Templates - are they re-encoding my video?

[Number9]

Just a quick question - when I go to burn my DVD disc it always asks for a template, so as I always put less than 60 minutes of footage on a disc, I always choose the 'best quality' option.

But my DVD project shows as, say 4.1GB in DVD WS and then when I create my disc ISO file, it is usually around 3.8GB.

Wondering if the template setting causes some video re-encoding, and if so, whether there's any way around this?

James

[GeorgeW]

Which version of DVD WS are you running? 1.x, 2.x, Full, Trial, etc...

Are your source videos already "compliant" for the type of disc you are creating? If so, there are ways to have DWS use them "asis" (no re-encoding). The methods are different from version 1.x to 2.x, but I'll guess you are running 2.x. In the EDIT step, under the VIDEO and AUDIO tabs, there is an option of "Convert to disc template" -- if your source is compliant, you can check that box -- leaving it unchecked will use your files "asis". If it is grayed out, then DWS does not think they are compliant, and will encode to your template settings.

I suspect you would "KNOW" whether it is re-encoding, because it would take a long time to encode (just guessing by the amount of disc space being used).

[Devil]

If your input file is DVD-compliant and if you have the video and audio convert-to-template checkboxes unticked then WS2 will not re-encode. Otherwise, it will.

[Number9]

Thanks people - I have the full version, v2 I believe but I'll check that out.

My video files are .m2V files which I've extracted from existing DVDs using DVD Decrpyter (with .WAV soundtracks obtained in a similar way).

So they shouldn't need re-encoding I wouldn't have thought. I don't know how long it should take to create the ISO file from my project - the one I did yesterday took about 1 hour and 40 minutes (that's for one hour of video footage wth 18 chapters and a slideshow of about 80 photos with 8 minutes of backing music.)

Interestingly enough, the video footage was done in a couple of seconds and it was mostly the slideshow that took such a long time.

So, I need to have the 'Convert to disc template' box *un*checked to make sure there is no further re-encoding?

One more question (sorry!) - I have some footage which, without menus and music, takes up an entire DVD5 disc - so in order to add the menus, photos and music, I will need to compress the video slightly in order for it all to fit.

If I select the '90 minutes' template, will this re-encode my video so that it all fits on one disc? Or would it be better to find a way to compress my video slightly before importing it? ( I have TMPGEnc Plus and imagine there'd be a way to do it there somehow...)

Cheers!

James

[Terry Stetler]

Yes, uncheck the convert to disc template option to avoid recompression.

It'll be faster to recompress the clips to a new size using the DVDWS encoder, which uses the MainConcept encoder core and is much faster than TMPGEnc.

[Number9]

Yes, uncheck the convert to disc template option to avoid recompression.

It'll be faster to recompress the clips to a new size using the DVDWS encoder, which uses the MainConcept encoder core and is much faster than TMPGEnc.

Thanks very much Terry - this may be a newbie question but where do I find this encoder option (or do I just use the 90 minute template as I suggested?)

James

[Devil]

Just check the boxes to force re-encoding. For a 1 hour total, use the Customise bit of the template (instead of choosing a fixed period/quality) and select Constant bitrate (CBR) at 6000 kbit/s. For anything containing a slideshow, do NOT use VBR as you will have too many transitions which will hog the quality. The speed of encoding depends on the horsepower of your system.