DVD Flick or VSO ConvertXtoDVD

I'm currently using DVD Flick to re-encode my avi, mpeg, mov, etc files to DVD format. DVD Flick works fine, but it's very time consuming. Would VSO ConvertXtoDVD be better? What about AVItoDVD? How would they all compare speed and picture quality wise? Anyone?

 

What are you running on? If you have a multi-core system I'd give FAVC a try. Set it to use as many video converter instances as you have cores. Only thing I've found with FAVC is it can crap out if you set the bitrate too high. I usually set the max to 4000, whether using QuEnc or HC encoders.

It's good to have a bunch of encoders because they all seem to have different strengths afa input formats. AviDemux is good for messing with .avi but I think every .wmv I loaded into it caused it to crash. So different tools for different jobs. With FAVC all my cores run at 100% during the video encoding, so whatever else it may be, it's fast!

 

Might as well stick to DVD Flick then, there is no advantage to using a better encoder if you limit it to 4000 kb/s. Plus it appears the OP is concerned about speed.

To the OP, the other free solutions that use HCenc will take longer to encode. Quality will be slightly better on longer run times as long as you don't cripple them with a low max bitrate. Also note DVD Flick is a mature program that works well right out of the box while the others will take some codec fiddling.

CXD3 is probably the fastest of the bunch and is both stable and mature. It has many useful functions for cropping/padding and audio choices.

 

You don't have to use a better encoder. If you want speed, QuEnc single pass running 4 copies gets it done. If you want maximal quality that's something else. You seem to straddle the fence between the 2. Although "stick with flick" sounds pretty cool I have to admit.

 

You gotta move up to version 3, it's a great upgrade. It now truly merges (almost anything, subtitles too). The new Video Processing options are great as are it's new audio capabilities. All it needs now is the option to manually set the video bitrate manually when desired.

 

So I've tried convertxtoDVD and while the speed is faster than DVD Flick the quality doesn't seem as good. Why is the video TS folder so small after conversion with convertx compared to DVD flick? I like the menu options on Convertx. That's the only think flick doesn't do as well. DVD flick's menu options are really weak. I guess I'll stick with DVD flick then.

 

ConvertXtoDVD...is easy to use for converting AVI/DIVX...even DVD to DVD....too easy. Hey I drag and drop files right into this program....remove the My DVD title option, Select Image Wall as my menu option, Open title parameters, select title poster art from my personal files and use them as my menu background, Select video option, then re-size method, set my aspect ratio to 16:9 @ user defined symmetric pad & crop 20/70, select OK then convert. Works perfect every time. I can even add music to my menus if needed.....ConvertXtoDVD the best. Remember ease of use....this program is it.

 

DVD Flick is really easy to use too. Plus it seems to convert the files at a better quality.

 

Not really, it seems rather dyslexic in it's button placement.

Do you have CXD set at 'High quality --> Slow encoding time'?

 

No I don't should I?

 

I just started using ConvertXtoDVD so I still need to fiddle around with it a little more. Not too proficient in it yet. Ok you guys got me convinced, I'll give it a chance before deciding which converter to use.

 

I tried CXD set at 'High quality --> Slow encoding time and the video TS file is still pretty small. Am I doing something wrong? I figure if it's a whole movie plus menus the file shouldn't be that small. It's only like 2 gigs. Shouldn't a whole movie backup with menus be at least 4 gigs?

 

2 gigs is average (compressed)....used the steps I listed above...aspect ratio set as mentioned will increase picture quality.

 

I tried using those steps you mentioned and no dice. It's still only 2.64 gigs on disc. I even did the high quality slow encoding. Set the aspect ratio to 20/70 and still the video ts file is small. Any other advice?

 

Try another file. CXD is pretty good at figuring out what is needed, which is different than simply filling the disc. I often find dark movies come out smaller.

 

So file size on disc has nothing to do with quality? Cause I've tried converting the same file with both DVD Flick and CXD. Flick's video TS files are always bigger than CXD. So am I doing something wrong? Or is that just how CXD works?

 

ConvertXtoDVD uses variable bitrate to encode video. If your target output size is not reached (ie you are not converting files big enough to fill the disk or output size defined) no compression will be applied during the conversion (as none would be necessary) and ConvertXtoDVD can therefore attribute as much bitrate necessary for different scenes. For scenes that do not need much bitrate little will be applied, therefore leaving enough for complexe scenes requiring more bitrate. I guess you could have "left over"/ extra bitrate, but appling it throughout the video will not increase the quality if each scene already received as much bitrate as it would have liked.

The size and quality of the original file will have an impact on how much bitrate is used and provided by ConvertXtoDVD. In the case of ConvertXtoDVD the size of the output is not the best way to determine quality, watch the result to see if it is good or not.

*This explanation is only valid if you are not filling the disk. In the log file you an entry you can read:
Info Total size 521 Mb., Target size DVD5 4300 Mb., Occupation 12,14%

DVD Flick is using variable bitrate too, no?

 

I went ahead and started using ConvertxtoDvd. There are just so many more options. I love that they split the movie into chapters. DVD Flick does not do this and Convert X has way better menu options. I guess I just had to play with it a little. I just set it to best quality and time critical and it seems to work just fine. Thanks everybody for you help.