Author Topic: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file? (Read 165,649 times)

Innuendo · « **Reply #50 on:** October 03, 2009, 04:33 PM »

Quote from: CleverCat on October 03, 2009, 06:28 AM

Thanks for info!

What Miles said.

The bonus feature with Phillips DVD players is that after you get it you can punch an access code on the remote and the DVD player will become region-free allowing you to play DVDs no matter what country they were released in. That alone was worth the price of admission for me.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #51 on:** October 03, 2009, 11:58 PM »

Here's a good resource for what Innuendo is talking about:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

Reading through those listings I found "remote hacks" that worked with all of my Philips DVD Players and my OPPO. Esp. being a fan of Asian films I was able to play a lot of DVDs I got from Hong Kong that were region 2 or 3. It's also good to get a player that can handle both PAL and NTSC. Saves doing a lot of conversions. The 5990 I mentioned can handle both formats. The only thing really missing is playing x264 or HD divx/avi/xvid .. afaik it won't play anything with res larger than 720x576 PAL or 720x480 NTSC.

Although if you have an HD avi source or some other HD format source, often DVD Flick will make a really clean looking standard DVD from it... which the player will upconvert. Not as nice as BluRay I'm sure but ok for people on a budget like myself.

CleverCat · « **Reply #52 on:** October 04, 2009, 06:51 AM »

We are very limited here with different models, but looks like Phillips is the way to go!

CleverCat · « **Reply #53 on:** October 04, 2009, 07:07 AM »

We have the 3360 - but doesn't say if you can use an external Hard Drive, only Flash?

Here's link http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/blu-ray-dvd/dvp3360k_98/prd/za/

On searching I've found it should be possible to use external enclosure if it's FAT32 format.

Curt · « **Reply #54 on:** October 04, 2009, 08:51 AM »

http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/blu-ray-dvd/hdmi-1080p-divx-ultra-karaoke-dvp5996k_98/prd/za/ might be a better choice for the future, if you can afford this player.

Innuendo · « **Reply #55 on:** October 04, 2009, 04:34 PM »

Quote from: Curt on October 04, 2009, 08:51 AM

http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/blu-ray-dvd/hdmi-1080p-divx-ultra-karaoke-dvp5996k_98/prd/za/ might be a better choice for the future, if you can afford this player.

Ooo...looks like that model can even play WMVs. I may have to see if I can buy one of those.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #56 on:** October 04, 2009, 07:47 PM »

Quote from: Curt on October 04, 2009, 08:51 AM

http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/blu-ray-dvd/hdmi-1080p-divx-ultra-karaoke-dvp5996k_98/prd/za/ might be a better choice for the future, if you can afford this player.

Hmmmmm, it looks the same as my 5990 except they made the "region free" official instead of doing the remote hack. For this and karaoke you pay double. The 5990 has upscaling 1080p HDMI connection, has USB 2.0 port and plays .wmv. Unless this player can play .mkv it looks like you are paying the penalty for not having to open the tray and enter a number sequence with the remote. It's the old "region free" gimmick, charging you for something that's already built in.

btw- the region code, once set to 0 is in non-volatile memory. You don't have to reset it just because the power goes out for a bit. Some other settings may revert to default but not that one. Set it to 0 once and forget it.

CleverCat · « **Reply #57 on:** October 05, 2009, 06:58 AM »

For now the 3360 does all we need - we're not into Karaoke!

CleverCat · « **Reply #58 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:05 AM »

Only thing is - our PVR is using the HDMI connection?

MilesAhead · « **Reply #59 on:** October 05, 2009, 08:17 PM »

I haven't used one myself but I'm told you can get HDMI switches for < $30

CleverCat · « **Reply #60 on:** October 06, 2009, 06:49 AM »

It should just plug into AV1 as the PVR is on AV2!

MerleOne · « **Reply #61 on:** October 06, 2009, 03:02 PM »

BTW, some recent DVD players have a USB port than can read flashkeys and divx/mpeg2 files that are on it. I recently purchased one, my previous DVD player having met its EOL. I chose a LG 492H (simple DVD player with upscaling / HDMI output) and this USB port : it really solves the problem of converting/mastering DVD.

If that's really what is needed, I would vote for VSO ConvertXtoDVD, which is relatively easy to use and has a quick encoder. It's main drawback is that it insists on reencoding already DVD-compliant mpeg2 files.

I also use a lot VideoRedoTVsuite, that comes with a simple but efficient DVD masterring program, very useful when dealing only with mpeg2 content. Then there is TMPGEnc DVD AuthorsWorks 4, nice and powerful, but somewhat expensive and also activated online and locked to one computer only.

CleverCat · « **Reply #62 on:** October 07, 2009, 06:54 AM »

There one here that has a Card Reader - is that better as I see cards are holding more and more GB's?

MerleOne · « **Reply #63 on:** October 07, 2009, 09:13 AM »

Quote from: CleverCat on October 07, 2009, 06:54 AM

There one here that has a Card Reader - is that better as I see cards are holding more and more GB's?

Except that it is usually easier to connect a usb key to a PC than a Memory card (many formats, reader not always included). Also I suspect these DVD players can only read photos. Better double check that !

MilesAhead · « **Reply #64 on:** October 07, 2009, 06:49 PM »

Merle how is it for fast forward of .wmv? My Philips will play .wmv via the USB port but it doesn't seem to seek like it can with .avi .divx or DVD standard video. When I hit FF it just holds the current frame.

Also will yours play source with res higher than the standard 720x480 or 720x576? Divx was making some noises about DivxHD but I see almost no players that support it. At least not any <$300

MerleOne · « **Reply #65 on:** October 07, 2009, 07:44 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 07, 2009, 06:49 PM

Merle how is it for fast forward of .wmv? My Philips will play .wmv via the USB port but it doesn't seem to seek like it can with .avi .divx or DVD standard video. When I hit FF it just holds the current frame.

Also will yours play source with res higher than the standard 720x480 or 720x576? Divx was making some noises about DivxHD but I see almost no players that support it. At least not any <$300

The instruction manual says the resolution is 720x576 for divx files. For FF for WMV, I'll have to try. I'll let you know.

CleverCat · « **Reply #66 on:** October 08, 2009, 07:04 AM »

Quote from: CleverCat on October 07, 2009, 06:54 AM

There one here that has a Card Reader - is that better as I see cards are holding more and more GB's?

It has USB + Card Reader....

MerleOne · « **Reply #67 on:** October 08, 2009, 01:06 PM »

Regarding the LG 492H, and WMV files : it simply doesn't read this format, so the question of FF/REW is irrelevant for this format.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #68 on:** October 08, 2009, 01:48 PM »

If you don't mind spending some money then:

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/taw4.html

is very good, allows easy menu creation (and now allows you to design your own buttons etc.).

Converts most common formats, can produce DVDs in both PAL and NTSC format (as well as DivX Ultra DVDs in both formats) and has tools for creating subtitles, up to 5.1 surround sound and burning final output to disc.

I have been using this product right through since version 1 and it does produce really good quality. They also have a free trial version so you can see if you like it.

Only negative side is that your comouter has to be connected to the internet because they validate your license periodically.

Another option if you have some dosh is Sony Vegas Pro with DVD Architect. It lets you do pretty much anything you want with video files and give complete control over building video menus etc. This is a really professional package - but you pay the price (but then you did ask for the best).

DVD Architect is available as a separate product and there are various other cheaper product packages in the Vegas range which include hobbyist versions of the tools. See http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiopp/compare for a comparison.

Finally Adobe do a DVD production tool called Encore. I have a copy (as part of a suite) but I have never used it so I can't really comment on how good it is. See http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/encore/

MilesAhead · « **Reply #69 on:** October 08, 2009, 08:17 PM »

Quote from: MerleOne on October 08, 2009, 01:06 PM

Regarding the LG 492H, and WMV files : it simply doesn't read this format, so the question of FF/REW is irrelevant for this format.

Thanks for the info. On my 5990 I did an experiment with an enclosed drive. I put a DVD title in .mpg format on the drive after formatting to extFat. Ended up hanging my player trying to load. I don't know if it didn't like the drive format or the file format but I think I'll stick with USB Key from now on. I have a set of DVD+RW that will burn up to 8x. For DVD5 "watch once throw away" it's not bad. Also good for test burns. The Philips 5990 handles them fine.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #70 on:** October 08, 2009, 08:21 PM »

btw a new version of AVStoDVD was released today. Guess I'll give it another try.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVStoDVD

MilesAhead · « **Reply #71 on:** October 08, 2009, 09:02 PM »

I just got this DVD Creator giveaway:

follow the instructions to get download link and license key. A hotmail address works fine. Just got mine.

http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/07/zc-dvd-creator-platinum-free-full-version/

[Edit - URL corrected, Carol Haynes]

sajman99 · « **Reply #72 on:** October 08, 2009, 09:58 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 08, 2009, 09:02 PM

I just got this DVD Creator giveaway...

Thanks for the notice. Any impressions on the software--particularly regarding their self-proclaimed "world-class video encoder"-- would be greatly appreciated.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #73 on:** October 08, 2009, 11:00 PM »

Quote from: sajman99 on October 08, 2009, 09:58 PM

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 08, 2009, 09:02 PM
I just got this DVD Creator giveaway...
Thanks for the notice. Any impressions on the software--particularly regarding their self-proclaimed "world-class video encoder"-- would be greatly appreciated.

When I give a trial I'll post anything I find out. Just noticed there's a SysInternals thingy to make a vhd from a hd so I'm trying to find out any protected environment I can make for my Vista64 that can be done in a couple of hours. I don't formally test software so anything that takes longer I might as well just rely on my image backup. A restore usually only takes 45 min. to an hour. I'll probably mess with the video by this weekend though.

sajman99 · « **Reply #74 on:** October 10, 2009, 06:39 PM »

My results with ZC DVD Creator Platinum weren't very impressive. While it's a very simple one-click solution with impressive speed, there were very few customizable settings-- no encoder choices, profiles, etc. Presumably, you're supposed to sit back and trust this app to make all the critical decisions for you. Uh...in my case the output was seriously undersized resulting in noticeably sub-par video quality. Hope others had better luck with this--but I'm not keeping it.