[ExtractStream] Re: DVD writing

[J. Scott Dorr]

On Tue, Feb 05, 2002 at 06:00:17AM -0000, billyb111b wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> 
> I have done some DVD writing from my extracted videos, so it IS 
> possible, so far its a difficult process with mixed results.
> 
> I have a Pioneer A03 burner, which is a great and burns DVD-R and -
> RW, -RW works fine, but none of my 5 DVD players play the stuff, so 
> its not that practical. I recently found a great deal on cheap DVD-
> R ($1.50 a piece) so I have been experimenting more often.

I, for one, would be very interested in your progress on this. I'll be in the
market for a dvd burner in the next month or so, specifically for the purpose
of extracting programs from my tivo and archiving them in dvd quality on a dvd
capable of being played in a standard dvd player.

> The problem with DVD in general is authoring software is very picky 
> about being within the spec (unlike VCD/SVCD), which means video res 
> of 352 or 704/720 and audio at 48 khz. Tivo records all audio and 
> 32 khz, so all tivo audio needs to be upconverted. Video (by 
> default) is 544(x480) at Best 480 at high and 352 at med and basic. 
> So anything at a quality bitrate needs to be trancoded to the proper 
> res. (You can change the default bitrates and resolution in the 
> TivoWeb resource editor, allowing for high bitrate and 352x480, 
> reducing the need for transcoding).

What resolution/bit-rate should I set to allow for the most seamless dvd
authoring? I'm not familiar with what the dvd resolutions are in the U.S..
Did I read that right that the resolution is 704x720? Please clarify so that
I can start recording my shows in dvd resolution and save me a bunch of
processor cycles in the future. :)

> It works sometimes and doesn't others. On my TiVo, extracted streams 
> are very picky as to audio sync and clean mpeg data, but YMMV.
> 
> I can give more detail into my DVD process if you'd like, (Ive been 
> meaning to write up a little doc on it, but havnt had the time)

One vote from me. :)


- scott