Multiple AVIs / single DVD disc?
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myleftshoe
- Junior Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:54 am
Found out by accident to put multiple avis (e.g. episodes in a series) on one dvd without joining or naming with CD1, CD2 etc you can run the first job to completion then repeat the process for the subsequent jobs leaving the Name field on "Step 2 Output" tab the same as the first job. Do not delete the dvd folder between jobs. You will end up with multiple tracks with files names VTS_01* VTS_02* VTS_03* in the VIDEO_TS folder which can be accessed by the track button on your DVD player remote. You can probably design the dvd menu to access these also but I haven?t done it, the track button is good enough for me.
I tried your discovery (well done for that) as described and found some problems.
If your total running time is less than 100 minutes approximately you have no problems with the DVD length. However if the running time is 120 minutes for example the DVD folder will be too big. The reason is the MPEG compression/bitrate is decided before the process is started, so there is no way Avi2Dvd can know you wish to add more VTS's to the DVD folder. So the bitrate is set to the highest available for optimum quality, to a maximum of 8000 kbps to fill the space available.
The other problem will be the menu creation programme who will also face the same predicament. It will not know on the first title that there will be more later. In fact the menu creation programme can only deal with one VTS by all reports.
Disturbingly I found you could mix different frame rates (25 fps and 29.97 fps) and different aspect ratio (Full Screen and Wide Screen) without a proper menu structure and end up with a totally non-compliant DVD. I would assume that most DVD players would object to this and come to a stop.
Provided you stick to the limitations described above (less than 100 minutes, no mixed frame rates or aspect ratio) then there will be no problems with the results, accepting no menu.
You cannot use the batch conversion facility (job1, job2, etc.) as the Avi2Dvd will warn you if you have the same destination folder and ask you to change that before proceeding.
I read that the author of Avi2Dvd is pursuing the development of his project, so I hope the option of multiple title sets and a menu option will be seen in the future.
If your total running time is less than 100 minutes approximately you have no problems with the DVD length. However if the running time is 120 minutes for example the DVD folder will be too big. The reason is the MPEG compression/bitrate is decided before the process is started, so there is no way Avi2Dvd can know you wish to add more VTS's to the DVD folder. So the bitrate is set to the highest available for optimum quality, to a maximum of 8000 kbps to fill the space available.
The other problem will be the menu creation programme who will also face the same predicament. It will not know on the first title that there will be more later. In fact the menu creation programme can only deal with one VTS by all reports.
Disturbingly I found you could mix different frame rates (25 fps and 29.97 fps) and different aspect ratio (Full Screen and Wide Screen) without a proper menu structure and end up with a totally non-compliant DVD. I would assume that most DVD players would object to this and come to a stop.
Provided you stick to the limitations described above (less than 100 minutes, no mixed frame rates or aspect ratio) then there will be no problems with the results, accepting no menu.
You cannot use the batch conversion facility (job1, job2, etc.) as the Avi2Dvd will warn you if you have the same destination folder and ask you to change that before proceeding.
I read that the author of Avi2Dvd is pursuing the development of his project, so I hope the option of multiple title sets and a menu option will be seen in the future.
Avi-Mux Gui
I am using Avi2Dvd version 0.6.1 and now avi-mux gui stops whenever I try to join files using the naming convention described in various posts. I was able to do it before in version 0.6 running avi-mux gui in XP sp2 compatibility mode, but now it doesn't work. Does anyone have a possible solution for this for Vista Home Premium?
If AVI files, try using VirtualDub (NOT VDubMod) to join the files and sort out the audio if there are warnings, then try again. If you need help using VirtualDub then see previous threads.
If this method works then there may be a problem, if it does not then you are trying to join incompatible files.
Please let us know if you are successful.
If this method works then there may be a problem, if it does not then you are trying to join incompatible files.
Please let us know if you are successful.
Seems that I was trying to join two mkv files with slightly different bitrates. Tried it on some other mkv's of similar size and type that had come from the same source (same bitrate) and Avi2Dvd worked like a charm.
I haven't been using the program very long, but based on my experience and posts I see in your forum, most issues are either codec conflicts, OS compatibility, or incompatible files and not the program per se. This is just my opinion of course.
By the way do you know of a way to append files with different bitrates? Can one be re-encoded with the same bitrate as the other or is there another way?
Thanks
I haven't been using the program very long, but based on my experience and posts I see in your forum, most issues are either codec conflicts, OS compatibility, or incompatible files and not the program per se. This is just my opinion of course.
By the way do you know of a way to append files with different bitrates? Can one be re-encoded with the same bitrate as the other or is there another way?
Thanks
I tend not to work with MKV files as I find them the most problematic of formats, second to WMV.
However there are a few tips that may be of some assistance.
If you don't require a selective menu then there are two main options. 1) Try another TrustFM product, Foto2Avi, to produce an AVI file of the combined video (or JPG) files and then feed the output into Avi2Dvd. You can use different input formats, however you must understand that you are introducing an additional encoding stage, and there can be a loss in quality. 2) Convert all files to a standard format, in the case of AVI files using VirtualDub, then using the re-naming technique. You will have more control over the quality of the video, but you will again be introducing an additional encoding stage, and there can be a loss in quality. In either method you end up with a single file and if you wish to jump to a particular episode on a multi-episode disc, you will require to set up the chapter points manually.
If you are not fussed about a menu then you can convert all episode separately using Avi2Dvd (using the batch method), then using DVD Shrink to compress and fit the individual DVD filesets into one ready for burning.
There are other methods, using other encoders that can take multiple DVD filests and re-encode them with a functional menu into one DVD fileset. However most will completely re-encode the DVD filesets, so you have introduced a time consuming additional process.
Avi2Dvd remains for me the best and only way to change frame rates from 23.976 to 25 fps without that annoying judder that comes from adding duplicate individual frames, and is as close to a "single click" process that some expensive products can't achieve.
However there are a few tips that may be of some assistance.
If you don't require a selective menu then there are two main options. 1) Try another TrustFM product, Foto2Avi, to produce an AVI file of the combined video (or JPG) files and then feed the output into Avi2Dvd. You can use different input formats, however you must understand that you are introducing an additional encoding stage, and there can be a loss in quality. 2) Convert all files to a standard format, in the case of AVI files using VirtualDub, then using the re-naming technique. You will have more control over the quality of the video, but you will again be introducing an additional encoding stage, and there can be a loss in quality. In either method you end up with a single file and if you wish to jump to a particular episode on a multi-episode disc, you will require to set up the chapter points manually.
If you are not fussed about a menu then you can convert all episode separately using Avi2Dvd (using the batch method), then using DVD Shrink to compress and fit the individual DVD filesets into one ready for burning.
There are other methods, using other encoders that can take multiple DVD filests and re-encode them with a functional menu into one DVD fileset. However most will completely re-encode the DVD filesets, so you have introduced a time consuming additional process.
Avi2Dvd remains for me the best and only way to change frame rates from 23.976 to 25 fps without that annoying judder that comes from adding duplicate individual frames, and is as close to a "single click" process that some expensive products can't achieve.