Best way to create DVD

collbn · #1 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 08:44 AM

Newbie here. I've spent the last five hours exploring this site and found lots of great information. Thank you!

Like a lot of people on here, I'm converting my analog tapes to DVD.
I have Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 7.0 (DVD Arch. 4.0), Plextor ConverterX PXM402u and a Sony burner. I realize that the usb hookup from the converter is really not the best way to go, but it's all I have for now.

The converter is capable of converting into several forms including MPEG2 (but not avi). I can also do a direct burn of a DVD which I can then add menus, etc before finalizing. The converter uses WinDVD as the interface and it can output wmv and avi.

Between the programs, I have tons of software that came with them, but I plan on using DVD Arch to make menus, etc.
I made a test DVD using the converter and the quality was adequate.

I would like some opinions on the best way to approach this and what would give a better quality.

Should I save it to the hard drive? Or, is it better to burn directly to DVD (as an MPEG2) and then add the menus, etc? Or does it make any difference?

My understanding is that in DVD Arch, it will NOT double encode the MPEG2 again when finishing. Is that correct? If so, I'm assuming it has to at least "add" the menus, etc by MPEG2? (I think I have an understanding about making sure there is enough room on the disk for it....)

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Andy Lockwood · #2 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by collbn

Should I save it to the hard drive? Or, is it better to burn directly to DVD (as an MPEG2) and then add the menus, etc? Or does it make any difference?.

My workflow goes as follows. Edit and render as MPEG2. import into DVDA and create menus etc, author the DVD to hard drive and then burn to disc. You wont be able to burn the files to a disc and then create menus, it just doesn't happen like that, sorry.