Smart Video Compression (2)

[Malc_b]

Smart Video Compression thread is locked. I'm not sure why it was I said. I'm trying to understand how to use Creator to do what I want to do which at this time is edit MPEG2 files. Surely I can ask about that? I'm not Roxio is overall better or worse than any other program. In my experience all programs have the good parts and bad parts. You have to understand a program completely to know how to use it for the best and how to work around the bad points, or whether to use another program for that job.

 

The last post in Smart Video Compression said:

 

You missed the point. Roxio products do that also if the video is already DVD compliant. I posted that information since it seemed that your original mpg2 file was not. You get the same thing if you select the fit to disc option except if the video is longer than one hour, it may drop the quality too far. Burning to an ISO file at best quality and then copying that image file to a disc will give you the best quality for the length of the project.

 

What is meant by DVD complaint and how do I test that? The file was a TS that had been converted to a PS. It was not a VOB.

 

FYI I already have a support request in with Roxio which they have yet to answer (but I only put it in on the weekend). I was think I might also get good info from the Roxio Community. I might also add I did ask support about smart video compression before I installed Roxio.

 

It may well be that this is something that Roxio is not very good at. If so then it should be discussed here so that those considering using Roxio for MPEG2, such as from DVD camcorder, HD, etc. using how to use for the best result, any limitations, and any work arounds. I'm surely not the only one who reads online forums before getting a product.

 

[ggrussell]

Creator 2009 can edit most MPEG 2 and make them DVD compliant. I normally don't work with MPEG 2, but those instances I have, Creator 2009's smart render worked perfectly fine for me. With newer camcorders supporting AVC, I wouldn't be surprised that MPEG 2 recording is on it's way out. Creator 2009 with the service pack 3 now supports AVCHD smart render when creating Bluray discs.

[Jim_Hardin]

I think the thread was locked because you seem to be obsessed with this and talking in circles. You get an answer then you re-ask the question…

 

You think it is important for everyone to know, yet since it was introduced with V7 in 2004 the only questions have been why is my preview screen gray? I think you are the nearly the only one in 5 years who asked HOW

 

Easy answer - capture in DVD format. 720 X 480 @ 8 or 9 mbps… But as Gary already mentioned, If you force it to do a big change, say output at 4mbps, it will have to re-render.

 

Play with it, try some different things and see what happens.

 

[Malc_b]

I may be asking for clarification on what people mean but that's because I don't know Creator 2009 that well and some of the comments suggest I may be missing something.

 

I have played with it. It does smart render but there are limitations. To get the correct size in MyDVD with an MPEG2 file you need to use gspot to get the average bit-rate and then set a custom bit rate to that. Or use a calculate and tot up the file sizes yourself. To me that is a bit of limitation, or am I have missed something?

 

Creator can rip from a DVD VOB but then I think Creator goes and looks in the info file, ask which movie you want, and gets the size from the info file. That's fair enough since the VOB has a 1G limit and a movie can be in multiple VOBs.

 

So unless I missing something Creator isn't the best tool for MPEG2 but might be a good tool to do the menu structure afterwards, I haven't tried that yet. A program that would take MPEG2 and package it in a simple DVD structure for Creator might be the way to go.

 

BTW the MPEG2 I was trying was 720x576 (PAL) ~4.9MB gspot reckons AFAIR. So the correct format for DVD.

[bimicher]

QUOTE (Malc_b @ Mar 3 2009, 01:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I may be asking for clarification on what people mean but that's because I don't know Creator 2009 that well and some of the comments suggest I may be missing something.

 

I have played with it. It does smart render but there are limitations. To get the correct size in MyDVD with an MPEG2 file you need to use gspot to get the average bit-rate and then set a custom bit rate to that. Or use a calculate and tot up the file sizes yourself. To me that is a bit of limitation, or am I have missed something?

 

Creator can rip from a DVD VOB but then I think Creator goes and looks in the info file, ask which movie you want, and gets the size from the info file. That's fair enough since the VOB has a 1G limit and a movie can be in multiple VOBs.

 

So unless I missing something Creator isn't the best tool for MPEG2 but might be a good tool to do the menu structure afterwards, I haven't tried that yet. A program that would take MPEG2 and package it in a simple DVD structure for Creator might be the way to go.

 

BTW the MPEG2 I was trying was 720x576 (PAL) ~4.9MB gspot reckons AFAIR. So the correct format for DVD.

 

Your posts are totally confusing I have no idea what you mean by "Creator" in parts of your posts? The only "Creator" program is "Classic Creator" which is not used for creating video DVDs but for copying. If you are going to throw around terminology please use at least the full and correct names. For example what the heck do you mean by "Creator isn't the best tool for MPEG2 but might be a good tool to do the menu structure afterwards"

[ggrussell]

I don't understand why you are so caught up on the estimated file size which has NOTHING to do with smart render and even if Roxio misses the estimation, still won't affect the final output. If I have a project that is real close (less than 500MB) to fitting a 4.7 disc and Roxio thinks it won't, I just tell it to fit a 8.5GB disc and then 'burn' to a folder. If it really will fit on a 4.7GB disc, I just burn the folder.

 

I've used Roxio products over 10 years and the estimated output has always been fairly close in my situations and has been a problem in general.

[Malc_b]

I apologise for using the wrong name. I guess I mean MyDVD. When I add my MPEG2 file of say 1.5G then MyDVD says 3G full so miles out. But I've tried the same file after further processing (with PVAStrumento) which I think makes it perhaps more DVD complaint and then MyDVD does seem to get the right finished sized.

 

To sum up. MyDVD should get the right estimate size and smart render an MPEG2 file if fit to disk is set and the total size is not over a disk's worth. If it doesn't then running the MPEG through PVAStrumento may clean up the file and fix this.

 

I would have thought though that is was obvious why the finished size is of interest. The key to keeping best quality from MPEGs is not to re-encode so not to exceed a disk's worth. Burning to file as 8.5G to see if it fits is hardly an efficient way of working so I'm glad I've found a solution.

[ggrussell]

Can't blame Roxio if your original files are not industry standard MPEG 2 files. If you are adding a 1.5 GB file and MyDVD says it will take 3GB, then there is something else. The only limitation that MyDVD has is with bitrates. MyDVD only supports 3Mbps to 9Mbps for MPEG 2 files. If your file is encoded at 2999bps, it will be re-ecoded. Period no way around it. As long as your MPEG 2 files are between 3-9Mbps, MyDVD should smart render.

 

I've seen MyDVD smart render some really off the wall stuff like JVC .MOD files so your file must be way off the standard.