Converting video question

CycleWriter · Post by **CycleWriter** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:46 pm

A couple of my last video projects have left me stumped. Both were made up entirely of MPG2 clips with few titles, no transitions or effects. Yet, when it came time to burn them they took an inordinate amount of time in the "Converting Video" stage of the process. Why does there even need to be any conversion if the clips are already in the format that will be used to create a DVD? Also, I did both videos over in another editor (Power Director) using the exact same clips and they took less than a 3rd of the time to create a DVD. I realize the Ulead encoder may be a bit more aggressive and MAY produce slightly better picture quality, but more than 3 hours to create a 1 hour DVD seems excessive.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:48 am

Both were made up entirely of MPG2 clips with few titles, no transitions or effects.

If these are DVD-compatible MPEG-2, and if all of the clips have identical properties (same bitrate, etc.) you may be able avoid re-coding altogether. It still needs to render, but his shouldn't take much longer than it takes to copy the files. When you get to the burn-screen, there is a check-box that says Do Not Convert Compliant MPEGs.

If you do need to re-code, somewhere in Video Studio... There is a Quality slider that allows you to choose between speed and quality. But, I have no idea how Video Studio's speed/quality compares to Power Director.

CycleWriter · Post by **CycleWriter** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:00 am

DVDDoug wrote:If these are DVD-compatible MPEG-2, and if all of the clips have identical properties (same bitrate, etc.) you may be able avoid re-coding altogether. It still needs to render, but his shouldn't take much longer than it takes to copy the files. When you get to the burn-screen, there is a check-box that says Do Not Convert Compliant MPEGs.

If you do need to re-code, somewhere in Video Studio... There is a Quality slider that allows you to choose between speed and quality. But, I have no idea how Video Studio's speed/quality compares to Power Director.

Thanks, Doug. One of the videos is made up of two lengthy clips captured in DV MPEG2 format from the aux inputs of my tuner card (VCR output). Since VS does not allow me to change any of the settings in this mode (actually, I'm sure this is a function of the tuner card and not VS), I assume it is the same MPEG2 format that will be used to make a DVD. Am I wrong in this assumption? I do check the "Do not convert..." box, but I also have the 2 pass box checked, as well. For this particular project I have to use the "Fit to media" option as it is over 3 hours long and I'm using a SL DVD. EVen if the MPEG2 formats aren't a match, why does it take so long to convert? Videos I make from AVI files convert much faster. I'm going to make a DVD of this particular project (conversion of a VHS tape to DVD) in both VS and PD just to compare burn times and output quality. Will let you know how it turns out.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:43 am

Can you give us the exact properties (video and audio) for the captured mpeg-2? Then we can work out more accurately if it is indeed DVD compatible. (I am assuming that when you say it was "DV mpeg-2", that was merely a typo for "DVD mpeg-2"...) And please tell us what editing you did, and any audio etc you might have added.

I trust you also realise that two pass encoding in effect doubles the processing time since the program goes through the project once and works out optimal settings for the final render, then does it all again using those settings.