD but it still seems to be set for HC 0.23. Have you found any nice front ends for the latest?

sajman99 · « **Reply #44 on:** October 02, 2009, 06:57 PM »

MilesAhead, you can upgrade the "HCenc.exe" in the AVStoDVD folder with a newer version of HC Encoder by carefully renaming the newest version. Of course, the issue is whether the latest software is yet able to utilize the newer features/settings-- which I'm guessing is what you mean by "set for HC 0.23".

I'm sticking with the HC .24beta from May for now since the very latest HC has undocumented settings. Even the experts at Doom9 are asking questions, so I surely wouldn't know the correct config until developer Hank315 offers explanation.

As for HC wrappers etc., the only suggestion I can offer is to try this. Good Luck!

MilesAhead · « **Reply #45 on:** October 02, 2009, 07:17 PM »

Thanks for the info.

sajman99 · « **Reply #46 on:** October 02, 2009, 07:52 PM »

Regarding HC GUIs, I recall considering HCbatchGUI, but FAVC is just so darn easy I never really took the time to fully explore freebird73717's creation.

http://hcbatchgui.awardspace.com HCbatchGUI home page
http://forum.videohe...com/topic336128.html HCbatchGUI forum thread

CleverCat · « **Reply #47 on:** October 03, 2009, 12:33 AM »

Can u recommend any good DVD Player with USB models - we have Phillips and LG here at mo....
-CleverCat (October 01, 2009, 11:50 PM)

I'm just using a cheapie Phillips model that I bought for less than US$50. It's only flaw is if you're playing a Divx file & the bit-rate gets ultra-high during a scene it'll stutter a bit till the bit-rates drop back down to sane levels. I run into such stuttering in probably 1 out of 100 shows/movies I watch, though.
-Innuendo (October 02, 2009, 12:39 PM)

Will it play mpeg's from usb?

MilesAhead · « **Reply #48 on:** October 03, 2009, 01:22 AM »

I have the Philips dvp 5990. It has the USB connector. I haven't tried .mpg files but I've played .avi and .wmv from a USB key drive. One of these days I have to reformat a 200 GB HD that I have in an enclosure to FAT32. It doesn't seem to mind the key drive being NTFS but I'm told powered external USB drives should be formatted FAT32 to get the most use out of 'em with the player.

Also this player does a better job with subs than players I've had in the past. Tonight I added idx/sub subtitles to an .avi with AviAddXSubs and it didn't bother it that there were 3 subtitles in the idx/sub set. Even my old OPPO wanted to have a single subtitle in the idx/sub that was muxed in.

Supposedly this player is UltraDivx and will do menus and chapters, but I've never created a .divx with the menus to try it out. I'm lazy and just use the file list that pops up.

CleverCat · « **Reply #49 on:** October 03, 2009, 01:28 AM »

Thanks for info!