DV burning with Nero6

[Ken Read]

I am editing DV with Media Studio Pro 6.0.1 very successfully to an Mpeg2 file on hard drive but I have recently purchased a firewire DVD writer bundled with Nero 6. When I try to burn a DVD+R using the Nero 6 DVD burner the quality is Crap.
If I back up the MPEG2 file to DVD so I do not allow Nero to re-render the files the quality is maintained but the DVD cannot be used without a computer. Has anyone got a solution to this problem with Nero 6 or can you suggest another DVD burning programme which will maintain the high DV quality?

 

[rebootjim]

Don't use NeroVision Express, simply open Nero Burning Rom and burn the mpeg as DVD. No transcoding involved.
There are many parts to Nero, and when you say, "using the Nero 6 DVD burner", we really don't know what part you are using.
Nero doesn't have a "DVD Burner". It has Nero Recode, Nerovision Express, Nero Burning Rom, Nero Express, Nero Backitup, etc...

 

[celtic_druid]

Simply burning the mpg won't work unless the player supports RAW MPG's. Not used it myself but surely NVE can author the mpg without re-encoding?

 

[rebootjim]

Yes and no.
Nerovision Express will insist on "transcoding" the video to include the menus and chapters, but ONLY if the source is perfect and within dvd spec for bitrate, audio content and bitrate, etc.
Even a fully compliant dvd mpeg produced with Canopus Procoder, it will attempt to re-encode, then promptly error out asking if you want to reduce the quality because the filesize is 37.4 terrabytes or some other stupid thing. Then when you click YES to automatically reduce the quality, it says it cannot, do you want to do it manually? Click Yes, and you're left to guess how to do that, click No, and you end up with a 37.4 terrabyte mpeg that won't burn anyhow.
It works splendidly for creating menus and chapters for (S)VCD, but will always transcode and throw the audio out of sync (or the video out of sync, depending on how you want to look at it).
If your source file is NOT 704x480 it will re-encode. It will not accept HalfD1 or 352x240 as valid dvd aspects. It will not accept AC3 audio either, but has no error message to tell you, so you end up with a dvd that has no sound.
[/rant]
What you need to do, is author the program in a good dvd authoring application, and Nerovision Express does not qualify as "good". You can then burn the resulting VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders to dvdr in Nero, or if your authoring app produces an iso, or image file, use Nero to burn that.

 

[Ken Read]

Thanks for all this technical infomation which is much appreciated , but does this mean that the resulting DVD will play on non-computer players.?

Ken Read

 

[rebootjim]

Yes. Once the video is encoded properly, any decent authoring program will do the "right" thing, and once burned, it should play in all dvd players.
There are a couple of other factors to consider. The burning speed (slower is better) and the dvdr media. There's cheap media (dvdr blanks), that will not successfully burn at it's rated speed. Theoretically, one would burn at 4x on 8x media to ensure success. This doesn't always apply, but is a good rule of thumb.

To get better results, for a beginner, use Mainconcept to encode your video and DVDLab to author it. Yes, there are other options, and some programs are good, some are not. Of other programs you may want to try, Ulead DVD Studio, and TMPGEnc DVD Author for authoring, and TMPGEnc for encoding. You will find Mainconcept much easier to use than tmpgenc (at first), and it's definitely faster. I consider these "acceptable". Other encoders, such as CCE require a much steeper learning curve, even when wrapped around applications such as dvd2svcd.
There are also free tools, but you will soon tire of their limitations, or drop them in frustration.

 

[MysticE]

There are a couple of other factors to consider. The burning speed (slower is better) and the dvdr media. There's cheap media (dvdr blanks), that will not successfully burn at it's rated speed.

If the media doesn't burn right at it's rated speed, chuck it! Get and use media that is a good match for your burner and stick with it.

Even a fully compliant dvd mpeg produced with Canopus Procoder, it will attempt to re-encode, then promptly error out asking if you want to reduce the quality because the filesize is 37.4 terrabytes or some other stupid thing.

Don't know about Canopus, but with MainConcept if you encode for DVD to the proper size (adjusting the bitrate) so the end result is less than 4.3G (a bit of breathing room), NVE will use and burn it without any transcoding/re-encoding.

 

[rebootjim]

I have no idea how you got Nero to do that without transcoding. It must, in order to add the chapter points/menus. How can you be so positive it didn't transcode?
I use mainconcept for 90% of my encodes, and Nerovision will still transcode, especially for (S)VCD.

 

[ChickenMan]

I am editing DV with Media Studio Pro 6.0.1 very successfully to an Mpeg2 file on hard drive but I have recently purchased a firewire DVD writer bundled with Nero 6. When I try to burn a DVD+R using the Nero 6 DVD burner the quality is Crap.
If I back up the MPEG2 file to DVD so I do not allow Nero to re-render the files the quality is maintained but the DVD cannot be used without a computer. Has anyone got a solution to this problem with Nero 6 or can you suggest another DVD burning programme which will maintain the high DV quality?

You need to AUTHOR your mpeg2 file first. Load it into DVDLab (they have a free 30day trial version available), compile and then burn with Nero (Burning Rom) in Video-DVD form by drgging over the VIDEO_TS folder. Only then will it play in your DVD Player.