mpeg2 to dvd-r question

I have some mpeg2 video that I would like to burn with Toast to make a regular DVD for playing in a standard player. I have the usual suite of vid tools like ffmpegx and such, but don't know what format to convert them to. Can I use the "Save As" in Quicktime to save them as QT mov files and then burn from there?

Any directions to FAQ's or procedures, or other info is appreciated. I do a lot of audio work but now that I am dabbling in some video conversion I am adrift.

Thanks!

 

Mpeg2 is DVD video.
1. In Toast select the "Video" tab and choose "DVD-Video" under the "Advanced" tab on the Disc Settings drawer (to open it click on the disc title).
2. Drag your video file/s onto the Toast window.
3 .If you drag several video files you may want to tick "Auto-play items" for them to play seamlessly.
4. If you want a menu click on "Create DVD Menu".
5. Click on the "Red" button.

Because you are using mpeg2 files Toast should not need to re-encode the video. If you were using other format Toast would encode it to mpeg2 before burning (in this case choose between "standard" (faster encoding speed) or "high" on the "Video Quality" pop-up menu).

 

That was my first inclination and it doesn't work. I'll keep looking for info. Thanks.

 

You can also look for an app called "sizzle."

 

I'm still trying to work some bugs out. Do you have any suggestions for an app that will give me the particulars for a mpeg video file, or other video file. It seems like you can have a lot of different file types that all have the same extension. Things like resolution, interlacing, audio stream, format... they don't seem to have any direct correlation to the file extension.

I am finding that converting video to mpeg4 is making some of the files play nice with Toast, but I would really like to know more about the nuts and bolts.

Also, I'm looking but I don't see anything in the way of detailed documentation for Toast that tells me what formats it will burn to DVD vd VCD and any other technical type of information. It seems like they want it to be so dumbed down that you have to use trial and error to figure it out.

Again, Thanks for all of the help.

 

Load it up in quicktime and select "get movie properties." That will tell you some. FFmpegX, 42 and many other apps may help too.

 

If you can open the movie in QT just cliclk on "Window" in the
menu bar and select "Show Movie Info".

If you open it with VLC click as well on "Window" and select
"Info".

Or if you open it in ffmpegX it will tell you above the "Open"
button all the movie info.

EDIT: MG, you type faster than me.

 

Great minds think alike eh?

 

Hi pretty much trying to do the same thing. I am currently burning a 140MB avi file using Toast. The process is slow and is currently encoding, been going for well over 2 hours now. A couple of times I have been thrown up with a Quicktime alert sign saying that it is missing a component. The toast process continues, not sure what I will get at the end of it. However can anyone tell me from experience what might the component I am lacking and how do I get to get round this laborious process? Thanks.

 

The missing component would most likely be the "codec."
Which is short for code/decode.

If you proceed without it, my guess is that your final product
will be a file with black video. If you have video then you
wont have audio as the missing codec would be the audio
coded. Worst case you have neither!

I usually start toast on those jobs when I go to bed because
they take so long.

 

thx for getting back mediaguru. In an ideal world when I drag my avi files to the toast window, should I be able to see them playing in the small preview windows? I have not been able to do this thus far. Secondly, how does one get these missing components? From my understanding I am trying to get the file to become MPEG2, how do I achieve this?

 

ffmpegX is way faster than Toast for these things. Use the "DVD ffmpeg", "DVD-lo" or "DVD mpeg2enc" quick preset. You will end up with a VIDEO_TS folder that you can burn using Toast.

If a codec is missing find out which one it is looking at the movie info and download it. Sometimes it is difficult finding old codecs though.

 

Please excuse my ignorance Londor, but are the following ffmpegX DVD ffmpeg", "DVD-lo" or "DVD mpeg2enc" pieces of kit to download, which will help me do this process or are they options available in the toast software?

Secondly, when I have checked the movie info, it usually just tells me that the AVI is a DIvX version, does not tell me what codec is amiss. Thx for your help.

 

No FFMPEGX is another program completely.

download and read about it here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15473

 

DivX is the codec.

Download and install these two codecs that will allow you to play most AVI files with QT:

http://www.divx.com/divx/download/

http://www.3ivx.com/download/macos.html


ffmpegX is a video/audio encoder:

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

 

mediaguru and londor thanks for your help. I have downloaded all of your suggestions. One other snag with the FFmpegx programme, it has asked me to download 4 items in accord with it's licensing laws 2 of which have come down no problem. The other two seem to be more tricky. 1. mpeg2enc which they suggest i get from http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/, but all i get is jibberish. 2. Real Libs which they suggest i get from http://forms.helixcommunity.org/hel...1.1.5-DevRel_macos-gcc3-pb_all_clients.tar.gz I have downloaded this successfully but there doesn't seem to be anything in the download that I can place anywhere. Just wondering if these items are crucial or I can run the prog without them. Thx again

 

To download the "mpeg2enc" component go here

http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/

Scroll down until you see "mpeg2enc" written in blue. Press the option key (the one that says "alt") at the same time that you click on it. One file will be downloaded to your desktop. Now in the ffmpegX screen click on locate and navigate to this file.

With the other file is the same once you have dowloaded it just click on locate and navigate to it.

 

all seems to be up and running as far as the program is concerned thank you for your help. I'm a bit stuck at the next point, though, there are so many options in the drop boxes, not sure if I should be encoding from to, is there an easy to use guide somewhere I;ve done a google and not really getting what I need. basically the AVI's that I have are divX, and i want to be able to read them on DVD. Now I believe that the FFMPegx prog will allow me to create a VIDEO_TS folder, and I know where to go from there, what are the correct settings to get to that stage?

 

As I said earlier if you do not know how to fine tune it just use the quick presets.

Open your avi file, choose a destination for the output, select "DVD ffmpeg", "DVD-lo" or "DVD mpeg2enc" in "Quick Presets", select PAL or NTSC and click on "encode".

In the ffmpegX homepage you can find all the documentation you need (check in the left hand side of the window).

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

 

You have been very helpful, let you know how I go. As a matter of interest how long does say a 30min clip take to render?