Dvd Authoring programs and Sync

[Harry]

which dvd authoring programs do you use?

i tried

tmpgenc dvd author
+ all is in sync
- no menu flexibility at all, e.g. i can't combine 4:3 with 16:9 movies in one menu (have to split them to tracks)

ulead dvd workshop 2
+ sound gets out of sync randomly (it remuxes)
- very good menu editing functionality

do you have any suggestions for me?

[DanR]

You might want to try DVDLab. Great sync, at least with VideoReDo files and totally custom menu layouts.

[Harry]

thanx, already tried the latest beta of the pro version (i need multi vts as i have 16:9 and 4:3 mixed). it's a bit circumvent in comparison with ulead's dvd workshop, eg referring to how to make animated menus. besides i had problems with some of my muxed files, i didnt hear audio in the compiled project. so i demuxed the streams first, tried it again and everything went fine.

did a lot of cuts today with 231, no problems at all at my side! i even took the LOTR, cut out where the balrog attacks gandalf, then i tooke THE TWO TOWERS, cut out the scene where gandalf fell down with the balrog and joined them both to one big balrog fighting scene. awesome.

[DanR]

I have found in DVDLab that it seems to work best with files demuxed either by VideoReDo or demuxed by DVDLab on import. Demuxing at burn time used to give me an occasional sync error so I don't do that anymore.

[Fortunado]

It has been a bit since any discussion happened on this thread, but I do have what might be a helpful observation about Ulead DVD Workshop...

If you are importing MPEG files and you leave the quality set to the highest level (which is the default, I believe), the program will make no attempt to recompress the video or audio. If you have some large MPEG files, you might find that you have created a DVD that is too large to fit on recordable media - your solution is to have DVD Workshop save the DVD to a folder and then to use DVDShrink or something similar to reduce the size to fit.

Anyhow, Harry is right - DVD Workshop is much more capable in menu creation, though it has some silly shortcomings. The one that annoys me the most is that you cannot set the thumbnail video to start anywhere but the start of a clip. If you are doing TV episodes, it looks totally arse to have the intro sequence showing in 4 little windows...

F

[bigdaddy]

I am having all kinds of problems keeping videos in sync using DVDlab. I have tried everything I can think of and cannot get consistant results.

All of the videos are from Videoredo and are in sync before I try to author them.

I've tried to let VRD save to elementry streams, to let DVDlab do it, tried relaxed (alternative) multiplexing and main.

I just don't know what to do next. Can somebody post a step by step idiots guide to authoring in DVDlab to keep a movie in sync.

There has to be a step I'm missing.

[DanR]

Which version of DVDLab are you using?
Which version of VideoReDo are you using?
NTSC or PAL?
Source of MPEG2 material?

[bigdaddy]

1.31
1.60-248
NTSC
Nexus-S DVB card

[DanR]

With the DVB card is it possible that DVDLab is having problems with the very long GOPs? There's an undocumented feature in VideoReDo that will show you information about the GOP size, and optionally shorten long GOPs. If you're interested in trying it, then email me at support@videoredo.com.

[bigdaddy]

mail sent! Thanks