AVI --> DVD (audio: AC3 5.1)

Hi everyone this was previously posted in shareconnector.com b4 it
was shutdown. It achieved a sticky there and I think this would be
very usefull to anybody wanting to know how to keep surround sound
while converting their movies to dvd.

::edit::

The following tutorial teaches how to keep 5.1* ac3 audio while
converting an .AVI** file to DVD for use in a standalone player.

Programs that will be used:

-[bold]http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te3xp.html TMPGenc 3 Xpress[/bold]
-[bold]http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/ VirtualDub[/bold]
-[bold]http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=65889 VirtualDub
mod[/bold]
-[bold]http://www.headbands.com/gspot/download.html Gspot[/bold]
-[bold]http://www.mediachance.com/download.htm DVDLab Pro[/bold]
-[bold] http://www.nero.com/en/index.html Nero[/bold]

[bold]Step 1:Open Gspot.[/bold]

Run-through what Gspot is:

Gspot is an application that can analyse a video file that can display
the characteristics of the file such as the frame rate, length, size
and what codec's are used to process the data.



* Click on the button that the arrow is pointing to.
* Select the video file that you would like to find statistics about and open it

When the video has been opened, the blank spaces will be filled with
the information about the file.

For example:



The only real note you will need to take from this screen, is the
frames per second (above the black 1.)

If the FPS*** is 23.xx or 29 it is NTSC, if it is 25 it is PAL.

It may be handy just to copy down wether your video is one or the
other for future use, because you will need it later on.

Now you can shut Gspot.

[bold] Step 2: [/bold]

Open up TMPGenc 3 Xpress and you will be presented with the following screen:



I will just give a quick rundown, what each button does.

[bold]1[/bold]. This is to start a new project from scratch.
[bold]2[/bold]. This button allows you to open a project previously saved.
[bold]3[/bold]. Batch encode tool is meant if you have already added data
into this tool. For example when all the settings are completed for
one conversion, you can either chose start now or add to batch. If you
add a more than one to batch, and start the batch, they will be
processed in chronological order of input.
[bold]4[/bold]. MPEG tools opens up numerous tools associated with
audio/video splitting/joining and some other neat tools that most
people won't ever have to use.

[bold] Step 3: [/bold]

Click on the start new project button.

The next box that comes up looks like this:



Click on add file and select the same AVI that you opened with Gspot.

On the next screen just make sure the video mode is set to Progressive
not interlaced regardless of FPS.

Click ok.

When this screen:



comes up click set output (the button the arrow is pointing to)

The next dialog box that appears is the following:



Now here is the part of the knowledge of the FPS of your video comes
into play. Now that you know the FPS choose the appropriate, NTSC or
PAL. If your video was 23.xx or 29 choose NTSC or if it is 25 choose
PAL.

After you have click on one of the options

Also after you have click up one them, more options are displayed in
the grey blank part of the dialog.

The aspect ratio is the dimensions of the screen you wish to view the
completed DVD on.

If it is a standard square TV chose 4:3, however if it is a wide
screen choose 16:9

For the Rate control mode choose constant bit rate and the audio
doesn't matter which you have because we will be using at external
audio source.

After the settings are right choose select button down the bottom of the screen.

[bold] Step 4: [/bold]

After you have pressed the select button before you will be presented
with another dialog box:



[bold]1[/bold].Be sure to make the image resolutions the highest available.

[bold]2[/bold].Select either 4.7GB if you have a single layer DVD burner or
8.5 if you have a dual-layer burner.

[bold]3[/bold].If your movie file is more than 1 file then for example if it
is 2, make this one around 48%, then observe the average video bit
rate and round it off to the closest thousand, then when you do the
second video part use the same average video bit rate. If there are 3
parts, then 30% of capacity and round average bitrate and so on. If
you do have a dual layer DVD burner then you can leave the average
video bitrate on 8000

Click ok down the bottom to continue.

The next box is to choose even [bold]more[/bold] settings.



On the orange shaded area, choose ES (Video only).

[bold]1[/bold]. In this pull down menu select Progressive
[bold]2[/bold]. In this change it from Standard to Highest (with error correction)

When these options have been changes choose the encode button up the
top of the screen.

The next box will look like this:



[bold] Step 5: [/bold]

Click Browse… and choose the destination you would like to save the
converted video to.

After you have done this you have two choices.

This choice depends on wether the movie is 1 or more files long.

If it is 1, choose start output if it is more click register in batch
list. After you have done this, repeat the settings for the other
file/s if it is more than 1 file and after they are all registered to
batch list, open up the batch list that should have appeared each time
you commanded register to batch list.

When you are ready to convert all files select Start Batch. This will
launch the conversion in a simultaneous manner.

You will have to wait for the conversion to finish, the time may vary,
and on a 3Ghz system it may take 2-4 hours for a 2-hour movie.

[bold] Step 6: [/bold]

When the conversion is finished you will still need to extract the
audio but don't worry it doesn't take the same time, it only takes a
couple of minutes.

Open VirtualDub mod…

Go to File à Open video file or Crtl – O

Select the original video and click open down the bottom right hand

Once the video is opened…

Go to Streams àStream list

You are presented with a box like this:



Click on the Demux button (orange and green shaded) and choose a
destination to save to in the same folder as the converted video file
you did in TMPGenc.



Once that is saved you are finally ready to put it all together!

[bold] Step 7: [/bold]

Open DVD-Lab Pro and don't be intimidated by the interface, once you
learn it you will come to enjoy its simplicity!



I'm going to go through the blue numbers and give a quick review what
each does and how.

[bold]1[/bold]. The number of movies you want to include on the DVD, this
includes video and audio. So if you want to put 2 or more movies one
the DVD you will have to create a new Movie template. Yo do this Right
click on movies folder above movie 1 selected à Add movie or Alt+M
[bold]2[/bold]. The Video & Audio, Backgrounds, Objects, Plug-ins, Clips,
Music and Images are the categories in which you can import files into
to put into the project.

Video and Audio section is where to import the converted video files
and demuxed audio will be imported, to do this Right-click on White
section above Video & Audio tab àImport.

Select the file and click open.

An error may occur when importing the ac3 audio such as this:



Ignore it, because it is perfectly normal and let the program correct
this by clicking yes.

Once the video files and audio file are imported then drag the video
file into the grey section next to the film picture in the
right-centre of the screen. Then drag the audio into the section next
to the audio 1.

If you have created more than one movie template, double click on the
template and repeat the process for the second video file and audio.

[bold]1[/bold]. This was the section to drag the video file in from where
you had imported it.
[bold]2[/bold]. The audio import was dragged into here.
[bold]3[/bold]. This is the size of the DVD-RW/R, single layer is DVD 5 and
dual layer is DVD 9, just click the arrow next to the text to change
your selection.

Now that that section has been briefed let's get onto to the
interesting parts of this program, Chapters and Menus!

Chapters:

Chapters can either done automatically or manually. If you want to put
the time into watching the movie and recording the times then by all
means go ahead. Here is how you would add them in after finding out
the times:



The orange and blue shaded section is the part of the screen to focus
on. If you click on the video section anywhere, the red line with a
plus above it will appear in that position. Drag the pointer to where
you would like to insert a chapter then click the plus above it. When
this is done it will put arrows at the designated areas in the
chapters' area. To delete an inserted chapter click on the red arrow
then the minus above the red intersecting line and it is deleted.

Ok that is for people who have a lot of time now for people who would
like a quick way to do it:

Go to [bold]Movie[/bold] à Auto-Chapters after you have clicked another box
will appear.



Within this box you can select the sensitivity of the scene detection.

The box under that gives you 2 possibilities, you can either choose a
certain amount of chapters or Find all chapters with a minimum space
or your choice.

Click ok when you are done.

Repeat this, as many times as there are movies, make sure the movie is selected.

Now that the chapters are created we must create the chapter thumbnail
selection.

Go to [bold]Menu Scene Selection Menu[/bold] à Thumbnail Scene Selection
then the next will come up.



[bold]1[/bold]. The video you want the thumbnails menu selection created for.
[bold]2[/bold]. The menu that the menu leads from. If there are numerous
videos then make the parent menu the previous movie thumbnail menu. So
for the movie 2 make the parent [bold]Movie 1 thumbnail menu[/bold].

Now all the chapters are done, it's up to mainly creativity to do the rest.



Ok, here is where some knowledge of Adobe Photoshop comes in if you
want to make appealing menus. Create your menus to the desired
appearance of your appetite and import it into images, then just drag
it in and resize it.

Then use the Aa sign to create text and make a text object such
as Play wherever you want on the menu and also the word Chapters.

Here is an example:



[bold]1[/bold]. Select the text because we are going to link this so when
you select it on the DVD player it will start the movie
[bold]2[/bold]. Make sure the Link tab is selected
[bold]3[/bold]. Here is where you click the pull down menu and make it Movie
1 à Chapter 1 (Movie Start)
[bold]4[/bold]. Link the Chapters text the following way but link it too
Scene 1 for Movie 1.

It's time to link up all the other menus now.

Click on Scene 1 for movie 1 and make sure the back button links to the menu 1:



The next button links to the scene 1 for movie 2 if there are more
than 1 movie and so on, so that they will work in the way you would
like them to work on the dvd player. Backgrounds can be inserted into
these menus as well.

Now the final thing to do is only if you have more than 1 movie:



[bold]1[/bold]. Double click on the [bold]Connections[/bold] icon
[bold]2[/bold]. Right click on first movie and go to draw connections, draw
the connection from the 1 st movie to the 2 nd movie so that when the
1 st movie ends it will go onto the 2 nd movie straight away.
[bold]3[/bold]. Go to [bold]Project à Project Properties[/bold] and select wether
the DVD is NTSC or PAL
[bold]4[/bold]. Before you go any further you should know you can insert
music into your menus, experiment with this and see what a more
pleasing result this can give
[bold]5[/bold].
After this has been done, you have checked everything looks like you
want it to look and all the links are to the desired place click:

The next box will come up:



Pick the destination to save to and press start, and you will have to
wait up to an hour for this to complete the compile.

[bold] Step 8: [/bold]

When all this is finished, all you need to do is burn it to DVD with Nero!



Select the DVD tab at the top of the box.

And choose Photo And Video and click on [bold]Burn DVD-Video Files[/bold].

Now choose the destination the DVD directory was saved to and drag the
Audio_ts and Video_ts over the DVD one and all the data will be added.

After this click burn!

Burn the disc at a slow speed so that there are less chances of error.

You are done!!!

Enjoy your creation…

A more sophisticated DVD authoring tool is
Adobe
Encore DVD

In my personal opinion Adobe Encore DVD is a much more powerful
application, but also holds a more expensive price.

For anyone in the manufacturing industry I would give it a 5/5 for it's
simplicity and powerful options.

I highly recommend buying the product!

By RaZoR_bLaDe, Yr 10, 2004 (updated yr11, 2005)

Terminology:

*5.1 – the 5 represents how many speakers/channels the audio comes
through. The .1 represents the subwoofers value.

**AVI – the term .AVI means Audio Video Interlaced (combined).

***FPS – Frames per second refers to the pictures displayed per second.

 

Well posted. I thought that it might be useful to 'Sticky' this thread...

 

It is easy, just download software from:
[REMOVED] to have a try.

 

Hey,

VSO ConvertXtoDVD will preserve your AC3 audio from the .AVI

So no need to run these 250 steps

My 2 cents...

 

Cougar, I have been having all sorts of trouble burning DVD's from an AVI, I dont get audio in the burnt DVD. I am using cyberlink power producer and when setting up there is no option to use AC3 as the audio when burning. I gather this is the problem. I have downloaded the program VSO ConvertXtoDVD as you suggested. Will this fix my problems, and does VSO have its own burning setup included? Is there a tutorial available on this program as well as I am very much a beginner here at burning DVD's.

any help much appreciated

 

Hi there,

Here's a quick guide on how to use ConvertXtoDVD.

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/vso_convertxtodvd_guide.cfm

ConvertXtoDVD has it's own built in burning engine, but once the conversion is done with ConvertXtoDVD, you can burn it with any burning software.

If your input file has AC3 audio, this is what you will see in the logs:

As you can see, it will copy the AC3 audio, and not convert it to an other format.

 

Thanks very much, this is much appreciated.

Cheers

Ex

 

avi to dvd with AC3,use the WinAVI do that maybe more quickly and easy to operate.
you can have a try：http://www.winavi.com/avi-to-dvd.htm