Simplest RTV->DVD process?

[Skeptic]

I've read all about the womble/rtvtools processes from various web tutorials.

Isn't there an easier way? Some sites mention that if you record at medium then ulead MovieFactory2 can do a straight transfer to DVD.

Any newer, one-step processes? I wish DVArchive just had a "burn DVD" button.

Is there anything I can just download tonight (one program, even if paid download) and be able to painlessly transfer DVArchive mpg files to DVD's that can be played back on my home theater?

Dave

[Wrecks]

If you want a one-step process, just put the show file (and the related files if you want) on a DVD. Then get you a DVD player that can handle raw MPEG files in ReplayTV format and play it unauthored.

[Skeptic]

Which DVD players can do that?

[Loren Kruse.]

Here is a list of them - just scroll down the list ... 404 found...
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=&Search=Search&mpegiso=1&country=&orderby=Name&hits=25&Submit2=Search

[Skeptic]

OK. What is the (2nd simplest) solution if I want VOB on the DVD and not MPEG2 files?

[Slack]

DVD recorder & Save to VCR function.

[jpc]

Yes you can use Ulead DVD Movie Factory to do this is one step. I record on Medium and transfer to PC using DVArchive. DVD Movie Factory is the only program I have found that will use the Mpeg as-is for DVD burning. (You do need to check the preference that says "Do not convert compliant MPEG files"). Other apps I tried always transcode (or whatever you call it), taking tons of time and dramatically increasing the size of the file (so a 2 hour film will not fit on a DVD). The only problem is editing the video -- this will cause even Moviefactory to transcode.

So:

1. Record on Medium
2. Transfer via DVDArchive
3. Import into DVD Movie Factory (but don't edit the video)
4. Burn

I am always surprised that people go through much more complicated steps to get to DVD. Perhaps it is for the editing. This way I can quickly and easily get almost 3 hours into standard DVD format that works on any player.

[Slack]

3. Import into DVD Movie Factory (but don't edit the video)

If you use DVDlab, you can use Womble to edit to your hearts content.

[Wrecks]

It doesn't necessarily work on every DVD player. I made a couple of DVD's to take to a friends house for movie night. While the authored menues worked on their DVD player, the shows would not. I presume that the only way to get those shows to play on that player will be to transcode them.

[upsidedn]

I used NERO 6.3 and burned an MPEG from DVArchive to a DVD disk that played without any problems.

[little_blaine]

If you don't care about editing out commercials or how long the DVD dump will take, use nero 6.x. Nerovision express (I think) is a wizard that guides you through the addition of files to a DVD and calculates the size of the transcoded files on the fly. I believe it even has some limited editing abilities so you can try to edit commercials that way too. It will only transcode if it needs to, but it'll pretty much guarantee that the DVD that comes out has good compatibility.

A while back I saw a set of scripts that you ran on a windows box that scanned a directory for dropped shows, ran rtvedit to remove commercials and normalize the video, and then burn a DVD - so once you exported a show with DVArchive to the proper directory, everything else happened automatically. I didn't pay too much attention then since I didn't have a DVD burner, but I'm sure a search will reveal it.

--John

[GooberedUp]

Originally posted by upsidedn
I used NERO 6.3 and burned an MPEG from DVArchive to a DVD disk that played without any problems.

What recording quality on the RTV did you use?

[Arvy]

I have been using DVA->Womble->Ulead Movie Factory 3 with great success. My shows (all movies) are recorded at High Quality and transferred from DVA to the Replay 55xx. Using Womble (Mpeg Video Wizard 2003) to clip off the opening channel intro and ending queues to the next film then saving the movie itself with no other changes. Ulead MF 3 to author .vobs, etc. - MF doesn't bother reencoding the video and I haven't seen any of the audio sync problems mentioned in other threads. All this from J. Barr's excellant (IMHO) website. MF3 will burn DVDs but I prefer Nero only because I know the latter is reliable. It sounds like a lot of steps but really don't take long. Beside, if it's worth putting on a DVD permanently, it's worth doing right.

[jbarr]

I think there may be some confusion as to what the problem really is. Getting a ReplayTV recording onto a DVD using something like Nero, Ulead DMF3, and maybe others is a no-brainer. You could burn to your heart's content, and will have a high level of success and compatibility. The problem, however, lies in the fact that the audio and video can "drift" out of sync. It's not an "overall" out of sync, but a "gradual" one where it gets worse and worse over the length of the video. For something like a 30 minute show, you probably won't notice any problems. At an hour, you may notice a bit, but it typically isn't that bad. However once you start getting over an hour, it really becomes more and more noticable--downright annoying, in fact. And on a "typical" two-hour movie, it is VERY noticable.

And yes, we ALL wish there was a one-click "Burn to DVD" button somewhere, but sadly, nothing like that exists. In fact, I REALLY like your idea of having a "Burn to DVD" button incorporated into DVArchive. I could even envision it being "schedulable" to remove all user intervention short of loading the blank DVD media. Hmmm...

Anyway, many of us have had great success with the "download with DVArchive, Edit with Womble, Author with Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2 or 3" process, and the end results are quite good. I also recommend the rtvtools because you can script everything and achive fairly close to a "one-click" process. Scripting can be as simple as a set of DOS batch files all the way up to a complex .NET application. I have personally used "AutoIT" to create some very nice GUI control apps.

Oh, and "Arvy", thanks for the compliment! ;)

[tluxon]

I've gotten lazy and normally just burn raw mpegs to a data DVD to play on my notebook or through my Aspire DVD player, but occasionally I'll want to author a DVD with menus and the whole bit. For quick-and-easy I'll use Ulead Movie Factory on Wombled files. If I want more control over everything, I like DVD Author 1.5 (1.6 is available now). Either way, I don't burn direct-to-disc, but create a titleset before burning with Nero.

The audio synch issue that Jim mentions regarding longer files can be a real challenge. I've done some 4-hour-long football games and the method that's worked best for me was to chop the mpeg into segments of less than 1 hour each with Womble before I do ANYTHING else with the video. With Football games, the break between quarters is a good place to cut. Save each segment BEFORE making any edits such as cutting commercials or compressing with DVDShrink.

All the best,

Tim

[FarmBubba]

I record at low quality, Edit commercials with reVue, make the new cleaned mpeg with reVue, and make movie with movie factory, then transfer files to my mac to burn on the superdrive (-R) I have had terrible luck with the +R discs being bad!

[Wrecks]

When I run a show through rtconvert before burning it, I never seem to have any audio sync problems.

[Scallica]

Originally posted by jpc
Yes you can use Ulead DVD Movie Factory to do this is one step. DVD Movie Factory is the only program I have found that will use the Mpeg as-is for DVD burning. (You do need to check the preference that says "Do not convert compliant MPEG files"). Other apps I tried always transcode (or whatever you call it), taking tons of time and dramatically increasing the size of the file (so a 2 hour film will not fit on a DVD).

Which version of DVD MF are you using? I am using version 2 SE and I do not see this option in the Preferences area.

When I burn a DVD, it says creating VOB files. Is this the extra set that you are referring to?

~Scallica~

[tluxon]

Originally posted by Wrecks
When I run a show through rtconvert before burning it, I never seem to have any audio sync problems.
How long was the longest show you had this success with?

I used to use rtvconvert on every Replay mpeg I did, but it was of no help to me on shows that were over 3 hours long.

Tim

[msuc5vette]

Originally posted by little_blaine

A while back I saw a set of scripts that you ran on a windows box that scanned a directory for dropped shows, ran rtvedit to remove commercials and normalize the video, and then burn a DVD - so once you exported a show with DVArchive to the proper directory, everything else happened automatically. I didn't pay too much attention then since I didn't have a DVD burner, but I'm sure a search will reveal it.

--John

Anyone able to find this script using the search?

[oldnacl]

Try this - works for me using Nero
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...threadid=348034
and here's another, that removes the commercials:
Thanks to dszlucha

For those interested, I've written a batch file that will allow you to drag and drop any *.evt, *.ndx, or *.mpg and create a *.dvd.mpg. It also cleans up any intermediate/temporary files as well....



code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off

rem rtvtools must be in the path

rem Grab input file and trim off extension - so drag and drop will work...
set temp=%1
set filename=%temp:~0,-5%

rem process file...
evtdump %filename%.evt" > evt.txt
rtvedit -t1 evt.txt
rtvconvert %filename%1.mpg" %filename%.dvd.mpg"

rem delete temporary files...
del %filename%1.evt"
del %filename%1.ndx"
del %filename%1.mpg"
del evt.txt

rem For those who want to stream the converted file back to a ReplayTV, comment
rem out the next two lines
del %filename%.dvd.evt"
del %filename%.dvd.ndx"

Note that there's been a discussion on using the -t1 switch - the whole thread is here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=314017

[ClearToLand]

Originally posted by oldnacl: ...Try this - works for me using Nero
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...threadid=348034

FIXED LINK: >>> Batch file to convert 4K files using rtvtools <<< (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=348034)


Originally posted by oldnacl: ...and here's another, that removes the commercials:
Thanks to dszlucha

oldnacl, what's the title of the one that removes the commercials?

Originally posted by oldnacl: ...]ClearToLand
That one was post 89 from this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314017

ADDED MISSING LINK: Leepz Replay to DVD Conversion (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2858592#post2858592)


[And thanks for another batch tool... ;) ]

[ipgpe13]

1. Download with DVArchive
2. Run through RTVedit then RTVconvert
3. Edit and format to DVD in TMPGEnc DVD Author
3.5 Shrink with DVDShrink if required
4. Burn in Nero

I have burned many DVD + and - both HQ and MQ, this way with no errors, work on various DVD players (have not found one that did not play yet).

[clydeism]

ipgp13: does the closed captioing stay intact ?

I'ved tried many times and ALWAYS breaks the captioning, which sucks.

[oldnacl]

ClearToLand
That one was post 89 from this thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314017

[ipgpe13]

Sorry I never tried keeping the closed captioning.

[msuc5vette]

Originally posted by ClearToLand
Originally posted by oldnacl: ...Try this - works for me using Nero
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...threadid=348034

FIXED LINK: >>> Batch file to convert 4K files using rtvtools <<< (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=348034)


Originally posted by oldnacl: ...and here's another, that removes the commercials:
Thanks to dszlucha

oldnacl, what's the title of the one that removes the commercials?

Originally posted by oldnacl: ...]ClearToLand
That one was post 89 from this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314017

ADDED MISSING LINK: Leepz Replay to DVD Conversion (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2858592#post2858592)


[And thanks for another batch tool... ;) ]

@echo off
path=c:\ReplayTV\rev4\bin\win32;%PATH%

FOR %%F IN (*.ndx) DO (
echo temp> %%~nF.tmp
)

FOR %%F IN (*.tmp) DO (
echo F%%~nF.mpg> %%~nF.txt
echo A000:05.000>> %%~nF.txt
echo E>> %%~nF.txt
rtvedit "%%~nF.txt"
rtvconvert "%%~nF1.mpg" "%%~nF2.mpg"
del "%%F"
)

If I use revue to make new markers for the commercials, how does that affect the above batch file?

[spydermonkey311]

For those who use DVD Lab, is there anyway to get past the demuxing process when importing mpeg2 files? I get an option to do it at import, or later in the process (doing it at import is recommended).

I like DVD Lab, but do all software demux??

[polson]

JPC wrote in this thread that he could get 3 hours of replaytv recording on a single DVD using Ulead DVD Movie Factory. I seem to have a problem even getting 90 minutes recorded onto a DVD using Movie Factory 2se. I take my file downloaded using dvarchive and then drop it into my dvd project and a 94 minute movie will not fit.

Any suggestions?

[MIS-Man]

I have to echo a comment made above. The SIMPLEST (as the title says) way to do it is have a Cheap DVD Recorder off one of the RTV's outputs. Save to VCR on RTV, Record, and then pause if there are commercials (this has the added side effect of marking chapters depending on your burner). I have tried nearly every software, bu t it just came down to the fact I was spending so much frickin time with the software loading, editing, compiling it - what a pain and NONE of the softwares out there are very easy to use - and I am a mega nerd.

I picked up an Apex DVD Burner component - it actually will take HD input and it records on the fly. It works very well. The net cost to me with cables was $135 and I have used this on probably 200 hours worth of things (moving from VHS to DVD was simple this way) and I also have gotten through a lot of older home movies all on DVD. Each of the stand-alones have different features but you should be able to get one for around $150. There are also some DVD Recorder modelsl available now with a HD in it allowing you to put the content on the HD, then edit it (not on the fly) and then add menus, set chapters, then burn. Those models are in the $300 range.

[jarod3371]

i use videoredo to cut commercials and tempgenc dvd author to burn dvd, no problems at all with sync issues, also use dvd shrink on high quality recordings after dvd author to shrink it to fit on one dvd. these tools cost money (except dvd shrink which is free) but are worth it.

[polson]

I like Movie Factory and it is easy to get videos burned and working on the DVD players that I have tested. I just can't get more than 90 minutes of video on a disc, although I must assume others are getting more than this because you can't even get an average movie burned on disc with the experience that I am having.

[JeepGeek]

I don't know about DVD Movie Factory specifically, but I have used Ulead Video Studio's DVD authoring module (which seems to be a stripped-down version of DMF used as a plugin to Video Studio). In it, you need to select the MPEG format you want on the DVD, and it defaults to the highest quality. If you look at the resolution etc. of your input MPEGs, and select that as the output format, it will show you the correct capacity, and in addition not have to re-encode the video.

[polson]

The resample quality on Movie Factory defaults to "good" and not "best" quality. I have viewed all of the settings and nothing else seems to control quality or size of the recording. I am really surprised that I am not getting more than 1.5 hours. I will try recording some AVIs to a DVD and see how well they get compressed onto a disc. Maybe it is nothing particular to the Replay MPEGs but just my Movie Factory application.
-Paul

[polson]

I actually tested my Movie Factory DVD burning abilities with a standard AVI file. I added a 9 minute file to my DVD project, then calculated how much video I could fit on the disk based on the encoding that Movie Factory was going to perform with my file. I ended up with 85 minutes of recording capacity on a disc. Maybe I need to update my encoder or something if other's are getting 3 hours of video.
-Paul

[polson]

User error. I didn't see the quality setting until now. I lowered the quality and I can fit 120 minutes on a disc now. I also had to uncheck the "Do not convert compliant mpeg files" in order to get the additional space. I think it is going to re-encode the mpeg in order to make it fit. Definitely not ideal, but it should work.