Creating DVD compilation -- different resolutions, etc.

[Aimee Wilbury]

Recently I've been downloading DVD compilations. A lot of them, the majority of the songs I don't want, just one or two songs. I know how to extract them with DVD Shrink already -- I put them into a folder while leaving the torrents up to seed for a while.

So I was wondering, since a lot of these are different resolutions and some are PAL and some are NTSC, if it was possible to put the clips on one DVD as a compilation? As it seems a lot of wasted space to have a 15-minute DVD.

Note that I can only use free programs to do this as I'm young and broke but I have time.

[AAR.oner]

yes you can do that...but yer gonna end up having to render all clips to one frame rate and format, and then re-encoding before authoring, which greatly reduces the quality

free or inexpensive programs typically cause even more artifacts & quality degradation when compressing/authoring, so a "compilation disc" like you want to make should never be traded or seeded -- strictly for personal use!!!



that said, i don't know of any free authoring progs out there on any platform...there are some cheap ones, but as they say ya get what ya pay for

what OS are you running?

[Aimee Wilbury]

I have Vista Home Premium.

Yes, for personal usage -- I don't know the lineage for a lot of them, even if I did want to share.

I know of these programs, although some I haven't tested, others I have trouble with, etc. No particular order. I like Avi2Dvd, although when it hiccuped on a certain file (it kept killing the audio) I tried AVStoDVD, which I rather liked.
AVStoDVD
Avi2Dvd
DVD Flick
DVDStyler
GUI for dvdauthor/MuxMan
DVDAuthorGUI

I was hoping there would be a way to do it by adding them as different titles or something. I don't need menus, but it'd be nice. (I can make some pretty decent-looking menus in Windows Paint. Yes, you read that correctly.)

[AAR.oner]

i'm not familiar with the windows platform programs outside of the professional progs...ya might check over at videohelp.com's forums for freeware options

but basically, find a DVD authoring program...then demux the .vob files yer wantin, leaving you with a video stream [.m2v] and an audio stream [LPCM or ac3 or whatever compression they used]...import the m2t+audio streams into yer authoring prog, trim down to the exact parts you want in the timeline, create any chapter points and menus, and author to DVD

[Aimee Wilbury]

Which would come out better, changing NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC? I have a choice, and about half of the videos are each.

[syncursor]

Since you use DVD Shrink already it is the easiest program for making your own compilation. DVD Shrink will make a mixed DVD (PAL and NTSC) and you won't have to change anything from your original files. Open DVD Shrink and click on the Re-author tab then drag and drop all the video files you want into your compilation. Hope this helps

[Thulani]

I think you're wasting your time converting the files. Extract what you need, change the extension to mpg and burn as data. There's gonna be no menu, but you save time.

You can also try to make a DVD from PAL & NTSC sources with DVDLab Pro (I think that's what I used when I did something like that; there's a 30 days trial on their website). I had a junk player (3-4 years old now), and it worked. It played fine.

[Aimee Wilbury]

Ah, DVD Shrink. I didn't think of that.

I don't really like using trials as I know I haven't the money to buy the program. Maybe after I graduate from HS this year and get a better job.

[lordsmurf]

You really don't want to change PAL to NTSC, or NTSC to PAL, if quality is important.

You can mix resolutions by putting each in a separate VTS (video title set, sometimes called "track"). Crappy low-end software often won't let you do it, but better software will.

PAL and NTSC cannot be on the same disc, it's not DVD-Video compliant. You have to ignore compliancy restrictions (if the software allows it -- most does not, and for good reason). The disc won't play on most DVD players.

[Toadinohio]

Just an idea- but do you watch on your PC or do you want to be able to play on a stand alone player?
You could just put all the clips you want in the same folder and then make a playlist.
I've done this before to make a compilation of vids and then just play it in VLC.

It would be much easier and if you are watching on your computer anyway you won't get the quality loss of changing PAL/NTSC.