DVD writing

[t_tringle]

> Perhaps more important is how you get the sound and video into 
DVDable
> format in the first place... or does Reel sort that out itself from
> SplitStream (or equivalent) m2v and m2a?
> 
I use a few different tools. ReelDVD doesn't convert any files, DVD 
It will convert compatible files into MPG, but it lowers the quality 
considerably, they apparently choose speed over quality.

I get the Tivo Stream off tivo to a Windows XP pc using sendstream 
with an NC binary for Windows 2000/XP. Once I have the .ty file on 
my PC I use tyconvert to turn it into an .mpg file.

I then use DVD2AVI to create a .d2v file and I upconvert the mpa 
file for audio to a 44khz wave file using winamp.

!!!Note, the mpa file has the audio offset in milleseconds either 
negative or positive. These numbers haven't failed me yet whereas I 
could never get a synched audio with any other programs I used, but 
I probably didn't try hard enough once I found this solution.

I then use soundforge studio to either delete the offset if its a 
negative number or add silence if it's a positive offset. For 
example if dvd2avi creates "name of file -66ms.mpa" I would go to 66 
ms into the beginning of the file using the goto command and then 
delete the beginning of the file upto that point. Then save the 
file, the end result is the offset is gone because the first 66 
milliseconds of the audio file have been removed. If it was a 
positive number I would add 66 milliseconds of audio using the 
insert silence command.

I then use vfapiconv.exe (or whatever the exact name of it is) to 
create an avi file that programs like avidub can open.

I use avidub to deinterlace and resize the video to 720x480 and I 
then frameserve it to a .vdr file. (note, set the audio to full 
processing mode instead of streaming otherwise the receiving program 
won't get the audio)

I then open the .vdr file with Cinemacraft Encoder, the last version 
that could open vdr files, and encode it using 3 pass VBR. making 
sure to keep the video below 8500 bitrate. I set the audio to 192Khz.

I then use ReelDVD to create a menu and insert the video and audio, 
test it using the simulation mode until it works the way I want and 
then I create the DVD on my hard drive. Then I burn it using 
Recordnow, but nero will probably work as well.

Of course you could replace CCE with tmpeg, and while tmpeg does 
have a much better interface and alot more options within a one stop 
encoder, CCE is incredibly fast and the quality I get out of it is 
really something you have to see. Since I clean up the video file 
using the noise filter option in CCE it actually ends up looking 
better than the original video that went into TIVO on my progressive 
DVD player using component video (of course your mileage may vary).

> 
> I'm intrigued - why did you choose +RW over -R/RW? The only thing 
I can
> think of is that +RW media can be read in many -ROM drives... but
> -R media can too and the number of times I've used RW media can be
> counted on the fingers of one hand (and have a few fingers spare).
> RW is great for experimentation so that you don't waste Rs but
> compatibility doesn't really matter there as you generally use the
> same drive to read and write.
> 
> Cheaper -R was definitely a motivation for me in getting the A03.
> I guess if you don't archive a lot of shows then that's not
> really a problem.

I'm actually more interested in learning how to create DVD from 
scratch as I may want to pursue a career in that field. I know I can 
do a better job than some of the lame menus I've seen, and after 
only a week of using ReelDVD I know I could recreate easily menus 
that have been produced by a major movie studio.

I chose DVD+RW because philips is involved in the standards 
creation, and as you know philips is the creator of the CD format 
and one of the major creators of DVD if i'm not mistaken. Also DVD+R 
is supposed to be extremely compatible both forwards and backwards 
with settop players and DVD ROM. 

I also wanted to have RW be my first attempts at making DVD's and 
believe me it has saved me about 50 bucks on that alone. However I 
would stay away from HP media there is def something wrong there.

I want to thank Roger Merchberger, whos website was key in finally 
getting a good stream off of Tivo and in helping me get a grasp on 
how to do some of this stuff.

Thanks

Tim