Burning mpeg2 to DVD?

[feralicious]

Wondering if someone can tell me what I need to do to burn this Morphine mpeg2 DVD file I downloaded to DVD.

I've searched dvdrhelp and can't seem to find a straightforward guide to tell me what I need to do to get this burned. I really don't want to author it, just make a basic DVD. It's not the best quality and I've actually thought about not even keeping it, so I don't want to put too much time and effort into it.
Do I need use an authoring program just to get it into shape for burning? Do I really need to demux it? Can I just drop it into Nero and will Nero do what it needs to do to make a DVD, like making a VCD from an avi?

Thanks.

[Five]

I'm not a video guy but as I recall it's better to not to change a VCD into a DVD since it boosts the size so much without adding any quality. Maybe RainDawg could step in and make a comment here...

[feralicious]

It's not VCD. mpeg2 is DVD encoded.

Also, I wanted to add some info... I'm on a PC running WinXP Pro. And even though I can play it fine on my ATI multimedia center, when I open it in GSpot it says I don't have the codec. ??? I've attached a pic of it open in GSpot to show that and also to show what it comes up as as far as its encoding.

[Five]

okay just disregard my previous post, I'll just lurk and lean something about video lol. I'm sure an expert will arrive here soon...

[RainDawg]

Yes, this is DVD quality video. You can tell because it's 720 x 480 MPEG-2. In order to burn it to even a "simple DVD" you'll need to author it. TMPGEnc DVD-Author is a nice progam for this. I believe that NeroVision also has a DVD Authoring section.

Bottom line, you cann't just burn the mpg2 file to a disc and expect it to play in a DVD player. Even if you just make it with no chapters and no menu, it needs to be "authored" to a VIDEO_TS folder containing the right info files and .vob files so that your DVD player can read it.

www.dvdrhelp.com contains hundreds of guides for DVD authoring....

[RainDawg]

PS Ignore what GSpot says about you not having the codec. What that means is that you have not installed the Windows MPEG-2 codec (which last time I checked you have to pay for!). If you have installed a DVD player or another third party media player, then the MPEG-2 codec will be installed....GSpot just won't see it because it's the not the Windows one.

What media player do you use for playing back MPEG-2?

You've got a dvd-compliant mpeg file there. In order to creat a dvd that will play on a standalone home player, you need to author it into a dvd. That will yield a VIDEO_TS folder with several files with extensions like .vob .ifo .bup etc. Then you can burn that into a dvd.

My favorite dvd authoring program is Sony DVD Architect although DVD Lab Pro is also supposed to be good. It will take some time to learn those programs... if you want something basic, but somewhat unattractive try TMPGEnc DVD Author.

[feralicious]

Well I was hoping I didn't have to go the authoring route. I'm not very good at that, though I did manage to figure out how to make a playable DVD that stops on black in DVD Studio Pro on my Mac. I just don't know how I did it and I'm not sure I can repeat it! I'll check what authoring programs I've acquired for my PC and see if one of those is easier. I just don't have the time to get too into learning it all right now, though I really want to get it down one day.

I use PowerDVD to play from discs and VIDEO_TS folders, and I use my ATI multimedia center that came with my video card to play mpegs and avis, it plays all of them.

Thanks for the help and explanations!

[RainDawg]

Originally Posted by feralicious

I use PowerDVD to play from discs and VIDEO_TS folders, and I use my ATI multimedia center that came with my video card to play mpegs and avis, it plays all of them.

That's what I use. It has the MPEG-2 Codec itself, so it doesn't register with GSpot.

It's really pretty easy to author just a single track DVD....don't be intimidated!

[feralicious]

Actually, it's not intimidation, I make a living working with Avids, and now I'm using Final Cut Pro, it's just that I don't have the time to get too into it since all the other aspects of this music trading already take up so much of my time. As I'm sure you are well aware!

[RainDawg]

Ahh...it only take a few minutes to create a VIDEO_TS folder from a single mpg if you don't add chapters or anything. Easy.

[U2Lynne]

Nina, do you have Toast Titanium? I think you can just select Video/DVD-Video and drag your mpeg-2 into the window there. It can create a menu for you or you can uncheck that option and just have no menu. (I think, I've never actually done this, but I'm pretty sure that's how it's done)

[feralicious]

Hm... that's a thought Lynne, maybe I'll check that out. But I just got TMPGEnc DVD Author so maybe I'll give that a shot then I won't have to move stuff around so that I can transfer such big file to my Mac. That's why I need to burn this sucka, I need to clear out some HD space!