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Does anyone have the definitive guide to PC transfer and DVD authoring?
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I know there are threads covering this but they are very long and the subject does not appear to be completely covered in the FAQ.
If someone has developed an idiot-proof procedure for transferring Humax recordings to their PC, and then have been able to reliably author a stand-alone player compatible DVD then I would be very interested.
I did manage to achieve working DVDs using Nero Vision Express but this seems to have gone bad on me and refuses to burn any more DVDs.
Free or modestly priced software would be preferred. I am using a 5m boosted USB cable plus 2M extension.
Brazen Anthropoid (DS stole my id)
If someone has developed an idiot-proof procedure for transferring Humax recordings to their PC, and then have been able to reliably author a stand-alone player compatible DVD then I would be very interested.
I did manage to achieve working DVDs using Nero Vision Express but this seems to have gone bad on me and refuses to burn any more DVDs.
Free or modestly priced software would be preferred. I am using a 5m boosted USB cable plus 2M extension.
Brazen Anthropoid (DS stole my id)
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This is how I do it but it might not suit everbody as I wouldn't exactly call this "idiot proof". This is the Non-Free but IME most reliable way I have found but it depends on what software you have or are willing to invest in.
Media Elinker - Transfer to PC
TSReader lite - Check for excessive errors in the stream due to Elinker.
Video Redo - Remove adverts, trim start/end, save as MPEG Program stream.
DVDLab Pro - Demux, design menus and burn DVD.
I made a nice dual layer disk of the last series of Little Britain plus the SouthBank show featuring them using the above.
Frank
This uses VideoLAN Client (VLC), free software downloadable from videolan.org and useful for viewing all sorts of video formats. It has a "stream to file" option which can convert to PS (Programme Stream).
Opening VLC and selecting "Open File", browse and select the file transferred from the Humax. Click on the "Stream output" checkbox. Now the "Settings" button next to the checkbox becomes active. Click on that button.
In the menu that comes up, click on the "File" checkbox, Click on "browse" and choose a directory and filename for the output file. Further down that menu, where it asks you to choose an "Encapsulation Method", choose "MPEG PS". Then OK and OK again and it gets going.
The resulting file can be imported by Nero. (I haven't tried it with any other software). It saves disk space because you're not creating all the demuxed files. A one-hour programme is converted in about 5 minutes on my 2.4GHz PC.
One program that wasn't successfully converted by ProjectX and DVDAuthorGUI (the sound dropped out towards the end) was converted without problem by this method. I only came up with this a couple of days ago so haven't tested it with lots of programmes.
Why Nero would stop burning DVDs, I can't help with.
PS: I wrote the above before reading
this comment from another thread that describes another freeware way to do the same thing.
I tried the app referred to in the link and it only succeeded in turning an hour-long programme into seven minutes of black and silence.
VideoReDo works but needs to be paid for although frame-accurate advert-removing is a doddle.
I haven't tried VLC yet, but that will change today
Anyway, I'm glad to report that DVR Studio Pro worked beautifully, excepting a self-inflicted hiccup which meant that there was no sound on my stand-alone DVD player (Toshiba SD125E) - this was due to the player audio settings being on "Bitstream" instead of "PCM". After having changed the settings, the DVD sound was ok.
PVR Studio Pro also has an advert and continuity-crap cut feature which works very well, and it also adds automatic chapters, should you wish.
Only downside - it costs $60 after the 30-day trial.
Brazen Anthropoid (DS stole my id)
I'm guessing that going from transport stream to DVD in your $60 worth of DVD Studio Pro actually involves a number of distinct steps right? Is that really any different to using three or four separate (FREE download) programs to achieve the same steps?
On my PC I have a little "production line" going on where ProjectX is demuxing/fixing transport streams, Imago is remuxing the output and then Ulead is burning the .MPG to a DVD. It all works very nicely and the only commercial software in that is the Ulead but this came free with my DVD burner anyway.
Cliff
Cliff,
It can involve using many distinct steps within the same program, that is an option. However, I used the DVD authoring wizard which is essentially a script. After cutting out ads and trailers/continuity, I just set the thing going and two 56 minute episodes of Egypt I uploaded from the 9200 took about an hour to process and burn.
YMMV, it is no doubt cheaper to do the same thing using freeware apps, and I may well try that if I am a bit boracic at the end of the 30 day trial.
Brazen Anthropoid (DS stole my id)
Perhaps I am one of a small minority that wants to keep subtitles on the DVD. I looked at VideoReDo and whilst some of the features were nice, it didn't appear to handle the subtitle stream.
Project X allows for setting cut points for adverts, start, & stop. Finding them doesn't take too long with a bit of practice. (Say 2 or 3 minutes for a 90 min. film.) Processing to video, sound and subtitles streams is quick - average 7 minutes for 90 minute film. (2 Ghz Pentium 4.) With a bit more set-up time Project X can be used to set chapters for the DVD to make navigation a bit smarter. (For use with Muxman; not used with DVDAuthorGui which has its own method.)
DVDAuthorGui is very straightforward. (It is a graphical interface to a set of DOS exe files.) Select the video, the sound, the subtitle file (if required), state the language and press 'author'. It takes about 8 minutes for the standard 90 min film. The program also lets you create menus - especially useful if you put several programmes on one DVD. The output is a folder with the correct DVD structure (AUDEO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders). This is suitable for reviewing with a PC based DVD player such as WinDVD.
It may be possible to use Project X's post processing facility to run DVDAuthor. I haven't tried as it is so quick and easy to get going from the GUI.
With Nero it is simply a matter of selecting a 'new' video DVD, dragging the video files into Nero's VIDEO_TS folder and burning. Time taken depends on size of file and DVD write speed.
As I mentioned above, I like to keep subtitles (I am severly deaf) and having them selectable via the DVD control let me follow the film but my wife can view the same film at another time and see the whole picture. This is much better than the result that would occur if using real-time output to a DVD recorder.
I haven't had any problems with sound going out of sync - I use a combination of residual hearing and lip reading so I am quite sensitive to sync errors.
In summary, the freeware solution isn't too demanding, is reasonable quick and lets you check quality during the process, thus also saves on otherwise wasted DVDs.
DVR Studio Pro (commercial)
Results in video/audio synchronisation errors in cases where the original transport stream file has any transmission/ interference glitches.
VideoReDoPlus (commercial)
Better than DVR Studio Pro with no synchronisation errors. However, I have found video/audio breakup where it has "over" compensated for synchronisation errors.
HDTVtoMPEG2 (freeware)
Does not correct all synchronisation errors. Does not produce a "standard" MPEG2 file which may prove problematical when converting further down the chain to DVD.
ProjectX (freeware)
This is, in my opinion, the best program for converting TS files to MPEG2, whether you are de-muxing or producing a re-muxed M2P (MPEG2) it results in the closest quality to the original file.
Being a relatively sad person I have spent many a happy hour comparing the quality of the input file to the output file and would recommend ProjectX, it is simply just the best. If you have the Java SDK installed it is a simple procedure to compile the latest version of the source code. I know some people find ProjectX hard to use and maybe the user interface could be better, but that' not the author's purpose of the program.
Once you have a "standard" MPEG2 file then there are myriad of programs that will author a DVD and for its completeness/cheapness Nero7 is difficult to beat unless you're willing to shell out mega dosh on programs like Sony DVD Architect or Adobe Encore to name but a few.
I've found that there is no definative way of creating a dvd from a transport stream, it's probably best to experiment bit and work out what is best for you. I'm of the opinion that project x is excellent for demuxing streams, but has quite a steep learing curve as oppose to videoredo which is quite simple to use.
Best of luck!
Like you I also finally author with Ulead (DVD Moviefactory 3).
I do have some recurring problems though that I would appreciate everyone's help on:
1. Seemingly randomly, the final mpg from all the muxers I've tried (mplex, Imago etc.) is sometimes classed as mpeg-2 and sometimes as DVD-Video when I load it into Ulead. This is crucial as the Ulead program checks each mpg file you add to the disk and if the check says mpeg-2 it assumes it's not DVD-compliant and completely re-renders (which of course is pointless, reduces quality, and takes a lifetime). If the check says DVD-Video though it just uses the file as-is and doesn't re-render (what I want and how it should be). The trouble is, some files from the Humax consistently come out at the end of the process as mpeg-2 and some as DVD-Video and you have to go through the whole bally process to find out what it's going to be. Maddening! Does anyone know of a tool that will absolutely always give you an mpeg file at the end of remuxing that is fully DVD-compliant 'out of the box' requiring no re-rendering? Presumably all you guys loading your mpgs into Nero are not having Nero re-render them?
I've been wondering if this is down to differences in the streams from difference channels or something but doubt if it's that. I've not changed anything in ProjectX to my knowledge but perhaps should reinstall. Do you know if its settings are in the Registry and can be deleted (probably not being Java)?
2. The other problem was my DVD player hanging but I guess that's an issue with that player and the output from Muxman and IFOEdit (those structures are burnt to disk using Ulead too). Totally weird though.
Having read this thread I'll try out VLC, and also DVDAuthorGUI and see if they help.
Any tips on this problems gratefully received however!
Cheers.
A post from some else made me wonder if, in ProjectX you unblob "demux" and blob "M2P" whether it might go straight to an MPEG-2 file that Ulead Movie Factory will accept as input (maybe after renaming .m2p to .mpg?). I'm going to try that when I get access to the streams on my machine at home.
Cliff
I've also made one other DVD compiled from 3 separate recordings. All with no problems. I think Videoredo cost me about £24 or something like that. Dead pleased with the results!
GenieN
the probable reason that your dvd's make your dvd player hang is that if you cut an mpeg file by frame you destroy the GOP sequence (group of pictures). Should you cut on the 'p' and 'b' frames, this maybe an issue for your decoder and is also not DVD spec compliant. Try cutting on an 'I' frame, this is a referenced frame at the beginning (or end) of a GOP (beginning is best in this instance). This is where a professional authoring application has a benefit as it will advise that the MPEG files are not compliant. There are cases where you may be able to convince your standalone DVD player that the stream is complaint, this tends to be changing data held within the .IFO files or using an authoring application that is not so 'fussy' with the content provided. Either way the compatability of the DVD specification will not be reached
Try this, it has a good explanation on mpeg coding etc
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/frame/research/mpeg/mpeg2faq.html just click on the fist link 'What is MPEG' gives a pretty good veiw of what MPEG endoding/decoding is. It's goes quite in depth
Another resource is www.mpeg.org
Hope this helps
I really appreciate the replies. This could be an example of not understanding ProjectX properly. I used to use Cuttermaran all the time for the frame editing once I'd demuxed in ProjectX. This allows for the choice or I, P, or B frame for cutting and I always chose I. I then started using ProjectX for cutting too but it doesn't specify anywhere I can see what type of frame it's cutting on. I'll go back and try Cuttermaran in the meantime, but does anyone know if it's possible to know precisely what type of frame is being cut when you edit in ProjectX?
Cliff, re your reply, yes outputting from ProjectX to m2p then renaming to mpg does prove that it's remuxed to mpeg in one go - cool. However, until I sort out the possible frame editing issue in ProjectX (which no-one else seems to have hit) it may still mean I have to edit elsewhere adding more steps. Thanks for the tip though.
Cliff
It looks like it might be a more user-friendly alternative to IFOEdit, but I've not tried it.
Yes i've used it, pretty user friendy, you don't even need to re-mux audio and video, you can drag a video on to the bottom section and then drag the audio onto the video and it mux's them when it creates the iso.
Neil
Cliff
I have had he odd lip synch problem otherwise it works for me.
Some freeware programs I have found that will convert the Humax file, compress it and write to
DVD disc.
DivXtoDVD convert video files
DVD Shrink file compressor
DVD Decrypter a writer
All the files can be downloaded from http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/index.HTML
It is a great site for some useful DVD software and guides on how to use it
Mike
e-linker to get the file
Add .ts to the file name
Project X 0.9.3.00 (free)
Add the file with the + button at the bottom
Edit commercial breaks in central window
The purple + and - buttons add markers which turn the bar alternately red then green. Anything green is good
prepare >> button on left
Set output radio button to .ts
Press the big play button
A new .ts file created without ads
Use VLC media player 0.8.4a (free)
Menu <File > Open file
Tab <File>
Button <Browse> to select the .ts file
Checkbox <Stream output> at bottom left checked
Button <Settings> (This has just become active)
Checkbox <File>
Button <Browse> to set output file name
<OK>
<OK>
This automatically starts it playing and streaming
Nero vision express 3 (came with DVD writer)
Make DVD - DVD video
Add video files
Select All files *.* as VLC doesn't add a suffix
Add the file
Menu <Create Chapters>
<Next>
Move the slider
icon <thumb up with a plus sign> to add a chapter point
<Next
Select menu style
<Next>
<Next> (remote control on picture)
<burn>
You could probably get away without Project X and edit the movie using the NeroVision <Edit movie> button but I haven't tried this
The stuff that didn't work
Adobe premier pro 1.5.1
Tried reading the .ts file (with suffix of .mpg instead). The video was ok but the sound was missing
Tried demuxing in project X first but the video ended up as not quite half the length of the audio
Adobe Encore 1.5
Doesn't like the resolution of 544x576