T7 reencodes mpeg when I don't want to, what about T8?

[Doc69 0]

I'm dragging m2v files (and linking ac3 files) to Toast 7 to author a new DVD. Even though I have set preferences not to reencode, Toast 7 does it anyway. What about Toast 8? Does this work better in the new version?

 

My m2v and ac3 files comes from regular DVDs demuxed in Cinematize Pro. Someone suggested to open the files in MPEG Streamclip and fix timebreaks. If I do that, the files looks garbled in the finder, Toast 7 burns them without reencoding, but when I mount the DVD, DVD Player will quit unexpectidly.

 

And what do I do if I have many m2v and ac3 files that I want to play in one sequence and being able to jump back and forth between the clips like chapters, not like individual titles? Is Toast 8 or any other authoring software the answer?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Don

[tsantee 231]

I've used Cinematize 2 to create .m2v and .ac3 streams of DVD clips and never have had Toast 7 want to re-encode them. I realize Cinematize Pro adds the ability to export the video in menus. Is that what you're doing? I'm trying to think why your exports would be any different from mine.

 

In answer to your question I expect that Toast 8 will treat the need to re-encode the same as does Toast 7. But Toast 7 only re-encodes when it sees the MPEG file as not being compliant with the video DVD spec. That seems implausible in your case because the source is from a video DVD. So this is very puzzling.

 

I suppose time-code breaks could be a factor. My Pioneer standalone recorder creates time-code breaks about every 30 seconds when it writes real-time video-mode discs. I could experiment with one of those using Cinematize 2 and Toast. What created the DVDs that you are using as a source?

 

You are also asking how to join the .m2v's into a single title so they can be accessed as chapters instead of titles. One method I'm sure you've considered is using Cinematize Pro to export as QuickTime and to create your joined video with chapters in iMovie or Final Cut.

 

I don't know anything that does this with .m2v's but I do know one possibility with muxed MPEGs. CaptyMPEGEdit EX has a feature to combine files. The MPEG2 files have to meet these specs:

[NTSC]

720X480, 704X480, 352X480, 352X240

[PAL]

720X576, 704X576, 352X576, 352X280

Files can be combined if their video size, frame rate, aspect ratio, and format of interlace and field order are identical; and if their audio sampling rate and number of audio channels are identical. There are some other limitations such as a maximum 18 frames per GOP for NTSC or 15 frames for PAL.

 

CaptyMPEGEditEX also is used for frame-accurate cutting and trimming of MPEG 2 video and for converting audio to AC3 or PCM. I like that it can convert the MPEG audio from my EyeTV files to AC3. You must export as elementary streams for the files to work with Toast.

 

I don't know if there will be chapter markers where the files are joined. You would want to strip any time-code breaks from the source video and then have CaptyMPEGEdit join them. There should be time-code breaks where the files join and Toast may use those as chapter markers. I've never tried that. The application is sold at www.pixela-1.com.

[Doc69 0]

Thanks for your reply.

 

After making MPEG-2 files from several different DVDs with Cinematize 2 Pro, I realize there was something wrong with the first DVD I used. Only files from that DVD made Toast 7 reencode. So now everything works fine. And I was not exporting any menus.

 

Capty MPEG Edit EX seemed exactly like what I was looking for to use before authoring in Toast. However, since I'm using standard broadcast material, my video frame rate is 29.97 for NTSC and 25 for PAL. I assume I can't use the software then?

 

Any other suggestions for joining MPEG-2 video? I tried combining m2v files in Quicktime Pro but the resulting file did not play properly (video stopped each time a new clip would begin). And I don't want to use Cinematize 2 Pro's "export to QuickTime", as I want to keep the original quality by not reencoding. If nothing is avalable on the MAc side, I do have a PC as well.

 

Best regards,

Doc

[tsantee 231]

Capty MPEG Edit EX seemed exactly like what I was looking for to use before authoring in Toast. However, since I'm using standard broadcast material, my video frame rate is 29.97 for NTSC and 25 for PAL. I assume I can't use the software then?

Best regards,

Doc

Capty MPEGEdit EX does support 29.97 fps NTSC and 25 fps PAL MPEGs. What I was referring to is the number of frames that are in a Group of Pictures. I should have not mentioned that limitation because it is rarely an issue.

 

Unlike other MPEG editors, this application can edit within a GOP rather than just at the I-frame. It does this be converting the frames around the edit to DV, making the edit and converting them back to MPEG. It only involves a few frames so the quality of those conversions is not at all significant while the edit is very clean. You also create an edit list for the entire MPEG and do this as a batch process.

 

As I noted before, it only works with muxed MPEG 2 video and Toast will only work with its output if you choose to save as separate streams.