- *Create the highest quality standard DVD with a menu for viewing on your television
*Fix overscan problems and subtitles running off the edge of your TV
(see http://www.mastersofcinema.org/reviews/ ... beyond.htm for information on overscan (thanks Pokute))
*Add selectable softsubs to DVD
*Address some common pitfalls when encoding AVIs
If you have everything installed properly and are following the steps properly, it should take less than 5 minutes to create the DVD. The computer will run for many hours, but your time sitting at the computer should be minimal.
If you have any questions, you may post in this thread or email me directly at kyuuketsuki216@yahoo.com. I rarely check PM. I always welcome suggestions, improvements, requests, etc. and am happy to help anyone with anything.
DVD created using this tutorial
If this is your first time converting, then you need to run the steps in the Setup section below.
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Setup - You only need to do this once
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Windows Vista users - You must disable UAC when running any of these programs. I recommend disabling it permanently. To turn off UAC, go to the control panel and in the search box type "User Account".
Download and install these programs
All the programs used are FREE.
Required
You can find all the programs below at http://www.videohelp.com in the tools section.
DVD2SVCD - for batch processing.
DVDAuthorGui - creates menus and DVD with selectable soft subs
QuEnc - for Video Encoding (recommend TmpgEnc or Cinemecraft Encoder but not free)
oggDirectShowFilter - Used by BeSweet to convert AVI Audio.
After you install Dvd2Svcd, put this in your BeSweet folder (C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\BeSweet) .
VobInput.dll - http://propaganda.googlepages.com/applications - Used by BeSweet to convert AVI audio.
SimpleAvis2Dvd - This automates the whole conversion process. Scroll to the bottom of this tutorial and download the attachment SimpleAvis2Dvd.zip.
Recommended
Koepi's XVID codec http://www.koepi.org/xvid.shtml - to encode XVID AVIs.
Divx codec http://www.divx.com - to encode DIVX AVIs.
Virtual Dub http://www.virtualdub.org/ - Fixes AVI audio problems.
gspot http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ - Tells you which codecs you need if you cannot play an AVI
AviSynth 2.57 http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=57023 - Fixes problems with uncommon AVI screen resolutions.
Open Dvd2Svcd and Set AVI input and DVD output in the Misc tab
Set Encoder. Whichever encoder you use, multipass VBR gives the best quality
Create output directory for all your conversion files.
Open SimpleAvis2Dvd and set the directories under File/Setup.
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Conversion Process
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Steps needed are:
1. Convert AVI to DVD compatible MPG
2. Author DVD with menu and subs
3. Burn a DVD Video disc.
Step 1. Convert AVIs to DVD compatible MPGs MPV MP2
Load your AVIs into SimpleAvis2Dvd
Try to keep the total running AVI time to 3 to 4 hours per DVD for excellent quality.
If you have subtitles, make sure they are in the same directory as the avi and have the same base name. For example WinterSonata1.avi and WinterSonata1.srt.
Hit GO and wait.
SimpleAvis2Dvd automatically does the following for each AVI
*Create audio MP2 from your AVI using BeSweet
*Set overscan AviSynth parameters for dvd2svcd
*Set episode size parameters for dvd2svcd
*Set NTSC conversion parameters for 23 and 25 fps AVIs for dvd2svcd
*Create video MPV and DVD compatible MPG file using dvd2svcd
*Renames mp2, mpv, mpg files to match episode
*Create an authoring file for DvdAuthorGui
*Converts PAL subtitles to NTSC
Step 2. Author DVD with menu and subs
Open DvdAuthorGui and Load the file SimpleAvis2Dvd.dva that was created in your output directory - File/Load Project.
If your burning software supports it, you may select "File / Create ISO after authoring".
Hit "Author DVD". This process usually takes about 20 min or so to multiplex the audio and video and convert the subtitles.
SimpleAvis2dvd automatically does the following for each AVI
*Set chapter stops every 5 minutes
*Sets subtitles for conversion
*Loads MP2 and MPV file
*Loads default menu with buttons to go to the start of each episode
*Sets post episode commands to go to main menu
OPTIONAL
There is a default menu that is created for you, so this step is completely optional.
Create menu background
There are many better ways to create a background image using photoshop or more professional software, but this is one way. Another way is to download a wallpaper image from a web site and convert this to 720 x 480 jpg.
1. Load AVI into Virtual Dub.
2. Go to frame that you like.
3. Hit Print Scrn on your keyboard.
4. Open Paint (Start / Programs / Accessories / Paint).
5. Edit / Paste.
6. Click the dotted square on the left side.
7. Select image on the screen.
8. Edit / Copy.
9. File / New.
10. Image / Attributes / Width 720 / Height 480.
11. Click the paint bucket on the left side.
12. Click on the new image to make it all black.
13. Edit / Paste.
14. Center the image.
15. Click the A button on the left side
16. Click the bottom button so the text box is transparent.
17. Modify font and add buttons for each episode.
18. Save as jpg.
Convert to M2V
Open DvdAuthorGui. Menus / Create M2V still (720x480 jpg). Save over the "DefaultMenu.m2v" file in your SimpleAvis2Dvd output folder.
Author with new background
When you are ready to burn the DVD, load the SimpleAvis2Dvd.dva file into DvdAuthorGui. Click Menus/Edit Titleset Menu to move and resize the buttons.
OPTIONAL - Create a subtitle menu
By default the subtitles will play and be selectable through the subtitle button on your dvd remote. However, you may add additional subtitles or create a menu.
Thanks to Rasckita for this information.
1. Create a background image with the the text for 3 buttons "Off", "On", "Main Menu".
2. Convert image to M2V as described above.
3. Click menus / add titleset menu.
4. Click "advaced options" and add 3 buttons.
A. Off - action = "jump menu 2", subtitle stream = "off"
B. On - action = "jump menu 2", subtitle stream = "1"
C. Main Menu - action = "jump menu 1", subtitle stream = "default"
5. Edit your main menu and add a button to jump to the subtitle menu.
Step 3. Burn DVD Video Disc
Before burning, it is a good idea to check your DVD. You should be able to play it with DVD playing software. Point to the directory created from DvdAuthorGui. Some Dvd players will play by selecting the IFO file in the TS_VIDEO directory.
With your burning software, select "burn DVD Video disc" and select the directory that holds the "TS_AUDIO" and "TS_VIDEO" directories that were created. Alternatively If you have created an ISO file select "burn image file" and point to the ISO file.
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FAQ
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Q: It takes me 3 hours to convert a video and I keep getting errors. Is there a way to check my parameters?
A: No matter what programs or process you do, I highly recommend doing a test on a 30 second clip of your AVI and burning it to a DVD+RW. This will save you a lot of time if you are having problems. An easy way to get a short clip of your AVI is use Virtual Dub. Select your start and end positions, video/direct stream copy, audio/direct stream copy, and save as AVI.
Q: Nothing works. How do I know what is wrong?
A: 1. If this is your first time converting, make sure that you set up everything properly according to the tutorial.
2. Find out if you have a problem with the video or audio. Check your output directory. Video is MPV, audio is MP2.
3. Make sure you are using the latest version of SimpleAvis2Dvd.
4. Check SimpleAvis2Dvd.log.
Q: My video doesn't play/encode, or my video is choppy after conversion. How do I fix it?
A: This is almost always because you don't have the codec or if your video is choppy you have a bad codec. When you load the AVI, it will tell you the AVI FourCC. You need to find a codec that will play this. Download GSpot or AviCodec and it will tell you which video and audio codecs you need and have. This is a bit controversial and just my opinion, but I think codec packs are bad. They install codecs that you don't need and overwrite the good codecs that you have. I personally only recommend 2 codecs and this is probably all you will need - DIVX and Koepi's XviD.
Q: The log file says "Encoder=Unknown" and "cannot rename file". How do I fix it?
A: Make sure the output directory is set properly in the SimpleAvis2Dvd setup.
Q: My video converted, but it is a very small file. When I play the MPV file it says there is an AviSynth error. How do I fix it?
A: This is rare, but it will happen in an uncommon Avi screen resolution. You need to uninstall your current version of AviSynth and reinstall version 2.57.
Q: I don't hear any audio, it is out of sync with my video, SimpleAvis2Dvd tells me there was an audio error, my MP2 file is 0 kb, or BeSweet crashes when I encode. How do I fix this?
A: Almost all audio problems can be fixed by converting your AVI with VirtualDub using "Video / Direct Stream Copy", "Audio / Full Processing" - Audio / Conversion / 44100Hz 16bit Stereo, "File / Save As AVI". It's also possible you may not have the audio codec (see video codec question) or you have not put VobInput.dll in the BeSweet directory.
Q: When I try to run through Virtual Dub (due to out of sync audio) I get this error message: "No audio decompressor could be found to decompress the source audio format "source format tag: 2000). I loaded the avi into Gspot and it said the Codec is installed
A: Tag 2000 is the AC3 codec. Virtual Dub also requires the ACM decompressor. You can download it here http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AC3_ACM_Decompressor .
Q: I fixed the AVI audio using Virtual Dub, but now it is out of sync when I play in Windows Media Player. What do I do now?
A: This rarely happens, but it may. Redo the process using Virtual Dub with the new AVI. Select Audio / Interleaving / Audio Skew Correction. You will have to use trial and error and check the AVI in Windows Media Player to see when the audio matches the video.
Q: Ok, I converted the audio using Virtual Dub. Can I check to make sure it works without waiting for hours for the video to convert?
A: Load your new AVI into SimpleAvis2Dvd and then choose Audio/ConvertAudio. You can play this MP2 file in Windows Media Player.
Q: Can I use VirtualDubMod instead of VirtualDub?
A: Sure. Just make sure that when converting your files to use Video/Direct Stream Copy and Audio/Full Processing
Q: I loaded 5 episodes and on the last one the audio did not convert. Is there a way to quickly convert just the audio after I fixed the audio in my AVI?
A: Yes. Load only the AVI that you want to convert and choose Audio/BatchConvertAudio.
Q: I keep running out of space on my hard drive. Can I delete some useless files?
A: In setup, check "Delete unused MPG files". The MPV and MP2 files are used and imported automatically into DvdAuthorGui. The MPG files will be deleted after every episode is encoded. For the whole process, you should have at least 10 GB of free space.
Q: Is there a way to convert just one episode at a time and author it later?
A: Yes. Just load each episode and convert it as a single episode. You will need to change the "episode size" to be equal to 4430 / Num of episodes on Dvd. After all the episodes for the DVD are converted. Load all episodes into SimpleAvis2Dvd in the order you want, then choose "Dvd/Create DvdAuthorGui Project". Load this project file into DvdAuthorGui to burn the disc.
Q: How do I fix this DvdAuthorGui error when I try to convert the subtitles? WARN: Error recoding line (1). INFO: Unicode font: 1418 glyphs.ERR: Couldn't load file C:\DvdOut\drama01.srt.
A: This means you have unreadable characters in your subtitle file. Load your subtitle file into Notepad and find the characters that look like garbage and delete them.
Q: DvdAuthorGui gives me "Path/File" Access Error. How do I fix this?
A: This occurs in Windows Vista when using UAC. To turn off UAC, go to the control panel and in the search box type "User Account". If it still doesn't work, try right clicking on the shortcut and "Run As Administrator". Make sure you are running version 1.013 or later.
Q: I have softsubs. Should I convert them to hard subs?
A: No. You can convert to hard subs, but your picture quality will be worse and you will be wasting video bandwidth. MPG is a lossy compression so the picture quality varies dependent on the bitrate you set, the difference in objects, the amount of movement between frames, etc. If you look closely at the hardsubs, you can see the pixels around the subtitle are not clear. If you use softsubs, the DVD player will encode this separately from the video so the video quality will be the same.
Q: There are hardsubs already in the AVI. Can I still create a DVD?
A: Yes. It will work fine. Just follow the same process and the subtitles window will display <none>.
Q: It took me a week to encode a 20 episode series. Can I make it shorter?
A: You can make it shorter but it will be lower quality. If your source is already low quality, then this may be a good option because it won't improve much anyway. If you want to use your computer while converting, choose "Normal" or "Low" for task priority in the Misc tab. To lower the quality and improve speed, use CCE 2 pass VBR, QuEnc, turn off "Use High Quality", or change the TmpgEnc motion search precision.
Q: How long does the whole process take?
A: I use 4 pass VBR and it takes me between 3 and 4 hours to convert each AVI with a 1.6 GHz Pentium 4. Typically, I set up a batch process for 4 AVIs and run it over night. The next day, I author and burn it.
Q: What is the best encoder?
A: Costwise, QuEnc is free, TmpgEnc and CCE have different versions that vary in price. Qualitywise, TmpgEnc and CCE are about the same. CCE is the fastest encoder. If you want to do other things besides burn DVDs, TmpgEnc is by far the best. It gives you the most flexibility and options and has a nice wizard for ease of use. No matter what encoder you use, ultimately the quality comes down to using VBR, how good your original AVI looks, and the bitrate of your DVD. The more episodes you put on 1 DVD, the lower the bitrate and the lower the quality. If you want top quality, then stick with about 3 hours per DVD. 4 hours will give you good results also.
Q: I spent 2 weeks encoding using a batch file and I am 1 MB over on my DVD. You suck and so does this tutorial.
A: Was that a question or a statement? This really shouldn't happen, but may depending on the DVD authoring software that you use and the type of menus you have. Menus with audio, images, or motion will all take up space, so you should use a number smaller than 4430 to compensate. Also, DVD-Rs have a different capacity than DVD+Rs. If you are over, re-encode the audio of the AVIs using the Audio Batch Processing in SimpleAvis2Dvd with a lower bitrate. This should only take 10 minutes. If you find that you are consistently over or under for available space on your DVD, then change the default episode size in SimpleAvis2Dvd in the setup options.
Q: I get this when i try to preview my video in dvd2svcd "couldn't locate a decompresor fourcc". How do I fix this?
A: You probably don't have the correct codec. Check to see if you can play the video in a Windows Media Player and/or load it into GSpot to make sure you have the codec. If it is XVID, download Koepi's XviD codec.
Q: I am still having overscan problems with my TV. Can I add a larger border or shift the video?
A: In SimpleAvis2Dvd, File/Setup/Additional Border Blocks and/or Horizontal Shift. Each additional block is 8 pixels on the sides. Horizontal Shift is 1 pixel. If you want to see what the image will look like, stop the conversion just as dvd2svcd starts. Then load the AVI manually into dvd2svcd and on the conversion tab choose Go/Preview Video.
Q: Why is my MPG file 3 GB when it shows 1110 as the episode size?
A: CCE trial versions and versions after 2.5 need to be invoked with an ECL file. This limitation is not only limited to DVD2SVCD but other all-in-one programs that use CCE. There is a tool called "eclcce" that is supposed to fix this. If you search the internet, you can find a version of CCE 2.5.
Q: I am using CCE 2.5. Why does my encoding sometimes freeze with a checksum error or freeze after processing?
A: This is a known problem with CCE 2.5. If you do a google search for "CRC Patch" this can be fixed by installing the patch.
Q: I am using QuEnc and get an error saying "bad parameter=mpeg2". How do I fix this?
A: You can ignore this. The error message should automatically close after a few seconds.
Q: I am using TmpgEnc and I can play the AVI fine in Windows Media Player, but it still will not convert to MPV. Can I fix this?
A: TmpgEnc uses VFAPI plugins. If you have more than 1 codec installed for a given FOURCC, there may be a conflict. Open TmpgEnc, choose Options/Environmental Setting/VFAPI plug-in. Right click "Direct Show Multimedia File Reader". Click "Higher Priority" until it is at the top.
Q: Stupid video still will not convert. What the heck?
A: As a last resort, you could try to convert the AVI into an XVID or DIVX AVI using Virtual Dub (Thanks Bunk for the suggestion). Then load again into SimpleAvis2Dvd. These are the most common codecs with the fewest problems. Keep in mind however that you will lose quality if you do this.
Q: Can I use different programs than you used above?
A: Sure. Mix and match whatever you want and whatever is easiest for you. The steps are the same.
AVI to DVD standard MPG. Author using MPG. Burn to DVD
or
AVI to MP2 (Audio) MPV (Video). Author using MP2 and MPV. Burn to DVD.
Q: Can you recommend a free Dvd burner?
A: Do a google search on any of these - cdrtfe, InfraRecorder, or fecddvd. (Thanks ivenxubi for recommendations)
Q: I know I am doing the process correct, but it still doesn't play.
A: 1. Is your DVD player ok? - Test the DVDs in your computer and on another DVD player. Check videohelp.com to see if other people have had similar problems with that DVD player.
2. Is your authoring software creating incompatible DVDs? - Play the DVD on your hard drive - point to the VIDEO_TS / AUDIO_TS folder or a IFO file and play with a Windows DVD player. Also author a disc using different authoring programs and play this in your Dvd Player.
3. Are your MPGs ok? - Play the converted MPGs using a Media Player.
4. Is the AVI ok? Play it in a Windows Media Player.
5. Are your DVDRs compatible? - Some brands of DVDRs don't work with combinations of certain burners and DVD players. Try a different brand. Also check a site like Amazon where the people rate the DVDRs and see if other people have had similar problems.
6. Do you have too many codecs installed? Load your AVI into Gspot. Test your codecs in the "Proposed codec Solutions and Tests". Uninstall a bad one through the Windows Control Panel/Sounds And Audio Devices/Hardware/Video Codecs/Properties.
Q: It takes too long I don't care about quality I just want to view it on my TV. Is there an easier way?
A: You are welcome to see if you can find an easier or better way for you. There are several popular programs that at videohelp.com under the "tools / all-in-one conversion" section. However, I cannot recommend any of them. I have tried them all and I either ran into conversion problems or I don't like the quality that they produce.
Q: I heard about DVD players that will play divx AVIs. Can I just use this?
A: Sure if you don't want any hassles, then this may be for you. Just burn AVIs directly as "data" files and you can watch them on the TV. Check videohelp.com for a list and reviews. If you decide to buy one, you need to be very careful because there are problems with codec compatibility, displaying softsubs, resizing image quality, and overscan. I have one of these players and these are the reasons I still convert to DVD video.
Q: I don't have Windows. Is there a way to do this using Linux?
A: This comes pretty close to doing the same thing. Thanks again to Pokute for the link.
http://inferno.slug.org/cgi-bin/wiki?AviToVob
Q: Does SimpleAvis2Dvd work with any AVI?
A: Yes. It should work with all AVIs. I have not yet found an AVI that it will not convert.
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I will occasionally post updates and improvements to this program. Subscribe to this thread if you want details of the updates.
Version History below.