# How To Save Tivo To DVD



## fireman18

I want to save some Tivo shows to a DVD. How do I convert them so my player will recognize the file?


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## classicsat

You need to author a Video DVD. It a little more complex that having just the proper file format.

Videoredo is the easiest, Nero and Sonic can also. DirectShowDump can make an MPEG2 file you can import into a DVD authoring program.


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## fireman18

I got it to work, thanks


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## CTerrian

Which software did you use? I'm just curious, as I just bought a DVD+/-RW Burner, and it says that Nero comes bundled with it. I bought it to burn ".tivo" files for personal use, and I hope it will work.


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## Dan203

Try this...



> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.


The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.

Dan


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## Jersey Devil

CTerrian said:


> Which software did you use? I'm just curious, as I just bought a DVD+/-RW Burner, and it says that Nero comes bundled with it. I bought it to burn ".tivo" files for personal use, and I hope it will work.


It worked fine burning from an mpg file edited in VideoReDo as a .vob and then changed to .mp3. Use NeroVision to burn and it will add a menu, transcode and burn it.

I tried the method described below by turning the file into an iso with DVDSyler but it had no audio. Then I tried Nero and had no problem.


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## Jersey Devil

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


So then I just burned it with NeroVision and it seems fine. I can't figure out why the iso had no sound.


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## Dan203

By using Nero you're forcing it to transcode the audio and video. The method I described skips the transcoding step and as such retains the original quality and takes a lot less time.

I'm not sure why you had problems with the audio. The audio from a .tivo file is DVD complaint and shouldn't have caused any issues.

Dan


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## JasonD

Hi Dan,

This might seem like a stupid question. But in windows how do you change the extension to MPEG? From the Tivo extension. After I save the file from video redo, and I right click on it and choose rename. It seems I can change the name but not the extension. Is there a trick somewhere?

Jason


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## Dan203

In Windows Explorer click Tools -> Folder Options. Click over to the View tab and uncheck the option that says "Hide extensions for known file types". Now click OK. From now on all your files will have an extension at the end of their name, and when you click rename you will be able to change the extension as well as the file name.

Dan


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## JasonD

Thanks Dan,

Worked!


jason


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## toll house

I tried advice as above from Dan 203 (thanks for previous help). I went through VideoReDo, then DVD Styler. Now I have an .iso file. But DVD Decrypter looks like a program to burn from DVD to Hard Drive. Nero did not accept an .iso file. Is DVD Decrypter the program to transer the project to DVD?


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## Dan203

DVD Decrypters main purpose is to RIP DVDs from commercial disks to your hard drive. However it also has the ability to burn ISO images and is very good at it as well. Simply click Mode->ISO->Write and you will presented with a UI where you select a ISO file, insert a DVD and click burn.

Dan


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## DocEloise

Okay, I give... I must be dumber than dirt. I managed to get my Tivo connected with wireless (after spending about $100), I copied my Tivo files to my computer. I edited them with VideoReDo (another $50) and saved them as .vob files. I changed the extensions to .mpg and tried to load them to DVD Styler. Trouble is, DVD Styler is looking ONLY for .xml files. Can anyone please help me? 

Eloise


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## greg_burns

Don't have DVDStyler in front of me... But try dragging the .mpg to the "storyboard" at the bottom on the window instead of using the menus.


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## Igglecane

I used DirectShowDump to convert from .tivo to .mpeg. Then i used Video ReDo to save as a .vbo. The file seems to be half the size of the .mpeg file. Is this normal or did only half the file get converted? The reason i ask is because the file said it still had 9 minutes to go but 30 seconds later it said the file was complete. I was using the trial version without inputing the trial key because i couldn't figure out where to put it in.


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## Dan203

Are you using the trial version? Did you send away for the 15 day key? If it's in trial mode, and you don't have the trial key, Video ReDo limits output to 30 minutes of video so this could explain what you're seeing.

Dan


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## Igglecane

Yeah, i was using the trial version and it was limited to 30 minutes. I sent away for the 15 day trial because i want to make sure it works before i buy. Where do i input the key?


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## jfresh17

Hello,
You have a great forum here. I hope you can help me. 
I tried to burn a DVD from a tivo file following Dan203's method. I think I have followed the steps properly, but I am unable to play the dvd in two different players. I took a tivo file of a two-hour show. Edited the tivo file in VideoReDo. Saved the output as a VOB file. Changed the VOB file in Windows Explorer to MPG. Copied the MPG file to DVD Styler and created a simple menu. In DVD Styler, set the mode to PAL, is that correct? Burned the output to ISO and then burned the ISO through DVD Decrypter. At first, I thought the problem was the disc was marked as DVD+R and not DVD-ROM, but I corrected that and have the same problem. Tried two different discs and like I said two different players. The players say they cannot read the "type" of disc. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
J


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## jhwpbm

jfresh17 said:


> Hello,
> You have a great forum here. I hope you can help me.
> I tried to burn a DVD from a tivo file following Dan203's method. I think I have followed the steps properly, but I am unable to play the dvd in two different players. I took a tivo file of a two-hour show. Edited the tivo file in VideoReDo. Saved the output as a VOB file. Changed the VOB file in Windows Explorer to MPG. Copied the MPG file to DVD Styler and created a simple menu. In DVD Styler, set the mode to PAL, is that correct? Burned the output to ISO and then burned the ISO through DVD Decrypter. At first, I thought the problem was the disc was marked as DVD+R and not DVD-ROM, but I corrected that and have the same problem. Tried two different discs and like I said two different players. The players say they cannot read the "type" of disc. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
> J


Neither of my standalone DVD players (a Pioneer and a Toshiba) can read the discs produced following this procedure. My combo laser / DVD player can read the disc, but places the 4:3 video on the extreme left-hand side of the screen (instead of in the middle, as is normal for this type of DVD) and it plays just fine (apparently) on 2 of my 4 PCs (my MacBook Pro and my IBM Thinkpad - my two HPs can't play the discs). Not quite as compatible as I expected - looks like I may have to go back to MyDVD :-(


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## greg_burns

jfresh17 said:


> In DVD Styler, set the mode to PAL, is that correct?


Not for the US. Use NTSC.


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## Dan203

jhwpbm said:


> Neither of my standalone DVD players (a Pioneer and a Toshiba) can read the discs produced following this procedure. My combo laser / DVD player can read the disc, but places the 4:3 video on the extreme left-hand side of the screen (instead of in the middle, as is normal for this type of DVD) and it plays just fine (apparently) on 2 of my 4 PCs (my MacBook Pro and my IBM Thinkpad - my two HPs can't play the discs). Not quite as compatible as I expected - looks like I may have to go back to MyDVD :-(


Are you using PAL too? If so change it to NTSC and try again.

Also keep in mind that TiVo recoridngs in Basic and Medium are 100% DVD compatible and should not cause any problems. And if you're using straight cable or OTA you can also enable the RF Video Smoothing option and it will make High and Best DVD compatible as well. (Note: This setting lowers the resolution from 480x480 to 320x480)

Dan


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## jfresh17

Will try tonight using NTSC, thanks for the quick replies Greg and Dan. This show was recorded at High quality so I will cross my fingers that it will work!


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## Dan203

99% of DVD players will play High and Best quality video just fine. There are only a few that are so strict on the standard that they refuse to play anything that's not 100% DVD compliant.

Dan


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## jhwpbm

Dan203 said:


> Are you using PAL too? If so change it to NTSC and try again.
> 
> Also keep in mind that TiVo recoridngs in Basic and Medium are 100% DVD compatible and should not cause any problems. And if you're using straight cable or OTA you can also enable the RF Video Smoothing option and it will make High and Best DVD compatible as well. (Note: This setting lowers the resolution from 480x480 to 320x480)
> 
> Dan


I knew enough to use NTSC ;-) but what must be done differently for "High" and "Best" quality recordings? I only use "Best" for shows I'm saving to DVD.


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## greg_burns

jhwpbm said:


> I knew enough to use NTSC ;-) but what must be done differently for "High" and "Best" quality recordings? I only use "Best" for shows I'm saving to DVD.


Usually nothing, if your DVD players are forgiving enough like Dan says. I recall having a problem when adding menus. It wouldn't play on my PC with the menu, but it would on my DVD player. Or maybe it was the other way around, can't recall at the moment. Expirement with and without a menu perhaps.


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## Dan203

Yeah it could be a DVD Styler bug. If that's the case you could use one of the "not as nice" dvdauthor GUIs like GUIfordvdauthor or dvdauthor GUI. Or you could even use the commandline version of dvdauthor if you're really brave. 

Dan


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## Joey Bagadonuts

I've seen this addressed before but can't find the thread. Am using VideoRedo to edit and Nero Vision 3 Express to burn. When playing back the DVD the audio is sometimes at about half the level that it should be. I don't know if it's applicable but I have the audio setting in TiVo Desktop set at 6.0 (or does that effect just the playback of the file on the PC?). 

And thoughts are appreciated. 

Joe


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## jfresh17

I used the NTSC setting in DVD Styler and got the same error on my DVD player. I will try a different authoring tool. Thanks for all your suggestions.


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## jfresh17

Just an observation. The ISO image created from DVD Styler is 1.6GB. The DVD size after burning the ISO image DVD Decrypter is 1.54GB. Shouldn't the DVD size be close to 4GB for nearly two hours of video? I was about to create the DVD in Nero Vision Express2 and noticed that it was going to be 4.19GB. Any comments on the size of the DVD after burning with DVD Decrypter?
Thanks,
J


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## greg_burns

CTerrian said:


> I'm confused. Do I need VideoReDo or just Nero?


Nero does NOT like .tivo files. It will work sometimes with them (by changing the files of type to *.*) but not always. I call this the screechy audio/garbled video bug. If you haven't ran into it yet, you will. 

One solution to this problem is to remove the DRM from the .tivo file. DirectShow Dump does this easily and for free. The latest (beta?) version of VideoRedo does it as well. Added benefit of VR is you can edit out the commercials much more easily than you can using Nero Vision Express.

Do you need VR? No. But you do probably need to remove the DRM somehow to avoid the "bug" in Nero.

PS: When people say just Nero, they really mean Nero Vision Express 3 (or Nero Vision 4); *not Nero Express or Nero Burning ROM*. NVE 3 is an an update download to the Nero suite.


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## greg_burns

Joey Bagadonuts said:


> I've seen this addressed before but can't find the thread.


This one?
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4019969&&#post4019969


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## greg_burns

jfresh17 said:


> Just an observation. The ISO image created from DVD Styler is 1.6GB. The DVD size after burning the ISO image DVD Decrypter is 1.54GB. Shouldn't the DVD size be close to 4GB for nearly two hours of video? I was about to create the DVD in Nero Vision Express2 and noticed that it was going to be 4.19GB. Any comments on the size of the DVD after burning with DVD Decrypter?
> Thanks,
> J


Not sure, but I assume it has to do with the fact that DVDStyler is not transcoding like Nero Express does. How large was the .tivo file to start with? I am guessing around 1.54 - 1.6GB maybe? Not really sure.


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## jfresh17

The original before editing in VR was 2.4GB so after editing, though I didn't save the edited tivo file, was probably around 1.6GB. That is what the edited vob/mpg was.


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## AmadeusC27

jfresh17 said:


> I used the NTSC setting in DVD Styler and got the same error on my DVD player. I will try a different authoring tool. Thanks for all your suggestions.


I am having the exact same problem...followed all Dan's instructions and burned two different DVDs using both the PAL and NTSC settings. Both work on the computer DVD player, but error out in my Toshiba SD-K620 player. Any ideas of what I should try next? I was considering a new DVD player anyways....what player works with this format? Thanks for your help. This message board has been a lifesaver.


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## greg_burns

AmadeusC27 said:


> I am having the exact same problem...followed all Dan's instructions and burned two different DVDs using both the PAL and NTSC settings. Both work on the computer DVD player, but error out in my Toshiba SD-K620 player. Any ideas of what I should try next? I was considering a new DVD player anyways....what player works with this format? Thanks for your help. This message board has been a lifesaver.


Have you ever made a DVD using anything else that plays on that player? Maybe it is not the authoring program, but the media you are using?

BTW: PAL should not work on a player purchased for the US, so I wouldn't waste discs testing it out.


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## AmadeusC27

I'm using Verbatim DVD-R disks...is that the problem? I am new to this whole DVD burning thing.


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## greg_burns

AmadeusC27 said:


> I'm using Verbatim DVD-R disks...is that the problem? I am new to this whole DVD burning thing.


Not necessarily, but some DVD players are sensitive to that. For example the DVD player on an Xbox is very sensitive to media type.

I guess I would try other media, or another authoring program. Which ever is cheaper.


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## greg_burns

AmadeusC27 said:


> I'm using Verbatim DVD-R disks...is that the problem? I am new to this whole DVD burning thing.


I would download DVDDecrypter (along with DVDShrink) and trying copying some DVD you have lying around onto your current media. If that won't play either, then you would know it is a media problem.


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## holligl

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


It looks like DVDDecrypter is no longer available. I've gotten as far as the ISO image, which I tried to burn with NERO but it didn't work. Any other readily available freeware to do the same?


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## Joey Bagadonuts

DVDFab Decrypter has worked like a champ for me.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVDFab-Decrypter.shtml


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## greg_burns

holligl said:


> It looks like DVDDecrypter is no longer available. I've gotten as far as the ISO image, which I tried to burn with NERO but it didn't work. Any other readily available freeware to do the same?


http://www.imgburn.com/

This is by the same author as DVDDecrypter but is still being updated. It is just the ISO burning portion of Decrypter. :up:

PS: Decrypter can still be found all over the place.
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/software.htm


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## Dan203

greg_burns said:


> http://www.imgburn.com/
> 
> This is by the same author as DVDDecrypter but is still being updated. It is just the ISO burning portion of Decrypter. :up:


Cool! I had actually emailed LIGHTNINGUK back when DVDDecrypter was first taken down and asked him to cut out the ISO burning portion and release it as a seperate product. I doubt my email was the inspiration for this product, since I never actually heard back, but it's good to see that it happened either way. :up:

Dan


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## greg_burns

Credits to Glenn for mentioning it...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4083498&&#post4083498


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## DocEloise

Hi Dan and others. These boards and you are amazing. I'd never have gotten as far as I have without you. I'm still stuck, though, and need some more help.

I started with DirectShow Dump (maybe an unnecessary step), painstakingly edited several shows together with VideoReDo (awesome software!), saved as .vob, changed to .mpg, loaded .mpg in DVD Styler and "burned" to a file in .iso format. I then used DVD Decrypter to burn a DVD and was thrilled that, after working on all this for about 30 hours, I thought I FINALLY got it right. The DVD plays beautifully on the machine that burned it.

However, when I try to play the DVD on my desktop, I had no sound. No sound on my stand-alone DVD player (connected to a TV), either. Is there a setting I need to change someplace so I don't lose the sound in playback? Does anyone have an idea which software or process might be the culprit? (Media is Verbatim DVD+R).

Thanks in advance for any help! You folks are terrific!!!

Eloise


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## alansplace

DocEloise said:


> The DVD plays beautifully on the machine that burned it.
> 
> However, when I try to play the DVD on my desktop, I had no sound. No sound on my stand-alone DVD player (connected to a TV), either.


did you finalize the dvd after burning it?
--
Alan


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## DocEloise

Hi Alan, thanks for the quick reply. 

I used DVD Decrypter to burn the DVD, did I miss a step? I don't seen anything in the Decrypter settings to finalize the DVD. Was there something I was supposed to do to finalize it after burning it with Decrypter? Is the DVD a coaster now or can I complete the step some way?


Thanks again for any help,

Eloise


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## greg_burns

Silly question, but did you have sound when you played the .tivo file on the pc before you started?

(I've never had to finalize the DVD when using DVDDecrypter either, so I don't think you missed any steps there.)

You had DVDStyler set for NTSC and not PAL right? If this was wrong, I don't think that would be the symptom though.


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## alansplace

DocEloise said:


> Hi Alan, thanks for the quick reply.


 you're welcome. 



DocEloise said:


> I used DVD Decrypter to burn the DVD, did I miss a step? I don't seen anything in the Decrypter settings to finalize the DVD. Was there something I was supposed to do to finalize it after burning it with Decrypter? Is the DVD a coaster now or can I complete the step some way?


sorry, i'm unfamiliar with DVD Decrypter. my comment was based on my own use of free standing dvd burning appliances, like my toshiba. there is a seperate function to perform after the dvd has been burnt called finalization. it can be done later as well as right after the burning process.
--
Alan


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## greg_burns

Pretty sure when you are burning ISO files with any software, you do not need to "finalize". An ISO file is a complete disc afterall. It is probably implicit.


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## DocEloise

greg_burns said:


> Silly question, but did you have sound when you played the .tivo file on the pc before you started?
> 
> (I've never had to finalize the DVD when using DVDDecrypter either, so I don't think you missed any steps there.)
> 
> You had DVDStyler set for NTSC and not PAL right? If this was wrong, I don't think that would be the symptom though.


Hi Greg! Your question is not silly at all. I had sound in TivoToGo and VideoReDo, and I have sound when I play the DVD on the computer that burned it. I had DVDStyler set for NTSC (not PAL). I now have a DVD that I cannot play anywhere except the computer I used to burn it. While I'd understand if it did not play on my free-standing DVD player (I know they can be fussy), I'm confused why the DVD would not play with sound on my Desktop (WinXP Home - it's not an old machine). In fact, the DVD plays sound on the notebook Win Media Player, but not on the desktop Win Media Player.

Any thoughts are appreciated. I don't know where to go from here.

Eloise


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## greg_burns

What model tivo did it come from? 240, 540, something else? Only thing I can think of is that maybe it is related to AC3 filter stuff, but even then, it doesn't make any sense.


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## DocEloise

greg_burns said:


> What model tivo did it come from? 240, 540, something else? Only thing I can think of is that maybe it is related to AC3 filter stuff, but even then, it doesn't make any sense.


Hi again, Greg. Well, at least you're making me feel better.  I've read enough to know that you know your stuff.

My Tivo is part of the 240 series. I'm suspicious of the AC3 filter stuff, too, but I don't know which program to look at in the series of programs I used to create this mess. I keep looking at configuration menus, wondering if I missed something, but I'm getting more confused by the moment.

Eloise


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## greg_burns

I also have a 240. I don't think any Tivo but the DVD models will have AC3 sound. So that can't be it.

I haven't used DVDStyler much myself, so not sure if this is a bug or not. I still prefer Nero Vision, although I do like the speed benefits of using DVDStyler.

The couple discs (maybe just one?  ) discs I did make with DVDStyler, I just used the .mpg from VR not a .vob. I didn't have an issue with the sound coming unsynched (that is what that is suppose to prevent). Maybe try giving that a shot.

BTW, what build of VR are you running? I am using 2.2.1.473 (was running .456 until just today).

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/forumdisplay.php?f=24

Also Dan has mentioned in the past that there are other authoring programs out there to try...



Dan203 said:


> "not as nice" dvdauthor GUIs like GUIfordvdauthor or dvdauthor GUI


Maybe you will have better luck there.


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## gconnery

Its gotta be the audio, as you all suggest. I'm wondering if there's a way to dump out the information from an MPEG program stream to see what the characteristics of the elementary streams are--something like GSpot for AVI? Perhaps there's something about the audio stream that isn't compatible with the codecs on the other systems... 

On the other desktop, you might try installing a DVD player codec pack to see if that resolves the problem. Course that's not really what you're interested in doing, but it might tell you something.


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## Dan203

Audio from a TiVo should only be in one of two formats. If it's a regular TiVo then it should be 224KBps MP2 audio and if it's a DVD unit then it should be 192KBps AC3 audio. Both of those are compatible with the DVD specification, so it should not be a problem. Now regular TiVos do natively record at 32KHz, which is not DVD compatible, but somewhere in the TTG process that's upsampled to 48KHz which is exactly what DVDs need. I guess it's possible that something glitched and this particular file's audio was not upsampled to 48KHz. If that happened it could fail to play correctly.

Although personally I think you should try one of the more basic dvdauthor GUIs and make a simple one program DVD. There seems to be a few bugs in DVDStyler that can cause various issues with playback on standalone DVD players.

Dan


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## stringman8

Okay, 
I am going to jump in here with my own problem! I edit the file show with VideoReDo without a single hitch. Then I go into MyTivoRecordings and change the file name from .vob to .mpg. When I go to load the file into DVDStyler, it can only see .xml files, and it doesn't see anything in MyTivoRecordings folder. Also, when I click on directories in the DvdStyler program, I do not even see the MyTivo Recordings folder. It simply fails to exist!
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan


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## Jhoward82

has anyone tried galleon? I am having trouble with mine. I am running it on a Mac and it cant find the server...any suggestions?


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## Dan203

stringman8 said:


> Okay,
> I am going to jump in here with my own problem! I edit the file show with VideoReDo without a single hitch. Then I go into MyTivoRecordings and change the file name from .vob to .mpg. When I go to load the file into DVDStyler, it can only see .xml files, and it doesn't see anything in MyTivoRecordings folder. Also, when I click on directories in the DvdStyler program, I do not even see the MyTivo Recordings folder. It simply fails to exist!
> Any suggestions?


Actually I reported this problem to the DVD Styler project as a bug a while back. It appears that their little interface ignores folders which have a desktop.ini file* in them. (which the My TiVo Recording folder does) What you need to do is output the editied file to a directory other then My TiVo Recordings. If it makes it easy on you create a new directory in My Documents called My Edited TiVo Recordings or My DVD Files.

Dan

* The desktop.ini file is a hidden file which tells Windows to use an icon other then the default folder icon for a specific directory. TiVo adds this file automatically and if you try to delete it TiVo Desktop will simply add it back next time it's launched.


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## greg_burns

Dan203 said:


> Actually I reported this problem to the DVD Styler project as a bug a while back. It appears that their little interface ignores folders which have a desktop.ini file* in them.


Maybe I am misunderstanding, but I thought the File->Open command in DVD Styler was looking ONLY for "DVD Styler project" xml files.

His problem seems unrelated to the bug you are reporting. I thought you added .vob (or .mpg) files to the timeline at the bottom by drag-n-drop. Not via the File menu.


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## stringman8

> Maybe I am misunderstanding, but I thought the File->Open command in DVD Styler was looking ONLY for "DVD Styler project" xml files.
> 
> His problem seems unrelated to the bug you are reporting. I thought you added .vob (or .mpg) files to the timeline at the bottom by drag-n-drop. Not via the File menu.


I put it in a newly named folder and DVD styler still can not see it. It is only looking for xml files....any other advice?

Thanks,
D


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## Dan203

Sorry the open command only works for DVD Styler projects. What you need to do is click the Directories tab on the left, browse to where the files are, then drag the files down to the layout bar on the bottom.

The bug that makes it so you can't see the My TiVo Recordings folder, the one I reported, applies to that sidebar tab. However if you wern't seeing the My TiVo Recordings directory when you did a File->Open it may apply to that dialog as well.

Dan


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## greg_burns

I've never even noticed those tabs on the side.  I've always drag-n-dropped from Windows explorer onto the timeline.


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## CTerrian

Would it be better if I just reverted back to TiVoDesktop2-0.exe?
If so, could someone direct me to a download of TiVoDesktop2-0.exe?

Thanks!


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## Dan203

No. There is no reason to revert to any older version of TiVo Desktop. All the tools listed in this tread work just as well with any version of TiVo Desktop.

Dan


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## Stylin

Dan203 said:


> Sorry the open command only works for DVD Styler projects. What you need to do is click the Directories tab on the left, browse to where the files are, then drag the files down to the layout bar on the bottom.
> 
> The bug that makes it so you can't see the My TiVo Recordings folder, the one I reported, applies to that sidebar tab. However if you wern't seeing the My TiVo Recordings directory when you did a File->Open it may apply to that dialog as well.
> 
> Dan


Doing my 1st convert to dvd attempt and am facing same issue. DVDStyler is asking only for .xml files. When attempting to use directory the converted (via VideoRedo) .mpg files do not show - nor can I drag/drop from another area as DVDStyler gives error "No handler found for this image type"...Any ideas?


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## Dan203

Like I said you need to drag the MPEG from the Directories tab down to the bar on the bottom. If you try to drag it onto the menu you'll get an error.

Dan


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## greg_burns

Stylin said:


> nor can I drag/drop from another area as DVDStyler gives error "No handler found for this image type"...Any ideas?


I cannot trigger that error no matter where I drag and drop an .mpg file.


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## Stylin

But the MPEG is not even appearing in the directory! My directory shows no files when Styler ids open - but yet when I use VRD or just plain windows I can see all the shows...I dunno maybe their is just something I'm missing, but I was able to use VRD w/o too much of a learning curve...But at least with that program the files showed up.


----------



## greg_burns

Stylin said:


> But the MPEG is not even appearing in the directory! My directory shows no files when Styler ids open


You don't see the .mpg files or you do see the directory that hold the files?

Dan has already stated there is a bug with Styler if the directory has a desktop.ini in it; like "My TiVo Recordings" does. (Although if I copy the same file to a self created folder it doesn't exhibit the same behavior. Also, My Documents folder has a desktop.ini in it and works. FWIW, the content of that .ini is different and it is a hidden OS file.)

My suggestion was to not use the Directories tab, but just you Windows Explorer and drag the file onto the timeline. (You may have to resize stuff to see both at the same time.)


----------



## ljules

Dan, 

Thanks for your posts on burning TTG programs to DVD; theyve been very helpful. I have a regular Tivo and I am using the VideoReDo -> DVDStyler -> DVDDecrypter method you outlined to make DVDs.

Even though DVDs burned from this process seem to play well on my standalone Sony DVD player, there is no audio when I try to play them on my PC. The same is true when I mount the ISO image that is output from DVDStyler.

The original Tivo files play with audio in Tivo Desktop, VideoReDo, and Nero 7. The .vob output from VideoReDo, changed to .mpg, plays fine in Windows Media Player 10 and other players

When I open any of the .vob files in GSpot it "renders" them (not sure what that means) and plays them back with audio in GSpot's window. GSpot says the audio is 48 KHz. The DVDs also play in Nero's player, although I am not using Nero in this process. 

One more piece of information: commercial DVDs play on my PC on any of the players Ive tried.

Seems like this is a codec problem, but I don't know enough about this to fix it. Any suggestions? 

Thanks again, 

Jules


----------



## Dan203

That is very strange. Try this...

Go to the DVD drive in Windows Explorer and go into the VIDEO_TS directory on the DVD. Now try playing one of the VOB files in there in WMP. If it plays then it's a problem with the DVD structure. (people have complained of similar things when using DVD Styler) If that turns out to be the case then I would recommend using another dvdauthor front end like GUI for dvdauthor.

Dan


----------



## LOST FAN

1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
4) Output it to an ISO image.
5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter. 


I tried this and when playing the DVD there is NO audio?

Does anyone know why?


----------



## Dan203

A lot of people have been complaining about audio problems lately. I think there may be a bug in DVD Styler. They're not as nice, but instead of DVD Styler try using one of the other dvdauthor front ends like GUI for dvdauthor or dvdauthorgui.

Dan


----------



## greg_burns

What version is everyone running that is having audio problems? (I need to look at mine when I get home). There is a released 1.4 and the beta versions of 1.5...

I don't really see any mention of audio problems in the DVDStyler forum or bug tracker...

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=318795
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=92301&atid=600266


----------



## ljules

Dan,

Thanks for the reply. As you suggest, I tried navigating to one of the .vob files in the VIDEO_TS directory and playing it in Media Player: it plays but still NO AUDIO. 

Windows Media Player doesnt know what to do with the .vob files that come directly from VideoReDo it just sits there and does nothing, but it WILL play WITH AUDIO if I change the extension to .mpg. (Nero played both .vob files with audio; MPEG, too.)

BTW, whats the reason for changing the .vob extension to .mpg? 

Again, thanks. 

Jules


----------



## Dan203

ljules said:


> Thanks for the reply. As you suggest, I tried navigating to one of the .vob files in the VIDEO_TS directory and playing it in Media Player: it plays but still NO AUDIO.


That's weird. Try copying one of them off the DVD and changing it to .mpg.

This is most likely a codec problem on your PC. For some reason DirectShow is chosing different filters for the different files. If you really want to see what's going on try rendering the various files in GraphEdit. It'll show you a graphical representation of the filter graph DirectShow uses to play the various files.



ljules said:


> Windows Media Player doesnt know what to do with the .vob files that come directly from VideoReDo it just sits there and does nothing, but it WILL play WITH AUDIO if I change the extension to .mpg. (Nero played both .vob files with audio; MPEG, too.)


That probably due to the filter being used for VOB files. The VOB coming out of VideoreDo have blank NAV packets. So the filter is probably looking for those and choking because they're blank. Once you run the file through dvdauthor (which is what DVDStyler uses) the NAV packets are filled in. However it sounds like they're being filled in incorrectly. Either that or that particular filter doesn't like the way they're being filled in.

One thing you could do is try replacing the dvdauthor.exe file under the DVDStyler directory with the most recent version availavle via the dvdauthor project. Perhaps this is something that has been fixed in dvdauthor but the DVDStyler project hasn't updated their version yet. (Disclaimer: there is no guarentee this will work, and it might even break DVDStyyler. So try at your own risk )



ljules said:


> BTW, whats the reason for changing the .vob extension to .mpg?


The DVDStyler interface doesn't recognize .vob files in it's Directories tab. Or at least it didn't when I tried it. However Greg said he just drags files from Windows Explorer, so it may work just fine as a .vob from there.

VOBs and mpeg files are basically the same thing. VOBs just have added private stream data used for DVD navigation. As I said above VideoReDo outputs VOBs with blank packets that don't actually get filled in until dvdauthor does it's think to the file.

Dan


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## greg_burns

I just got finished experimenting a little. BTW, I am using the latest beta of DVDStyler 1.5 b5.

BTW, make sure everything is set to NTSC. I changed my default to NTSC, but the menu (when right-clicked and choose properties) still said PAL. I think one restart after changing the default in the options clears that up.

Anyways, ran a .tivo file throught VR. Saved output as .vob. Renamed .vob to .mpg and dragged into DVDStyler from Windows explorer. (From what Dan says, renaming may not be necessary if dragging from explorer). Outputted .iso file. Mounted the .iso as virtual drive using Nero image drive. Played the virtual DVD in Windows Media player and ... I have sound.  

So, there doesn't seem to be a problem with any of the software we are using. It must be a codec issue...


----------



## Dan203

My guess is that the VOB DirectShow filter installed on these guy's machines is choking on something in the NAV packets. It could be a bug in that DirectShow filter, or it could be that it simply doesn't like video* so it's skipping the audio data, or it could be a bug in dvdauthor causing some sort of glitch in the NAV packets that these filters don't like.

In any case the main goal of this method is to make the files compatible with standalone DVD players. If you wanted to play them on a PC you could simply output the file as an .mpg, instead of a .vob, and burn that directly to a DVD. That .mpg file would then play on any PC with an MPEG2 filter installed via Windows Media Player.

Dan

* Remember the resolution used for some TiVo files is not DVD compliant. Also the DVD spec says that the maximum GOP length for a DVD is 18, while TiVo uses GOPs which are considerably longer then that.

Edit: If the GOP length is a problem you might be able to trick it into working by changing the GOP length to 18 in the output dialog of VideoReDo. I'm not exactly sure what that setting does, but it could help.


----------



## DocEloise

I have to laugh at myself and fess up. After struggling and struggling, I learned the answer to my problem. I had burned a DVD using Dan's method and could only play it on the computer that burned it, but not on my desktop or on my free-standing DVD player connected to my TV. 

Problem solved! The desktop's DVD encoder (? do I have that right?) had expired. I could buy (why should I have to buy this?) another or find a free one. (Thank you Doom9.net). Once I checked on the free-standing DVD player, I learned that it was an old one which would only play commercial DVDs and nothing more. I went shopping and I'm a happy camper! The DVD (my FIRST one) plays beautifully on EVERYTHING!!!

Special thanks to Dan for the method and to Greg for tirelessly trying to help me.

It's all good now!

Warm regards,

Eloise


----------



## ljules

Dan,

A VOB I copied from a DVD I made to disk played fine after changing the extension to MPG. This file has the same path in GraphEdit as the VOB output from VideoReDo. However, VOBs from the finished DVD seem to make GraphEdit hang. BTW, I notice that the VOB renamed MPG takes quite a while longer to render than the VOB from VideoReDo; I assumed at first that it also locked. 

Another thing I noticed is that while the VOB I copied from disk played with NO AUDIO, once it was renamed MPG it played back WITH AUDIO.

I'm completely lost here. 

Oh and BTW, GSPot calls the DVD I make SVCDs; commercial DVDs show up as DVDs.

I haven't tried changing dvdauthor.exe; I'm not sure how to tell what version of DVDauthor I have. Sourceforge had a version 0.6.11 dated 10-Feb-2005; mine has a date of 21-Mar-2006, but I don't know if that's relevant. I'll give it a try and let you know what happens.

Would it make any sense to uninstall everything and start over?

Thanks again,

Jules


----------



## Dan203

I don't think switching dvdauthor with one from Sourceforge is going to work. I just looked and it's been quite a while since they posted a Windows build. Instead try using GUI for dvdauthor. It's not as nice as DVDStyler, but it uses a newer version of dvdauthor so if it's a dvdauthor bug that should work.

Dan


----------



## ljules

Dan,

I think Im making progress: 

I went to another machine that had no codecs and I tried installing the K-lite codec pack, which produced the same result. Playback with the nVIDIA codec produced AUDIO and video (!) and also did the same on the original system - once I removed the K-lite codecs I had installed while I was taking pot shots in the dark  the more codecs the merrier, I figured.

I see in GraphEdit that rendering the VOBs from Ive made that it now uses the nVIDIA audio and video decoders. Whats strange is that on about half of the files it uses the MPEG-2 Demultiplexer and the other half uses the Nero Splitter  which it uses doesnt vary even if I change the extension from VOB to MPG. 

I cant imagine why it would be using the Nero Splitter when it wasnt involved in the production, and I just as soon not have to rely on it: Nero seems a bit buggy on my system and Id prefer to uninstall it unless its necessary for something.

I tried subbing the Nero splitter with the MPEG-2 Splitter and the MPEG-2 Demultiplexer but neither filters could agree on a connection according GraphEdit. Im going to try uninstalling Nero to see what happens. That'll have to wait 'til morning.

Im still completely mystified by this; Id love it if you would enlighten me or point me to a good resource on this.

Still might try using GUI for DVDauthor if I can figure out how to install it...

Thanks again,

Jules


----------



## DarkAudit

Everything I did in NVE 4 worked fine, from selecting which video to use, to trimming out the commercials, and adding chapters.

Everything, that is, until I hit the *burn* button. Then I hit the transcoding error.

I've spent days getting the videos trimmed and chapters set. I do not want to lose all that work by having to run the videos through DVDStyler or VideoReDo, if that what using those applications will do.

Is there a method or a codec I'm missing that will let me continue with this NVE project from where I left off?

I have seen mention of the clear cache 'hack', but only that it exists. Will it work in this case?


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## greg_burns

DarkAudit said:


> Everything I did in NVE 4 worked fine, from selecting which video to use, to trimming out the commercials, and adding chapters.
> 
> Everything, that is, until I hit the *burn* button. Then I hit the transcoding error.
> 
> I've spent days getting the videos trimmed and chapters set. I do not want to lose all that work by having to run the videos through DVDStyler or VideoReDo, if that what using those applications will do.
> 
> Is there a method or a codec I'm missing that will let me continue with this NVE project from where I left off?
> 
> I have seen mention of the clear cache 'hack', but only that it exists. Will it work in this case?


I wouldn't think the clear cache hack would help, but who knows. I don't suppose you ran your .tivo file through DirectShow Dump first? That, IMO, makes Nero behave much better.

c:\documents and settings\<user>\application data\ahead\nerovision\NVFACache

Note: application data folder is hidden by default

On the bright-side, you won't spend days on this again if you use VideoRedo the second time around. <ducks for cover  >


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## MikeKaz

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


Okay, I've done this, using ImgBurn instead of DVD Decrypter and, after working out some glitches caused by having DVDStyler set to NTSC, everything plays fine, with one exception. Can anybody tell me if there is some way to keep the closed captioning on the final DVD? I'm hearing impaired and if the CC signal gets stripped out along the way I've just blown $50 on VideoReDo.

TIA,

// kaz


----------



## greg_burns

MikeKaz said:


> Okay, I've done this, using ImgBurn instead of DVD Decrypter and, after working out some glitches caused by having DVDStyler set to NTSC, everything plays fine, with one exception. Can anybody tell me if there is some way to keep the closed captioning on the final DVD? I'm hearing impaired and if the CC signal gets stripped out along the way I've just blown $50 on VideoReDo.
> 
> TIA,
> 
> // kaz


DVDDecrypter works just as well as ImgBurn if you already have it. Although ImgBurn is being updated and Decrypter development has stopped.

Um, you *do* want DVDStyler set to NTSC. 

Regarding CC...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=243893

Your probably going to want to get an External Caption Decoder box and make the captions a permenant part of the image that the Tivo records to begin with. (There will be no way to turn them off though.)


----------



## alyssa

OK, first I've tried shrinking a large file to fit onto a 4.7g DVD. I believe there is a way via a commnad prompt but it's a bit over my head. Perhaps I'll try it in when I can afford to be down for a bit in case I mess up.

I'm now trying to burn a DL disk. Most of the files I'll want to burn are well within the 8.5 limit. Just after I start a burn of the .iso file during the writing of the lead in I get a I/O error message stating;

Device:[2:0:0] Benq dvd ls dw1655 bcgb (K; ) (ATA)
scsiStatus: 0X02
Interpertation: check condition
CDB:2A00 00 00 00 00 00 0020 00
Interpretation: Write (10)-Sectors:0-31
Sense Area:70 00 03 00 00 00 00 12 00 000 00 00 00 72 etc...
Interpretation:Session Fixation error writing lead in

I thought ot myself OK it might be DVD decrypter 'cause it's a bit long in the tooth so I tried nerovision express & got this error message;

0x006bbce reference menory @0x01671fc0. The memory cound not be "read"

Some one on another forum suggested using ImgTool but when I attempt to burn a 4.7disk I get "missing needed file 'video_ts.iro'==>break

I am not sure as to where the error is originating from, software (DVD decrypter/nero vision exp./imgTool), media (bad batch), or Burner(first DL burn on a brand new 3 week old drive(BenQ 1655)).

Has anyone else burned a DL disk using the Dan203 method? If so how'ed you do it?

thanks in advance,
alyssa


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## greg_burns

alyssa said:


> OK, first I've tried shrinking a large file to fit onto a 4.7g DVD.


Have you tried using DVDShrink?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4158826&&#post4158826


starneml said:


> My process was:
> 1) Transfer Files From TiVo
> 2) Trim/Remove Commercials with VideoReDo and save as VOB or MPG
> 3) Use DVDStyler to Create VIDEO_TS Directory with menus and navigation
> when burning disk, check "just generate" - dont create the ISO with DVDStyler
> 4) Use DVDShrink on the Generated Files to make it fit on a DVD-5 and let DVDShrink make the ISO file (Select Backup Targer: ISO Image File)
> 5) Then Burn the Image file with DVD Decryptor (sometimes will let DVDShrink Burn the disk indirectly with DVD Decryptor)


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## alyssa

oh yeah, that was the first thing I tried a month or two ago  Here's a listing of my attempst to shrink the files.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=296970&highlight=alyssa

To sumate;
Apparently since recording at best is a resolution of 480x480, it is not a legal dvd format therefor DVDshrink doesn't like it. 

I'm going to try editing & burning with Nero to see if the problem is with the content/software or the hardware/blank media. My husband also suggested trying to burn a legal DVD(non-copy protedted mass produce disk) to see if the problem is the hardware/disk.

I would *hate* to lose VideoReDo from the equation with the amount of files I'm gonna be burning this month. I save to disk all the Tour de France stages, 4-5hr's per day for 21 days all recorded at best or high from one of the most comercial happy stations there is, OLN.

FYI, I'm using a good quality burner(BenQ 1655) & Verbatim DL disks(MKM 001)


----------



## greg_burns

alyssa said:


> Apparently since recording at best is a resolution of 480x480, it is not a legal dvd format therefor DVDshrink doesn't like it.


I tried a 7GB file recorded as Best 544x480 (also not legal) and DVDShrink liked mine.


----------



## alyssa

VERy interesting...humm I'm working from memory 'cus I'm at work but I think for a S2 it's 480x480 with a bit rate of 6(approx). The 544x480 is Direct TV. This should have no bearing on my this issue 'cus both are illigal formats. But if you are saying you have no problem shrinking a Best format, I am clueless....and headed back to the drawing board. (sigh)

obviously I don't understand why I"m have difficulties. I thought I had it figured out but obviously I need to try again. I"ve been having some other major differences regarding file size on best recording with a cable box vs. a recording without a box. That was explained by saying since the signal was cleaner with the cable box therefor the files didn't need to be as big as with out a cable box. I don't think they're related but I should swap the cable box on my the S2 unit & see what happens.

I just got Nero vision express to transcode a .vob file & burn a DL but it is jerky in the action clips. I think this might be due to an aging settop DVD player.

Honestly at this point I just want to be able to burn a large file recorded in best off my cable box, Scientific Atlanta3100 (working from memory). Actually I've got an extra 300 gig HD I'm gonna put into an enclosure Just for tour stages & eass the pressure.


----------



## Dan203

alyssa said:


> VERy interesting...humm I'm working from memory 'cus I'm at work but I think for a S2 it's 480x480 with a bit rate of 6(approx). The 544x480 is Direct TV.


544x480 is the resolution used by S2 TiVos for Best when they're connected to DirecTV receivers via S-Video. All other setups use 480x480 for Best.

Dan


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## greg_burns

Dan203 said:


> 544x480 is the resolution used by S2 TiVos for Best when they're connected to DirecTV receivers via S-Video. All other setups use 480x480 for Best.


Not to nit-pick, but my file was from an E* receiver via S-Video, not DirectTV.


----------



## Dan203

Sorry, you're right it's any DSS receiver. However a digital cable box connected via S-Video will still be 480x480.

Dan


----------



## greg_burns

Well, since I made the switch to cable a couple months ago (in preparation for the S3), I will have to try a 480x480 with DVDShrink and see what happens.

(Man comcast digital cable bites, I miss the PQ I had with my Dish  ). Hopefully, HD recording will help ease the pain.


----------



## alyssa

Thank you Dan for cleaning up my jumbeled words!

BTW, I stoped by at my local cable office & actually spoke to someone who had a clue about my cable systems cable signals.
I asked him why a clip was smaller when the signal went threw a cable box vs. a signal directly into a TV.

Basicly, He restated what Brian had said before, that when the signal is seen by the tivo after the cable box, it is cleaner therefore the size of the file is smaller then a regular non-cable box recording.

Has anyone sucessfully burned (DL or shrunk) a large file 7mg recorded at best using a cable box? if so how'ed you do it?


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


 Wow! Thanks Dan203! I've spent hours fighting MyDVD (Sonic/Roxio) and Easy Media Creator 8 (Roxio) to achieve what your recipe does in 15 minutes.


----------



## Hi Ho

I have not received my Tivo yet but I will probably want to burn some shows to DVD. Looking at the steps outlined in this thread, I have a question. Is the VideoReDo step necessary? I would rather not spend $50. I'm not interested in doing any editing. I just want to transfer directly to DVD. 

Wouldn't it work to run the files through DirectShowDump, open in DVD Styler, publish as an ISO, and burn with DVD Decryptor?


----------



## greg_burns

Hi Ho said:


> Wouldn't it work to run the files through DirectShowDump, open in DVD Styler, publish as an ISO, and burn with DVD Decryptor?


It should unless there is something special about outputting as vob from VR. I am a little confused on that step myself. I thought I had read that Dan said that it fixed some sound synch issues (i.e. outputting as vob, not mpg from VR).

BTW, in case you didn't know; DSD only outputs a mpg file, not a vob.


----------



## Hi Ho

I know DSD puts out an MPG file but one of the steps was to rename the VOB to MPG. I assumed that this would be the same as having an MPG file to begin with. Is this not the case?


----------



## greg_burns

Hi Ho said:


> I know DSD puts out an MPG file but one of the steps was to rename the VOB to MPG. I assumed that this would be the same as having an MPG file to begin with. Is this not the case?


No. VOB files contain "DVD NAV packets". (Just repeating what I've read. I don't know jack about this stuff.  )

http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/vobov.html


> A VOB file is an MPEG-2 system stream. This means that it complies 100% with the MPEG-2 system level standard, ISO 13818-1. However, VOB files are a very strict subset of the standard. So while all VOB files are MPEG-2 system streams, not all MPEG-2 system streams comply with the definition for a VOB file.


I am not saying it wouldn't work. But it may have synching issues. I don't recall if I have ever tried this with Styler. I know I've used mpg files with Nero Vision Express. But it surely is doing the NAV packet thing behind the scence when it transcodes.

The reason one of the steps was to rename the *.vob to *.mpg was because of some bug in DVDStyler with adding *.vob files through its interface. (Apparently you can just drag and drop them and avoid that problem and the rename).


----------



## Dan203

It wont work! As Greg said outputting from VideoReDo as a VOB adds blank NAV packets which dvdauthor (the engine behind DVDStyler) needs to turn the mpg into a DVD. If you simply try to use DSD to convert a .tivo file to a .mpg the process will simply fail.

If you want to stick to free tools you could demultiplex the .tivo file to elementry streams then remultiplex it using mplex (the only other multiplexer I know of that can create blank NAV packets) However if you go this route you'll also need some way to figure out the audio video offset or you'll end up with sync issues. You can use mpeg2desc to get it, but it only works with mpeg files which have MP2 audio, which means it will not work with tivo files from DVD units which use AC3 audio.

Anyway the exact steps for the process are fairly complex and I don't have time to lay them out for you, so I highly recommend you just pick up a copy of VideoReDo.

Dan


----------



## dlfl

The VideoReDo/DVDStyler/DVDDecrypter sequence is working fine for me (thanks again Dan203) but I wonder if the DVDStyler can work in batch mode? I would like to automate the .TiVo to .iso conversion if possible, assuming just a simple movie DVD with either no menu/button or a simple "start" button menu. I could write a GUI program to edit a script, batch or xml file if necessary to accomplish this -- just don't know what is required or if it's even possible, i.e., can VideoReDo and DVDStyler be made to operate without requiring any operator inputs?


----------



## Hokie-Dave

I use DSD, then edit the files in Ulead DVD Studio 7.0, then burn them to DVD using Ulead DVD Studio as well. I purchaed Ulead DVD studio a couple years ago for around $20. I use it for editing video from my cam corder as well.

dave


----------



## greg_burns

Hokie-Dave said:


> I use DSD, then edit the files in Ulead DVD Studio 7.0, then burn them to DVD using Ulead DVD Studio as well. I purchaed Ulead DVD studio a couple years ago for around $20. I use it for editing video from my cam corder as well.
> 
> dave


How *long* does it take to make a DVD using Ulead DVD? Does it transcode? That is my main reason for switching from Nero Vision to DVDStyler.


----------



## alyssa

Greg/Dan,
I'm having good burns using a Nero thing called 'Recode DVD-Video'
do you know what this is? 
It takes about 10 (+/-) min to burn from an elemtary file outputed from DVDauthor. I'm not having sink issues either. I'm a bit confused as to why this works so fast & what I'm actually doing. 
Any light is greatfully accepted.


----------



## Hokie-Dave

It does take some time, Probably a total of 2.5 hours with my computer which includes cutting 4 one hour shows and puling 15 minutes out of each of them, then burning them on one disk.

dave



greg_burns said:


> How *long* does it take to make a DVD using Ulead DVD? Does it transcode? That is my main reason for switching from Nero Vision to DVDStyler.


----------



## greg_burns

Hokie-Dave said:


> It does take some time, Probably a total of 2.5 hours with my computer which includes cutting 4 one hour shows and puling 15 minutes out of each of them, then burning them on one disk.


You may be surprised just how quickly you can edit out commercials using VR. I just let the ad-detective run (which take 5 minutes maybe), then another 30 seconds to eyeball it choices using F5/F6 keys. Done. Export takes a couple minutes more. Then run through DVDStyler and burn the iso. Personally I don't really care how long the transcode portion takes since it is hands-off. But with DVD Styler it is pretty quick.


----------



## Hokie-Dave

Hmmm. I may have to try VR, but for now Ulead works just as well. I'm not cutting out commercials, I'm actually cutting out "Elmo's World" 15 minute segments from Sesame Street and putting 4 of them on a DVD. That only takes a matter of minutes, then I let the computer do the rest while I'm off doing something else.

dave



greg_burns said:


> You may be surprised just how quickly you can edit out commercials using VR. I just let the ad-detective run (which take 5 minutes maybe), then another 30 seconds to eyeball it choices using F5/F6 keys. Done. Export takes a couple minutes more. Then run through DVDStyler and burn the iso. Personally I don't really care how long the transcode portion takes since it is hands-off. But with DVD Styler it is pretty quick.


----------



## dijon

i've got nothing but coasters. i have a hunch that it is dvdstyler that is the culprit. i checked the log and i've got all sorts of error-type messages. i say error-type because they don't exactly look like errors, but say things like 'warning' and 'unexpected'. this is after i've converted the file using videoredo. i burn an iso using imgburn and it works on my computer, my stand alone sony dvd player but not on my panasonic xp-30 (which is supposed to be famous for playing everything) i get the 'disc of this type not playable'. i know for a fact it plays the dvd+r media i recorded on, just not from dvdstyler. my dvd recorder is a plextor - which means it's basically faultless.

i have nero but i hear that it transcodes it again and therefore gives further degradation to the recording. as my tivo series 2 on best is pretty pitiful to begin with (my series 1 on medium looked better) i don't want to resort to recording at lower qualities. i haven't tried any of the front end gui's (partly because i want something super un-techy...i deal with that stuff too much in my normal life). 

anyway, so what's the best way to go after videoredo to get a dvd besides dvdstyler? go with nero? i don't care about menus or buttons or all that nonsense.

thanks!

dij


----------



## greg_burns

dijon said:


> anyway, so what's the best way to go after videoredo to get a dvd besides dvdstyler? go with nero? i don't care about menus or buttons or all that nonsense.


Sorry to hear about your trouble with DVDStyler.

Nero Vision works if you don't mind the wait for the transcode. The problem is the price. Nero Ultra is big $$$ unless you find it on sale. You can pick up those Nero OEM discs, but you need to be careful to get one with the DVD Plug-In if you go that route.

Not a recommendation for this site (or even OEM), but here are the 3 different OEM suites of Nero 6 that are floating around
http://www.softwareandstuff.com/SWW12252.html

I have Nero 6 and Nero 7 now. If you can find a good price, just pick up a copy of Nero 7. AFAIK, Nero 7 does not yet have an OEM version out.

Nero Vision Express 3 (renamed to just Nero Vision 4) is the program in Nero's suite that you will use to make a DVD with Nero. (NVE 3 is a free upgrade from NVE 2)


----------



## Dan203

Instead of DVDStyler try GUI for dvdauthor. It's not as nice, but it uses newer builds of dvdauthor and spumux which seem to fix some of the problems people have been reporting with DVDStyler created disks.

Dan


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


 I'm really starting to like VideoReDo and will definitely purchase it. I created a DVDStyler project with three 45 minute titles obtained by editing one hour TiVo files, medium quality, in VideoReDo. The "Ad-Detective" feature works great! I just inserted three buttons and linked them to the corresponding titles. When "burning" this project to ISO I got a slew of warning messages of the type "Audio sector out of range", although in the end it said it successfully generated the ISO. I expected the worst but -- the DVD plays perfectly in my DVD player! Video and audio are good throughout and in synch. Does anyone know what these warning messages mean? Was I just lucky?


----------



## alyssa

I'm at my wits end-

I'm using VideoReDo, saving as a .Vob file
Using GUI DVDAuthor out puting as an elemtary file
Using Nero recode to burn (and compress if needed) (I think i've got a 6.6v3 package)

This has been working great-it takes much longer then the Dan method but the quality is great & I can handle large file recorded at best on DL disks.

Untill today;
The out put of the GUIDvdAuthor logs is stateing that my audio sector is out of range. This error starts at 78%.
I suspect it has something to do with my nav packets or could it be because of the size of the file? 

The file I'm trying to burn(I will compress it in nero to fit onto a DL) is 10.5GB. I had no problems using this method with a recording the day before with a file that was 7.64GB

any direction/help etc all is greatfull accepted
alyssa

I'm currently saving a VideoReDo file as a .meg, hoping I can use Nero (6.6.1.4) to transcode & burn. I feel like bambi in the head lights.


----------



## Dan203

Try running the original file back through VideoReDo's "Quick Stream Fix" feature. It sounds like something is up with the multiplexing of the file, and this should take care of it.

Dan


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## alyssa

Thanks for the suggestion. After reading the How to file I really thought it would do the trick. Unfortunitly I wasn't able to get it to work. I don't know if it was me or the problem. I reedited & ran the Quick stream fix on the .tivo file and still came up with the error.

But on a lark, I did break the file in to two bits & processed them as a 4mg & a 7mg (approx.). That seems to be working with no errors. 

Odd that DVDauthorGUI would have problems with large files. 

Thanks again tho, what you suggested should have worked and would have been much nicer then my hack.

ETA;
I've had to fix the stream on the following two days of large file downlads(10.5 & 9GB). 
Any idea why the stream might be misbehaving? I just got 7.3.


----------



## dlfl

dlfl said:


> I'm really starting to like VideoReDo and will definitely purchase it. I created a DVDStyler project with three 45 minute titles obtained by editing one hour TiVo files, medium quality, in VideoReDo. The "Ad-Detective" feature works great! I just inserted three buttons and linked them to the corresponding titles. When "burning" this project to ISO I got a slew of warning messages of the type "Audio sector out of range", although in the end it said it successfully generated the ISO. I expected the worst but -- the DVD plays perfectly in my DVD player! Video and audio are good throughout and in synch. Does anyone know what these warning messages mean? Was I just lucky?


 The author of DVDStyler has informed me via the Source Forge DVDStyler forum that the "audio sector out of range.." warning messages result from a bug in DVDAuthor (the core engine for DVDStyler) and there are no negative effects other than the warning messages. So far my experience confirms this.


----------



## romeoz

I use MYDVD 6.2. Its great. I take a Tivo file off my Tivo and edit the commericals out of it. Then I save it as a MPEG and it takes about 5 in to convert the .tivo to a .mpeg, the show is only about 20 min. long after commericals are taken out. Then i add to the MPEG and create a DVD which takes about another 10 minutes to burn three shows to one dvd with a menu. Before i tried to make a dvd from the .tivo file and it took about 1 hr per show. This way was much faster. And it sounds great. Here is a little something I made for my sister. www.romeoz.com/hills

Bryan


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## DanielSilvestri

I'm sorry if this has been discussed, but I can;t figure this out. I thought you could just save a show etc to TiVi and then later save it to a VCR tape OR a DVD. THe docs say you can, website etc., but I cannot do it. Tech Support was not helpful either.

Is this possible? Do you need to go through a bunch of toher stuff to be able to do this?

If anyone knows, please help! I have been trying to get this right for 3 days - I am bleery eyed!
Thanks
Dan


----------



## alyssa

forgive the basic questions;
Have you saved the .tivo file to your computer?
or do you have a dvd burner type tivo?


----------



## PatC

Dan203 said:


> Then I go into MyTivoRecordings and change the file name from .vob to .mpg.


Dan, I've been using VRD to edit TiVo files and usually do a QFS to mpeg before editing. Is it necessary to save as a VOB file and then rename to mpeg? I've been going straight to Save As mpeg with no problems.

Thanks, Pat

Sorry, I meant QSF not QFS! Pat


----------



## Dan203

It's only necessary to save as a VOB if you intended to use a dvdauthor based program to create the DVD. dvdauthor requires that the MPEG stream have blank NAV packets to function, and the VOB output option is the only one that adds them.

Dan


----------



## greg_burns

PatC said:


> Dan, I've been using VRD to edit TiVo files and usually do a QFS to mpeg before editing.


What is QFS? (I don't have VR in front of me to look it up). Is that that Quick Stream Fix thing? And if so, what does that do?


----------



## Dan203

Quick Stream Fix remultiplexs the audio and video streams and repairs things like sync errors and bad packets. It's basically the same thing VRD does when you output an edited video, just without actually doing any editing.

If you ever want to make a DVD from a TiVo file but don't need to edit it then just run it through Quick Stream Fix real quick and save it as a VOB. You can even add them to the batch porcessor and do a bunch at a time.

Dan


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


This process works great for me when the target is my 5 year old JVC standalone player, and it's FAST because medium quality TiVo doesn't have to be re-encoded.

However my friend has another older player and DVD's produced this way don't work on it. (Double images and/or audio synch problems.) After much trial and error I've found a modified process that, although it takes longer, works well for both players:

1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
3) Re-encode from 480x352 (half D1, TiVo medium) to 480x720 DVD D1 using freeware program gui4ffmpeg, available at videohelp.com. (Output is .mpg.)
4) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
5) Output it to an ISO image.
6) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.

Obviously the extra step with gui4ffmpeg is the only modification.

In gui4ffmpeg be sure to select ntsc (it defaults to pal), and I reduce the bitrate to 3000 kbps. Encoding to the DVD standard at D1 resolution will be the default. AC3 audio output is the default standard too. Enter the output path and file name and click encode. This runs at 40 frames/sec on my hardware, i.e., an hour of video will take 45 min to encode. With these parameters an hour of video will produce an output file size of about 1.5 GB, so you might get close to 3 hours on a single layer DVD.

Note that although the 352-to-720 re-encoding takes some time, it is almost twice as fast as doing the same thing in Sonic/Roxio's MyDVD8. Also DVDStyler is (imho) a nicer DVD authoring program than the version of MyDVD8 that comes in the Easy Media Creator Suite.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> This process works great for me when the target is my 5 year old JVC standalone player, and it's FAST because medium quality TiVo doesn't have to be re-encoded.


FYI... If your freed .tivo files are medium quality then you could just use "standard" software like Nero Vision Express. NVE goes very quickly with medium files because of the no-transcode necessary feature of medium recordings.

I see your edit and raise you one.  


dlfl said:


> Note that although the 352-to-720 re-encoding takes some time, it is almost twice as fast as doing the same thing in Sonic/Roxio's MyDVD8. Also DVDStyler is (imho) a nicer DVD authoring program than the version of MyDVD8 that comes in the Easy Media Creator Suite.


That would be an interesting time test. Your method versus the same in NVE w/ mediums.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3855107&&#post3855107


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> .....
> 
> ... That would be an interesting time test. Your method versus the same in NVE w/ mediums.
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3855107&&#post3855107


I agree it would be interesting. What I REALLY would be interested in is a process using any software costing less than $200 that would put edited mediium quality tivo content on DVD's that play in most standalones but do it without re-encoding, i.e., quickly. I would like the editing process to be as slick as VideoReDo too. Perhaps that is asking for a free lunch? 

Anyway, it's fun experimenting....


----------



## arsa13

I'm running into a snag while trying to create menus for a dvd in DVD Styler. (I'm doing it in dvd styler because it won't burn for some reason in nero vision.) I go to 'burn' and no matter whether I'm creating an image or just creating the files, I'm running into the following message:

assertion "useimg" failed: file "subgen-image.c", line 726
Error executing of command: spumux 'C:\Documents and Settings\Matt\dvd\menu1-1.mpg_spumux.xml'

Now, I'm not stupid. I googled this error, and translated some french site that I found to arrive at the following: SourceForge.net: Help

I read this over and over, and all I can make of it is that either the translater sucks, or I need to do something with the borders around the text buttons on my menus. I tried everything, resizing larger, smaller, moving them around... Still getting the same error.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm really frustrated.

-Matt


----------



## greg_burns

arsa13 said:


> Does anyone have any ideas? I'm really frustrated.


The one and only time I tried to do anything fancy with a menu button in DVDStyler I got some error as well. (I had only tried to pick a bigger/different font). Dropping a simple button the said Play and not chaning anything about it seems to work fine though. Can you do the same? Or does nothing work?

I do prefer NeroVision if a I want to make a disc with a pretty menu.


----------



## dlfl

arsa13 said:


> I'm running into a snag while trying to create menus for a dvd in DVD Styler. (I'm doing it in dvd styler because it won't burn for some reason in nero vision.) I go to 'burn' and no matter whether I'm creating an image or just creating the files, I'm running into the following message:
> 
> assertion "useimg" failed: file "subgen-image.c", line 726
> Error executing of command: spumux 'C:\Documents and Settings\Matt\dvd\menu1-1.mpg_spumux.xml'
> 
> Now, I'm not stupid. I googled this error, and translated some french site that I found to arrive at the following: SourceForge.net: Help
> 
> I read this over and over, and all I can make of it is that either the translater sucks, or I need to do something with the borders around the text buttons on my menus. I tried everything, resizing larger, smaller, moving them around... Still getting the same error.
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas? I'm really frustrated.
> 
> -Matt


I have had exactly this problem and have reported it on the DVDStyler forum, where it appears the program authors are paying attention, although nothing has been done about this particular problem to my knowledge.

Anyway there is a simple and acceptable (imho) work-around:
Do not use text menu buttons. Instead add text to the menu page similar to what you would put on the button and then place one of the several available types of arrow menu buttons just to the left of the text and pointing at it. Works fine! It's possible this bug is triggered by the font size of the text button but I haven't bothered to track it down. I usually scale up the arrow buttons to a larger size and that does not cause any problem. Of course you can make the color, size and font of the text the button points to whatever you want.

Hope this helps 

P.S. I am using the latest Beta version of DVDStyler, Windows ver. 1.5Beta5. The latest non-beta version (1.4) doesn't have the arrow buttons I mentioned, at least as best I can remember.


----------



## arsa13

Actually, yeah that did help. I guess you can't change the font at all... Color, yes, but not font. I was able to make an iso image and burn the dvd, and as far as I can tell it works fine.

Wierd that they'd incorporate such a feature but not be able to use it... But I guess that's why they de-bug software and release updates... And besides, it's free, so what am I b*tching about, right?

-Matt


----------



## gojeda

I am bit lost here. I need to burn 6 or so episodes of a particular show to DVD. I did the VideoReDo step for the commercials and outputted it as a VOB file. Changed the extension to mpg

So do I feed DVDstyler these 6 mpg files, and it creates the entire DVD directory structure and saves it as an ISO, which I can then burn using whatever?

BTW - I am getting that annoying flickering line across the top of my TIVO files about 1 pixel or two wide.. I am using the nVIDIA PureVideo decoder. Any pointers?


----------



## greg_burns

gojeda said:


> So do I feed DVDstyler these 6 mpg files, and it creates the entire DVD directory structure and saves it as an ISO, which I can then burn using whatever?


Yes, drag all 6 to the timeline at the bottom. You may find that the output is too big for DVD-5 disc. (not really sure how you tell off the top of my head  ). If it is, instead of choosing "create iso image" from DVDStyler's burn disc menu, choose "just generate". You should be able to take that ouput as input with DVDShrink to make it fit.

Not quite sure how you would add chapters using DVDStyler, but I bet you could with some research.


----------



## gojeda

greg_burns said:


> Yes, drag all 6 to the timeline at the bottom. You may find that the output is too big for DVD-5 disc. (not really sure how you tell off the top of my head  ). If it is, instead of choosing "create iso image" from DVDStyler's burn disc menu, choose "just generate". You should be able to take that ouput as input with DVDShrink to make it fit.
> 
> Not quite sure how you would add chapters using DVDStyler, but I bet you could with some research.


OK, thanks...Ill try it tonight. I can care less about chapters. I just want to be able to access each episode individually.

I think I should be able to get 6 episodes cleanly onto a DVD.


----------



## greg_burns

gojeda said:


> OK, thanks...Ill try it tonight.
> 
> I think I should be able to get 6 episodes cleanly onto a DVD.


What quality level were they on the Tivo when recorded? Basic, Medium, High, Best?


----------



## gojeda

greg_burns said:


> What quality level were they on the Tivo when recorded? Basic, Medium, High, Best?


Medium.....which eats up 800 MB per 1/2 hour. After taking out commericals, it goes down to 600 to 650 MB.


----------



## greg_burns

gojeda said:


> Medium.....which eats up 800 MB per 1/2 hour. After taking out commericals, it goes down to 600 to 650 MB.


I was able to get 8 identical 30min (w/ commercials intact) Medium episodes on one DVD-5 disc in the past. Had a screenshot for some other reason. That was in NVE.


----------



## gojeda

greg_burns said:


> I was able to get 8 identical 30min (w/ commercials intact) Medium episodes on one DVD-5 disc in the past. Had a screenshot for some other reason. That was in NVE.


How was the picture quality? I assume it was satisfactory.


----------



## greg_burns

gojeda said:


> How was the picture quality? I assume it was satisfactory.


IIRC, it looked no worse than it did on the Tivo to start with. (no transcoding is taking place afterall). But don't quote me on that, it has been awhile.

If I had Medium files, I would prefer Nero Vision Express over DVDStyler. Menu & chapter creation is easier to do. Mediums w/ NVE don't transcode either. Pretty sure I burned that 4 hour disc in 20 minutes using NVE.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3855107&&#post3855107


----------



## gojeda

greg_burns said:


> I was able to get 8 identical 30min (w/ commercials intact) Medium episodes on one DVD-5 disc in the past. Had a screenshot for some other reason. That was in NVE.


When I input the files into NeroVision Express 3, it is telling me Target Video Options: 704x480 (D1). This is after I ran the files through VideoReDo, to get rid of the commericals, and outputted them as VOB.

I can get 5 episodes on one DVD-5 with a bit of room to spare. Something I am doing wrong?


----------



## greg_burns

gojeda said:


> When I input the files into NeroVision Express 3, it is telling me Target Video Options: 704x480 (D1). This is after I ran the files through VideoReDo, to get rid of the commericals, and outputted them as VOB.
> 
> I can get 5 episodes on one DVD-5 with a bit of room to spare. Something I am doing wrong?


And your sure these are Mediums? When you play them back in WMP, do a File->Properties. What video size does it say? 480x480 or 352x480?


----------



## gojeda

I could have sworn I chose medium, but I will have to double check that when I get home.

The 1/2 hour show I am Season-Passing on yields a 800 MB .tivo file. Since a 1 hour show is, from what I understand, 1.3 GB/hr. at medium quality (for googling around the web) - then it seems I might be inadvertantly recording at high quality.

UPDATE: Yes, I was recording these shows in High quality.


----------



## gojeda

I think I have read elsewhere that recording shows in medium quality obviates the encoding step, yet when I use DVDStyler to generate a DVD - it seems it needs to go through the file.

Also, Dan - is it really necessary to change the extension of the file after you've run it through VideoReDo? We can't keep the VOB extension?


----------



## Dan203

DVDStyler does not recognize VOB files in it's little file insertion interface. However Greg has since pointed out that you can drag and drop VOB files from Explorer and that does work.

Aslo both Basic and Medium record at a DVD standard 352x480 resolution, but they do not contain the blank NAV packets required by dvdauthor to work. So even if you record in Medium you still have to do the VideoReDo step.

Dan


----------



## ski9600

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


Hi everyone,
I've networked my tivo and want to archive shows (to DVD) transferred to my PC. I bought and OEM version DVD RW and installed it in my PC, but have no DVD burning software. This method seems alright, but I'm wondering if instead of spending the $50 for VideoReDo I should just buy a cheap DVD recorder instead. What do you think?
Ski9600


----------



## gojeda

ski9600 said:


> Hi everyone,
> I've networked my tivo and want to archive shows (to DVD) transferred to my PC. I bought and OEM version DVD RW and installed it in my PC, but have no DVD burning software. This method seems alright, but I'm wondering if instead of spending the $50 for VideoReDo I should just buy a cheap DVD recorder instead. What do you think?
> Ski9600


VideoReDo is pricey....yes, but it does do a bang-up job of removing commericals.


----------



## dlfl

gojeda said:


> VideoReDo is pricey....yes, but it does do a bang-up job of removing commericals.


I second this motion. VideoReDo is well worth it. Fast, effective and a pleasure to use. :up:


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> (...........)
> 
> * Remember the resolution used for some TiVo files is not DVD compliant. Also the DVD spec says that the maximum GOP length for a DVD is 18, while TiVo uses GOPs which are considerably longer then that.
> 
> Edit: If the GOP length is a problem you might be able to trick it into working by changing the GOP length to 18 in the output dialog of VideoReDo. I'm not exactly sure what that setting does, but it could help.


I was looking at one of my recent TiVo Medium Quality (352x480) files in VideoReDo and was interested to see the GOP length is ---- 15 . This is from a Series 2 made by TiVo itself purchased in June. Perhaps other qualities or other, or older, TiVo boxes create longer GOPs (?). I didn't count every GOP in the file of course but looked at quite a few randomly selected points.

I've been re-encoding my medium TiVo files to 720x480 using gui4ffmpeg in order to get compatibility with a couple of standalone players and I began to wonder if the incompatibility had been caused by the long GOP's in TiVo files. Obviously this is not the case. The re-encoded files have GOP lengths of 18, which is right on the (U.S.) DVD standard.

Regarding the GOP length setting in VideoReDo, I haven't used it but their help says it will increase output time significantly, which isn't surprising because they must have to re-encode everytime they create a shorter GOP.


----------



## mmcmechen

I am trying to record TIVO files transferred to my computer to DVD. So far the ones I have recorded have choppy video. On the TIVO I am recording the shows on BEST quality. After transferring them I am using MYDVD8 that TIVO recommends on their site. My process has been to edit the commercials from the front and back and encode to a .mpg file. I have adjusted the sample rate from 6 to 4 and the result is still the same (choppy). 

Does anyone have a good process that works using MYDVD8? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## dlfl

mmcmechen said:


> I am trying to record TIVO files transferred to my computer to DVD. So far the ones I have recorded have choppy video. On the TIVO I am recording the shows on BEST quality. After transferring them I am using MYDVD8 that TIVO recommends on their site. My process has been to edit the commercials from the front and back and encode to a .mpg file. I have adjusted the sample rate from 6 to 4 and the result is still the same (choppy).
> 
> Does anyone have a good process that works using MYDVD8? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.


If you are using Roxio stuff I recommend you look at this forum/topic:
http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showforum=14
One message I get from it is that if you want to both edit video and author DVDs your best buy from Roxio is Easy Media Creator Suite 8 DELUXE version. The EMC8 home version and the separate versions of MyDVD and VideoWave are all crippled compared to what you get in the Deluxe EMC8 suite.

I have the EMC8 home suite and have tried to use it for editing and authoring TiVo movies to DVD's. It can be made to work, although the MPEG re-encoding seems extremely slow to me. If you continue to be frustrated with your Roxio-based approach I recommend you read through this topic and perhaps try the
methods recommended by Dan203 and myself, such as:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4225960&&#post4225960
Just the Ad-Detective feature in VideoReDo :up: is worth the $50 !!! 

I haven't used qualities greater than medium very much and I don't know if your TiVo is a DVD recorder type (where the qualities have different resolutions than for my Series 2). If you use Medium on a Series 2, it is 352 x 480 resolution, which is one of the official DVD standards, called half-D1. D1 is 720x480 and is accepted by even older players, whereas half-D1 is handled well by only some. Anyway if you use the half-D1 mpegs, they will not have to be re-encoded in either the Roxio or in the VideoReDo/DVDStyler process. However, when I make half-D1 DVD's with MyDVD8 they do not maintain audio synch in my standalone player, while those made with the other process play perfectly. BTW, be sure to test for audio synch after fast forward and reverse over all portions of the DVD before you conclude you have a good DVD!

This forum/topic and the Roxio forum link I provided above are two good sources of information. If you really want to get swamped with information, look at the forums at http://www.videohelp.com

Unfortunately there aren't any simple answers that cover everyone's situation. I suspect this would still be the case no matter how much money you are willing to spend on the software.

Dave


----------



## aaulisi

Okay folks... I'm about to give up. I made, like, 5 coasters last night and I'm seriously frustrated.

Transferred video from Tivo (240) to Tivo Desktop
Brought the file into VideoRedo and edited (love this program by the way)
Saved as .mpg
Dragged into DVD Styler - haven't really figured out what I'm doing there but tried to build some sort of "menu"
Saved as .iso
Dragged into DVD Decrypter and burned to DVD.

I got nothing. The coasters hose up one of my dvd players and the other one says that it can't play the dvd that's in it. They aren't even recognized by the dvd burner/player that's in the pc they were burned on. 

What the heck am I doing wrong here?? Just a side note...I'm literally just following directions that I got from this message board. I don't really understand the "back end" of what I'm doing. 

Help?


----------



## greg_burns

aaulisi said:


> Brought the file into VideoRedo and edited (love this program by the way)
> Saved as .mpg


*You need to save out of VideoReDo as .vob file, not .mpg*. You only need to rename the .vob file to .mpg in order to add it into DVDStyler using the "Directories" tab on left side. (It doesn't recognize the .vob extension, although I never encountered this myself.  ). If you don't want to bother with the rename, just drag the .vob file straight to the timeline at the bottom of DVDStyler.


----------



## aaulisi

Okay. Tried that... When I went to output the file as .iso This is what happened:

Generating DVD
DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.11.
Build options: gnugetopt iconv freetype
Send bugs to <[email protected]>

INFO: Locale=C
INFO: Converting filenames to US-ASCII
INFO: dvdauthor creating VTS
ERR: Entry title is not allowed for menu type VTSM
Error executing of command: dvdauthor -o 'C:\Temp\dvd\' -x 'C:\Temp\dvd\dvdauthor.xml'

Thoughts?


----------



## aaulisi

Never mind. I went back in an "unclicked" the title box on the menu set up and it seems to be working.

What's the purpose of the DVD STyler step? I can't seem to figure out what the whole menu thing is about. Every time I try to do something with it, I get error messages...


----------



## greg_burns

aaulisi said:


> What's the purpose of the DVD STyler step?


DVDStyler is what "authors" the DVD. Making a movie DVD is different than just copy data onto it and hitting burn in Nero, etc.



aaulisi said:


> I can't seem to figure out what the whole menu thing is about. Every time I try to do something with it, I get error messages...


Same problems here. But it is very fast at authoring unlikes other programs such as Nero Vision Express or MyDVD which transcodes non-compiant DVD formats to, well, compliant ones.  Unnecessarily, it seems.

PS: Make sure you change your Configuration->Settings from PAL (the default) to NTSC.


----------



## dlfl

aaulisi said:


> Okay folks... I'm about to give up. I made, like, 5 coasters last night and I'm seriously frustrated.
> 
> Transferred video from Tivo (240) to Tivo Desktop
> Brought the file into VideoRedo and edited (love this program by the way)
> Saved as .mpg
> Dragged into DVD Styler - haven't really figured out what I'm doing there but tried to build some sort of "menu"
> Saved as .iso
> Dragged into DVD Decrypter and burned to DVD.
> 
> I got nothing. The coasters hose up one of my dvd players and the other one says that it can't play the dvd that's in it. They aren't even recognized by the dvd burner/player that's in the pc they were burned on.
> 
> What the heck am I doing wrong here?? Just a side note...I'm literally just following directions that I got from this message board. I don't really understand the "back end" of what I'm doing.
> 
> Help?


Only five coasters? Too early to give up yet!! 

1. Try saving from VideoReDo (VRD) as .vob then renaming the files to .mpg before input to DVDStyler. Some people have said this isn't necessary but all I can say is this is the way I do it and it works ... so eliminate one possible problem with almost no additional effort.

2. What resolution are the .tivo files? After you load them into VRD hit Control-L and it well tell you. If the files are half-D1 resolution (352x480) the VRD/DVDStyler process will generate DVD's very fast (because it isn't re-encoding the mpeg video) but they will only play in some players. You may need to re-encode the mpegs to full D1 (720x480) between the VRD and DVDStyler steps, see my post:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4225960&&#post4225960
Unfortunately any re-encoding step takes substantial time, but gui4ffmpeg is a nice easy-to-use, stable (and free) program.

3. Are you burning DVD+R ? Unfortunately the quality of the media and the DVD drive doing the burning are both important factors. I have good luck with either Verbatim 16X or Sony 16X using a Plextor 708 drive (somewhat old). I select Max speed in DVDDecrypter and it averages 7X. I've read that forcing burning at lower speeds can improve probability of good results. BTW the Verbatims are only 36 cents each if you buy a 100 at Sams.

4. Is your drive bit-setting the disks? If a standalone player doesn't even recognize a DVD this is a likely problem. Bit-setting sets the "book type" on the disc to "fool" the player into thinking it's a standard purchased DVD video disk. Just google on "bit setting". How you make your burner drive do this depends on the make and model. I was able to do it for my drive with a free piece of software from Nero, called "CD/DVD Speed", just google "CD Speed".

4. Go to http://videohelp.com/dvdplayers
and search the brand and model of your DVD player(s). It will tell you what media types the player has been able to handle based on user experience.

5. Which version of DVDStyler are you using? Ver 1.4 might be best for you right now. Ver. 1.5b5 has more menu button choices but there are problems if you re-size a text-only button and it seems to require a VmMenu in the project, at least to make DVD's that play on my standalone player. Actually I suspect it's best to include a VmMenu anyway for maximum standalone compatibility. The DVDStyler manual has reasonably clear instructions on doing this. In that case I would use 1.5b5. I just don't use text-only buttons. Instead I use text labels (right-click in menu, select "Add Text") with an arrow button pointing to the text. You can scale up the arrow buttons and/or the text with no problem.

I don't think there is any way to avoid making coasters before you find the process that works for you. I still would like someone to show me a slam-dunk process that works on all mpeg resolutions and all standalone players and doesn't require hours of mpeg re-encoding, costs less than $200 total and allows editing as nice as VRD. So far no one has put forth any candidates. 

Good luck,
Dave


----------



## aaulisi

Dave, thank you for walking me through it. I've been feeling totally lost... Good to know someone else has a few sets of shiny coasters.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> I don't think there is any way to avoid making coasters before you find the process that works for you.


http://www.free-downloads.net/downloads/Daemon_Tools/

You can mount your .iso files and verify they at least play on your PC. Half the battle right there.


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> http://www.free-downloads.net/downloads/Daemon_Tools/
> 
> You can mount your .iso files and verify they at least play on your PC. Half the battle right there.


Thanks Greg, I will try that.

For those stalwarts who have Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 8 home edition (like me) there is a way to mount and play .iso files there too. It is in the "Disk Loader" application if I recall ccrrectly. I can't recall the exact details right now but I was able to fumble my way through to where it gave me a pretty good emulation of a standalone player. I think their help gave me a little help too.

It would not surprise me at all if the Daemon Tools version is both better and easier to use.  (I am grumpy because I got sucked into buying the home edition of EMC8 and later realized you really need to have the Deluxe edition, which costs only $20 more with rebates. But there is no upgrade option so I would have to buy the deluxe edition outright - another $100.) Roxio does a pretty good job of hiding these facts on their web site. Their page for EMC8 shows only the home edition and states: "Easy Media Creator Suite is Roxios top-of-the-line, all inclusive digital media suite." You have to drill down two more links before you see there are actually two versions of EMC8.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> It would not surprise me at all if the Daemon Tools version is both better and easier to use.


You forgot free. 

I actually just use what came with my copy of Nero; Nero ImageDrive.


----------



## Tippy

Ok, I tried this for the first time - TTG file, VRD, DVDStyler, and then ImgBurn. Got to the image burning stage and got the error message in this attachment. Is this just a bad disk? Do I need to format the disk first?

Also, I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing in DVDStyler. I drag the file in and there are two windows in the left corner (this is version 1.4). Do I need to do anything other than burn the dvd? Does anyone have any step-by-step instructions for the the DVDStyler step? I've haven't read any posts in this thread about this so it must be pretty intuitive, but I may be a bit slower than the others!  

Thanks in advance. If I can get this to work, I'm taking back my new DVD standalone recorder!

TBS


----------



## dlfl

Tippy said:


> Ok, I tried this for the first time - TTG file, VRD, DVDStyler, and then ImgBurn. Got to the image burning stage and got the error message in this attachment. Is this just a bad disk? Do I need to format the disk first?
> 
> Also, I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing in DVDStyler. I drag the file in and there are two windows in the left corner (this is version 1.4). Do I need to do anything other than burn the dvd? Does anyone have any step-by-step instructions for the the DVDStyler step? ( ....... )
> TBS


You are saving your VRD output files as .vob and renaming to .mpg, right?

This looks like a very low level hardware/media type error to me, although that's about all I can say about it. Check the burner drive mfr web site to see if there are any firmware updates or other support info related to the message. Can this drive burn other types of DVD's?

I've never used the RW discs. The odds of a standalone player reading them OK are lower than for +R or -R, so they say. AFAIN you don't need to format, but maybe you do for the RW types. 

Try playing back the .iso file on your pc using one of the player emulators mentioned just previously in this thread. This will catch "authoring" errors (file structure and file content, i.e., what DVDStyler does) before you waste a DVD disc.

Regarding DVDStyler instructions, have you looked at the DVDStyler manual? It is downloadable from their web site
http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/docs.html
and gives pretty specific step-by-step instructions. I just noticed this manual is for the Beta version 1.5b5 so there may be differences for 1.4.

Normally you would create at least one menu and put at least one button on it by dragging one from the buttons tab onto the menu. First you give the menu a background by double-clicking one of the backround selections in the background tab. Then you edit the properties of the menu button, most of which already have useable default values. But better see the manual.

There is a lot of useful info in this thread, in case you haven't already looked at it in detail.

Dave


----------



## Tippy

Yes, I was saving the output files correctly.

However, I tried a different disk the second time (a DVD-RW; the first time was a 16X DVD R-) and it worked. 

I'll have to play with the DVDStyler but it appears whatever I did the first time was adequate. I looked at the manual but it didn't quite make sense. I'll try some other options next time though.

I have read this thread in detail, several times, but as everyone knows, only after you try it yourself does it really start to come together.

Great thread though. I was able to do this on my second try, and I think the first try was actually a bad disk. For $50, this is much cheaper and actually has much more editing capability than the stand-alone DVD burner.

Thanks to all of the experts out there!

TBS


----------



## mmcmechen

Dave,

Thanks for the advice. I am using MYDVD8 premier. The files I have edited with it play fine on the computer. It is just the DVD creation that is giving me the problems. I have changed the recording quality to Medium, and am going to burn a few DVDs and see what type of results I get.

My TIVO is a 40 hour Series2.


----------



## dakk

Up until now I have had good results w/using Direct Show Dump Utility to take the .tivo wrapper off...using VideoReDo to edit commercials...dragging it into DVDStyler to add a simple menu and output it as an .iso to be burnt on DVD Decrypter. Now I find I need to put more than 1 show on a disc......I can do that w/no problem, except I cannot figure out how to create a menu in DVDStyler so that when I want to view the disc I can just press menu on my remote go to let's say episode 3 out of a total 5 episodes on the disc and just view episoide 3 witjout either watching episodes 1 and 2 or fast forwading to get to episode 3. Can any one help? Thanks.


----------



## greg_burns

dakk said:


> Up until now I have had good results w/using Direct Show Dump Utility to take the .tivo wrapper off...using VideoReDo to edit commercials


No answer for the menu issue, but you do realize you don't need DSD if you own VR? It works with .tivo files as is. (In fact there is even an advanced option to edit commercials and resave back as a .tivo file).


----------



## dakk

greg_burns said:


> No answer for the menu issue, but you do realize you don't need DSD if you own VR? It works with .tivo files as is. (In fact there is even an advanced option to edit commercials and resave back as a .tivo file).


 Yeah, I do know that.... it's just old habits die hard. I just can't imagine that no one puts more than 1 movie on a dvd and wants to jump to the second movie to watch that one first.


----------



## dlfl

dakk said:


> (......... )
> 
> I cannot figure out how to create a menu in DVDStyler so that when I want to view the disc I can just press menu on my remote go to let's say episode 3 out of a total 5 episodes on the disc and just view episoide 3 witjout either watching episodes 1 and 2 or fast forwading to get to episode 3. Can any one help? Thanks.


Should be no problem, dakk. This is exactly what I do with DVDStyler. It takes so many words to describe all the details that I have attached an example project file that you can load into DVDStyler [NOTE: Good for version 1.5b5 only -- hope you are using that version or are willing to switch]. This is a .xml file which had to be zipped in order to be an acceptable attachment on this forum. I've tested that it doesn't choke because the video mpeg files are not present. It's possble it may choke on not finding buttons or background files if your installation file structure is different from mine. The example.xml file is editable in wordpad and you should be able to spot the names of the background and button files and change their paths to fit your installation, IF NECESSARY.

I include both a vmMenu and a title menu for maximum compatibility. Starting from scratch you would start a new project and select NTSC (not PAL). The single title menu will be in the bottom area. Immediately right-click in the lower area and add a vmMenu, which will position itself to the left of the first menu. Then drag your multiple video files into the bottom area in the order you want them. The title menu and your video files (titles) form a "title set". The vmMenu is what will appear first when you play the disk. Some buttons on player remotes take you to the title menu, so I put one there with only a background and a one second pause before calling the VmMenu. Inspect the properties of everything in the bottom area of the example by right clicking. The post command for the titles should call the vmMenu. Note the chapter times. I truncate the default times to only those that fit within the title video (45 min each in my case). The title menu post command should jump to the the vmMenu. Note the pause in the title menu which is 1 (second) instead of the default (-1, no pause).

Inspect the properties of the menu buttons (arrows) by double clicking. Note how each one jumps to a different title. You can resize and copy/paste both buttons and text, including from one menu to another. (Check the properties of the copies though.) You add text by right clicking in the menu area and adding. I don't use text menu buttons because this version seems to have a bug when you do that and resize the buttons larger for better readability.

I learned about this from the DVDStyler users guide which is available on their web site.

When I use 352x480 medium-qualiity tivo (converted to mpeg) files without re-encoding to 720x480 with gui4ffmpeg I get a slew of warnings about "audio sector out of range" when DVDStyler is creating the .iso file. The authors of the program informed me (on the DVDStyler forum) that this is a bug and does not affect the quality of the output file.

Hope this helps!
Dave


----------



## dakk

Dave.....First Thanks.....I downloaded DSD 1.5b5 when I first saw it . It went thru it's motions fine until it came to the burn command....where 1.4 starts 
Summary
Prepare 
Generating Menus
Fixing MPEG - Files

1.5 in 'Summary' goes right to .vob files....hence I get error messages and cannot burn.
A cursory look at the 'Configuration Settings' Core 1.5b5 has nothing in the burn command line
as opposed to 1.4 which reads like this
mkisofs -dvd-video '$DIR' | cdrecord dev=$DEV -v driveropts=burnfree fs=64m -dao tsize=$SIZEs -

Another example 1.4 in 'Core' the second line is '
Frame Rate Pal
In 1.5b5
Frame Count of Menu

And their are more differences......either way I was forced to un-install 1.5b5 and re-install 1.4


----------



## dakk

greg_burns said:


> Not to be a pest, but DSD=DirectShow Dump. You mean DVDStyler.


Yes ..................Sorry


----------



## dlfl

dakk said:


> ( ........ )
> 
> 1.5 in 'Summary' goes right to .vob files....hence I get error messages and cannot burn.
> A cursory look at the 'Configuration Settings' Core 1.5b5 has nothing in the burn command line
> as opposed to 1.4 which reads like this
> mkisofs -dvd-video '$DIR' | cdrecord dev=$DEV -v driveropts=burnfree fs=64m -dao tsize=$SIZEs -
> 
> Another example 1.4 in 'Core' the second line is '
> Frame Rate Pal
> In 1.5b5
> Frame Count of Menu
> 
> And their are more differences......either way I was forced to un-install 1.5b5 and re-install 1.4


I don't understand why that forced you to revert to 1.4  
The differences you describe are there in my 1.5b5 projects which work fine. I understand the two versions use different versions of the underlying DVDAuthor program suite. You might not be able to use a project (.xml) file created in one version in the other version.

When you uninstalled one version in order to re-install another did you ever get messages that some files could not be removed? To get around this you have to reboot and remove the files manually. Otherwise you may not get a clean install of the other version.

Are you burning to .iso files (rather than direct to DVD)? That is generally recommended.

Unfortunately I don't have any good examples for ver 1.4 to send you.

There is a DVDStyler forum and it appears the program authors do pay attention to the posts. There is a link to the forum on the DVDStyler home page.


----------



## smpemp

I got a new Dual Tuner Series 2 TIVO. I've got the TIVO shows downloaded to my computer. The automatic conversion to an IPOD file works great. I'm having trouble burning to DVD. My computer came with MYDVDPlus ver 7.
The TIVO file is 1,253,866kb (1 hour 37 minutes). I turn on MyDVD. Create Project. DVD. It says it can record up to 3 hours but when I pull in the TIVO file my 1.2gb file is 7.25gb and I can't burn it to a 4.7gb disk unless I choose VHS quality. I would like to burn a disk at HQ-DVD Quality. I didn't want to spend $50 for the MyDVD ver 6.2 but does it burn TIVO at DVD quality?

Anybody know why my file size increases when I load it into MyDVDPlus?


----------



## greg_burns

smpemp said:


> The TIVO file is 1,253,866kb (1 hour 37 minutes).


Do you know what quality level it was recorded at on the Tivo? Basic, Med, High, Best? Play it back in WMP and do a File->Properties. What is the video size say? 480x480 (High or Best)? 352x480 (Med or Basic)?

Anything but Basic or Medium quality is going to want to transcode by Nero Vision Express or MyDVD. That will mess with the video quality.

Download the trial of VideoRedo (make sure you register it to allow more than 1/2 hour of video). Then try the DVDStyler method outlined in this thread. It will skip the whole transcode step and should easily fit that onto a single disc I believe.


----------



## dakk

dlfl said:


> Should be no problem, dakk. This is exactly what I do with DVDStyler. It takes so many words to describe all the details that I have attached an example project file that you can load into DVDStyler [NOTE: Good for version 1.5b5 only -- hope you are using that version or are willing to switch]. This is a .xml file which had to be zipped in order to be an acceptable attachment on this forum. I've tested that it doesn't choke because the video mpeg files are not present. It's possble it may choke on not finding buttons or background files if your installation file structure is different from mine. The example.xml file is editable in wordpad and you should be able to spot the names of the background and button files and change their paths to fit your installation, IF NECESSARY.
> 
> I include both a vmMenu and a title menu for maximum compatibility. Starting from scratch you would start a new project and select NTSC (not PAL). The single title menu will be in the bottom area. Immediately right-click in the lower area and add a vmMenu, which will position itself to the left of the first menu. Then drag your multiple video files into the bottom area in the order you want them. The title menu and your video files (titles) form a "title set". The vmMenu is what will appear first when you play the disk. Some buttons on player remotes take you to the title menu, so I put one there with only a background and a one second pause before calling the VmMenu. Inspect the properties of everything in the bottom area of the example by right clicking. The post command for the titles should call the vmMenu. Note the chapter times. I truncate the default times to only those that fit within the title video (45 min each in my case). The title menu post command should jump to the the vmMenu. Note the pause in the title menu which is 1 (second) instead of the default (-1, no pause).
> 
> Inspect the properties of the menu buttons (arrows) by double clicking. Note how each one jumps to a different title. You can resize and copy/paste both buttons and text, including from one menu to another. (Check the properties of the copies though.) You add text by right clicking in the menu area and adding. I don't use text menu buttons because this version seems to have a bug when you do that and resize the buttons larger for better readability.
> 
> I learned about this from the DVDStyler users guide which is available on their web site.
> 
> When I use 352x480 medium-qualiity tivo (converted to mpeg) files without re-encoding to 720x480 with gui4ffmpeg I get a slew of warnings about "audio sector out of range" when DVDStyler is creating the .iso file. The authors of the program informed me (on the DVDStyler forum) that this is a bug and does not affect the quality of the output file.
> 
> Hope this helps!
> Dave


Caught the flu last week...was laid up for a couple of days.....You were right I had to manually uninstall the DVDStyler 1.4 folder. Than re install 1.5b5 and it works fine added your download and everything fell in place. Thanks so much for all your help.


----------



## sjmark1

I've followed Dan's directions - made sure dvd styler was on NTSC - PAL is the default. created simple menu. and output as ISO. Dvddecrypter burned the file (successful finish! SONY DVD RW DW-U14A 2.0c (ATA)) but in the Source area, Label says CDROM. Looking through Explorer, the drive says CDrom with UDF file system. I am using DVD+R media, which is perfectly compatible with the drive and s/w (Sony Vaio system). I've tried playing the dvd with media player, real player, itunes player, InterActual. When I look at the directory structure there are two folders, Audio_TS (empty) and Video_TS which has .vob files (also .ifo & bup). Don'y know why there's nothing in the audio folder but can't explain why nothing is playing. Any thoughts?


----------



## greg_burns

sjmark1 said:


> When I look at the directory structure there are two folders, Audio_TS (empty) and Video_TS which has .vob files (also .ifo & bup). Don'y know why there's nothing in the audio folder but can't explain why nothing is playing. Any thoughts?


AUDIO_TS is suppose to be empty.

http://www.denguru.com/2006/08/28/all_you_need_to_know_about_ripping_dvds/index.html


> If you put a DVD Video disc into your computer, you'll see at least two folders and a long list of files. Ignore the AUDIO_TS folder; it's the Audio Title Set and is used mainly for DVD Audio discs.


I would suspect your menu is the problem. I've had success with just dropping one button and make sure the properties says play first chapter (or something). Don't have it up in front of me at the moment. Can you open it up in WMP and drill down into the first Chapter manually? If so, it is probably just the menu.

Edit:


sjmark1 said:


> Looking through Explorer, the drive says CDrom with UDF file system.


I just looket at a commercial DVD and a DVD rip. Both say the same thing in Vista when I right-click on the drive.


----------



## angelm713

Does anyone know if DVDStyler will make an ISO that will work on a Dual-Layer DVD? 

It appears ImgBurn will support ISO to DL.

Thanks!

EDIT: I have a tendency to answer my own posts!  
I was able to make an ISO in DVDStyler, with menu, with five 1-hour medium quality shows (DSD .tivo to .mpg) for 6+gb .iso file.
Used ImgBurn v2.0.0.0 to burn ISO to DL DVD+RW and it works great. Checked A/V sync all the way through.
Beautiful. :up:


----------



## sjmark1

Greg - Thanks - I missed the audio line. I can play the movie in WMP when manually drilling down, with sound! I'll go back and check out the menu process. 
Thanks again.


----------



## dlfl

sjmark1 said:


> Greg - Thanks - I missed the audio line. I can play the movie in WMP when manually drilling down, with sound! I'll go back and check out the menu process.
> Thanks again.


If you continue to have menu problems consider this post:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4278167&&#post4278167
The post is just a few posts back in this thread but wasn't sure if you had noticed it.
It isn't nearly as complicated as it sounds and seems to provide maximum compatibility for standalone players, in my limited experience. I've found I have to include a vmMenu even if there is only one title (using Ver. 1.5b5).


----------



## sjmark1

OK - I have made several more coasters. 2 quick questions about the menu creation (because I think that's where all my problems are). 
1) What pre-commands do I need to display the 1 menu I set up in DVD Styler (I've used blank, jump title1);
2)Do I need a post command on the menu?
or another question...
3) I created 2 buttons that are supposed to "jump title 1 chapter 1" (properties of the button) & "jump title 2 chapter 1" - of course I can't see them because there is no menu displayed - I'm assuming they will work if I ever get to see the menu;
4)The post command for the first title is: call vmgm menu 1;
Do I need any pre- commands?

Thanks for any help in advance.


----------



## sjmark1

just saw your response - of course after I posted my questions - but the reference is specifically for the beta version. I'm using v1.4.


----------



## OldPCguru

arsa13 said:


> I'm running into a snag while trying to create menus for a dvd in DVD Styler. ...
> 
> assertion "useimg" failed: file "subgen-image.c", line 726
> Error executing of command: spumux 'C:\Documents and Settings\Matt\dvd\menu1-1.mpg_spumux.xml'
> 
> ....


Hi

Maybe I've got the right answer for you.

I got the same error as you and I didn't find any solution for that in the internet. So then, I analyzed the situation, read the source code of spumux and analyzed the bad results (that comes from dvd styler).

Why this error happens?
If you use the 'button' as it appears at your window, it is all right. But if you increase the size of the font, this error will occur.
This happens because dvdstyler (version 1.5b5) has a bug. 'spumux' can only handle images (.PNG files) that have two colors: one forground and one transparent color. If you increase font size, dvdstyler generates (='antialaises') a third and a fourth color. You will rcognize it in the log as: 'INFO: PNG had 4 colors'.

What is the solution to prevent this error?
Maybe the following will help:
1. Make your button(s) as you like.
2. In the properties window of each button click in the 'Location and size' area on 'custom' and chose a bigger height. E.g.: if there is a height of 33 increase to 38. Maybe you have to play a little bit with the values.
3. Burn dvd...

Hope this will help you (and all the other reading this).


----------



## dlfl

OldPCguru said:


> Hi
> 
> Maybe I've got the right answer for you.
> 
> I got the same error as you and I didn't find any solution for that in the internet. So then, I analyzed the situation, read the source code of spumux and analyzed the bad results (that comes from dvd styler).
> 
> Why this error happens?
> If you use the 'button' as it appears at your window, it is all right. But if you increase the size of the font, this error will occur.
> This happens because dvdstyler (version 1.5b5) has a bug. 'spumux' can only handle images (.PNG files) that have two colors: one forground and one transparent color. If you increase font size, dvdstyler generates (='antialaises') a third and a fourth color. You will rcognize it in the log as: 'INFO: PNG had 4 colors'.
> 
> What is the solution to prevent this error?
> Maybe the following will help:
> 1. Make your button(s) as you like.
> 2. In the properties window of each button click in the 'Location and size' area on 'custom' and chose a bigger height. E.g.: if there is a height of 33 increase to 38. Maybe you have to play a little bit with the values.
> 3. Burn dvd...
> 
> Hope this will help you (and all the other reading this).


Although I haven't tried it, I suspect your analysis is correct. There is a lot of discussion of this problem on the DVDStyler Forum, at
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=318795
Recently one of the program authors seemed to suggest exactly what you are recommending as a workaround, see:
https://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=3884965


----------



## sjmark1

First, let me say I appreciate all the ideas and explainations you have been giving. There is something very basic I am missing. There is no Error in the dvd styler log. Creation is successful. I searched through the whole log. Are there examples anywhere on what the properties entries for the main menu, and each title is suupposed to look like for a very basic dvd to play in any of the pc players and a standalone machine? I have gone to the dvd styler site, wiki, et al, but found nothing using v1.4. I thought that was the stable, non-beta version and would be more reliable. Am I way off base with that? I understand that sometimes one or another player will not be compatible, but all of them? 
Thanks again for this forum and the opportunity to zero in on all the different problems people have.


----------



## dlfl

sjmark1 said:


> First, let me say I appreciate all the ideas and explainations you have been giving. There is something very basic I am missing. There is no Error in the dvd styler log. Creation is successful. I searched through the whole log. Are there examples anywhere on what the properties entries for the main menu, and each title is suupposed to look like for a very basic dvd to play in any of the pc players and a standalone machine? I have gone to the dvd styler site, wiki, et al, but found nothing using v1.4. I thought that was the stable, non-beta version and would be more reliable. Am I way off base with that? I understand that sometimes one or another player will not be compatible, but all of them?
> Thanks again for this forum and the opportunity to zero in on all the different problems people have.


My impression (from various forum posts) is that most people are using the beta version (1.5b5) of DVDStyler. Also the fairly detailed user guide that is available, linked to the DVDStyler home page, is specifically for that version. My suggestion would be to switch to that version. When you uninstall v1.4 you may get a message that some files (.exe and/or .dll) cannot be removed. If so, reboot and manually remove all files in the installation folder before installing v1.5b5.

Then refer to the following post:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4278167&&#post4278167
And download the example project attached to it. This seemed to work for another user. With that you can examine all the properties for a project that worked for at least two people. Modifying this to work for just one title, if that is what you desire, should be easy.

Getting a DVD that is guaranteed to play on ANY standalone player doesn't seem to be a simple task. My experience has been I have to re-encode from TiVo medium (352x480) to DVD D! format (720x480) to achieve maximum compatibility, although my primary (5 yr old) player doesn't actually require this. My son's Sony player, less than a year old, DOES require this. (Problem was loss of audio synch on fast forward -- be sure to test for this.) If you have to re-encode, then I suggest the use of gui4ffmpeg.exe (free) as described in this post:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4225960&&#post4225960

That's about the limit of my ability to help you. Good luck


----------



## dlfl

OldPCguru said:


> Hi
> 
> Maybe I've got the right answer for you.
> 
> I got the same error as you and I didn't find any solution for that in the internet. So then, I analyzed the situation, read the source code of spumux and analyzed the bad results (that comes from dvd styler).
> 
> Why this error happens?
> If you use the 'button' as it appears at your window, it is all right. But if you increase the size of the font, this error will occur.
> This happens because dvdstyler (version 1.5b5) has a bug. 'spumux' can only handle images (.PNG files) that have two colors: one forground and one transparent color. If you increase font size, dvdstyler generates (='antialaises') a third and a fourth color. You will rcognize it in the log as: 'INFO: PNG had 4 colors'.
> 
> What is the solution to prevent this error?
> Maybe the following will help:
> 1. Make your button(s) as you like.
> 2. In the properties window of each button click in the 'Location and size' area on 'custom' and chose a bigger height. E.g.: if there is a height of 33 increase to 38. Maybe you have to play a little bit with the values.
> 3. Burn dvd...
> 
> Hope this will help you (and all the other reading this).


I just authored a good DVD in which I used a "PLAY" menu button in 72 font size. I increased the button size as you suggested and it worked fine. 

Of course this isn't a general validation -- but it's a good sign :up:


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> I just authored a good DVD in which I used a "PLAY" menu button in 72 font size. I increased the button size as you suggested and it worked fine.
> 
> Of course this isn't a general validation -- but it's a good sign :up:


Might I suggest testing using Daemon Tools rather than real DVDs. Easier on the wallet.

Not meant to be specifically directed at you dlfl.


----------



## sjmark1

Well I uninstalled v1.4, re-installed 1.5b and followed as much of the talk above as possible. I have successful creations with 1 and 2 movies on a menu. The only problem I'm experiencing (and its not with all the dvds) is low sound. I need to move the bar to max to get to hear anything on a couple of the dvds, but the last one I made is fine ( didn't change anything from a set-up perspective). 
I want to thank you guys. You have helped a lot. As I do more of this and come up with some strategies of my own, I'll be back to share. Thanks again.


----------



## Jeff R

I have been trying to get this all working, but with limited success.

I am starting with Tivo captures at high or best quality. 
My test file is 480x480, recorded at high quality, and trimmed to about 5 minutes
in VideoRedo Plus so I can recode and burn fairly quickly.

My workflow: VideoRedo Plus -> gui4ffmpeg -> DVDStyler -> imgburn

From VideoRedo, I have saved as VOB or MPEG to run through gui4ffmpeg, but that does not appear to change the results.

In gui4ffmpeg, I have attempted to make either full-D1 or half-D1 movies. 

If I make a full-D1, the movie plays on my standalone DVD player but the quality is poor -- any scene with motion is jumpy. This is true at all bitrates I have tried -- 3000, 6000, and 9000. Does this not normally occur with full-D1??

If I make a half-D1 (352x480) in gui4ffmpeg, the resulting movie's motion and quality are fine (even at 3000 kbit/s) but the position on the screen is messed up -- it is shifted to the left and wraps around the right side, and a wide colored band appears at the bottom of the screen.

I feel like I'm pretty close. half-d1 seems to be the way to go, since the quality looks best, but I need to work out why it plays poorly. 

Any suggestions?

Jeff


----------



## jlb

How do folks think the Redo path/method is compared to software such as Roxio's Media Creator?

I just installed a DVD burner on my PC this weekend and I not only need a player, but also software to allow me to modify/burn TiVo programs to DVD. I also want to be able to have data backups that span multiple DVDs....Would Media Player 10 do this?

Also, a question....if I were archiving some of my DVDs, can these, or any programs allow you to backup a DL DVD to two SL DVDs?


----------



## greg_burns

jlb said:


> Also, a question....if I were archiving some of my DVDs, can these, or any programs allow you to backup a DL DVD to two SL DVDs?


To do backup a commercial DVD (most of which are DL), you can use DVDDecrypter or commercial software. DVDDecrypter works for a lot of DVDs, but not some newer ones (especially from Sony). This article recommends some such software for ripping DVDs

http://www.denguru.com/2006/08/28/all_you_need_to_know_about_ripping_dvds/

To fit a DL rip onto a single SL DVD you can use DVDShrink (which is free). If you have Nero it comes with Nero Recode which does the same. Not sure what is in Roxio's package for doing this. Never really heard of anyone splitting a DL across two SL discs.


----------



## jlb

Ok, so I downloaded DVDShrink which will fairly easily let me archive/backup my DVDs and then likely put a DL movie onto a SL disk (remove unnecessary language tracks, etc...I assume). I also downloaded WMP10 for my PC at home which will allow me to play movies.

Final step then is handling massaging of files from TiVo to get them burned. There's so much out there it's getting confusing.

There's Redo, Roxio, Sonic, etc............yikes!!!

I just need to find something that is easy to use, and partnered with DVDShrink, gives me pretty much everything I need.........

I've read alot in this thread and others about VideoRedo. Sounds like a good product. But it also sounds like some folks are having errors..........

I would really like some comparison opinions on VideoRedo, as compared to Roxio MediaCreator, Sonic MyDVD, etc.........

Thanks!


----------



## greg_burns

jlb said:


> I also downloaded WMP10 for my PC at home which will allow me to play movies.


FYI. WMP 10 isn't going to allow playback if WMP 9 isn't currently. Neither includes an MPEG-2 codec which is required for .tivo and DVD playback. If you don't have one already, you'll have to purchase one or get one of the questionable free codec packs out there.

No experience with Roxio or MyDVD. Have used Nero's Nero Visio Express (NVE). Works great for authoring DVD's (tad slow), but sux for editing. I prefer editing with VideoRedo and authoring with NVE (or DVDStyler).


----------



## jlb

Thanks for the info Greg. Would I be correct that if you purchased VideoRedo or something like Roxio Media Creator, that it includes the codec?

Since I don't even have my wireless adapters yet, my main uses are playback of DVDs (likely only my daughter at this point) and backing up of DVDs (and preferably being able to span multiple discs). 

Does DVDshrink have the ability have data backups span multiple discs?

I won't necessarily worry about purchasing Redo, or whatever, until I have my adapters......


----------



## greg_burns

jlb said:


> Thanks for the info Greg. Would I be correct that if you purchased VideoRedo or something like Roxio Media Creator, that it includes the codec?


I don't think VR includes any codecs (although it may use one internally for display). Roxio probably does. I know Nero does. But all codecs are problematic. Just gotta try playing a back a .tivo file and see what it does.



jlb said:


> Does DVDshrink have the ability have data backups span multiple discs?


I doubt it, soley based on the products name.  When you say data backups, do you mean data DVD's or video DVD's. DVDShrink only deals with video DVD's.


----------



## jlb

Yeah....I meant Data DVDs. I think I'll end up getting either Roxio or VideoRedo. Thanks!


----------



## dlfl

Jeff R said:


> I am starting with Tivo captures at high or best quality.
> My test file is 480x480, recorded at high quality, and trimmed to about 5 minutes
> in VideoRedo Plus so I can recode and burn fairly quickly.


I haven't used 480x480 -- mine are half-D1 (TiVo Series2, Medium Quality) and I re-encode to full D1 with gui4ffmpeg to maximize standalone compatibility for two players that I target. Thus I can't say whether gui4ffmpeg might be having a problem with your resolution.


> From VideoRedo, I have saved as VOB or MPEG to run through gui4ffmpeg, but that does not appear to change the results.


Are you saving from VRD as .vob then renaming to .mpg? I do this whether or not I am going to re-encode with gui4ffmpeg.

One possible issue: I infer your primary video source is satellite, correct? Dan203 has stated earlier in this thread that this source can have very long GOP's in its MPEG2 encoding whereas NTSC DVD specifies maximum GOP length of 18 frames. VRD can fix this -- just look in the help to see how. My source has GOP lengths of only 15 and doesn't need fixing. I notice that after I run it through gui4ffmpeg the GOP length is up to 18 (still OK). I suspect there is some switch for gui4ffmpeg that controls GOP lengths also.

I'm not at my computer that runs VRD now, but there is a way you can have it display the frame encoding type (I, P or B) in the upper left corner of the video display. Then you single-frame step and count the number of frames to go from one I frame to the next I frame. That is the GOP length.


----------



## Jeff R

My source is from a Tivo Series 2, recorded from cable in High quality.

I am confused about the renaming of VOB to MPEG -- what does this achieve?

I have experimented with the GOP length in VDR, but I can't remember if I tried running it through gui4ffmpeg after that. I think I was under the assumption that ffmpeg took care of that stuff. So maybe I should take the file from VDR and set a max length of 15 (or 18?) and then run it through gui4ffmpeg.

I am curious about your conversion from medium quality to full D1 -- I would appreciate it if you could share what you enter in each box in gui4ffmpeg. Because when I have tried, I get a DVD that is free of corruption but the scenes are very jumpy if any motion is involved. Clearly you are not having this problem, so I must be doing something wrong!

I was also under the impression that medium format tivo files, once run through VDR, should be directly compatible with a half-D1 DVD without transcoding. But Nero is barfing when I ask it to do this...

Jeff


----------



## dlfl

This  **post**  contains links to details of all the key parts I use in DVD production including what I enter into the gui4ffmpeg interface.


Jeff R said:


> I am confused about the renaming of VOB to MPEG -- what does this achieve?


This is part of the Dan203 process. He has explained that the .vob file contains empty navigation packets that are needed by DVDStyler. I believe it was Greg_burns who said you don't have to rename the .vob to .mpg before loading the file into DVDStyler, but I just do it. I also save as .vob and rename to .mpg when the next step is input to gui4ffmpeg. Why? Actually no good reason. That happened to be the first way I tried it -- it worked -- so.....  If you are getting the impression my success has been more luck than understanding, well ...  


> I have experimented with the GOP length in VDR, but I can't remember if I tried running it through gui4ffmpeg after that. I think I was under the assumption that ffmpeg took care of that stuff. So maybe I should take the file from VDR and set a max length of 15 (or 18?) and then run it through gui4ffmpeg.


I've never actually used the GOP fix-up feature of VRD. I think your assumption that gui4ffmpeg should set the GOP's is logical. After all it changes all my 15 frame GOPs to 18-frames. But I'm just guessing.


> I was also under the impression that medium format tivo files, once run through VDR, should be directly compatible with a half-D1 DVD without transcoding. But Nero is barfing when I ask it to do this...


Sounds reasonable to me but I have zero experience with Nero so maybe someone else will answer this one.


----------



## greg_burns

Jeff R said:


> I was also under the impression that medium format tivo files, once run through VDR, should be directly compatible with a half-D1 DVD without transcoding. But Nero is barfing when I ask it to do this...


Barfing how so? Error message or what?

I've ran medium .tivo files through DirectShow Dump (and also .tivo files through VR outputted simply as .mpg) into Nero's Vision Express w/o problems. It still "says" it is transcoding, but it goes extremely quickly. I've never had audio sync problems doing this either, but others have. I think the solution for that is to output as VOB from VR and use that as input to NVE.



dlfl said:


> I believe it was Greg_burns who said you don't have to rename the .vob to .mpg before loading the file into DVDStyler, but I just do it.


This whole renaming .vob to .mpg I've never understood. It was my understanding the GUI (using the Directories tab) for DVDStyler didn't recognize .vob files. But dragging n dropping worked instead. But I've never had it not work either way. (Just tried it once again to confirm).


----------



## Jeff R

I have made progress. If I use the flag "-ilme" for ffmpeg (interlacing), then my full-D1 conversions look fine. So that's some great progress.

I still don't understand why my half-D1 DVDs are corrupted -- but I suspect it might be a DVDStyler issue, because Nero is able to take half-D1 videos I make with gui4ffmpeg and make a good DVD without transcoding.

DVDStyler, however, produces a video that has a wide band of solid color across the bottom of the screen.


Regarding the Nero crash when working with medium quality files saved from VideoRedo Plus, I have attached the log. It doesn't enlighten me much!

I have found that if I take the medium quality file through ffmpeg and have it output a 352x480 file, then Nero is OK. So it seems like something in VideoRedo's output isn't quite what Nero wants.

Jeff


----------



## dlfl

Jeff R said:


> I have made progress. If I use the flag "-ilme" for ffmpeg (interlacing), then my full-D1 conversions look fine. So that's some great progress.
> Jeff


I remembered seeing talk of this flag recently and found it: If you go to the VideoHelp forums and search on
"-ilme" you wiill find two posts including:


> The "-ilme" switch forces interlaced motion estimation support -- using that switch, when I resize mpeg files using gui4ffmpeg, interlaced (top field first) files come out interlaced (top field first), rather than progressive


Can't say I understand the exact technical issue here nor why I don't have to use this switch and get DVD's that play perfectly on three different standalones ranging from one to five years old.

Anyway I'm glad you are making progress


----------



## heyjudii

this is probably mentioned somewhere, but my search didn't find it: i want to put several episodes on 1 dvd. i can't figure out how to do this with dvdstyler. the wiki for the site just confuses me.

i want to create several buttons on the title menu that will take me to each of the episodes. how do i do this?


----------



## greg_burns

heyjudii said:


> this is probably mentioned somewhere, but my search didn't find it: i want to put several episodes on 1 dvd. i can't figure out how to do this with dvdstyler. the wiki for the site just confuses me.
> 
> i want to create several buttons on the title menu that will take me to each of the episodes. how do i do this?


Don't you just drag n drop multiple vob files on the timeline, and then add couple buttons. Right-click on each button and tell it which "chapter" to play. At least that is how I would think it is done. Don't have it in front of me at the moment.


----------



## dlfl

heyjudii said:


> this is probably mentioned somewhere, but my search didn't find it: i want to put several episodes on 1 dvd. i can't figure out how to do this with dvdstyler. the wiki for the site just confuses me.
> 
> i want to create several buttons on the title menu that will take me to each of the episodes. how do i do this?


My typical DVDStyler project is exactly that: 3 or 4 40-minute clips with a menu button linked to each title. See this **POST** for links to all the details of my process. One of the links has an example multi-title DVDStyler project that can be downloaded and viewed. This is for Ver. 1.5b5 -- I hope you are using that version and recommend you switch to it if you aren't.


----------



## heyjudii

dlfl said:


> My typical DVDStyler project is exactly that: 3 or 4 40-minute clips with a menu button linked to each title. See this **POST** for links to all the details of my process. One of the links has an example multi-title DVDStyler project that can be downloaded and viewed. This is for Ver. 1.5b5 -- I hope you are using that version and recommend you switch to it if you aren't.


that did it. thanks so much.


----------



## dlfl

heyjudii said:


> that did it. thanks so much.


Good  
I am curious: What resolution was your TiVo source file (medium? 352x480? or what?) And did you use the gui4ffmpeg re-encode-to-720x480 step? If so, did you use the -ilme (interlace motion estimation) switch? What is your target DVD player?


----------



## heyjudii

i am not sure i understand your questions, but i will try to respond as if i did.  

i record all tivo shows at the same quality - high - just in case i want to later save them to dvd.

i didn't do anything except: transfer to pc, run thru videoredo plus (latest beta version), dvdstyler, dvddecryptor, play on phillips dvd player.

hope that answers your questions.


----------



## dlfl

heyjudii said:


> i am not sure i understand your questions, but i will try to respond as if i did.
> 
> i record all tivo shows at the same quality - high - just in case i want to later save them to dvd.
> 
> i didn't do anything except: transfer to pc, run thru videoredo plus (latest beta version), dvdstyler, dvddecryptor, play on phillips dvd player.
> 
> hope that answers your questions.


Based on that info, you are a lucky person! Best and high quality are both 480x480 formats (just different bit rates), at least for Series 2 Dual-tuner Tivo's. This is not a DVD compliant format and thus would need to be re-encoded to a NTSC DVD-compliant format (e.g., 720x480 or 352x480) to play on most U.S . standalone players. The process you describe does no re-encoding. Perhaps your Phillips is very tolerant. Some players won't even play all the compliant formats correctly (720x480 should be played by all).

To verify format just load a video into VideoReDo and use Control-L. If it is indeed 480x480 there is a fair chance the DVD's will not play on other players. I realize you may only care about your current player now, but eventually you may need to replace it, and then ...... (  )

Also, be sure to test that audio synch is maintained after fast forward and reverse at any point from beginning to end. Don't mean to be a wet blanket but I've learned these things the hard way


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## heyjudii

you may be right, but only time will tell, because so far, they play in pc dvd drives, the phillips and something called a lasonic dvd player. (only the pc dvd drives are higher end, the stand alones are cheap as dirt. one of them came free for opening a bank account.) i guess i could ask friends and family to test them out in their various dvd players, but...nuh uh.

i tried various methods before stumbling upon the method i now use (while looking up something else here on the tivo help board), so i have been down the unsynced audio path with the other methods and knew to view the output files before burning them. 

i also cut my teeth, so to speak, on backing up my commercial dvd's so the various problems that go hand in hand with that process were familiar to me. and i very, very rarely had any of the problems i read about doing that. 

don't want to tempt fate, but, so far, so good!


----------



## heyjudii

dlfl said:


> Inspect the properties of the menu buttons (arrows) by double clicking. Note how each one jumps to a different title. You can resize and copy/paste both buttons and text, including from one menu to another. (Check the properties of the copies though.) You add text by right clicking in the menu area and adding.
> Dave


i did this several times with no problem but now when i right click to add text, i do not get that menu. instead i get:

Arrange
Cut
Copy 
Paste 
Delete
Properties

no matter where i right click in the menu area, i can't get the:

Add
Grid
Paste
Properties

menu anymore. i can't figure out what the problem is.

well, i did figure out it has something to do with adding a background first. if i don't add the background first, then i can add the buttons and text and then add the background and send it to the back. but if i add the background picture first...i can't add text afterwards/


----------



## dlfl

heyjudii said:


> i did this several times with no problem but now when i right click to add text, i do not get that menu. instead i get:
> 
> Arrange
> Cut
> Copy
> Paste
> Delete
> Properties
> 
> no matter where i right click in the menu area, i can't get the:
> 
> Add
> Grid
> Paste
> Properties
> 
> menu anymore. i can't figure out what the problem is.
> 
> well, i did figure out it has something to do with adding a background first. if i don't add the background first, then i can add the buttons and text and then add the background and send it to the back. but if i add the background picture first...i can't add text afterwards/


Hmmmm....
Are you using DVDStyler ver. 1.5beta5? I only used v. 1.4 very briefly so can't help with it.

I always add the background to the menu first. I use either the built-in backgrounds or JPEG images captured with VideoReDo from the video while editing it. In either case I have no problem adding text via right-clicks. In other words I can't duplicate your problem. One thought: Could it depend on which tab you have selected on the left side, i.e., backgrounds, buttons or directories? I never have the directories one selected when I'm adding things to the menus because that makes the menu display smaller.
The right-click menu you are getting sounds like what you get when you right click within the boundaries of an object (i.e., text or menu button). Is there some way you could be defining an object whose size covers the entire image? Would be interesting to see what the "properties" are. Are you adding the background by double-clicking on a background miniature in the background area on the left side?

Might not hurt to uninistall/reinstall also. If you get a message during uninstall that some files could not be removed, reboot your machine and clear the installation folders manually before reinstalling.

Hope this helps. I read the DVDStyler forum also and haven't seen this problem that I can remember. If we can't fix it, we may want to post it there.


----------



## heyjudii

i am using version 1.5b5

i open dvdstyler and add a vmenu

i add a background from the background tab

i right click anywhere in the background photo and get the menu i listed first in my original post.

if i add no background, and i right click, i get the second menu i listed in my original post.

i uninstalled and reinstalled, but still the same problem.

anytime there is a background photo in place (those that come with dvdstyler) i can not add text. i can add the buttons, but no text box next to them.

i can do what ever i need to do, as long as i don't add a background photo first. after i have added the buttons and text, i can add the background photo and move it to the back. but i haven't tried creating an iso with this method yet.


----------



## dlfl

heyjudii said:


> i am using version 1.5b5
> (....)
> 
> i can do what ever i need to do, as long as i don't add a background photo first. after i have added the buttons and text, i can add the background photo and move it to the back. but i haven't tried creating an iso with this method yet.


Getting weirder all the time....
I am really curious now: Would you please get that incorrect right-click menu up again and select "Properties" ? What object do you get the properties of?

Is it possible the button has a large boundary and you are clicking inside it? (I know you said this happens anywhere in the menu area, so I guess that can't be it but ...)

Verify you add the built-in background by double clicking a thumbnail along the left side (?), and that you do not have the "Directories" selected while you are doing this?

If you could zip the offending .xml project file and attach it to a post, I will see what it does on my system.


----------



## viper20999

I am trying to put some High quality video files from my Series 2 tivo onto a DVD, but when I burn them onto the dvd the video is squeezed in on the sides and I don't know how to edit the video to make it fill the entire tv screen.


----------



## dlfl

viper20999 said:


> I am trying to put some High quality video files from my Series 2 tivo onto a DVD, but when I burn them onto the dvd the video is squeezed in on the sides and I don't know how to edit the video to make it fill the entire tv screen.


As a general comment, high quality is 480x480 which is not a DVD-compliant format. Thus depending on your software process (which may re-encode it to a compliant format) and your DVD player, you can get problems like you see.

The MOST DVD-compliant format is 720x480 (called D1) which your Series 2 doesn't produce at any quality setting. Medium quality is 352x480, which is one of the official DVD-compliant formats, called half-D1. However not all players handle it. DVD production software (e.g., Roxio/Sonic and Nero) frequently re-encode non-compliant formats into compliant ones. You can tell this is happening because it takes as long or longer than the video content length.

Please post the details of your process (software and settings) in order for some one to be able to help you.


----------



## viper20999

I am using Nero to burn the disks.


----------



## dakk

I have been using DVDSTYLER for quite some time. Today I get this error message: 
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/DVDStyler/dvdauthor/mkisofs: No such file or directory. Invalid node - Help 
Error executing of command: mkisofs -V 'DVD' -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\The Girl Can't Help It.iso' -dvd-video 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\dvd\' 
I have cleaned my hard drive, uninstalled and re installed DVDSTYLER 1.5B5.Still getting error. Does anyone have any suggestions. Have Tivo files piling up. Thanks


----------



## dlfl

dakk said:


> I have been using DVDSTYLER for quite some time. Today I get this error message:
> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/DVDStyler/dvdauthor/mkisofs: No such file or directory. Invalid node - Help
> Error executing of command: mkisofs -V 'DVD' -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\The Girl Can't Help It.iso' -dvd-video 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\dvd\'
> I have cleaned my hard drive, uninstalled and re installed DVDSTYLER 1.5B5.Still getting error. Does anyone have any suggestions. Have Tivo files piling up. Thanks


DVDStyler actually runs several other programs.
The error message is giving you a path (folder location) to a program called mkisofs (probably with a .exe extension, i.e., mkisofs.exe) that it's trying to run but can't. First check the path it gives in Windows Explorer and see if the program is actually there. It's either not there or DVDStyler can't run it for some reason. I don't know why either problem should occur but a *complete and clean * re-install should take care of it.

When you uninstall (in preparation for re-installing) do you ever get a message that some files could not be removed? If you do, take note of the file names, re-boot and search the old installation folders for these files, then delete them. Then do the (re-)install.

I've noticed that sometimes (e.g., if you abort during ISO creation) DVDStyler marks some of these programs it runs as "in use". If you try to delete them, you can't until you reboot. It does a similar thing with the temporary folders it uses while running.

I was just going to suggest you could post this on the DVDStyler forum but when I went there to get the link for this post, I saw you already have!

Further thought: Use Windows Task Manager, Processes Tab and look for the mkisofs program. It shouldn't be there (unless you happen to be in the middle of a DVDStyler burn process). It should be safe to end that (mkisofs) process. It may have been left dangling from a previous DVDStyler invocation. (I've seen similar things happen with other programs.)


----------



## dkahs23

When I follow Dan203 instructions on page one. THe video after the burn splits in half? When I view it. Anyone know why?


----------



## oshp129

Does anyone use sonic anymore? I got the 30 day trial and it worked fine but I could not justify the $100 cost. Does anyone know of a program that just converts the .tivo to mpeg or avi instead of going through .vob to .iso and then burning to a disc. If we can just figure a way to convert to mpeg or avi authoring a dvd will be simple using nero. Also which version of nero is everyone using?


----------



## dlfl

oshp129 said:


> Does anyone use sonic anymore? I got the 30 day trial and it worked fine but I could not justify the $100 cost. Does anyone know of a program that just converts the .tivo to mpeg or avi instead of going through .vob to .iso and then burning to a disc. If we can just figure a way to convert to mpeg or avi authoring a dvd will be simple using nero. Also which version of nero is everyone using?


I don't use Nero but the answer to your question is VideoReDo. Just search this thread for that word and also google it. Excellent, highly recommended. Uncrippled 15-day free trial, purchase for $50. Great for editing out commercials too.

VideoReDo is an mpeg editor. (Tivo files are just mpegs with a TiVo wrapper.) VRD loads TiVo files directly, then they can be edited, repaired (if needed) and saved as mpeg (or .vob). It's fast too!


----------



## dlfl

dkahs23 said:


> When I follow Dan203 instructions on page one. THe video after the burn splits in half? When I view it. Anyone know why?


This sounds like a problem I had with Dan203. I solved it by re-encoding the video with gui4ffmpeg before authoring. This ***POST*** is a compendium of links to the details of the essentials of the entire Dan203 process, including the re-encoding modification.

Unfortunately the re-encoding takes a lot of time. But before adding it, only 1 of 3 standalone players played the DVD's correctly. With re-encoding all three play the DVD's perfectly.

If you post again, could you please give the TiVo model and quality level (medium, high or ?) of your recordings? (Actually what I'm after is the resolution/format, e.g., 352x480 or 480x480, etc.)

By any chance is your player a Toshiba? A five year old Toshiba is the player that split the video (side-by-side) for me.


----------



## dkahs23

dlfl said:


> This sounds like a problem I had with Dan203. I solved it by re-encoding the video with gui4ffmpeg before authoring. This ***POST*** is a compendium of links to the details of the essentials of the entire Dan203 process, including the re-encoding modification.
> 
> Unfortunately the re-encoding takes a lot of time. But before adding it, only 1 of 3 standalone players played the DVD's correctly. With re-encoding all three play the DVD's perfectly.
> 
> If you post again, could you please give the TiVo model and quality level (medium, high or ?) of your recordings? (Actually what I'm after is the resolution/format, e.g., 352x480 or 480x480, etc.)
> 
> By any chance is your player a Toshiba? A five year old Toshiba is the player that split the video (side-by-side) for me.


Its the New Tivo DT and it was on the BEST quality. My player was a Sony S7700


----------



## greg_burns

oshp129 said:


> Does anyone use sonic anymore? I got the 30 day trial and it worked fine but I could not justify the $100 cost. Does anyone know of a program that just converts the .tivo to mpeg or avi instead of going through .vob to .iso and then burning to a disc. If we can just figure a way to convert to mpeg or avi authoring a dvd will be simple using nero. Also which version of nero is everyone using?


I agree with what *dlfl* regarding VideoRedo. But if you have no need to edit, then DirectShow Dump will also convert .tivo to .mpeg.

When you say Nero, you sould be saying Nero Vision Express (a subcomponent of the Nero bundle). Note: the OEM versions of Nero sometimes do not have the required DVD Plug-In.

NVE actually can work with raw .tivo files (just change file type to *.*). But there is a sporadic bug where the video and sound will be garbled. There are work arounds, but VideoRedo or DSD are easier, IMO.

The Editor in NVE is slow. Seems to be even slower when working with raw .tivo files. VideoRedo blows it socks off.

One other problem with NVE is that it always re-encodes the video to DVD spec. This takes a long time if your video is not already in the right format (High and Best will need re-encoded). DVDStyler skips this step which saves a lot of time.


----------



## dlfl

dkahs23 said:


> Its the New Tivo DT and it was on the BEST quality. My player was a Sony S7700


I'm assuming you are in the U.S., where NTSC rather than PAL applies.

FYI, the resolution of high and best quality on the DT is 480x480 (best has a higher bit rate). Medium quality resolution is 352x480.

I suspect your problem is due to a combination of the player and resolution.

The only officially NTSC DVD-compliant resolution that a DT puts out is medium, which is called "half-D1". Full DVD resolution is 720x480, called "D1". The older a player is, the less likely it is to play anything but D1 resolution. On the other hand, some players apparently will even play 480x480, which isn't DVD-compliant at all.

Your player is a 6 year old model, although it appears from the reviews to be quite a deluxe model. The age means it's more likely to have trouble with anything other than D1, although it might play half-D1 OK.

Based on this I recommend you either try medium (half-D1) recordings, or try the Dan203 method modified with the re-encoding to D1, referenced in my previous post. I think the second option is more likely to succeed but if the first works you can avoid the long re-encode times. The medium recordings also have the advantage of faster transfer times from TiVo to computer, if you are satisfied with the reduced resolution.


----------



## phillmd

Dan,
Is the below quote still your recommendation for burning a .tivo DVD?

I've spent a few hours trying to get MyDVD 6.1 to burn a DVD and _I did succeed_, but only if I used a single .tivo file. If I used more than 1 .tivo file, I got an "end of file" error message from MyDVD (even though I've got plenty of room on my DVD).

Quote:
1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
4) Output it to an ISO image.
5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.

The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.

Dan

__________________
Super Moderator


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## dkahs23

dlfl said:


> I'm assuming you are in the U.S., where NTSC rather than PAL applies.
> 
> FYI, the resolution of high and best quality on the DT is 480x480 (best has a higher bit rate). Medium quality resolution is 352x480.
> 
> I suspect your problem is due to a combination of the player and resolution.
> 
> The only officially NTSC DVD-compliant resolution that a DT puts out is medium, which is called "half-D1". Full DVD resolution is 720x480, called "D1". The older a player is, the less likely it is to play anything but D1 resolution. On the other hand, some players apparently will even play 480x480, which isn't DVD-compliant at all.
> 
> Your player is a 6 year old model, although it appears from the reviews to be quite a deluxe model. The age means it's more likely to have trouble with anything other than D1, although it might play half-D1 OK.
> 
> Based on this I recommend you either try medium (half-D1) recordings, or try the Dan203 method modified with the re-encoding to D1, referenced in my previous post. I think the second option is more likely to succeed but if the first works you can avoid the long re-encode times. The medium recordings also have the advantage of faster transfer times from TiVo to computer, if you are satisfied with the reduced resolution.


Thank You Much. I re-encoded the file and it work like a champ. Thanks again.


----------



## wscannell

Note that when using DVDStyler 1.5b5, the resulting DVDs seem to be identified as PAL. This is because of the empty VM menu that is created. This points to empty.mpg in the dvdstyler\data folder. The distributed copy is PAL format. There is a new empty.mpg and silence.mp2 available to download from sourceforge in NTSC format. If you use NTSC, you will need to replace these files. They can be found at the bottom of this page: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1500564&group_id=92301&atid=600266


----------



## dlfl

wscannell said:


> Note that when using DVDStyler 1.5b5, the resulting DVDs seem to be identified as PAL. This is because of the empty VM menu that is created. This points to empty.mpg in the dvdstyler\data folder. The distributed copy is PAL format. There is a new empty.mpg and silence.mp2 available to download from sourceforge in NTSC format. If you use NTSC, you will need to replace these files. They can be found at the bottom of this page: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1500564&group_id=92301&atid=600266


Good info! That must explain why I found it necessary to always include a VmMenu in my projects (along with a title menu) as described in this ***POST*** I make the title menu a background only (matching the VmMenu), with a one second delay, and then post command to the VmMenu. (Obviously this applies to a project with only a single titleset.)

I'm curious: how are you identifying the DVDs as PAL?


----------



## wscannell

I put them in my Humax DRT800 and it says they are PAL formatted. If you look at the DVDstyler messages, you will see that it formats the video and menus in NTSC, but the VmMenu is PAL.


----------



## dakk

dlfl said:


> DVDStyler actually runs several other programs.
> The error message is giving you a path (folder location) to a program called mkisofs (probably with a .exe extension, i.e., mkisofs.exe) that it's trying to run but can't. First check the path it gives in Windows Explorer and see if the program is actually there. It's either not there or DVDStyler can't run it for some reason. I don't know why either problem should occur but a *complete and clean * re-install should take care of it.
> 
> When you uninstall (in preparation for re-installing) do you ever get a message that some files could not be removed? If you do, take note of the file names, re-boot and search the old installation folders for these files, then delete them. Then do the (re-)install.
> 
> I've noticed that sometimes (e.g., if you abort during ISO creation) DVDStyler marks some of these programs it runs as "in use". If you try to delete them, you can't until you reboot. It does a similar thing with the temporary folders it uses while running.
> 
> I was just going to suggest you could post this on the DVDStyler forum but when I went there to get the link for this post, I saw you already have!
> 
> Further thought: Use Windows Task Manager, Processes Tab and look for the mkisofs program. It shouldn't be there (unless you happen to be in the middle of a DVDStyler burn process). It should be safe to end that (mkisofs) process. It may have been left dangling from a previous DVDStyler invocation. (I've seen similar things happen with other programs.)


The simple answer was to remove the apostrophe character [ ' ] from the .iso line.

It was figured out at Sourceforge by Alex Thuering - ntalexProject Admin. Thank You all.


----------



## dakk

dakk said:


> I have been using DVDSTYLER for quite some time. Today I get this error message:
> /cygdrive/c/Program Files/DVDStyler/dvdauthor/mkisofs: No such file or directory. Invalid node - Help
> Error executing of command: mkisofs -V 'DVD' -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\The Girl Can't Help It.iso' -dvd-video 'C:\Documents and Settings\dakk\dvd\'
> I have cleaned my hard drive, uninstalled and re installed DVDSTYLER 1.5B5.Still getting error. Does anyone have any suggestions. Have Tivo files piling up. Thanks


The simple answer was to remove the apostrophe character [ ' ] from the .iso line.

It was figured out SourceForge by Alex Thuering - ntalexProject Admin. Thank You all.


----------



## wilcotree

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> Dan


I am trying to do the above. I am stuck on the DVDStyler part. When I try to load the file into DVDStyler the file browse thing seems to only look for .xml files. Any help? Thanks.


----------



## greg_burns

wilcotree said:


> I am trying to do the above. I am stuck on the DVDStyler part. When I try to load the file into DVDStyler the file browse thing seems to only look for .xml files. Any help? Thanks.


File->Open is to open a saved DVDStyler project. (You never need to save a project for one-off DVDs, although you can). If you want to add video, use the Directories tab running down the left hand side of the window. Or just drag-n-drop a .vob file directly onto the timeline at the bottom.

Note: renaming the .vob to .mpg was to overcome a gui bug in the Directories tab interface. (browsing that way doesn't show .mpg files, although I haven't seen it do that myself) You don't need to bother with renaming if you use the drag-n-drop approach.

May want to replace step 5 with using ImgBurn instead.


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## jlb

Hi all,

I recently won a copy of Media Creator 8 in a raffle. I also bought a Burner a while ago and await my TiVo Wireless G adapters to arrive in the mail. I generally record al of my programs in Medium quality.

Since I won the program in the raffle, should I give it a try? Clearly, from reading this thread (my head hurts now), using VideoRedo is the preferred program (then dvdstyler, imgburn, etc). Is it that much better that I should not bother even trying things out with my MC8?

Also, I won't be transferring too often, so I generally don't mind the "kick it off and go away for a while" methodology. How would this play into the equation?

I also have caught that there are some problems with some of the programs, but maybe I pre-handled some of them by recording in Medium quality.....?

Lastly, my read of the thread (and others) indicates that there may be some problems with TiVo Desktop 2.3a.......Possibly memory/cPU usage.......Is this isolated or is everyone having problems with it? Should I use 2.3a or download a prior version?

[EDIT] From what I can decipher, turning off the auto-transfer option seems to resolve a lot of the issues. Still, should I use this or find 2.3?

[EDIT 2]: If I buy just one adapter for now (I have two SAs), and I connect to one.....then later disconnect it.......does TiVo lose all the network/IP settings or will it work right away when I hook the adapter back up?

I know it is a lot of questions, but I appreciate everyone's thoughts.


----------



## dlfl

jlb said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I recently won a copy of Media Creator 8 in a raffle. ...... I generally record al of my programs in Medium quality.
> 
> Since I won the program in the raffle, should I give it a try? Clearly, from reading this thread (my head hurts now), using VideoRedo is the preferred program (then dvdstyler, imgburn, etc). Is it that much better that I should not bother even trying things out with my MC8?
> 
> Also, I won't be transferring too often, so I generally don't mind the "kick it off and go away for a while" methodology. How would this play into the equation?
> 
> I also have caught that there are some problems with some of the programs, but maybe I pre-handled some of them by recording in Medium quality.....?
> ........


I use the Dan203 type of authoring (VRD, DVDStyler) and consider it my most reliable method, with a few variations to handle special cases. However I bought a copy of EMC8 in July and have since upgraded to EMC9. See this ***POST**** for the latest details of my authoring experiments using MyDVD in EMC9.

There were two versions of EMC8: "home" and "deluxe". There is a world of difference between the MyDVD (DVD authoring program) versions. The one in the home edition is very crippled and I gave up trying to use it after a try or two. To make things worse, the help for the two versions is identical  so you don't know whether a feature is grayed out because it is installed wrong or just not in the home edition.

From what I've seen on the Roxio Forums the *deluxe* EMC8 is pretty similar to what I have been testing in EMC9. My advice is: If you have the *home* edition, either forget it or try to get a cheap upgrade to EMC8 deluxe or EMC9. The EMC suites do a lot more than just make DVDs so you have to judge how much that is worth to you.

Note that VRD is not an authoring program, just an MPEG (and TiVo) editor. It can be used along with EMC MyDVD. The video editor in EMC is called VideoWave. I only tried to use it a little in EMC8 and went to VRD because it is much better. I haven't tried VideoWave in EMC9 yet -- and don't have much desire to do so.

You should look at the Roxio EMC forums. I don't have the link handy but just google Roxio, go there, select the support menu, then the "discussion groups".

If you go the Dan203 route, this ***POST*** has a useful compendium of links to the essential details (actually all on this thread). It's really not that difficult and there's plenty of help here....


----------



## jlb

*dlfl* ,

Thank you for your thoughts. I did read your other post too.....

The version I have _is_ the deluxe version. I think I will give it a go. For free, it's worth trying. My typical use will be something like this......set it up at 10pm to dump 4 episodes of Without a Trace (after editing our commercials, most likely) and wake up in the morning and have it done......or something similar.....

I would likely be glad to buy VideoRedo, but only after trying my free copy of EMC8Deluxe....I did download the trial of VideoRedo and will likely try that once everything is set up. Just in case, I have also downloaded DVDstyler and ImgBurn.

I just ordered one TiVo Wireless G adapter from Amazon.....they seemed to have the cheapest price ($44.99) from major e-tailers, and it was eligible for free Super Saver shipping.....The cool thing was that when I went to checkout, I was offered a 2 month trial of Amazon Prime so I wound up with two day shipping for free. I'll probably order my other one somewhere before my trial of AP ends........


----------



## wilcotree

greg_burns said:


> File->Open is to open a saved DVDStyler project. (You never need to save a project for one-off DVDs, although you can). If you want to add video, use the Directories tab running down the left hand side of the window. Or just drag-n-drop a .vob file directly onto the timeline at the bottom.
> 
> Note: renaming the .vob to .mpg was to overcome a gui bug in the Directories tab interface. (browsing that way doesn't show .mpg files, although I haven't seen it do that myself) You don't need to bother with renaming if you use the drag-n-drop approach.
> 
> May want to replace step 5 with using ImgBurn instead.


Thanks for the help.


----------



## gregpg

Looks like lots of folks here have used the Dan203 method successfully. My problem is my TiVo isn't connected to my PC; the capabilities of the RCA coax and USB connection from my den to my living room make HME look kinda anemic. This means I can either buy a DVD burner + VideoRedo for my PC and setup a wired ethernet link to my TiVo just to burn DVDs or, for about $55 less and a lot less setup time, I can buy a Panasonic DMRES15S DVD recorder. So, several questions:

What quality picture and sound can you get on a Dan203 method DVD? Is it equal to or better than the TiVo svideo output for medium quality files?
How much does sending TiVo svideo to a DVD recorder degrade the picture and sound (and is it too much to hope that someone reading this post has the above mentioned Panasonic box.)
I record programs I want to save at best quality which, as it turns out, is just a little better than the 440 x 480 resolution of broadcast NTSC. Is it possible that the higher resolution might cancel out the degradation from decoding, D/A conversion, A/D conversion, and recoding with the Panasonic?
I don't need to author commercial quality DVDs; I just need a menu entry for each show on the disk. Is burning via PC overly complicated for this?


----------



## dlfl

gregpg said:


> Looks like lots of folks here have used the Dan203 method successfully. My problem is my TiVo isn't connected to my PC; the capabilities of the RCA coax and USB connection from my den to my living room make HME look kinda anemic. This means I can either buy a DVD burner + VideoRedo for my PC and setup a wired ethernet link to my TiVo just to burn DVDs or, for about $55 less and a lot less setup time, I can buy a Panasonic DMRES15S DVD recorder. So, several questions:
> 
> What quality picture and sound can you get on a Dan203 method DVD? Is it equal to or better than the TiVo svideo output for medium quality files?
> How much does sending TiVo svideo to a DVD recorder degrade the picture and sound (and is it too much to hope that someone reading this post has the above mentioned Panasonic box.)
> I record programs I want to save at best quality which, as it turns out, is just a little better than the 440 x 480 resolution of broadcast NTSC. Is it possible that the higher resolution might cancel out the degradation from decoding, D/A conversion, A/D conversion, and recoding with the Panasonic?
> I don't need to author commercial quality DVDs; I just need a menu entry for each show on the disk. Is burning via PC overly complicated for this?


I know nothing about DVD recorders other than you will have to tie up your TiVo playing the video into it. The transfer to your computer doesn't tie up your TiVo at all. You can be watching one channel, recording another (if you have DT) and transferring to your PC simultaneously, although there is a load factor on your TiVo computer and doing all three might slow down the transfer. I don't think I've ever actually done this.

The TiVo recordings transferred to your PC are the MPEG videos as stored on your TiVo which it would use if you watched the recorded program from "Now Playing". Any decent DVD authoring process will not degrade this appreciably. Burning DVDs like you want is not compicated but if you read this and other forums (e.g. ***Roxio***) you see that you can run into problems that you _presumably_ wouldn't have with a DVD recorder, i.e., it is _more_ complicated. The best source of help for most people is the forums.

Be aware that total time to transfer an hour of TiVo to your PC and burn a DVD can range from 1 to 4 hours per hour of video content depending on the quality of the file, speed of your network, speed of your computer and which authoring process you are using. However most of this time is unattended, i.e., you can be doing other things (and your TiVo isn't tied up).

Look at this ***thread*** to see some info on authoring DVD's with Roxio EMC9 as opposed to the Dan203 method. With a suite like EMC9 and a DVD burner on your computer you can do a lot more than just burn movies, in case that is a consideration.


----------



## gregpg

dlfl said:


> I know nothing about DVD recorders other than you will have to tie up your TiVo playing the video into it. The transfer to your computer doesn't tie up your TiVo at all.


I hadn't considered that. Since I've been saving mostly series, I could schedule several transfers back to back and free up some drive space quickly, unattended. On the other hand, if I copied an episode to a DVD recorder while watching it for the first time, I wouldn't be tying up the TiVo any more than usual. Also, I could use a DVD recorder to burn episodes directly off the air and potentially get a slightly better picture than the TiVo provides plus Dolby Pro Logic sound; I'd need to monitor the recording though, in order to cut the commercials via the pause button. Or, I could add a decent TV tuner card to my PC for recording series I want to save unattended, allowing me to remove commercials with VideoReDo. I'd still need an ethernet hookup to the TiVo though, for stuff I don't know I want to keep until I watch it.



dlfl said:


> The TiVo recordings transferred to your PC are the MPEG videos as stored on your TiVo which it would use if you watched the recorded program from "Now Playing". Any decent DVD authoring process will not degrade this appreciably.


I expected as much although I had hoped that at least a _detectable_ portion of the Series 2 video quality problem might be due to it's decoding and D/A conversion code. If the recordings play identically on TiVo and DVD, the slight video degradation must be caused entirely by the Series 2 tuner.



dlfl said:


> Look at this ***thread*** to see some info on authoring DVD's with Roxio EMC9 as opposed to the Dan203 method. With a suite like EMC9 and a DVD burner on your computer you can do a lot more than just burn movies, in case that is a consideration.


You're extensive testing of EMC9 suggests that it is slower and creates less efficient DVDs than VideoReDo->gui4ffmpeg->DVDStyler. The EMC9 upgrade also doubles the cost difference between PC DVD burning and DVDR recording from $55 to $110. So, I'm leaning toward keeping EMC7 for CD burning and system backups.


----------



## mfritz

OK, so I've followed this thread and tried the Dan 203 technique, but keep getting stalled out on the dydstyler step and think that I'm simply not computer savvy enough to pull this off. 
SO has anyone downloaded MyDVD, and does it work? I signed up for the free trial, but of course the userkey was never emailed to me. I'd hate to buy it without knowqing whether or not it works. But if I could use that program alone it would make life a lot easier. My other question is, I have figured out videoredo; can you burn shows that you've edited in that program using myDVD? or does VRD change the type of file that's saved?


----------



## dlfl

mfritz said:


> OK, so I've followed this thread and tried the Dan 203 technique, but keep getting stalled out on the dydstyler step and think that I'm simply not computer savvy enough to pull this off.
> SO has anyone downloaded MyDVD, and does it work? I signed up for the free trial, but of course the userkey was never emailed to me. I'd hate to buy it without knowqing whether or not it works. But if I could use that program alone it would make life a lot easier. My other question is, I have figured out videoredo; can you burn shows that you've edited in that program using myDVD? or does VRD change the type of file that's saved?


I've posted some detailed results on using the MyDVD version found in Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite, Ver. 9. However there are a number of different variations of MyDVD, different versions and whether sold as Roxio or Sonic, separate or in a suite. So my info may not apply to the MyDVD you are considering buying. I can't even say how these different versions of MyDVD compare. However from posts I've seen on this forum and the Roxio forums, I think there can be important differences.

For the MyDVD I have used, the answer is yes it works. It can load .tivo files or mpeg files, either of which can be output by VRD, and either of which can be edited by VRD. The EMC9 Suite has a video editor in it (VideoWave). I don't think it is as nice to use as VRD and I don't think it has an automatic commercial finder like VRD does, although no such finder is perfect. However I haven't really tried to use VideoWave yet -- using VRD. If you've been reading posts on this forum you already know how popular VRD is. Does the MyDVD package you are considering include VideoWave (or some kind of video editor)?

If you want to post some details of the problems you're having with the Dan203 method and DVDStyler, there are several of us here who can probably help you.


----------



## greg_burns

mfritz said:


> I signed up for the free trial, but of course the userkey was never emailed to me.


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=314428

cnffun5xgbkr4kssr


----------



## jlb

I have a file in DVDStyler.....set a background....dragged a video to the area t the bottom.....added a button and assigned it to jump to title 1, but then when I try and save, it wants to save as an xml file......Also, Can I put text next to the button, etc......

I'm a newbie with this stuff and I want top make sure I can grasp all of the Dan203 method before I upgrade from the trial of video redo to the full version.

Also, has anyone done a detailed how-to for the VR -> DVDStyler -> Imgburn method like we have with the hinsdale and other how-tos for upgrading a TiVo HD?



EDIT: Just found the Burn button and the option beneath it to burn an iso.....but how do I add custom text and all with the button, or does it automatically assign from the VOB filename?

EDIT 2: As DVDStyler is working, it is getting "audio sector out of range" messages....what is this?

EDIT 3: DVDStyler said it created the ISO image ok. Then ran image burn. Seemed ok. Loaded the disk in my player and it was getting a message along the lines of "could not play this type of disc"......I was using memorex 16x DVD+R discs. I have a Panasonic A120 (?) player. I have successfully played backup copies of movies using these discs with DVDShrink.

EDIT 4 (Thursday 10/12): Supposedlt got a successful image and burned using imagebrn. But when I put the disc in my player, it said "could not play discs of this type". I know I can use DVD+R discs as I have successfully played copies made with DVDShrink. I am guessing there are some settings I need to change and all.....I'll have to reread this thread as I seem to remember someone else having the same "disc problem"...........


----------



## gregpg

Thank you to dlfl for helping me clarify exactly what I want from a DVD recording method. I decided an additional tuner for resolving TiVo scheduling conflicts was more important to me than unattended DVD burning and marginally better video quality. I could have gotten _all_ of the preceding by adding both a DVD burner and a TV tuner card to my PC but the total cost, including ethernet adapter, router, wiring, and software, would have been more than twice the cost of the stand-alone DVD recorder I finally bought.


----------



## dlfl

jlb said:


> I have a file in DVDStyler.....set a background....dragged a video to the area t the bottom.....added a button and assigned it to jump to title 1, but then when I try and save, it wants to save as an xml file......Also, Can I put text next to the button, etc......
> 
> I'm a newbie with this stuff and I want top make sure I can grasp all of the Dan203 method before I upgrade from the trial of video redo to the full version.
> 
> Also, has anyone done a detailed how-to for the VR -> DVDStyler -> Imgburn method like we have with the hinsdale and other how-tos for upgrading a TiVo HD?
> 
> EDIT: Just found the Burn button and the option beneath it to burn an iso.....but how do I add custom text and all with the button, or does it automatically assign from the VOB filename?
> 
> EDIT 2: As DVDStyler is working, it is getting "audio sector out of range" messages....what is this?
> 
> EDIT 3: DVDStyler said it created the ISO image ok. Then ran image burn. Seemed ok. Loaded the disk in my player and it was getting a message along the lines of "could not play this type of disc"......I was using memorex 16x DVD+R discs. I have a Panasonic A120 (?) player. I have successfully played backup copies of movies using these discs with DVDShrink.
> 
> EDIT 4 (Thursday 10/12): Supposedlt got a successful image and burned using imagebrn. But when I put the disc in my player, it said "could not play discs of this type". I know I can use DVD+R discs as I have successfully played copies made with DVDShrink. I am guessing there are some settings I need to change and all.....I'll have to reread this thread as I seem to remember someone else having the same "disc problem"...........


For DVDStyler V. 1.5b5 you can add text as desired on any menu by just right clicking in the menu area and selecting add text. Unless you use a text button, this is the only way you will visually associate a button (e.g., arrow button) with a title or chapter. If you use text buttons, be sure to manually adjust the button object rectangle red lines (width and height) so no portion of the text even touches the outline (a known bug). With text buttons, obviously you enter the text to identify the title.

Search this thread for the audio sector out of range message. The program authors claim this is a benign message -- no bad effect on the result. I have produced good DVD's in spite of this error.

This seems unlikely since you have already burned DVDs with your hardware and media, but your "could not play this type of disc" could be a bit-setting issue. (Google it). If it is you can probably fix it real easy using any number of free utility programs. One I know of is *** Nero CD-DVD Speed *** . This is an easy can't-lose fix to make to the firmware of your burner, so I would recommend just doing it. There are no harmful side-effects AFAIK. Some burners have to have it re-done every boot up -- others remember it permanently.

If this doesn't fix things for you, be sure to post all the details of your process (TiVo quality level, etc.) so someone here can help you more.


----------



## wscannell

jlb said:


> Supposedlt got a successful image and burned using imagebrn. But when I put the disc in my player, it said "could not play discs of this type". I know I can use DVD+R discs as I have successfully played copies made with DVDShrink. I am guessing there are some settings I need to change and all.....I'll have to reread this thread as I seem to remember someone else having the same "disc problem"...........


See my post (#231) in this thread. There are two files that get put on the DVD that are PAL. My post references the location of the NTSC versions. This may be why the DVD does not play.


----------



## jlb

wscannell said:


> See my post (#231) in this thread. There are two files that get put on the DVD that are PAL. My post references the location of the NTSC versions. This may be why the DVD does not play.


This is why I love this board. I bet that is exactly what is causing the issue.

Last night I did try loading my copy of EMC8 Deluxe. Boy, what a memory hog. And I couldn't even burn a disc, it seemed like it was taking way too long. I wonder if it was trying to reencode, which, since I record my TiVo files in Medium, it shouldn't have to. The VideoRedo/Dan203 method seems like it works much faster.

Thanks again. I was very discouraged last night. I was getting ready to purchase my second TiVo Wireless G adapter and I just couldn't do it until I get the burn process working.

--------

A couple of other questions (that I need to research herein anyway).....

When opening the TiVo file in VideoRedo, I get this "noise" at the top of the video. Is this related to "overscan"? Also, My image has a little bit of black space on each side, but not an exact even amount.

How can I edit the file to remove this? Are there settings in VR that I need to edit? I don't mind since I am not making archival HD copies....just trying to offload for space saving/travel purposes.


----------



## jlb

dlfl said:


> ....... If it is you can probably fix it real easy using any number of free utility programs. One I know of is *** Nero CD-DVD Speed *** . This is an easy can't-lose fix to make to the firmware of your burner, so I would recommend just doing it. There are no harmful side-effects AFAIK. Some burners have to have it re-done every boot up -- others remember it permanently.


When I went to their website, there is a CD-DVD Speed file and also a DVD Speed file. Is there any reason to get just the DVD file? I assume the CD-DVD is "best" since I also assume it works for both DVDs and CDs.....I downloaded both just in case......

Thanks!


----------



## wscannell

jlb said:


> When opening the TiVo file in VideoRedo, I get this "noise" at the top of the video. Is this related to "overscan"? Also, My image has a little bit of black space on each side, but not an exact even amount.


The noise at the top is normal. That part of the image is not seen on a TV because it is above the displayed portion of the picture. You will also see the noise when viewing a TiVo file with Windows Media player.

I am not sure about the black space, but I think that it just appears that way in VideoRedo. I do not recall seeing it in the final videos, but I could have been ignoring it. I don't have anything available now to check.



jlb said:


> How can I edit the file to remove this? Are there settings in VR that I need to edit? I don't mind since I am not making archival HD copies....just trying to offload for space saving/travel purposes.


There are no setting that I know of in VideoRedo to change this. VideoRedo basically just removes frames, not parts of frames.

By the way, most video edit programs transcode the video no matter what the input format is.


----------



## jlb

I'll try again this weekend with the new NTSC files. I'll post my results.....


----------



## dlfl

jlb said:


> When I went to their website, there is a CD-DVD Speed file and also a DVD Speed file. Is there any reason to get just the DVD file? I assume the CD-DVD is "best" since I also assume it works for both DVDs and CDs.....I downloaded both just in case......
> 
> Thanks!


I had the same confusion, chose the CD-DVD version and it worked fine. My burner is a Plextor 708A (8X max speed). Another name for bit-setting is setting the "book type" of the DVD. Normally it will be set to DVD+R for your medium and you are configuring your drive to set it to DVD-ROM (I think) which is what commercially produced DVD Videos are set to. Some DVD players won't play a DVD unless it has the "right" book type.

I believe one of the applications in EMC9 will do bit-setting so probably EMC8 Deluxe can do it too. DVDDecrypter will tell you the book type of an inserted DVD as will many other programs. I believe DVDInfo in the EMC suite should do this too.


----------



## dlfl

jlb said:


> ..........
> Last night I did try loading my copy of EMC8 Deluxe. Boy, what a memory hog. And I couldn't even burn a disc, it seemed like it was taking way too long. I wonder if it was trying to reencode, which, since I record my TiVo files in Medium, it shouldn't have to. The VideoRedo/Dan203 method seems like it works much faster.
> .............
> .


On the assumption that EMC8 Deluxe is very similar to EMC9 (and I've heard it is), see this ****Post**** on some detailed results of testing TiVo-to-DVD with the MyDVD application in EMC9.

One thing you will notice is that MyDVD9 *always* re-encoded a file loaded with a .TiVo extension, while the same video loaded into VRD and saved as a .mpg file then loaded into MyDVD will be re-encoded only *some of the time*.

Another thing to note is the only time I got good DVD's starting with TiVo Medium Quality files was when it *did re-encode*. This is regardless of whether I did any editing of the TiVo file before saving to .mpg or not.

Look at the entire thread which includes timing results. Even the Dan203 method modified by re-encoding the audio (only) from mpeg to AC3 was about twice as fast as MyDVD9. Note that there will be players that will not handle the half-D1 format (TiVo medium, 352x480) so you will need to re-encode to 720x480 (full-D1) anyway, as well as transcoding the audio to AC3. Gui4ffmpeg does this on my 3 GHz Pentium 4 at the rate of about 40 mins per hr of video, and it can be set up as a batch operation where you go have coffee while it's doing any number of videos. I find that 3 Mbps bit rate re-encoding works fine for TiVo medium since it is only about 2.7 Mbps anyway. Some times I use 4 or 5 Mbps if I'm not concerned with how much DVD space I use and I *think* the quality is a little better then  .


----------



## 2004raptor

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


Is this still the preferred/easiest method? I have been trying Sonic/Roxio My DVD with success (most of the time) but now it thinks I do not have room on the DVD for the data. Even though it says at the bottom I still have well over 1 GB of free space. 
So I'm looking for the easiest most straightforward way.


----------



## wscannell

That is pretty much the method.

Step 2 may not be required with the latest beta of DVDStyler.

Step 5 can use any ISO to DVD program. As DVDDecrypter is a little hard to get, you can use ImgBurn, which is based on the iso burning part of DVDDecrypter.


----------



## 2004raptor

Thanks wscannell

Can you tell me exactly how ot do step 4? There is no option to output it. Ther is a Save As but that saves it as an xml file (I think). There is a Burn button and I tried that. Couple things. First the Burn option inside that is greyed out. I forget the option that i chose but that did save it as an AUdio_TS and Video_TS files. I know I've burned similar in Nero but can't figure this one out.


----------



## greg_burns

2004raptor said:


> Thanks wscannell
> 
> Can you tell me exactly how ot do step 4? There is no option to output it. Ther is a Save As but that saves it as an xml file (I think). There is a Burn button and I tried that. Couple things. First the Burn option inside that is greyed out. I forget the option that i chose but that did save it as an AUdio_TS and Video_TS files. I know I've burned similar in Nero but can't figure this one out.


Not sure how you enable the burn option that is greyed out. That is why we use ImgBurn.

There should be two options above it; "just generate" and "create iso image". Create iso image will do just that. You can then burn the .iso file it creates using ImgBurn.

"Just generate" creates the Video_TS folder. This option is useful if you want to use DVDShrink on the output.


----------



## 2004raptor

THanks greg. I think I have it now. I have actually done it once before but couldn't remember the steps. It is a shame that MyDVD doesn't work right sometimes. The interface is alot better (no offense to DVDstyler) and it's just all around so much easier to use.


----------



## jlb

I replaced the Empty and Silence files in my data directory for DVDStyler and it worked just fine. That was my problem. I will likely tus stick with the Dan203 method and maybe use EMC8D for doing things like making audio CDs of the adio tracks from my concert DVDs.

Anyways, I Think my A/V were off a slight bit. I'll look herein how to handle that, but can someone give me a quick idea of how to fix that, if possible? Thanks!

And again, thanks to Dan for his original idea!!!


----------



## dlfl

jlb said:


> ........
> Anyways, I Think my A/V were off a slight bit. I'll look herein how to handle that, but can someone give me a quick idea of how to fix that, if possible? Thanks!
> ...........


I assume you mean audio synch (with video)  Look in the VideoReDo help. I've never had to use it but there is a way you can adjust the audio timing relative to the video.

I'm surprised you have this problem since I use the same authoring process and have never seen it. I am very tempted to blame it on your DVD player for that reason. I always test a new DVD by fast forwarding and rewinding at various points from the beginning to end of the content and then checking lip synch. What brand/model is your player? How old?

I believe you are editing medium-quality TiVo recordings in VRD, outputting as .vob then authoring in DVDStyler, correct? There can be two issues of NTSC DVD-compliance: video and audio. TiVo medium video is technically compliant although some (usually older) players won't handle it. If your process is what I assume, then you are passing mpeg audio directly through DVDStyler onto the DVD. Mpeg audio is not officially DVD compliant although many players will handle it fine. Dolby AC3 audio is compliant and programs like MyDVD will normally transcode mpeg audio to AC3, even if they don't have to re-encode the video. DVDStyler doesn't re-encode or transcode anything.

What I'm so slowly getting to is that one thing you could try for audio synch problems with a particular player is to use the Dan203 process modified to include transcoding the audio to AC3. For this you save the edited file from VRD as elemental streams, which gives you the separate video (.mpv) and audio (.mpa) files. Then you use gui4ffmpeg to transcode (only) the audio to AC3 (.ac3). The .mpv file and .ac3 file are loaded into DVDStyler by two drag-n-drop operations (video first, then drag audio onto video). Note you have to rename the video to .m2v in order for it to show up in the DVDStyler Directory tab. The audio-only transcode in gui4ffmpeg takes less than 5 min per hr of video on my machine.

BTW I verified today that you do not have to rename .vob files to .mpg in order to load them into DVDStyler provided you do the drag-n-drop from Windows Explorer, but you can't do it from the Directory tab in DVDStyler, confirming what greg_burns has previously posted, I believe.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> BTW I verified today that you do not have to rename .vob files to .mpg in order to load them into DVDStyler provided you do the drag-n-drop from Windows Explorer, but you can't do it from the Directory tab in DVDStyler, confirming what greg_burns has previously posted, I believe.


But why can't you also use the directory tab (in addition to drag-n-drop)? Seems like every time I test this, I can see and add .vob files from there? Using beta 1.5b5.

Now the one weird thing I have seen is that I cannot even see the "My TiVo Recordings" folder at all in DVDStyler's directory tab. I believe I read it has something to do with the hidden desktop.ini file in that folder that describes the icon to use, but not sure what the problem is.

PS: running Vista RC2 if it matters.


----------



## wscannell

greg_burns said:


> Now the one weird thing I have seen is that I cannot even see the "My TiVo Recordings" folder at all in DVDStyler's directory tab. I believe I read it has something to do with the hidden desktop.ini file in that folder that describes the icon to use, but not sure what the problem is.


Yes, the problem is desktop.ini. It is an issue in DVDStyler. Does the same thing in XP.

To get around the problem, I just save the VideoReDo output in a different folder.


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> But why can't you also use the directory tab (in addition to drag-n-drop)? Seems like every time I test this, I can see and add .vob files from there? Using beta 1.5b5.
> ...........
> PS: running Vista RC2 if it matters.


Dunno....  I'm using V.1.5b5 too, with XP pro, SP2. I think it's just some interaction between DVDStyler and the OS. Obviously the only issue is whether a file *appears * in the Directory Tab, not whether DVDStyler can *process * it.


----------



## mike_flood

fireman18 said:


> I want to save some Tivo shows to a DVD. How do I convert them so my player will recognize the file?


While I have used Tivo and transferred programs to my PC then used VideoReDo to make a DVD compatible file I find the process too time consuming.

I recently replaced our DVD player *and* VCR with a Lite-On DVD recorder.
This unit sits on a connection from the TiVo output that went to our VCR but was only used one time to prove that it worked.

Now I can just play ANY TiVo program using the Save To VCR function.
Of course this precludes watching any other program from the TiVo while it's being saved to the DVD but I can deal with that.
Video quality is excellent and there's about 5 levels of quality from HQ (1 hour) SP (two hours) etc. Using DVD RW disks they can be recycled.
Also makes a great alternative to having a 2nd TiVo to save two shows at one time.

FYI I got my Lite-On recorder as a refurb at geeks.com for $60. It has one flaw, no RF out working on this unit. Considering the price isn't a problem for me.

On another subject, IMHO VideoRedo is what Sonic solutions should have been. Tivo should be ashamed to be associated with Sonic Solutioins/Roxio. They (S/R) are a bunch of crooks.


----------



## dlfl

News for the DVDStyler users on this forum: A new version, 1.5Beta6 has just been released. I haven't tried it yet but the claimed improvements are:

new logo (thanks to Alejandro Slocker Escarpa) 
added play all flag to button action 
added displaying of safe tv area 
added displaying of grid 
now buttons are always over objects 
fixed error when generating dvd with text based buttons 
added new button based upon a picture by Benji Park (thanks to Fgoset)


----------



## dlfl

mike_flood said:


> While I have used Tivo and transferred programs to my PC then used VideoReDo to make a DVD compatible file I find the process too time consuming.
> 
> I recently replaced our DVD player *and* VCR with a Lite-On DVD recorder.
> This unit sits on a connection from the TiVo output that went to our VCR but was only used one time to prove that it worked.
> 
> Now I can just play ANY TiVo program using the Save To VCR function.
> Of course this precludes watching any other program from the TiVo while it's being saved to the DVD but I can deal with that.
> Video quality is excellent and there's about 5 levels of quality from HQ (1 hour) SP (two hours) etc. Using DVD RW disks they can be recycled.
> Also makes a great alternative to having a 2nd TiVo to save two shows at one time.
> 
> FYI I got my Lite-On recorder as a refurb at geeks.com for $60. It has one flaw, no RF out working on this unit. Considering the price isn't a problem for me.
> 
> On another subject, IMHO VideoRedo is what Sonic solutions should have been. Tivo should be ashamed to be associated with Sonic Solutioins/Roxio. They (S/R) are a bunch of crooks.


Well really now! How can you resist the time-consuming, expensive, challenging learning experience we TiVo-to-DVD burners (the proud, the few) enjoy so much 

I respect your choice and it may be a good one for many people.

I agree with your comments about Sonic/Roxio but only in the context where authoring DVDs from TiVo is your *only * goal. The Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite Ver. 9 is only $80 and does many things besides creating DVD's. VideoReDo is $50 and only does one thing: simple cut editing of mpegs with a good Ad Detector. It can't even produce a DVD. I consider the Dan203 DVDStyler method using VRD my best option for making DVD's and I *love * VRD. In spite of the problems people (including me) have with the Roxio stuff, in all fairness it must be rated a good buy. *This comment may not apply to the MyDVD that TiVo recommends* -- I think they should consider recommending the EMC9 suite instead. Put yourself in TiVo's position -- they can't very well recommend a piecemeal approach like the Dan203 authoring process. Then they would have to support the learning curve of everyone trying to use it, since it isn't a single product and most of it is freebies -- and it has some quirks too.

I don't think there is any software TiVo could recommend that is guaranteed to be simple and foolproof for all users. DVD video is by nature complex and very demanding of the computer system.


----------



## dlfl

wscannell said:


> See my post (#231) in this thread. There are two files that get put on the DVD that are PAL. My post references the location of the NTSC versions. This may be why the DVD does not play.


Just installed the new version and authored a small test DVD. I notice the empty and silent files in the installed data folder are the same old PAL versions so I suspect we NTSC users have to replace them again. My small test DVD played OK in PowerDVD with the ISO file mounted in a software drive, but haven't tried it on an actual disc in a standalone player yet. I scanned the info it spits out while generating the ISO and didn't see any suspicious PAL-related items.

I posted a question about this on the DVDStyler forum.

Additional info: I put the NTSC empty and silent in place and re-authored the same test project. Again no apparent problems. However if I mount the ISO files in a virtual DVD drive and use DVDDecrypter to inspect them, I find that the first .ifo file, which defines the menu, shows PAL resolution and frame rate for the first ISO while the one in the second ISO shows NTSC resolution and frame rate. Thus I suspect we have to substitute the NTSC versions. I suspect PowerDVD is robust enough to handle the PAL menu but I know my standalone player isn't, so I'm holding off actual disc burning, hoping to get a definite answer from DVDStyler before I need to burn discs.

I am surprised if they didn't clean up this NTSC/PAL menu confusion in the new release. I know the program administrator was aware of the issue.


----------



## jlb

dlfl said:


> I assume you mean audio synch (with video)  Look in the VideoReDo help. I've never had to use it but there is a way you can adjust the audio timing relative to the video.
> 
> I'm surprised you have this problem since I use the same authoring process and have never seen it. I am very tempted to blame it on your DVD player for that reason. I always test a new DVD by fast forwarding and rewinding at various points from the beginning to end of the content and then checking lip synch. What brand/model is your player? How old?
> 
> I believe you are editing medium-quality TiVo recordings in VRD, outputting as .vob then authoring in DVDStyler, correct? There can be two issues of NTSC DVD-compliance: video and audio. TiVo medium video is technically compliant although some (usually older) players won't handle it. If your process is what I assume, then you are passing mpeg audio directly through DVDStyler onto the DVD. Mpeg audio is not officially DVD compliant although many players will handle it fine. Dolby AC3 audio is compliant and programs like MyDVD will normally transcode mpeg audio to AC3, even if they don't have to re-encode the video. DVDStyler doesn't re-encode or transcode anything.
> 
> What I'm so slowly getting to is that one thing you could try for audio synch problems with a particular player is to use the Dan203 process modified to include transcoding the audio to AC3. For this you save the edited file from VRD as elemental streams, which gives you the separate video (.mpv) and audio (.mpa) files. Then you use gui4ffmpeg to transcode (only) the audio to AC3 (.ac3). The .mpv file and .ac3 file are loaded into DVDStyler by two drag-n-drop operations (video first, then drag audio onto video). Note you have to rename the video to .m2v in order for it to show up in the DVDStyler Directory tab. The audio-only transcode in gui4ffmpeg takes less than 5 min per hr of video on my machine.
> 
> BTW I verified today that you do not have to rename .vob files to .mpg in order to load them into DVDStyler provided you do the drag-n-drop from Windows Explorer, but you can't do it from the Directory tab in DVDStyler, confirming what greg_burns has previously posted, I believe.


Acutally, it may be my cable feed. There are times where I notice a slight, very slight, synch prob on CBS. And that was the network for the first recordings I burned. It really is so slight that it is not worth it to me to break the streams out. But I do thank you for your help!


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


In this ***Post*** I described a modification of your process consisting of using gui4ffmpeg to re-encode to D1 resolution after step 2. This also transcodes the audio from mpeg to AC3.

I know you have stated elsewhere that the reason for saving from VRD as .vob is because DVDStyler needs the empty NAV packets thus included.

My question is why does my modified process work? What happens to the NAV packets in the (renamed-to-mpg) vob file when gui4ffmpeg processes it? Does the transcoding to AC3 automatically remove the concern about NAV packets? 

I haven't authored 100's of DVD's with my modified process but the ten or so I have done have shown zero problems and total standalone compatibility.


----------



## dlfl

dan203 said:


> Originally Posted by Dan203
> Try this...
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.





dlfl said:


> In this ***Post*** I described a modification of your process consisting of using gui4ffmpeg to re-encode to D1 resolution after step 2. This also transcodes the audio from mpeg to AC3.
> 
> I know you have stated elsewhere that the reason for saving from VRD as .vob is because DVDStyler needs the empty NAV packets thus included.
> 
> My question is why does my modified process work? What happens to the NAV packets in the (renamed-to-mpg) vob file when gui4ffmpeg processes it? Does the transcoding to AC3 automatically remove the concern about NAV packets?


I got my question answered in this ***VideoHelp.com Forum Thread*** for anyone who is interested.


----------



## jtlytle

I transfer a show to my TiVo ToGo then burned to a DVD using Nero and noticed there's no closed captioned when playing. What went wrong?


----------



## jlb

Off-topic from the last post, but I purchased VideoRedo this weekend and I just wanted to share my joy with everyone.......I may still use my copy of EMC8d for some things, but the VR/DVD Styler/imgburn method has worked great for me so far.


----------



## CorvetteManAZ

I am unsuccessful in creating a DVD from a TIVO file. The steps I used were from 
videohelp forum archive t274146 and here are those steps:
1. Put .tivo file in folder 
2. Point DirectShow Dump to that folder. 
3. DirectShow Dump will provide you with a .mpg file as output. 
4. Use DVD Patcher to patch the First Header only, changing the horizontal resolution to 720. 
5. Author the resulting mpg with your DVD Authoring software of choice. 
6. Repatch the first header of the first VOB back to horizontal resolution of 480 to eliminate playback problems. 
7. Burn

Looking at this thread again I am wondering whether or not it is my DVD player, a Panasonic DV-343.[/FONT]


----------



## dlfl

CorvetteManAZ said:


> I am unsuccessful in creating a DVD from a TIVO file. The steps I used were from
> videohelp forum archive t274146 and here are those steps:
> 1. Put .tivo file in folder
> 2. Point DirectShow Dump to that folder.
> 3. DirectShow Dump will provide you with a .mpg file as output.
> 4. Use DVD Patcher to patch the First Header only, changing the horizontal resolution to 720.
> 5. Author the resulting mpg with your DVD Authoring software of choice.
> 6. Repatch the first header of the first VOB back to horizontal resolution of 480 to eliminate playback problems.
> 7. Burn
> 
> Looking at this thread again I am wondering whether or not it is my DVD player, a Panasonic DV-343.[/FONT]


I can't find a Panasonic DV-343 on VideoHelp.com but there is a Pioneer DV-343 which has user comments starting in March 2001. If your player model design is that old, there is a fair chance it won't play 480x480 video which I believe you are using, although you try to fool it in the mpeg header to think otherwise.

I am totally unfamiliar with the authoring process you describe and it seems needlessly complicated compared to the DVDStyler method described in great detail in this thread. (Just search the thread for DVDStyler.) DVDStyler will let you put any format on the DVD but that doesn't mean it will play. It also passes the mpeg layer 2 audio right onto the DVD. Most players, will play that but not all, since it is not officially DVD-compliant for NTSC DVD. There is a method described in this thread in which gui4ffmpeg (free at videohelp.com) is used to re-encode the video and audio to 720x480 and AC3, and another post describes how to just re-encode the audio to AC3 if you want to keep the video format. If 720x480 and AC3 won't play on a player, then you have some other problem (media/burning or improper authoring). Unfortunately re-encoding video takes a long time, sometimes longer than the video content, depending on file properties and your computer.

DVDStyler is free, just Google it. The TiVo must be "freed" from .TiVo to mpeg and the best way to do that is VideoReDo (just Google) which is a fantastic, fast mpeg editor that also can find commercial breaks automatically (but not perfectly -- nothing will do that). You can use VRD free and uncrippled for 15 days, then it costs $50. I haven't heard of anyone who didn't love it.


----------



## CorvetteManAZ

My bad...the DV player is a Pioneer DV-343 not a Panasonic (they eyes are going!).

I will give your suggestions a try. 

THX!!!


----------



## dlfl

A couple of tips on the DVDStyler method:

1. Get the latest Beta version: 1.5Beta6. The release version(1.4) is not recommended. V. 1.5b6 fixed the "text button" problem you see mentioned in some posts in this thread. No workaround is needed.

2. There is a simple patch you need to make to DVDStyler. Follow the instructions and link in this ***Post***

3. Be sure to download the PDF users manual. Look under docs in the DVDStyler home page. There is a section for making a simple DVD (unless you need more than simple)

If you decide to re-encode with gui4ffmpeg, you might want some guidance on the (output file) bitrate to select. If so, post the format and bitrate of your TiVo files here and I will be happy to suggest a range. *Note that VRD tells you the bitrate of the file when it saves it*. A couple of guidelines (IMO) are:

1. Always use at least the bit rate of the input file and it's probably best to never go below 4000 kbps (although 3000 will play in some players OK).

2. Bitrates above 7000 are probably not buying you much (unless your input file is greater than that).

Good luck


----------



## dlfl

I have found I need to use the -ilme switch when re-encoding mpegs stripped from TiVo recordings to eliminate jerkiness during rapid horizontal scene movement. Unfortunately this switch throws an error now if you try to use it with the latest version (2.0) of gui4ffmpeg.

For more info on this issue see this ***post on VideoHelp forum***

Edit: Think I solved it. See the details in the post following the linked one above.


----------



## friartuck

Dan, Greg, et al,

Kudos on a great thread. As a relative newbie, I was able to follow your instructions and transfer a Tivo recording to DVD. Amazing! The only glitch was that I used the trial version of VideoReDo so I only got 15 minutes of showtime. I am emailing for the key now.

Can someone help me out with answers to the following questions when requesting a key:

1) Primary source for MPEG2 material? I am mostly transferring Tivo recordings to DVD but I do have alot of digital video from my camcorder that will someday need to be transferred, as well.

2) how I determine what type of video card/capture device I have? I had a neighbor who was very good with IT help me set my system up a few years back with the intent to burn home videos to DVD. Unfortunately with 2 toddlers, finding more than 10 minutes of free time is pretty challenging.

Thx.


----------



## greg_burns

friartuck said:


> Can someone help me out with answers to the following questions when requesting a key:
> 
> 1) Primary source for MPEG2 material? I am mostly transferring Tivo recordings to DVD but I do have alot of digital video from my camcorder that will someday need to be transferred, as well.
> 
> 2) how I determine what type of video card/capture device I have? I had a neighbor who was very good with IT help me set my system up a few years back with the intent to burn home videos to DVD. Unfortunately with 2 toddlers, finding more than 10 minutes of free time is pretty challenging.
> 
> Thx.


The answers you give won't make any difference on the key you receive. I would respond with Tivo to both those questions if you can.


----------



## friartuck

Thanks Greg. I have the key but now I am getting an error message in DVDStyler when I am trying to burn the output to an ISO image. I didn't get that the first time when I successfully burned the file using the trial version without the key. The error states: 

ERR: Error writing data
Error executing of command: dvdauthor -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\' -x 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\dvdauthor.xml'


On subsequent attempts, it says that the temp directory is not empty and must be cleaned. When I click "ok" is says:

Prepare
Cleaning temporaly directory
Can't remove file 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_2.VOB'
Can't remove directory 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\'


----------



## dlfl

friartuck said:


> Thanks Greg. I have the key but now I am getting an error message in DVDStyler when I am trying to burn the output to an ISO image. I didn't get that the first time when I successfully burned the file using the trial version without the key. The error states:
> 
> ERR: Error writing data
> Error executing of command: dvdauthor -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\' -x 'C:\Documents and Settings\user\dvd\dvdauthor.xml'


The command that failed is the one where DVDStyler runs DVDAuthor (the actual authoring program).

This could be as simple as some left over read-only files written by the program in a previous run in the temporary directory (the one followed by the -o in the error statement.) You might have to re-boot before you can delete them. The only time I've had this problem is when the program fails or I abort it before it completes.

*EDIT: Your edit convinces me this is indeed the problem!*

Another simple possibility is it looks like you may be re-using the default name for the project file. I've thought I had problems triggered by doing that, and in general it would be best to name a new project file for each project -- they are very small.

Those are just ideas to check - not sure about them at all. If you don't get a solution here I would suggest posting this on the  DVDStyler forum . In either forum please provide more detail about what you are doing and it might be good to copy and paste the entire contents of the log that scrolls down the details window into your post, or the last 20 lines if it's too huge.


----------



## dlfl

dlfl said:


> I have found I need to use the -ilme switch when re-encoding mpegs stripped from TiVo recordings to eliminate jerkiness during rapid horizontal scene movement. Unfortunately this switch throws an error now if you try to use it with the latest version (2.0) of gui4ffmpeg.
> 
> For more info on this issue see this ***post on VideoHelp forum***
> 
> Edit: Think I solved it. See the details in the post following the linked one above.


Bottom line recommendation if you use gui4ffmpeg to re-encode TiVo mpegs to D1 resolution and AC3 audio for ultimate NTSC DVD compliance:

Add the following to the options (which are passed to ffmpeg command line):
"-flags ilme+ildct -top 1"

This results from many hours spent on what I consider a "problem" .TiVo file. The gory details are in this  ***thread***  on the ffmpeg forum but the key points are:

1. Non-HD TiVo recordings are interlaced and if you re-encode them to put on DVD's to play on a normal TV (which is also interlaced) you should preserve the interlacing, to avoid rapid-motion artifacts that occur if you convert them to progressive scan. Thus the "-flags ilme+ildct" options.

2. Interlaced TiVo content is usually TFF (top field first to be displayed). The problem file had a lot of BFF (bottom field first) frames mixed in. This apparently caused the audio sync/quality problems unless I used the "-top 1" option which causes ffmpeg to generate TFF output.

There is little penalty in time or file size for using these options so I plan to do it on all my gui4ffmpeg re-encodes to D1.

BTW, in the process I learned to use gspot and dgIndex, two extremely cool tools, both available from VideoHelp.com. They weren't that hard to learn and I wouldn't be without them now (and they are free!)


----------



## dlfl

dlfl said:


> Bottom line recommendation if you use gui4ffmpeg to re-encode TiVo mpegs to D1 resolution and AC3 audio for ultimate NTSC DVD compliance:
> 
> Add the following to the options (which are passed to ffmpeg command line):
> "-flags ilme+ildct -top 1"
> 
> This results from many hours spent on what I consider a "problem" .TiVo file. The gory details are in this  ***thread***  on the ffmpeg forum but the key points are:
> 
> 1. Non-HD TiVo recordings are interlaced and if you re-encode them to put on DVD's to play on a normal TV (which is also interlaced) you should preserve the interlacing, to avoid rapid-motion artifacts that occur if you convert them to progressive scan. Thus the "-flags ilme+ildct" options.
> 
> 2. Interlaced TiVo content is usually TFF (top field first to be displayed). The problem file had a lot of BFF (bottom field first) frames mixed in. This apparently caused the audio sync/quality problems unless I used the "-top 1" option which causes ffmpeg to generate TFF output.
> 
> There is little penalty in time or file size for using these options so I plan to do it on all my gui4ffmpeg re-encodes to D1.
> 
> BTW, in the process I learned to use gspot and dgIndex, two extremely cool tools, both available from VideoHelp.com. They weren't that hard to learn and I wouldn't be without them now (and they are free!)


In another  *** Thread ***  I posted results of using MyDVD9 to author half-D1 (i.e., from 352x480 TiVo "Medium" recordings) without re-encoding the video. I found no reliable way but I did find you could produce half-D1 DVD's relatively fast (half the video length) by selecting "LP" quality in the MyDVD project settings.

Full D1 DVD's can be produced by selecting the following parameters (after unchecking "fit to disc"):
720x480 resolution, 4.0 Mbps bitrate, Interlaced, AC3 audio at 448 kbps.
You can load either .tivo or .mpg files either edited by VideoReDo or not. For half-D1 inputs, the authoring time is around 140% of video content length.

The corresponding authoring time using gui4ffmpeg (with the flags given in my previous post) and DVDStyler to accomplish the same purpose is 132% of video length, i.e., the MyDVD process is about as fast. I see no noticeable difference in the video quality between the two cases. In either case you can put more than two hours of video on a SL DVD, since this is determined primarily by the bitrate.

I haven't done enough projects with either method to be able to make general pronouncements but I have seen an audio sync problem on one test clip that *only* occurs with the MyDVD method. Details are in this  *** Roxio EMC9 Forum Post ***  . My TiVo Mpegs are interlaced, TFF (top field first) and the DVDStyler/gui4ffmpeg process maintains this all the way through. However MyDVD produces interlaced BFF (bottom field first) in the .vob file on the DVD, which seems curious to me (and I wonder if this is connected with the audio sync problem  ).


----------



## sjmaye

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> *2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg*
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


Hi Dan,

I know this is an old post. I know how to change file extension, but do not understand the point.

Is a VOB essentially a mpg file? Instead of outputting a VOB and changing the extension why not just output an mpg in the first place?

The files I work with are from a Directivo. The .ty files will not be accepted by VideoReDo. I have to encode them to mpg or vob to get VRD to accept them. If I load the mpg in VRD nothing will be re-encoded.


----------



## greg_burns

sjmaye said:


> I know this is an old post. I know how to change file extension, but do not understand the point.
> 
> Is a VOB essentially a mpg file? Instead of outputting a VOB and changing the extension why not just output an mpg in the first place?


http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/vobov.html


> So while all VOB files are MPEG-2 system streams, not all MPEG-2 system streams comply with the definition for a VOB file.


My understanding is that .vob files have NAV packets. Plain .mpg's do not.

The only point in renaming the .vob to .mpg was for the quirky UI in DVDStyler. Not even sure that bug is still present.


----------



## sjmaye

greg_burns said:


> http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/vobov.html
> 
> My understanding is that .vob files have NAV packets. Plain .mpg's do not.
> 
> The only point in renaming the .vob to .mpg was for the quirky UI in DVDStyler. Not even sure that bug is still present.


Oh... So I can export as mpg and cut commercials via VideoReDo then on to DVD-Lab?


----------



## greg_burns

sjmaye said:


> Oh... So I can export as mpg and cut commercials via VideoReDo then on to DVD-Lab?


I don't see why not. DVDStyler doesn't re-encode, hence it "needs" those NAV packets to keep audio in sync. I assume DVD-Lab is going to go through the whole time intensive encoding process and will add NAV packets on its own.

But I'll let the others comment on that, they are much smarter on this stuff. 

Er, wait... 

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/


> This software is not a plug-my-camera, click button and spill a DVD. It covers the authoring process in details and most notably it doesn't have Video Capturing *nor MPEG encoding capabilities.* (Yes, we actually believe this is a feature!)





> DVD-lab doesn't have encoder built-in for various good reasons:
> 
> * Many users already have their own trusty hardware or software encoders so they would have to pay additional price for something they won't use.
> * Both authoring and Encoding are lengthy operations. Having the encoder and authoring applications separate gives users the ability to use both on the same time or fix only the part in the production that need to be fixed.


----------



## dlfl

DVDStyler will accept "normal" MPEG2 files (i.e., not .vob). However it takes a lot longer to author (roughly 75% longer) because it has to demux. Saving from VRD as .vob takes no longer and only adds about 1% to the file size. VRD also does a clean up on the file while it's saving. Running through VRD only takes a few minutes per hour of video.

For practical info about DVD Labs I would recommend you post on the VideoReDo forum in the "Third Party Software" area. There is one very active poster there who uses DVD Labs and will be happy to fill you in. I predict you will have a response within an hour or two at most.

If you don't need to re-encode either the video or the audio (i.e., do you want mp2 or ac3 audio?) then DVDStyler and (apparently from Greg's post) DVD Labs will author without re-encoding and save you the re-encode time. Unless DVD labs can accept a .vob file and skip the demux step, then it will take longer than DVDStyler, even though it doesn't re-encode.

I suspect your mpegs are already D1 NTSC compliant, i.e., 720x480 with AC3 audio, so authoring without re-encoding is definitely an attractive way to go.


----------



## sjmaye

Thanks for the replies greg and dlfl. 

I was aware of DVD-Lab not re-encoding. In fact it is one of the main reasons I am using it.

I appreciate your info. I think I will follow your advice dlfl and check out the thrid party software area at VDR forums. THANKS.


----------



## Brian R.

Hi All, 

I'm a newbie but trying to learn quickly. I quote (partially) Dan203 below:

=======================================

1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg

========================================

My question is: is there a free program that does what VideoReDo does?
I need to accomplish #1 and #2 above but would like to save $50, if possible.
I'd prefer to be able to edit, etc. like with VRD, but if the only free program out there could just (at the very least) output the .vob file and then change the extension file to .mpg I'd be happy. I can take it from that point. 

Any help would be much appreciated!

Brian


----------



## greg_burns

Brian R. said:


> ...but if the only free program out there could just (at the very least) output the .vob file and then change the extension file to .mpg I'd be happy. I can take it from that point.


You can change the extension file to .mpg yourself for free. 

You should download the trial for VideoRedo and give it a run. $50 is kinda steep, but it is a sweet app.


----------



## Brian R.

greg_burns said:


> You can change the extension file to .mpg yourself for free.
> 
> You should download the trial for VideoRedo and give it a run. $50 is kinda steep, but it is a sweet app.


Thanks Greg! I'm using the trial VRD and it is sweet (you're right). I'm just wondering if there is anything free because I don't really have to edit or do anything fancy. All I'm really trying to do is burn my tv shows onto DVD (if I have to fast forward through commercials on the burned disk...it's no biggie really).

Any thoughts?


----------



## greg_burns

Brian R. said:


> Thanks Greg! I'm using the trial VRD and it is sweet (you're right). I'm just wondering if there is anything free because I don't really have to edit or do anything fancy. All I'm really trying to do is burn my tv shows onto DVD (if I have to fast forward through commercials on the burned disk...it's no biggie really).
> 
> Any thoughts?


If you had Nero you could do it the old fashion way. Free your files using DirectShow Dump then use Nero Vision Express. Takes forever, but it is free (if you already have the software of course.  )

Have you tried just DirectShow Dump'ing the files to .mpg then straight onto DVDStyler? Seems I've had success with this. But others have audio sync problems doing it that way I guess. Hence the whole convert to .vob/insert NAV packets strategy.


----------



## dlfl

Brian R. said:


> Hi All,
> I'm a newbie but trying to learn quickly. I quote (partially) Dan203 below:
> =======================================
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> ========================================
> My question is: is there a free program that does what VideoReDo does?
> I need to accomplish #1 and #2 above but would like to save $50, if possible.
> I'd prefer to be able to edit, etc. like with VRD, but if the only free program out there could just (at the very least) output the .vob file and then change the extension file to .mpg I'd be happy. I can take it from that point.
> 
> Any help would be much appreciated!
> Brian


DVDStyler will actually accept a regular (non VOB) mpeg2 file as input. It just takes longer because it has to demux/remux the file. Your fundamental problem is stripping the mpeg2 out of the .tivo file. I'm not aware of any freebie that does that.

VideoReDo offers a 15-day uncrippled free trial (although I can't find the "uncrippled" part stated on their website -- hope they haven't retracted it).

Edit: Obviously this post is mostly superceded by the previous three posts, which happened while I was entering mine!

BTW, is the UNCRIPPLED 15-day trial still offered for VRD?


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> .......Have you tried just DirectShow Dump'ing the files to .mpg then straight onto DVDStyler? Seems I've had success with this. But others have audio sync problems doing it that way I guess. Hence the whole convert to .vob/insert NAV packets strategy.


Among it's features, VRD cleans up files it edits as described on their website:



> When you capture your video, your audio and video information contains time code tags which keep the playback in sync. When a program is authored to DVD, these time code tags are removed by the authoring tool and potential sync corrections are lost. VideoReDo automatically processes files so that when these tags are removed the resulting audio and video streams stay in sync. No matter what the original source.


Thus using VRD in your process increases the chances of good sync in the result even if you don't save to VOB -- sound correct, Greg?.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> Thus using VRD in your process increases the chances of good sync in the result even if you don't save to VOB -- sound correct, Greg?.


<looks left and right> You asking me? Where's Dan when you need him?


----------



## Mammatus

I have been using the Video ReDo software and love it (thanks for the suggestion) and saving directly as an .mpg file (rather than .vob) and then adding menus and burning in Roxio DVD Builder. 

My question is this: I just put two ~45-minute shows (formerly 1-hour, but I cleaned out the commercials) in to a DVD builder project and it says the total project size is less than 1GB, even though the two .mpg files are each aroudn 1GB. 

I don't want to compress them and lose quality, but it appears as though I am somewhere along the line. I have the quality set to the highest setting ("Good") in DVD Builder...where could this file be getting compressed? As it stands, I can fit 3-4 hours on a regular DVD, but I know that I should only be able to fit 1-2 at best quality, and I want it to remain at the highest available quality.


----------



## wscannell

What is the size of your TiVo output file?
What is the size of your mpg files after using VideoReDo?

It may be the quality that you are using when recording on the TiVo, since VideoReDo outputs at the same quality that the input file is.


----------



## Mammatus

wscannell said:


> What is the size of your TiVo output file?
> What is the size of your mpg files after using VideoReDo?
> 
> It may be the quality that you are using when recording on the TiVo, since VideoReDo outputs at the same quality that the input file is.


For a one hour show at best quality...it is 1.2 or 1.3GB...after video redo, each file is around 900MB (0.9GB) or so (after taking out 25% or so that was commercials).

When I stick TWO of those shows into a DVD project in DVD Builder, it states the 'project size' is only 970MB.

So where is the compression occuring? It appears to be with DVD builder, but I have it set to the highest ("Good") setting to burn as DVD-Video.

My process is as follows:
1. Record 1-hour program at BEST quality on TiVo
2. Transfer .tivo file to computer
3. Edit in Video ReDo and save as .mpg (I don't save as .vob and then change the extension like some others mentioned here...should I be doing that?)
4. Compose DVD Project in DVD Builder by adding .mpg files
5. Burn to DVD

So I never do anything with .vob or .iso files...should I be doing something more so that I don't compress and lose quality?!?

Thanks again for all the help.


----------



## wscannell

I am not familiar with DVD builder, but is there a setting for "Fit to DVD". This will cause it to use all the space on the DVD.

I am not sure how quality settings go on DVD builder, but Good sounds like an intermediate quality, not necessarily the best quality.

Could it be possible that the second show is not making it to the DVD? This might explain the size being the size of one show.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> For a one hour show at best quality...it is 1.2 or 1.3GB...after video redo, each file is around 900MB (0.9GB) or so (after taking out 25% or so that was commercials).
> 
> When I stick TWO of those shows into a DVD project in DVD Builder, it states the 'project size' is only 970MB.
> .............


The TiVo files sizes you give are about right for medium quality (but not high or best quality). Best would be about twice that size.

When you load a TiVo into VRD, hit Ctrl-L and note the resolution. Ignore the bitrate given by Ctrl-L, but when VRD finishes saving it gives the true bitrate. Please post the resolution and (true) bitrate.

Still when you load the two into MyDVD your project size should be at least the sum of the two sizes, frequently much more depending on "project settings".

I suspect you have not registered your VRD for the uncrippled free trial. Until you do that you can only process 30 minutes of video per file. Look on the VRD help menu -- it is done over the internet and just requires you filling in a few pieces of information. (Unless VRD has changed their free trial policy recently....)


----------



## Mammatus

I made a mistake in my posts earlier...the file size of the 1-hour BEST quality .tivo file is about 2.5GB...and after editing to remove commercials with VRD, it is down to under 1.9 GB.

Then when I load the file into DVD Builder, it says the project size is under 500MB. I know "Good" sounds like less than the highest setting, but the DVD Builder has three settings to chose from: Good, Medium, and Low. It states that "Good" is 720x480, 8Mbs. 

I'm going to try to just save it as an .iso in DVD Builder (instead of burning right to disc in one step) and then burn with another utility and see if that preserves my quality/file size.

I will open the file in VRD and post the resolution and bitrate. I have registered my VRD so I can go beyond 30 minutes, although I haven't paid for the full package yet...I plan on doing that when this trial runs out as I am completely sold on this great product.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> I made a mistake in my posts earlier...the file size of the 1-hour BEST quality .tivo file is about 2.5GB...and after editing to remove commercials with VRD, it is down to under 1.9 GB.
> 
> Then when I load the file into DVD Builder, it says the project size is under 500MB. I know "Good" sounds like less than the highest setting, but the DVD Builder has three settings to chose from: Good, Medium, and Low. It states that "Good" is 720x480, 8Mbs.
> 
> I'm going to try to just save it as an .iso in DVD Builder (instead of burning right to disc in one step) and then burn with another utility and see if that preserves my quality/file size.
> 
> I will open the file in VRD and post the resolution and bitrate. I have registered my VRD so I can go beyond 30 minutes, although I haven't paid for the full package yet...I plan on doing that when this trial runs out as I am completely sold on this great product.


Another VideoReDo enthusiast! The product sells itself!

8 Mbps is 1 MByte/sec times 3600 seconds/hour = 3.6 GB/hour . Still, something does not compute! Is this DVD Builder by Softonic? Sounds like it's lying to you!

BTW burning to .iso then burning to disc is *universally* recommended! No better burner than imgburn available at videohelp.com/tools .

P.S. Did you consider "cumulus mammatus" for a full name?


----------



## Mammatus

I just checked the .mpg in VRD and the stats came out like this:



File Size: 2017228804 ( 1.88 GB )
Program Duration: 00:44:04.18
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 480 x 480
Display Size: 480 x 480
Aspect Ratio: 4/3
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 9.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 224 KB
Profile: Main/Main
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: Layer 2
Audio Stream Id: xC0
Audio Bit Rate: 192 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz



I have been trying a few different ways to author this all afternoon, but whenever I get into the folder that has this .mpg file, my CPU usage shoots up to 100% and hangs and the encoding ends up erroring out. I think I may just have to delete this .mpg all together and try it from the start again.


----------



## Mammatus

Thanks again, dlfl for all of the help - I appreciate it a lot. 

I'm going to try outputing it to a .vob file from VRD instead of an mpeg since everyone in this thread seems to say to do that (why is that? Why do .vob and then change the extension rather than just save to a .mpg?)

I'll post with more results later or tomorrow.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> Thanks again, dlfl for all of the help - I appreciate it a lot.
> 
> I'm going to try outputing it to a .vob file from VRD instead of an mpeg since everyone in this thread seems to say to do that (why is that? Why do .vob and then change the extension rather than just save to a .mpg?)
> 
> I'll post with more results later or tomorrow.


Check out the edits I made to my previous post while you were responding to it.  
The size of your file confirms what I expect for TiVo Best Quality. You can calculate the true bitrate from the size and duration as 5.7 Mbps.

Many standalone players will play this file (after authoring) with no re-encoding. Strict NTSC DVD compliance would require re-encoding the video to 720x480 and the audio from the current mpeg layer 2 to Dolby AC3. Programs like MyDVD and Nero will do this re-encoding whether you want it or not. Others like DVDStyler will do no re-encoding even if you wanted it. (You can re-encode with gui4ffmpeg if you need it when using these programs.) Re-encoding is by far the most time consuming part of authoring - typically 1 to 3 times the video length.


----------



## wscannell

Mammatus said:


> I'm going to try outputing it to a .vob file from VRD instead of an mpeg since everyone in this thread seems to say to do that (why is that? Why do .vob and then change the extension rather than just save to a .mpg?).


.vob output just helps DVDStyler skip a step and thus saves time. The reason for renaming it back to .mpg is to allow older versions of DVDStyler to find the file. The rename is not really necessary because you can drap and drop the video files into DVDStyler anyway.

I am not sure these steps will help much unless you are using DVDStyler. DVDStyler is not really a bad way to go. It does take a little getting used to the interface and it is a little harder if you really want to have fancy DVD menus, but it works well and is quick.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> Thanks again, dlfl for all of the help - I appreciate it a lot.
> 
> I'm going to try outputing it to a .vob file from VRD instead of an mpeg since everyone in this thread seems to say to do that (why is that? Why do .vob and then change the extension rather than just save to a .mpg?)


VOB (.vob) files are special versions of MPEG2 (.mpg) that have "empty NAV packets" added in. This adds a little over 1% to the file length.
AFAIK the only reason for creating .vob files from VRD is if your authoring program is based on the free program DVDAuthor (as DVDStyler is). In the case of DVDStyler you can input regular mpeg files and it will work -- it just takes longer because it has to demux your input file (in order to mux in the NAV packets I assume). For MyDVD or Nero I'm pretty sure there is no advantage to using .vob but I can't be absolutely sure.

Renaming the .vob to .mpg is a trivial requirement just to get the file into DVDStyler. On some systems DVDStyler doesn't recognize .vob extensions in its file load directory tab. You can get around this just by dragging the file from a Windows Explorer window into the title bar at the bottom (or by renaming the file as .mpg so it will show up in DVDStyler).

If you re-encode the VRD output files with gui4ffmpeg it makes absolutely no difference whether you save the files from VRD as .vob or .mpg. (I've tested it.) The output (re-encoded) .mpg file from gui4ffmpeg will in essence be a VOB file. It has the empty NAV packets and goes into DVDStyler (or any other authoring program) just fine.


----------



## dlfl

Windows version 1.5beta7 is out and looks good.

1. Fixes requirement for NTSC "empty" and "silent" patch files.
2. Can re-encode audio between mp2 and AC3.

The very verbose detailed information display seems to be gone. I hope the verbose error displays are still there.


----------



## trimjim

Thanks dlfl for recommending this forum.
I had asked a question on another forum about an unstable picture on a set top player and you directed me here and it looks like I finally got the answer I was looking for in that when tivo files are converted by some progs they dont handle the interlace correctly.
I will try gui4ffmpeg tomorrow and see if it corrects the picture stabilization (interlace) prob.


----------



## Mammatus

I seem to be having a perpetual problem with burning DVDs.

I have had great success transfering files, editing in Video ReDo (just bought my full copy tonight) and saving the .mpg or .vob. But that is where my success ends. 

The .mpg or .vob file that is created seems to make my CPU usage jump to 100%. It does this nearly immediately. Whether I'm trying to author a DVD (with Roxio or DVDStyler) or just perusing my files through explorer, whenever the computer must access the file (even just to do a right-click "Properties" query) then the CPU usage jumps up to 100% and the computer slows considerably and cannot successfully burn an .iso or DVD. 

I was able to burn a few a couple of weeks ago, but now am stuck.

I deleted all .tivo and .mpg files to get a clean slate...even did an error check and a defrag..downloaded some different .tivo files and tried again: nothing. I have tried with other .mpg files too from other sources (camcorder) and only have had limited sucess with this CPU usage issue rearing its ugly head again.

Has anyone ever had an issue like this?!?

Thank you to all of you helping me out with editing - Video ReDo is absolutely fantastic - I'm so glad I got input regarding that program around here.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> .........
> I have had great success transfering files, editing in Video ReDo (just bought my full copy tonight) and saving the .mpg or .vob. But that is where my success ends.
> 
> The .mpg or .vob file that is created seems to make my CPU usage jump to 100%. It does this nearly immediately. Whether I'm trying to author a DVD (with Roxio or DVDStyler) or just perusing my files through explorer, whenever the computer must access the file (even just to do a right-click "Properties" query) then the CPU usage jumps up to 100% and the computer slows considerably and cannot successfully burn an .iso or DVD.
> ..........


I suspect some other installed program is using up your CPU time when you select a video file. Open up task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and click the processes tab. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice. With nothing running the System Idle process should have 90% plus of the time and should be at the top of the list.

Then do something that bogs you down and see what jumps to the top of the list. This is the process that is the CPU hog.

Do you have an anti-virus program (e.g. Norton AV with Auto-Protect enabled)? If so disable it. You can temporarily disconnect or disable your network connection if you are worried about disabling the AV protection. Do you have any Roxio software installed? Some of the applications in it's EMC suites are continually doing things with your media files.


----------



## Mammatus

Actually, it is the "explorer" window or whatever other window ("My Documents" folder or "My Tivo Recordings" folder for instance) that runs the CPU usage up to 100%. When I watch the process on the "Processes" tab of the task manager, that is what drives it up...and it stays there until I close that folder (sometimes a force quit is the only way to get the folder to close).


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> Actually, it is the "explorer" window or whatever other window ("My Documents" folder or "My Tivo Recordings" folder for instance) that runs the CPU usage up to 100%. When I watch the process on the "Processes" tab of the task manager, that is what drives it up...and it stays there until I close that folder (sometimes a force quit is the only way to get the folder to close).


I had a feeling it would be that from what you already described. I'm at the guessing game stage now. What have you installed lately? Try disabling anti-virus, firewall, anything that monitors files continuously. Disable your network connection (especially while your firewall is disabled). Not that you want to run with any of this stuff disabled on a permanent basis, but do it for debugging purposes.

Click Start then Run. Enter "msconfig". On the "General" tab, select "Selective Startup", then uncheck "Load Startup Items", then Click Apply. Then restart your computer. On restart it may bring up msconfig again and try to talk you out of your choices -- stick to what you did. Do you still have the same problem now?
(After this test, run msconfig again, select "Normal Startup", then Apply , then restart.)

If this test eliminated the problem, then something that is being automatically started by Windows is the culprit. If so post and we'll take it from there.


----------



## Mammatus

dlfl said:


> I had a feeling it would be that from what you already described. I'm at the guessing game stage now. What have you installed lately? Try disabling anti-virus, firewall, anything that monitors files continuously. Disable your network connection (especially while your firewall is disabled). Not that you want to run with any of this stuff disabled on a permanent basis, but do it for debugging purposes.
> 
> Click Start then Run. Enter "msconfig". On the "General" tab, select "Selective Startup", then uncheck "Load Startup Items", then Click Apply. Then restart your computer. On restart it may bring up msconfig again and try to talk you out of your choices -- stick to what you did. Do you still have the same problem now?
> (After this test, run msconfig again, select "Normal Startup", then Apply , then restart.)
> 
> If this test eliminated the problem, then something that is being automatically started by Windows is the culprit. If so post and we'll take it from there.


Thank you very much for all of your assistance. I'm going to be out of town for a few days, but when I return, this will be at the top of my list and I'll post an update.

Thanks again!


----------



## Mammatus

Whew,

This is getting frustrating.

I tried what has been suggested (turning off all startup items in msconfig, including disabling the network connection and the antivirus software) and am still coming up empty.

I can transfer .tivo files fine...and check them out in explorer (click 'properties', etc...) but .mpg files are giving me a headache. Whenever I try to do ANYTHING with them, the CPU usage shoots up to 100% and everything hangs. 

I have not found a single work-around. I even tried just burning an .mpg as a data disc and then when I put that disc back into the DVD drive and click "Open to view contents", it hangs the CPU...even though the .mpg file isn't even on the harddrive any longer!

This problem somehow revolves around how the computer handles .mpg files. I do not even have to open the file for the computer to hang...just so much as clicking into the folder that contains it in explorer is all it takes. Whenever I attemp to author a DVD, I am able to sucessfully view the .mpg and add chapters and the like, but when I go to burn the .iso image, the CPU hangs and the .iso does not get correctly encoded (the resulting file burns a coaster).

Any more help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks again!


----------



## greg_burns

Mammatus said:


> Whenever I attemp to author a DVD, I am able to sucessfully view the .mpg and add chapters and the like, but when I go to burn the .iso image, the CPU hangs and the .iso does not get correctly encoded (the resulting file burns a coaster).


Burning the .iso hangs your CPU? 

Or do you mean you can't even create the .iso file with DVDStyler? If you actually have an .iso, are you using ImgBurn to physically burn it to disc?

Your .mpg problem sounds like it could possibly be codec related still. Have you tried installing a different one? I would suggest downloading the Nvidia one. (note: installing a new codec doesn't always make it your default. search on merit values for help doing that.)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html


----------



## Mammatus

Yes - 

Any interaction with the .mpg file hangs the CPU (usage = 100%). I can go through the steps of creating menus and all of that, but once the step comes to 'encode' the file, it hangs...and ANY other interaction with the .mpg file also hangs the CPU, such as just clicking into the folder that contains the .mpg when I'm browsing with explorer.

Since I already have VideoReDo and Roxio to be able to edit/burn my DVDs, I don't want to buy another codec (nor should I have to, at this point, should I?)

I should add that I have sucessfully burned DVDs in the past...this started being a problem recently, even though I can think of no changes to the computer that I have brought about (no newly installed programs, etc...).


----------



## greg_burns

We'll technically then burning the .iso is not what is hanging your cpu. It is the process of creating the .iso that is doing it. I'm not very helpful am I? 

I had a .tivo file last year that I about pulled my hair out over. It would cause WMP to hang everytime I tried to play it. I thought it was all files and here it was just one. Never did figure out what the issue there was.

Seriouslly, I would investigate from the codec angle. Installing a new codec does not gaurantee it will be used. If you still have problem after installing Nvidia's you'll need to adjust merit values using something like DirectShow Filter Manager.

http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm


----------



## Mammatus

Actually, it isn't even the creating of the .iso that is the problem. 

I have been having this problem for some time that begins before I even open Video ReDo or any other encoding or video editing/authoring program.

The simple act of exploring my files on my computer is enough to cause this CPU issue. After creating an .mpg or downloading one, whenever I point windows in that direction by opening an explorer window, CPU usage shoots to 100% nearly immediately, as though windows is attempting to browse or or otherwise parse all of the data of the video file right then and cannot handle it all.


----------



## dlfl

I'm thinking it's a problem with Windows, probably something in the registry. One thing to check is launch Windows Explorer then select Tools menu then Folder Options. Select the File Types tab and scroll down to MPG. See what programs and actions are associated with the .mpg file extension. Poke into everything there (change, advanced, etc.). Try deleting all associations and actions then add them back in with new.

A more drastic thing to try is a Windows Registry Cleaner such as  this one . You will have to decide whether you want to risk this. I have never done it and can't vouch for it -- but I would be considering it if I were in your position. (Possibly after contacting Microsoft for help.)

Another possibility is some program that continually monitors your media files and catalogs them is the culprit. Roxio EMC9 suite includes such a program (called Media Manager ?) and I (and many others) turn it off. This is the kind of thing that if it malfunctions can cause problems like you are seeing, I believe.

Roxio Drag-to-Disc has a bad reputation among many users too -- If you have it try to uninstall it.


----------



## steve914

Hi,

I have just purchased Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced, I have not opened it as yet cause I am not sure whether I should keep this or buy Videoredo. I want to know with Nero can I download programs from tivo to my laptop and then burn it to DVD's using this software. Does it have a decoder, can I edit the movies like remove the ads. Do I need anything else besides keeping this. I am new to this, so I would appreciate your response.

Thanks, Steve


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## greg_burns

steve914 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have just purchased Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced, I have not opened it as yet cause I am not sure whether I should keep this or buy Videoredo. I want to know with Nero can I download programs from tivo to my laptop and then burn it to DVD's using this software. Does it have a decoder, can I edit the movies like remove the ads. Do I need anything else besides keeping this. I am new to this, so I would appreciate your response.
> 
> Thanks, Steve


I have Nero 7 Ultra Edition. I do like it for many reasons, but if the choice is between Nero and VideoReDo for removing ads get VideoReDo. Nero Vision 7 (used to called Nero Vision Express) will let you manually edit out commercials, but it craptastic compared to VideoReDo.

But VR will not burn a DVD for you. You could use the outputted .mpg (or .vob) file from VR w/ Nero Vision but NV will rencode the video and be slow doing it. (Although the menus it creates are pretty.)

Your best bet is VideoRedo + DVDStyler + ImgBurn. If you later decide you don't like DVDStyler + ImgBurn combo, then buy and use VideoRedo + Nero Vision.


----------



## silver_yummies

Hi guys - many thanks to Dan and other peoples posts that have helped me burn .tivo files into dvd playable discs. I just want to give a heads up to other people about a problem I had. My house has 3 standalone dvd players in it - I had only been trying the discs on one of them which is an older toshiba model. They would keep coming up as a disc error. So after about 10 coasters, I tried the discs out on different players in the house. We have a phillips model that would not work as well. I finally got the discs to work on a Samsung dvd player with model number dvd-hd860. It played the dvd with no problems at all.

My way of doing the dvd was -

Use tivo2go to get tivo file on PC.
use VRD to get rid of commercials and save as .vob file - then switch to .mpg
use dvd styler to create iso file
use dvd decrypter to burn iso image
and walla it works!!

Hope this info will help atleast one person!


----------



## dlfl

dlfl said:


> Windows version 1.5beta7 is out and looks good.
> 
> 1. Fixes requirement for NTSC "empty" and "silent" patch files.
> 2. Can re-encode audio between mp2 and AC3.
> 
> The very verbose detailed information display seems to be gone. I hope the verbose error displays are still there.


Actually it doesn't transcode audio. The audio selection (AC3 or mp2) affects only the menus. This is somewhat obtuse because we are talking about *silent menus*, but each menu actually has to have an audio source file (the "silent" file) and this chooses what type of audio is used. I guess if you know which type of audio your source videos have, you should set the menus to the same type for maximum compatibility.

I assume if you use a video clip (with audio) for the menu background, then whatever type audio is in the clip will be put in the menu. The program authors have confirmed that the program does no audio transcoding -- period! (See the DVDStyler forum for more details.)


----------



## Mammatus

OK.

So now I've had some sucess lately burning a few DVDs. I've used Video ReDo to remove commercials and save as an mpeg. I've then used Roxio EMC7 to create the .iso and then burned the ISO, also using Roxio.

Problem: The video seems a bit choppy and muddled. The quality is not the original quality that was pulled from the TiVo. When I play the same video that is still stored on the TiVo the quality is markely better than the quality of the newly burned DVD.

I have several shows that are about 45 minutes long and under 1GB in size (in .mpeg form) and so I figured I could fit two of those onto a 4.7GB DVD, but then when I created the ISO in Roxio, the ISO was larger than 4.7GB and it indicated it would have to compress it a bit to fit onto a DVD...so I decided to just create an .iso with just ONE 45-minute show and that came out to be something over 3GB ... MUCH larger than the original .mpeg (any idea why?) and even when I burned that .iso, the video still came out seeminly compressed and lower in quality than the original .tivo file.

This process is killing me! I'm thinking I'll take roxio out of the mix all together:
1. Edit out ads with VideoReDo and save as .mpeg
2. Create menus and an .iso with DVDStyler
3. Burn .iso with imgburn

I have tried to make a couple of iso files with DVDStyler but got this error last night:
Error executing of command: mkisofs -V 'DVD' -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\DVDStyler\MSCL2.iso' -dvd-video 'C:\Documents and Settings\DVDStyler2\dvd\'​
Any input on why the video would be lower quality would be appreciated! Thanks again to all who have helped me around here.


----------



## greg_burns

Mammatus said:


> MUCH larger than the original .mpeg (any idea why?) and even when I burned that .iso, the video still came out seeminly compressed and lower in quality than the original .tivo file.


That is because Roxio is reencoding the video. DVDStyler doesn't bother doing that. Makes it much faster and you won't induce the video degradation you are experiencing.



Mammatus said:


> This process is killing me! I'm thinking I'll take roxio out of the mix all together:
> 1. Edit out ads with VideoReDo and save as .mpeg
> 2. Create menus and an .iso with DVDStyler
> 3. Burn .iso with imgburn.


You want to export out of VideoReDo as .vob not .mpg. VOB files insert nav(igational) packets that help keep the audio in sync. (at least that is my understanding).


----------



## Mammatus

Aha- gotcha. I'm going to go with DVDStyler than and see how that turns out.

I just edited with Video ReDo and saved it as a .vob (instead of .mpg) and came out with these stats:



> Video output frames: 73180
> Audio output frames: 118068
> Processing time (secs): 164
> Processed frames/sec: 446.13
> Actual Video Bitrate: 2.86 Mbps


Are those about right for a good quality 45-minute video? I know those stats aren't for "BEST" quality, but the program wasn't recorded under BEST quality, even though I thought it was (1-hr .tivo file was only ~1.3GB and so it was under 1GB when ads were editted out)

I'm going to try creating the .iso of this now with DVD Styler and see if it works.


----------



## dlfl

That bitrate indicates it must be a TiVo Medium Quality file, with 352x480 resolution. (If you load it into VRD and hit Ctrl-L, you should see that resolution indicated.) I make DVD's with DVDStyler with this type TiVo file. You should have no problem making the ISO as long as you save the video from VRD as .vob as Greg said.

The DVD will have mpeg-layer2 audio, which most, but not all, stand-alone players will play. (Strict NTSC compliance requires Dolby AC3 audio.) Also most, but not all, players will like the 352x480 resolution.

Be sure to verify the DVD burn of the ISO, just for a little insurance. If you can create an ISO and burn it and it still doesn't play well then it's either the resolution/audio OR your burner and media. If you can rule out burner/media, then post back here. There is a way to re-encode the mpeg (or .vob) out of VRD to gold-standard DVD compliance (720x480 resolution and AC3 audio) using Gui4ffmpeg (free program), and I can give you the detailed instructions for using it. Not complicated but don't want to take the time to do it unless you actually need it. Unfortunately ALL re-encoding takes a long time as you already know.


----------



## Mammatus

VideoReDo is a great product and appears to be giving me great mpg files to work with. I even found a codec package earlier today that lets me play these great files in WMP flawlessly. 

My problem with how my system handles mpg files seems to finally be resolved (hopefully for good...not sure though) after I did a whole lot of housecleaning and installed some new codecs. In all honesty, I unfortunately did not pinpoint what change I made fixed that issue.

Whenever I ask Roxio to create an ISO, it bogs way down and the CPU shoots up to 100% and crawls through the encoding, frequently erroring out. But when it does complete, I'm able to burn a DVD from the new iso but it seems as though the quality is significantly diminished. Even when I do this process with a relatively small file (1GB or even less), the quality seems compromised. So I thought I'd leave Roxio all together, but when I use DVDStyler, I've been getting errors there of the sort I posted about yesterday.

Is there a certain resolution/filetype that I can put into DVD styler that will not require any encoding at all? Or will all DVD projects require some form of encoding?

Again, dlfl, I greatly appreciate all of your help! I must appear to be helpless fool with this stuff, but I think I might finally be making progress. 

My last resort might be to move my external DVD burner to the other room and use it with my thinkpad laptop. The only hesitation I have there is that the laptop has no firewire ports, only USB and I know that the DVD burner prefers firewire.

One other note: I've been recording a 1-hour show on a Season Pass set to BEST quality, but have now noticed that even though the TiVo tells me they've been recorded with Best quality, the file size is only ~1.2GB. When I check the info screen on the TiVo before I even transfer the file to my PC, it shows both Best and this small file size for a hour-long program recorded on my 180-hr Series 2 DT from a cable BOX (digital) channel...anyone know why this would seemingly be smaller than what a 1-hour long BEST quality program should be?


----------



## dlfl

Please load one of these files into VRD, hit Ctrl-L and post a copy of what you get here. IIRC there is even a button in VRD that saves a text copy of the data that is displayed. I'm confused because several posts back you said your 1 hour files were much larger than 1.2 GB and now they are 1.2 GB. I would like to know what resolution they are.

DVDStyler does not (cannot) re-encode. That means it puts whatever resolution, bit-rate and audio type is in your video into the DVD. That is very fast but the question is whether your DVD player can handle those parameters.

Re-encoding is done to produce parameters that are more likely to play on your player. However, most players will handle many of the TiVo formats and parameters without re-encoding.

I'm wondering if you have a burner/media problem. I don't think going from firewire to USB would be a good thing to do in general. You are burning from MyDVD (or DVDStyler) to ISO, correct? Then burning the ISO to DVD later, correct? I would strongly advise you use imgburn for burning the ISO to DVD, in case the Roxio burning is part of the problem.

Are you using DVDStyler Version 1.5beta7? Do not use the 1.4 (non-beta) version. Also have you tried saving from VRD as .vob when using DVDStyler as advised in previous posts?


----------



## 2004raptor

Mammatus said:


> I even found a codec package earlier today that lets me play these great files in WMP flawlessly.


What codec pack?


----------



## Mammatus

2004raptor said:


> What codec pack?


The codec pack is one I came across in a thread on this board I think...I don't remember which thread, but the title of the codec pack setup file that I still have in my recycle bin is:



> Cole2k.Media.-.Codec.Pack.V6.0.7.-Standard-.Setup


----------



## greg_burns

Mammatus said:


> The codec pack is one I came across in a thread on this board I think...I don't remember which thread, but the title of the codec pack setup file that I still have in my recycle bin is:
> 
> Cole2k.Media.-.Codec.Pack.V6.0.7.-Standard-.Setup


http://www.cole2k.net/?display=Codec-Pack-Standard


----------



## Mammatus

dlfl said:


> Please load one of these files into VRD, hit Ctrl-L and post a copy of what you get here. IIRC there is even a button in VRD that saves a text copy of the data that is displayed.


 File Name: C:\Documents and Settings\...\TiVoMPGs\My So-Called Life - ''Dancing in the Dark'' (Nov 7, 2006, NOGN).vob
File Size: 967010308 ( 0.90 GB )
Program Duration: 00:47:13.19
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 480 x 480
Display Size: 480 x 480
Aspect Ratio: 4/3
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 9.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 224 KB
Profile: Main/Main
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: Layer 2
Audio Stream Id: xC0
Audio Bit Rate: 192 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz

Should that file create a DVD that looks fairly sharp, without the blurred motion I've been seeing?



> I'm confused because several posts back you said your 1 hour files were much larger than 1.2 GB and now they are 1.2 GB. I would like to know what resolution they are.


I think earlier I was talking about a different file...but now I'm trying to burn these episodes of an old show for a gift for my sister who LOVED this show. I've been recording it on this Noggin channel in the early morning hours and have the season pass set to BEST quality, but the hour-long files are still only 1.2GB or so...that's what puzzles me, as it does you!



> DVDStyler does not (cannot) re-encode. That means it puts whatever resolution, bit-rate and audio type is in your video into the DVD. That is very fast but the question is whether your DVD player can handle those parameters.
> 
> Re-encoding is done to produce parameters that are more likely to play on your player. However, most players will handle many of the TiVo formats and parameters without re-encoding.


Gotcha. I actually just took one of my VRD-created .mpeg files (not vob) from a different program (not the one cited above) and burned it on to a raw data disc so I could dump it on my laptop...then I created an .iso with DVDStyler (1.5beta7) and burned it with imgburn on the laptop and viola: success at last! I'm hoping this continues. I'm going to try it with one of the mpeg files of this show and see if they work next.


----------



## dlfl

Mammatus said:


> File Name: C:\Documents and Settings\...\TiVoMPGs\My So-Called Life - ''Dancing in the Dark'' (Nov 7, 2006, NOGN).vob
> File Size: 967010308 ( 0.90 GB )
> Program Duration: 00:47:13.19
> Encoding Dimensions: 480 x 480
> Display Size: 480 x 480


What kind of TiVo again? Wasn't it Series 2, DT ?
I have a Series 2 DT and this bitrate (2.7 Mbps) and format (480x480) don't match any quality setting on my unit.

Another thing: The Display Size is 480x480. On my files it is 720x480.



Mammatus said:


> Should that file create a DVD that looks fairly sharp, without the blurred motion I've been seeing?


The blurred motion is usually related to interlace/progressive issues. If you put it on a DVD *without re-encoding * this should not be any different than playing the mpeg (or tivo) file on the TV via TiVo. If you re-encode you can introduce motion artifacts due to interlace factors. If the source is interlaced, and TiVo is AFAIK, and you are playing it on a normal (i.e. interlaced) TV then you should select interlaced in the authoring setup. I'm a little unsure what is best if you are playing it on a non-interlaced HDTV, and it probably depends on the DVD player in that case too.



Mammatus said:


> Gotcha. I actually just took one of my VRD-created .mpeg files (not vob) from a different program (not the one cited above) and burned it on to a raw data disc so I could dump it on my laptop...then I created an .iso with DVDStyler (1.5beta7) and burned it with imgburn on the laptop and viola: success at last! I'm hoping this continues. I'm going to try it with one of the mpeg files of this show and see if they work next.


Good! I have also put (non-VOB) .mpg into DVDStyler and it worked. However it forces DVDStyler to do an extra step (demuxing) that it would not have to do if you put the .vob file in (whether renamed to .mpg or not). In the one case I tried, it added about 60% to the authoring time. Hope you can eliminate having to transfer it from one PC to another for burning.


----------



## Sarnie24

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


I'm a new Tivo user and know nothing about what I'm trying to do, but I am trying to transfer from Tivo Desktop to DVD using Dan's method since so many people posted praise for it. I am, however, stuck on step 2. If someone could explain to me how to change the file extension on the output file to .mpg, I would really appreciate it. And please type slowly and use little words, I seriously barely understand what most of these posts say. Thanks!


----------



## dlfl

Sarnie24 said:


> I'm a new Tivo user and know nothing about what I'm trying to do, but I am trying to transfer from Tivo Desktop to DVD using Dan's method since so many people posted praise for it. I am, however, stuck on step 2. If someone could explain to me how to change the file extension on the output file to .mpg, I would really appreciate it. And please type slowly and use little words, I seriously barely understand what most of these posts say. Thanks!


It's the basic operation of renaming a file. In Windows Explorer left-click just once on the file name. This should highlight it. After a short pause, left-click on the file name again. Notice the highlighted area shrinks in a little to just cover the name of the file. Now you are ready to edit the name. You place the cursor with either mouse clicks or right or left arrow keys. Use backspace or delete key to delete the ".vob". With cursor in the right place, type in the ".mpg". Then click somewhere outside the name in blank space to tell it you're done editing.

Actually you don't even have to rename the file to .mpg. Sometimes .vob files show in the DVDStyler Directories Tab (with the .mpg files). If not, you can drag the file from Windows Explorer into the *bottom panel * (called the "Timeline") of DVDStyler.

BTW do you have the Operations Manual  for DVDStyler? It's only slightly out of date and in fact doesn't cover what I just told you, but in general it's worthwhile.

Also be sure to get the latest Beta version of DVDSTyler (1.5beta7). There are too many bugs in Ver. 1.4. When you load your source file into VideoReDo, hit Ctrl-L. Note whether the audio is "layer-2" or "AC3". Then when you start your "new" project in DVDStyler, select NTSC (assuming USA) and either mp2 or AC3 audio depending on what you saw in VideoReDo.

And instead of DVDDecrypter for burning, get imgburn (www.videohelp.com/tools) which is sort of an updated replacement, unless you already have Decrypter. It works fine -- I still use it.


----------



## Sarnie24

Thanks dlfl, you really helped me out, especially with the DVDStyler manual. Now I'm stuck on step 5 burn the ISO image using DVD Decrypter. I went to DVD Decrypter and changed the mode to ISO write then tried to open my file but got the error message, Invalid or unsupported image format! Reason: first image file part is less than 2048 bytes in size. I have no idea what this means, also the file that I was trying to open was xml even though when I used the DVDStyler and clicked on create ISO image. If you or anyone else can tell me the many things that I'm probably doing wrong, that would be really nice. Thanks!


----------



## greg_burns

Sarnie24 said:


> Thanks dlfl, you really helped me out, especially with the DVDStyler manual. Now I'm stuck on step 5 burn the ISO image using DVD Decrypter. I went to DVD Decrypter and changed the mode to ISO write then tried to open my file but got the error message, Invalid or unsupported image format! Reason: first image file part is less than 2048 bytes in size. I have no idea what this means, also the file that I was trying to open was xml even though when I used the DVDStyler and clicked on create ISO image. If you or anyone else can tell me the many things that I'm probably doing wrong, that would be really nice. Thanks!


DVDDecrypter will do the trick, but ImgBurn is much simpler.

www.imgburn.com

You save DVDStyler projects files as .xml. Sounds like you did that using the File->Save As... menu, instead of choosing the File->Burn DVD... menu.


----------



## Sarnie24

I was just reading through the posts and saw that you recommended that so I went and downloaded it. I couldn't make it work either. I think I'll go back to DVDStyler and try again, see if I saved it wrong like you suggested. Thank you.


----------



## Sarnie24

Thank you dlfl & Greg Burns, you both helped my very much and I finally got it to work. Yay!!! THANKS AGAIN!!!


----------



## rvisco

I've had Tivo for a few years and want to start burning some of the shows to DVD. I tried purchasing myDVD but that keeps giving me errors and roxio support is of no help. I'm trying the following steps provided earlier in this thread. 

1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
4) Output it to an ISO image.
5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter. 

The resulting DVD just shows a blank screen or the main menu. Does anybody have any ideas on what the problem is. I don't actually "edit" anything with VideoReDo. I just load the tivo file in and save it as a vob. In DVDStyler, I just drag the mpg file created in step 2 to the bottom "timeline" area and output it as an iso image. 

Thanks, 

Bob


----------



## donchanger

I'm no expert but I have used DVDStyler a bit... I think you need to add at least a token menu. Click the "Buttons" tab and drag one over to the main (right-hand) window. The defaults will, I think, play the main movie when that button is selected on your DVD player.

Alternatively, remove the menu that (I think) DVDStyler inserts by default when you start it (if you don't mind your DVD starting to play as soon as it is inserted).


----------



## dlfl

rvisco said:


> I've had Tivo for a few years and want to start burning some of the shows to DVD. I tried purchasing myDVD but that keeps giving me errors and roxio support is of no help. I'm trying the following steps provided earlier in this thread.
> 
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The resulting DVD just shows a blank screen or the main menu. Does anybody have any ideas on what the problem is. I don't actually "edit" anything with VideoReDo. I just load the tivo file in and save it as a vob. In DVDStyler, I just drag the mpg file created in step 2 to the bottom "timeline" area and output it as an iso image.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bob


1. Use the latest version: 1.5beta7 
If you're using an earlier version and haven't performed the "empty" and "silent" menu file bug fix that may explain your problem right there.

2. When you load your file into VRD, hit Ctrl-L and note what kind of audio it has. When you start a new project (use "New" on the menu) in DVDStyler you will choose NTSC or PAL (I assume you are NTSC -- USA), and an option for audio type. Choose the audio type seen in VRD. Note that "layer 2" in VRD means mp2 in DVDSTyler. Non-DVD Tivos record mp2 audio, while DVD type record (Dolby) AC3. If you didn't select NTSC before THAT could have been your problem.

3. Make a menu (after loading your title into the timeline):
Double-click one of the built-in backgrounds on the Background Tab (left side).
Drag one of the button types in the Buttons tab onto the menu display. This is all you NEED to do but you might want to edit the button properties as described in the manual.


----------



## jeffkohl

When I use directshow dump and import into dvd burning program the audio is out of synch with the video. Any suggestions? Had used the Sonic program but with the last version of tvg it stopped working and they want me to purchase a new version


----------



## greg_burns

jeffkohl said:


> When I use directshow dump and import into dvd burning program the audio is out of synch with the video. Any suggestions?


VideoReDo. Export as .vob not .mpg.


----------



## jeffkohl

where do I find this software?


----------



## rvisco

I'm a new poster so I can't post the url. Go to videoredo "." com. 
You can download a free trial version. I tried using the TiVo recommended myDVD from Sonic but it didn't work. I also tried a number of others without success until I used the videoredo/dvdstyler/dvddecrypter combo. Once I created a menu, everything went smoothly. Now I just need to work on getting a refund of my $70 from Sonic/Roxio.

Thanks, 

Bob


----------



## greg_burns

jeffkohl said:


> where do I find this software?


www.videoredo.com

www.dvdstyler.de

www.imgburn.com


----------



## Beldarassoc

Greetings:

I am using VR for my TIVO files saving as MPG. Next step I am using ConvertXtoDVD v2.1.5.173 for Authoring to NTSC. I then burn it to disk with NERO (only burn no convert since ConvertXtoDVD is doing that). For a College Basketball game, the final DVD is show sluggish or blurd motion when the players move around, or especially obvious on fast breaks. I transfered my VR mpg file back to TIVO to compare to original TIVO file and it plays back fine, so VR is not causing the problem. I record in HIGH quality. Has anyone had experience with ConvertXtoDVD ? I would like to keep using it if it is just a setting I am not using correctly. I am guessing that the Authoring tool is where my problem is. THanks in advance. nm


----------



## Bobbie21

Thanks for the great advice in this thread. Using VRD, DVDStyler and ImgBurn I've managed to make a few DVDs. They play well on my computer and on a portable DVD player. My menus aren't pretty (I haven't got the Style part of DVD Styler down yet), but it all works.  The other two programs are fairly intuitive and easy to use.

I have noticed that sometimes during the "burn" process in DVDStyler my computer has problems completing other tasks, but nothing crashes so I've just waited it out. It's not a CPU usage thing, but it seems like all the I/O to disk could be slow. 

And while creating the last DVD I forgot the rename to .mpg step but it was no problem at all - I was able to drag the .vob files from the directory into the DVDStyler window, and the rest of the process went just as smoothly. I've only played snippets of my DVDs thus far, but hope that they will play smoothly too.

Thanks again!


----------



## deanne

How do I know which version to download? v1.4 or v1.5 beta 7? Win 32, Debian, Fedora, or Source Code?


----------



## greg_burns

deanne said:


> How do I know which version to download? v1.4 or v1.5 beta 7? Win 32, Debian, Fedora, or Source Code?


Use the latest beta version; 1.5 beta 7.

If you are running Windows XP choose Win32.


----------



## deanne

Thank you. Are there instructions on how to use ImgBurn anywhere?


----------



## PVR User

I am using the Dan203 method. It works great. I have no more quality problems. As an experiment, I burned a DVD last night using VRD followed by MyDVD; it took forever and the quality of the finished DVD was horrible!

I have one remaining problem, I have seen it posted before but have not seen an answer, Using the Dan203 method, the DVDs play just fine in my Panasonic stand-alone player but when I play them in my older Pioneer player, they are displayed at a 1:1 aspect ratio.

I loaded the original .tivo file into VRD and then loaded the .vob file from the DVD into VRD and compared their properties. The only difference is the file type, TiVo vs. PS-MPEG2.

I'm guessing that the problem is simply how the Pioneer player is interpreting the file. It plays commercial DVDs and DVDs produced using MyDVD at the correct aspect ratio.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me to burn a disk both players will play correctly?


----------



## dlfl

deanne said:


> Thank you. Are there instructions on how to use ImgBurn anywhere?


I use DVDDecrypter, the "father of imgburn" so can't give you detailed instructions. However, go to http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=ImgBurn and there is a link to a guide  that sounds promising. I couldn't check it out because the imgburn.com web site does not seem to be responding right now.


----------



## dlfl

PVR User said:


> ...............
> I'm guessing that the problem is simply how the Pioneer player is interpreting the file. It plays commercial DVDs and DVDs produced using MyDVD at the correct aspect ratio.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for me to burn a disk both players will play correctly?


Re-encode the mpeg (or vob) saved from VRD to totally NTSC DVD-compliant "D1" format (720x480 resolution with Dolby AC3 audio). This should play on ANY standalone player.

Use free program gui4ffmpeg, which you can get via videohelp.com . Load the mpeg (or vob -- doesn't matter). Select NTSC and set the bit rate to something a little greater than what VRD says in the message given when it finishes saving the mpeg/vob file. The range of 4,000 to 6,000 covers all TiVo qualities. Add the following additional options:
-flags ilme+ildct -top 1
Hit the save button and select your output file folder and name. Hit the generate button. Hit the encode button and prepare to wait for longer than the video content (unless your machine is super fast). The output mpeg is actually a VOB type and can be loaded directly into DVDStyler.

I've had good luck with this, having had the same problem you do. However if you value your time at all and are going to do several DVD's, there is a cost argument for replacing the offending player with a new one, most of which will play almost any format and either mpeg or ac3 audio.


----------



## greg_burns

deanne said:


> Thank you. Are there instructions on how to use ImgBurn anywhere?


 

What do you need to know? It is pretty much browse to your .iso file (the one you made using DVDStyler) and then click the big button to burn it to a disc.


----------



## deanne

I tried the videohelp link you sent, but couldn't find any instructions. I have tried using both the disc "write" icons, using 3 different new DVD's, but have received write errors both times. The first part of the error message on the second try (using the first disc icon on the left) says "I/O Error!" The interpretation on the SCSIStatus (0x02) is "Check Condition." Interpretation of Sense Area is "Random Positioning Error." When I "try again" I get the same message.

What is the difference between the two icons, anyway?


----------



## dlfl

deanne said:


> I tried the videohelp link you sent, but couldn't find any instructions. I have tried using both the disc "write" icons, using 3 different new DVD's, but have received write errors both times. The first part of the error message on the second try (using the first disc icon on the left) says "I/O Error!" The interpretation on the SCSIStatus (0x02) is "Check Condition." Interpretation of Sense Area is "Random Positioning Error." When I "try again" I get the same message.
> 
> What is the difference between the two icons, anyway?


Are you loading a .iso file into imgburn? Then select your burner drive (if there is more than one choice to select from) and hit the burn button.

Have you ever successfully burned DVD's with the burner and media you are using?
If not:
1. Check burner mfr website for firmware updates. (Download and install).
2. Try a different media. I use DVD+R and have good results with Verbatim 16x and Sony 16X, burned at 8X rate (because my burner is only an 8X burner.) Economizing on media is a false economy. You can get the Verbatim 16x DVD+R for less than 35 cents each at either Best Buy (frequent sales) or Sam's Club (pkg of 100).

Please post the make/model of your burner.


----------



## deanne

dlfl said:


> Are you loading a .iso file into imgburn? Then select your burner drive (if there is more than one choice to select from) and hit the burn button.
> 
> Have you ever successfully burned DVD's with the burner and media you are using?
> If not:
> 1. Check burner mfr website for firmware updates. (Download and install).
> 2. Try a different media. I use DVD+R and have good results with Verbatim 16x and Sony 16X, burned at 8X rate (because my burner is only an 8X burner.) Economizing on media is a false economy. You can get the Verbatim 16x DVD+R for less than 35 cents each at either Best Buy (frequent sales) or Sam's Club (pkg of 100).
> 
> Please post the make/model of your burner.


I have a Dell Latitude D610 laptop which has a TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L532B. This is the first time I've tried to use it. I bought 100 Verbatim DVD-R 8x, 4.7 GB/Go Data, 120 min video DVD's


----------



## deanne

deanne said:


> I have a Dell Latitude D610 laptop which has a TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L532B. This is the first time I've tried to use it. I bought 100 Verbatim DVD-R 8x, 4.7 GB/Go Data, 120 min video DVD's


Oh, and yes, I was using an ISO file that I created with VideoReDo, then DVDStyler.


----------



## deanne

deanne said:


> Oh, and yes, I was using an ISO file that I created with VideoReDo, then DVDStyler.


I just rebooted my laptop, and now the dvd will play. The picture for the menu looks great, but when I click on it to start the video, the sound is good but the picture is just a bunch of flying pixels. ? ?

Couldn't find a webpage for TSSTCorp


----------



## rhino68

how beefy of a system do you need for sonic to run smoothly. i have tried several times to covert Tivo to DVD using sonic MyDVD is it me, my machine or sonic. I have a eMachine, T6212, AMD Athlon 64, 3200+, 1.99 GHz, 384MB RAM. Help please.


----------



## dlfl

deanne said:


> I have a Dell Latitude D610 laptop which has a TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L532B. This is the first time I've tried to use it. I bought 100 Verbatim DVD-R 8x, 4.7 GB/Go Data, 120 min video DVD's


That's actually a Samsung. Here is the VideoHelp Page on it. On that page is a link to the Dell web site with information on that drive.. You can check for firmware updates at the Dell support site.

Looks like it's rated for 8X writes for DVD-R but that doesn't mean you can always achieve that rate. Also anything that slows down your computer must be kept from happening while you are burning, thus:

1. Set the write rate to something less than max in ImgBurn. Try 4X.
2. Disable file access checking ("auto protect" in Norton) in any anti-virus software you have going.
3. Don't use the computer for anything else while burning.
4. Turn off the screen saver or set its delay time to longer than the burn time.
5. Do check verify in ImgBurn if not already checked. This more than doubles the burn time but at least you know your burner drive can read back what you just wrote and that it exactly matches the file you just wrote. (But it doesn't mean your DVD player will read it correctly -- different hardware! Or are you playing back in your laptop?)

Buy a small quantity of DVD+R 8X or 16X discs and try them.

What processor and speed?


----------



## greg_burns

deanne said:


> What is the difference between the two icons, anyway?


I believe it is just a single large icon, not two individual ones.


----------



## PVR User

dlfl said:


> Use free program gui4ffmpeg ...


Thanks for all the detail. I just ran my test file (from VRD) through FFmpeg and apparently missed something. FFmpeg reduced my 3 GB file to a 622 MB file. I did not go to the next step but instead tried playing the file that FFmpeg generated using Windows Media Player and it is extremely blocky (lower resolution ?). Any Idea what I did wrong?

FFmpeg's command string produced by the GUI looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\gui4ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -i "D:\VideoReDoOutput\The Closer - ''Serving the King'' (Recorded Dec 4, 2006, TNTP).mpg" -target ntsc-dvd -b 5000 -aspect 4:3 -s 720x480 -acodec ac3 -ab 448 -ac 6 -mbd 2 -flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -qmin 2 -async 1 -y "D:\ffmpeg\the_closer.mpg"


----------



## ehorn

I purchase MyDVD studio deluxe. I have attempted 5 times now to copy a Tivo show from my TIVO to Go. Each attempt either failed with a error or completed with nothing on the dvd. What am I doing wrong? Can someone list me the steps I need to do to be sucessful.

Thanks
Ernie


----------



## PVR User

The bad news is Sonic MyDVD is problematic. On the first PC I installed it on I couldn't get it do burn any DVDs.

 The good news is the gurus that hang out here have a process tht works.



Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.


----------



## dlfl

PVR User said:


> Thanks for all the detail. I just ran my test file (from VRD) through FFmpeg and apparently missed something. FFmpeg reduced my 3 GB file to a 622 MB file. I did not go to the next step but instead tried playing the file that FFmpeg generated using Windows Media Player and it is extremely blocky (lower resolution ?). Any Idea what I did wrong?
> 
> FFmpeg's command string produced by the GUI looks like this:
> 
> "C:\Program Files\gui4ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -i "D:\VideoReDoOutput\The Closer - ''Serving the King'' (Recorded Dec 4, 2006, TNTP).mpg" -target ntsc-dvd -b 5000 -aspect 4:3 -s 720x480 -acodec ac3 -ab 448 -ac 6 -mbd 2 -flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -qmin 2 -async 1 -y "D:\ffmpeg\the_closer.mpg"


No that doesn't seem right. However I don't see any obvious problem with the ffmpeg command line either. What is the resolution and bitrate of the input file? The true bitrate is the value displayed by VRD when it finishes saving the file -- or going at it another way, what duration is the 3 GB file?

What kind of TiVo generated the file? Is there a possibility it is not interlaced? If so the -flags and -top options should not be used.

Two things to try:
1. Run the mpeg that you created in VRD back through Quick Stream Fix in VRD.

2. Change the name of the input file to Gui4ffmpeg to something shorter that doesn't have nested quotes. (A long shot but easy to try.)

I've never seen gui4ffmpeg do anything like that -- puzzling. The program author is on the VideoHelp.com forums. You could try posting this problem there in the "Newbie Encoding" section.


----------



## PVR User

dlfl said:


> No that doesn't seem right. However I don't see any obvious problem with the ffmpeg command line either. What is the resolution and bitrate of the input file? The true bitrate is the value displayed by VRD when it finishes saving the file -- or going at it another way, what duration is the 3 GB file?


I'm not sure how to find the resolution. The program was recorded at high quality. VRD shows a bitrate of 4.64 Mbps The 3 GB file is 1 hr and 29 minutes.



dlfl said:


> What kind of TiVo generated the file? Is there a possibility it is not interlaced? If so the -flags and -top options should not be used.


My TiVo is a standalone Series 2. I think it's interlaced. VRD says "interlaced or progressive". I've been meaning to play with that. I'll also try removing the two options. Is ilme+ildct part of the -flags option? I've looked at the help file in gui4ffmpeg and not found much information.



dlfl said:


> Two things to try:
> 1. Run the mpeg that you created in VRD back through Quick Stream Fix in VRD.
> 
> 2. Change the name of the input file to Gui4ffmpeg to something shorter that doesn't have nested quotes. (A long shot but easy to try.)


I'll try both of these suggestions and check out the VideoHelp Forum. I also discovered the Preview feature in GUI4FFmpeg which makes experimentation easier. Thanks again dlfl; I really appreaciate all your help!


----------



## dlfl

Load into VRD and hit Ctrl-L to see the resolution. BTW the bitrate shown there is not correct -- it's a max value in the file header.

Not sure what you mean by "standalone" but my Series 2 recordings are interlaced. Yes the ilme+ildct are part of the -flags option. I have had occasional clips where these options didn't give the best output. In one case I substituted -deinterlace for the -top and -flags options and got better results.

BTW VRD always says interlaced or progressive unless the file is purely progressive.

You have taught me something -- I didn't know there was a preview in gui4ffmpeg! Unfortunately there is no PC playback that will exactly emulate how a particular standalone DVD player will act -- in general the PC players are more forgiving.


----------



## PVR User

Thanks, again.

I did a Ctrl-L but didn't see anything labled resolution. What am I looking for? 480 X 480?

You lost me when you referred to "a max value in the file header". I'm feeling pretty dumb here. Is there someway I can actually look at the mpg file header?

My TiVo is a single tuner Series 2. I have analog cable service.

I have read a couple comments, that I didn't fully understand, Should I be recording at High instead of Best if I want to eventually burn to DVD?


----------



## dlfl

PVR User said:


> Thanks, again.
> 
> I did a Ctrl-L but didn't see anything labled resolution. What am I looking for? 480 X 480?
> 
> You lost me when you referred to "a max value in the file header". I'm feeling pretty dumb here. Is there someway I can actually look at the mpg file header?
> 
> My TiVo is a single tuner Series 2. I have analog cable service.
> 
> I have read a couple comments, that I didn't fully understand, Should I be recording at High instead of Best if I want to eventually burn to DVD?


Sorry, the resolution is called "Dimensions" in the VRD Ctrl-L information. 480x480 is consistent with what you have already posted about this file. There are tools like gspot and mediaInfo that tell you information about video files. They are available at VideoHelp.com, but they may or may not qualify as "simple". If you just play a file in WMP and click on the image area and right-click to select properties, it also tells you the resolution. This also tells you which codecs are being used to play the video, a subject that may come up in the future (if you're unlucky).

There is no preference on TiVo recording quality other than your own. All can be made into DVD's although I personally have never used basic quality. The resolutions and bit rates for your Tivo are:

Basic 352x240 (can't remember bit rate)
Medium 352x480, 2.7 Mbps
High 480x480, 3.6 Mbps or close to that
Best 480x480, 5.8 Mbps

None of them are the D1 standard NTSC DVD resolution of 720x480. The Medium is actually a DVD standard called "half-D1", which means it should play on any standalone player, but not all of them will do it. DVDStyler and VRD do NOT re-encode, i.e., the resolution on the DVD will be whatever it was in the input file.

The only thing I can suggest right now is to get gui4ffmpeg working correctly on your file (or replace the offending SAP). You should try more than one file in case the ultra small output file from gui4ffmpeg was just a fluke caused by one particular bad TiVo file. The output file should be larger than the input by 20% to 40%. A bitrate in the 4 to 5 Mbps (4000 to 5000 kbps) range should be OK for the High quality files.

Did you try the things I suggested earlier:
1. Run the mpeg that you created in VRD back through Quick Stream Fix in VRD.

2. Change the name of the input file to Gui4ffmpeg to something shorter that doesn't have nested quotes. (A long shot but easy to try.)

It is possible that Medium quality files might not need the gui4ffmpeg treatment because they are half-D1 resolution.


----------



## deanne

dlfl said:


> That's actually a Samsung. Here is the VideoHelp Page on it. On that page is a link to the Dell web site with information on that drive.. You can check for firmware updates at the Dell support site.
> 
> Looks like it's rated for 8X writes for DVD-R but that doesn't mean you can always achieve that rate. Also anything that slows down your computer must be kept from happening while you are burning, thus:
> 
> 1. Set the write rate to something less than max in ImgBurn. Try 4X.
> 2. Disable file access checking ("auto protect" in Norton) in any anti-virus software you have going.
> 3. Don't use the computer for anything else while burning.
> 4. Turn off the screen saver or set its delay time to longer than the burn time.
> 5. Do check verify in ImgBurn if not already checked. This more than doubles the burn time but at least you know your burner drive can read back what you just wrote and that it exactly matches the file you just wrote. (But it doesn't mean your DVD player will read it correctly -- different hardware! Or are you playing back in your laptop?)
> 
> Buy a small quantity of DVD+R 8X or 16X discs and try them.
> 
> What processor and speed?


Intel Pentium M, 1.73GHz

I followed all your directions above, and it burned the DVD without any error messages. When I tried to play it back on my laptop (which I burned it on), I still had sound with a totally distorted picture (pixels flying again.) When I took the DVD out and put it in my desktop, it played just fine. It also played in my DVD player (tv). I got a commercial DVD movie, and it plays in the laptop just fine. My warranty expires on the Dell laptop in 5 or 10 days -- do you think it's the DVD drive? Oh, I used another Verbatim 8x DVD-R, and the only download for the DVD was for gaming, so I didn't download it.

Thank you so much for all your help! And to show my total ignorance, what does -R and +R mean?


----------



## cat19me

I have no DVD burner on my PC; I do have VideoRedo that I've been using with my Tivo files. I have an iBook with iMovie and iDVD and a DVD burner. Is there any way to get files from my TiVo through VideoRedo (with whatever steps are necessary) into some sort of format that the iBook will be able to burn to DVD? Or am I out of luck without buying a DVD burner for the PC?

I've searched and browsed the forums here and can't come up with a recent answer to this; all the answers I find say it's not possible, but they're mostly from a quite a while ago.


----------



## Scott Atkinson

cat19me said:


> I have no DVD burner on my PC; I do have VideoRedo that I've been using with my Tivo files. I have an iBook with iMovie and iDVD and a DVD burner. Is there any way to get files from my TiVo through VideoRedo (with whatever steps are necessary) into some sort of format that the iBook will be able to burn to DVD? Or am I out of luck without buying a DVD burner for the PC?
> 
> I've searched and browsed the forums here and can't come up with a recent answer to this; all the answers I find say it's not possible, but they're mostly from a quite a while ago.


I defer to greg_burns, who is more conversant with this, but here's one path:

Install Tivo Decode Manager on your ibook. That'll give you "Tivo to go" functionality without going thru' your pc.

Because Quicktime doesn't play the mpeg files decode produces, use ffmpegX to transcode to a .mov file.

Edit and burn with software of your choice.

s.

edit - TDM 2.0 automatically converts to mp4 files...


----------



## PVR User

dlfl said:


> Did you try the things I suggested earlier:
> 1. Run the mpeg that you created in VRD back through Quick Stream Fix in VRD.
> 
> 2. Change the name of the input file to Gui4ffmpeg to something shorter that doesn't have nested quotes. (A long shot but easy to try.)
> 
> It is possible that Medium quality files might not need the gui4ffmpeg treatment because they are half-D1 resolution.


Thanks for all the information. I tried #2 with no difference. I haven't had a chance to try # 1 as I had to work this weekend.


----------



## dlfl

deanne said:


> Intel Pentium M, 1.73GHz
> 
> I followed all your directions above, and it burned the DVD without any error messages. When I tried to play it back on my laptop (which I burned it on), I still had sound with a totally distorted picture (pixels flying again.) When I took the DVD out and put it in my desktop, it played just fine. It also played in my DVD player (tv). I got a commercial DVD movie, and it plays in the laptop just fine. My warranty expires on the Dell laptop in 5 or 10 days -- do you think it's the DVD drive? Oh, I used another Verbatim 8x DVD-R, and the only download for the DVD was for gaming, so I didn't download it.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your help! And to show my total ignorance, what does -R and +R mean?


If your dvd is playing on one PC and a standalone player, it's probably good.

IMHO, you would only have a come-back to Dell if you can't play a commercially produced DVD in the laptop. Are you using the "Dell Media Experience" or whatever DVD player software came installed on the laptop? If you have verify checked in ImgBurn and it passes, then the drive must be OK.

For the scoop on DVD+/-R and much other info on DVD's see http://www.videohelp.com/dvd


----------



## sfrmom

Many thanks for this thread. I tried Roxio MySonic in the trial mode to make some DVDs before Christmas, and it was NOT good. Their "help" is a joke -- what they call a "tutorial" is simply a description of what it's supposed to do, without actually telling you how to do it.

My biggest problem: transcoding the Tivo file to burn it took over my PC resources 100%. Trying to do anything else on the computer at the same time was not worth it. I'm running Windows 2000 with a 2.4 Mghz processor and 1G of RAM and about 22G empty hard drive space (not huge amount of empty space but within their recommended specs).

Question: Since I am letting the MySonic trial expire and will now try the Dan203 method, will I be able to multi-task when I finally get to the burning stage, or should I still expect that I won't be able to use my PC for anything else while burning a disc?

Susan
P.S. the lack of standardization re: blank media and what will play on what equipment is stupefying AND stupid. I hope the industry is addressing this.


----------



## dlfl

The actual burning to DVD is a CPU-demanding process and it's best to give it your computer's undivided attention, even to the point of turning off virus monitoring and disconnecting your network cable (in worst cases).

Transcoding with Sonic/Roxio is also touchy about CPU resources and multi-tasking, and the same comments apply.

Nothing in the Dan203 process should fail or give a bad result if you multi-task but the DVDStyler task takes a while and will just take longer. If you re-encode with gui4ffmpeg that is a very time consuming, CPU intensive task. However AFAIK multi-tasking during that will just slow it down. I'm kinda going on theory here, because I usually just give my computer over to video processing when I'm making a DVD. (Why tempt fate?). 

It is generally recommended as a safety measure to have your authoring software produce a disc image (.iso file) then burn it to the disc as a separate process, even if the software will let you do it otherwise.

Yep, making DVD's is not for the faint of heart!


----------



## PVR User

I finally got a chance to get back to this project.

I tried shortening the title and eliminating the quotes - no difference.
I also tried running the mpg through quick fix - no difference.
I posted over in the video help forum, like you suggested and got a response. It's a bug in the latest version of guiFFmpeg. I had to add a "K" (as in Kilo) to the bit rate.

Now I have to see if it makes my final DVD play in both DVD players. The only reason I care about compatibility is so I can exchange shows with my son.

Thanks again for all your help. I have learned a lot in the process and have acquired a nice set of software tools to work with. GraphEditor, DirectShow Filter Manager, GSpot, etc. are all great. I am amazed at the speed and simplicity of burning a DVD using either DVDDecrypter or ImgBurn.


----------



## PVR User

dlfl said:


> Use free program gui4ffmpeg, which you can get via videohelp.com . Load the mpeg (or vob -- doesn't matter). Select NTSC and set the bit rate to something a little greater than what VRD says in the message given when it finishes saving the mpeg/vob file. The range of 4,000 to 6,000 covers all TiVo qualities.


Wow, I have learned so much! gui4ffmpeg did the trick. Now, at least, I have an option.

and one more question: When I "set the bit rate to something a little greater than what VRD says in the message given when it finishes" is there any general rule or is it just trial and error? Obviously, the higher the bit rate, the larger the vob file.

Erik


----------



## bwcs182

Hello, 

i have some .tivo files on my computer and i would like to put them to DVD. first, i edit them with VideoReDo and cut out commercials, etc. then im not sure what format to save them as... .vobs? because i want to then shrink them with DVD shrink but if i save to .vob DVD shrink will not open them.. do i need .ifo files? please help me...thank you


----------



## greg_burns

bwcs182 said:


> i have some .tivo files on my computer and i would like to put them to DVD. first, i edit them with VideoReDo and cut out commercials, etc. then im not sure what format to save them as... .vobs? because i want to then shrink them with DVD shrink but if i save to .vob DVD shrink will not open them.. do i need .ifo files? please help me...thank you


You would save them as .vob's from VideoRedo. But you are skipping a step I believe.

You need to use DVDStyler to "author" the .vobs into DVD-Video format. When using DVDStyler, instead of doing File->Burn.. and creating an .iso file from menu, change the File->Burn option to the one that says "just create folder" or some such. This will create a VIDEO_TS folder on you hard drive that DVD Shrink can work with.

It has been awhile since I've actually tried that, but it did work at the time.


----------



## dlfl

PVR User said:


> Wow, I have learned so much! gui4ffmpeg did the trick. Now, at least, I have an option.
> 
> and one more question: When I "set the bit rate to something a little greater than what VRD says in the message given when it finishes" is there any general rule or is it just trial and error? Obviously, the higher the bit rate, the larger the vob file.
> 
> Erik


It's trial and error plus intuition AFAIK. Every encoding loses some information, thus you don't want to use a lower bitrate than the original, and even if you use the same bitrate you have some degradation. Using something 10% to 30% greater than the input bitrate seems logical to me. Anything above that is overkill IMHO. I once tried re-encoding a 2.7Mbps (Tivo Medium) mpeg to 6 Mbps and Gui4ffmpeg threw some warning messages. I'm never exactly sure what its warnings (which I seldom get) mean. In a recent case I didn't know anything to change to eliminate the warnings (only a couple) so I just plunged ahead and the output was fine.

Actually if you were re-encoding to a much smaller format (e.g., 320x240) to be viewed on a small screen (portable) it might make sense to re-encode to a lower bitrate. However, I don't know any portables that use mpeg2. They use some version of mpeg4 encoding, which is inherently more efficient, and can use much lower bit rates to get the same quality - even at the full format.

BTW you can estimate the bitrate just from the file size and the video duration using:
BitRate = (FileSizeInBytes)/(DurationInMinutes) * (8/60). This should come within 10% of what you get from VRD when it finishes saving.


----------



## Bobbie21

I thought I was doing well, having created 4 DVDs to save some TV programs: they worked in my computer, my daughter's laptop, and my portable DVD player. But none will work in my Panasonic DVD/VCR player that I have connected to my TV. I'm having trouble understanding some parts of this thread, but I've done a little investigating, so here are the details:

I used VideoRedo, DVDStyler and ImgBurn or DVD Decrypter as suggested earlier in this thread, using Memorex 4.7 G DVD-R media. 

I made a copy of a home-burned DVD I received from a friend - on the same media and with the same DVD burner - using Nero DVD Copy, and it plays in my Panasonic, so the problem should not be the burner or the media. 

I noticed that the other DVD has a folder called VIDEO_RM as well as the VIDEO_TS folder, while the ones I made myself have only the VIDEO_TS and an empty AUDIO_TS folder, but I don't know if that is significant. 

Nero won't let me add my .vob files created with VideoRedo to burn a DVD.

Any suggestions?


----------



## greg_burns

Bobbie21 said:


> I noticed that the other DVD has a folder called VIDEO_RM as well as the VIDEO_TS folder, while the ones I made myself have only the VIDEO_TS and an empty AUDIO_TS folder, but I don't know if that is significant.


http://www.denguru.com/2006/08/28/all_you_need_to_know_about_ripping_dvds/page2.html

That has some info on the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders. Not heard of a VIDEO_RM one before.


----------



## PVR User

Thanks again dlfl, I appreciate your insight.


----------



## kjgarrison

I have spent about an hour reading many posts in this forum, and as my first official question, I have what probably is a nooby one.

Am I correct that this entire thread involves, as the starting point, the output of "TiVo TO GO"?

If so, is there a thread (for creating DVD's) for those of us where the only "output" from the TiVo is to record to VCR? I have a DirecTV Phillips TiVo2 box.


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## dlfl

Bobbie21 said:


> I thought I was doing well, having created 4 DVDs to save some TV programs: they worked in my computer, my daughter's laptop, and my portable DVD player. But none will work in my Panasonic DVD/VCR player that I have connected to my TV. .................................
> Any suggestions?


Most likely cause is the Panasonic doesn't like the format of the audio or video.
The only format that's guaranteed to play in all NTSC (i.e. American) DVD players is 720x480 video and Dolby AC3 audio. My Series 2 DT Tivo doesn't put out that format on any quality setting. The video is either 480x480 or 352x480 and the audio is Mpeg1 Layer2 (or mp2). DVDStyler is fast because it doesn't re-encode either the video (e.g., to 720x480) or the audio. Most of the more recent DVD players will play the non-standard formats just fine but not all players will. It would be interesting to know what video and audio format is on the DVD you copied that played OK. If you have DVDDecrypter you can quickly rip the .vob's off it and load one in VRD and hit Ctrl-L, which will tell you.

If format is the problem, gui4ffmpeg re-encoding is one answer, although re-encoding takes so long that if you value your time it might be cost effective to replace the Panasonic. But let's see if that really is the problem first.


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## dlfl

Just a heads up to anyone using gui4ffmpeg to re-encode:

The latest version (2.1, just out) has a bug (or feature?) that you have to put a small 'k' after the number in the bit rate field, e.g., "4000k" instead of just "4000", if you want 4,000 Kbps (or 4 Mbps).

If you leave off the 'k' you get one thousandth of the desired bit rate, which gives an absurd result. My apologies if this was posted earlier in this thread but I searched and didn't find it.

I see this purely as a bug, especially since the default number that is already filled in is missing the 'k', and hope the author will soon put out a corrected version.


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## greg_burns

kjgarrison said:


> I have spent about an hour reading many posts in this forum, and as my first official question, I have what probably is a nooby one.
> 
> Am I correct that this entire thread involves, as the starting point, the output of "TiVo TO GO"?
> 
> If so, is there a thread (for creating DVD's) for those of us where the only "output" from the TiVo is to record to VCR? I have a DirecTV Phillips TiVo2 box.


My first thought would be if your Tivo is close enough to your PC you could buy a capture card and skip using VCR tape altogether. Otherwise, record onto tape, then bring VCR close enough to the computer to use a capture card.

Neither seems like a great solution. Why not buy a DVD Recorder?
http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdrecorderfaqs/a/dvdrecfaqintro.htm

Are DirectTV's hackable to get at the video?


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## Kaelsma

I'm hoping you can help me. I have been burning TiVo files to DVD successfully using your very simple instructions (THANKS!) but I am having trouble with one set of files. I am trying to burn episodes of a children's show "Handy Manny" to DVD and DVD Styler sends me the following error message:

Error executing of command: dvdauthor -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\Denise Rambo\dvd\' -x 'C:\Documents and Settings\Denise Rambo\dvd\dvdauthor.xml'

I am not doing anything differently than I have in the past. In fact, after I got this message the first time, I burned some episodes of other shows as a test to make sure there wasn't a problem with the program or the method I was using. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.


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## dlfl

Kaelsma said:


> I'm hoping you can help me. I have been burning TiVo files to DVD successfully using your very simple instructions (THANKS!) but I am having trouble with one set of files. I am trying to burn episodes of a children's show "Handy Manny" to DVD and DVD Styler sends me the following error message:
> 
> Error executing of command: dvdauthor -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\Denise Rambo\dvd\' -x 'C:\Documents and Settings\Denise Rambo\dvd\dvdauthor.xml'
> 
> I am not doing anything differently than I have in the past. In fact, after I got this message the first time, I burned some episodes of other shows as a test to make sure there wasn't a problem with the program or the method I was using. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.


Unfortunately this obscure error message just means something went wrong executing the actual program (dvdauthor.exe) that DVDStyler uses to do its work. Your evidence indicates the problem must be caused by the input file(s).

Have your tried VideoReDo's "Quick Stream Fix" on these files? If not I would definitely recommend you do so. (Run it on the .vob files you already are inputting into Styler and be sure to select the .vob output type.)

If that doesn't fix it my next suggestion would be to post a copy of the 'C:\Documents and Settings\Denise Rambo\dvd\dvdauthor.xml' file on the DVDStyler forum asking for help. I think this file is normally automatically deleted after a run but it may not be if the run fails. If it isn't there I think there is something in the configuration page that you can set to keep it from being automatically deleted. (This file is re-created for each run so you have to get the one that is there after one of the failed runs.)

What version of Styler are you using? If you are not using the latest (1.5beta7) you might try upgrading to it.


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## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> My first thought would be if your Tivo is close enough to your PC you could buy a capture card and skip using VCR tape altogether. Otherwise, record onto tape, then bring VCR close enough to the computer to use a capture card...........


An alternative to the capture card is the Pinnacle Dazzle Platinum device (DVC-170, about $80). It's a small device that interfaces to the PC via a USB 2.0 connector. It takes either composite or s-video inputs and performs the conversion to mpeg2 via it's own hardware. The included Pinnacle software allows you to capture with bitrates ranging from 4 to 8 Mbps. The processor load when I capture camcorder output at 4 Mbps is always less than 25% on my 3 GHz PC. The mpeg's look good to me and in gspot their GOP and field interlace structure is the cleanest I've ever seen. You would still want to run them through VideoReDo either for edit or QSF, so you would get the .vob type output that DVDStyler wants.


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## Joey Bagadonuts

A question for any litigators in the house. Would I be violating any copyright laws if I were to transfer a TiVo'd movie (a golden oldie from the 50's that hasn't been released on DVD) to DVD and then give that DVD to someone else for their personal use?


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## bheller1

Another twist, I think, on the problem of making dvds from Tivo.
I have successfully followed the instructions using VRD, DVD Styler and DVD DeCrypter.
It worked one time, then the next two dvds started out ok, but as the opening credits on the movies rolled, it became very jerky, and sometimes wouldn't advance past whatever frames I had fast forwarded to. When I went back and recorded the same movie onto dvd without having DVD Styler take out the commercials, it worked fine. The first DVD did not have commercials, so I didn't use it for that.

Why would editing the commercials have this impact? That is the only difference I can see in what I have done when they have worked and not worked.


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## greg_burns

bheller1 said:


> Why would editing the commercials have this impact? That is the only difference I can see in what I have done when they have worked and not worked.


DVDStyler doesn't edit out commercials, that would be VideoReDo. Did you output from VideoReDo as .vob files or just .mpg?


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## bheller1

Sorry, my bad - I meant VRD. Yes, I output from VRD as vob files, then renamed the files .mpg.
Just ran a movie which did not have commercials, so I didn't run it through ad-detective in VRD, and it is jerky as well. I am going to try to recreate the successful dvd - any thoughts would be appreciated.


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## greg_burns

bheller1 said:


> Sorry, my bad - I meant VRD. Yes, I output from VRD as vob files, then renamed the files .mpg.
> Just ran a movie which did not have commercials, so I didn't run it through ad-detective in VRD, and it is jerky as well. I am going to try to recreate the successful dvd - any thoughts would be appreciated.


Pretty sure renaming as .mpg is no longer needed for DVDStyler.

Have you tried playing back the .iso file on your computer in a virtual DVD drive on your computer rather than on a real DVD player to see what it does? (save some cash on DVDs while experimenting)

Daemon Tools works, but seems to load a lot of crap (toolbars, etc.)
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/announcements.php

I use Nero's ImageDrive (part of Nero Ultra).


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## dlfl

bheller1 said:


> Sorry, my bad - I meant VRD. Yes, I output from VRD as vob files, then renamed the files .mpg.
> Just ran a movie which did not have commercials, so I didn't run it through ad-detective in VRD, and it is jerky as well. I am going to try to recreate the successful dvd - any thoughts would be appreciated.


Some info will help us come up with thoughts for you:

Videos: What source, what format, what bitrate. (Load into VRD and hit Ctrl-L).
Paste the dimensions and audio type in a post.)

DVDPlayer: How old, what model?

DVD Media: Brand and type. This is not a place to skimp!

Burning: You are outputting to .iso from DVDStyler correct? Then burning with either imgburn or dvddecrypter? Do you check the verify box in the burner software? It more than doubles the burn time but at least you can rule out one problem as the possible cause -- although DVDPlayers might not read a disc correctly even if your burner drive does.

If VRD was contributing to this problem in any way, the many happy users of it on this forum would be astounded. VRD usually fixes problems.

Regarding renaming .vob to .mpg: Any way you can get it into DVDStyler is fine as long as it was saved as .vob from VRD. Styler doesn't care about the extension, just the structure of the file.


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## bheller1

Thanks - I'll try one from the beginning and document what I do - a bit later, want to keep my day job, which does not involve video production.


----------



## Helspar

I read most of this thread yesterday and finished it this morning, checked out the various programs and did a trial test of a Married With Children episode I had saved on my Tivo.

Im a new Tivo owner so really want to thank everyone for sharing their ideals of what works and what does not.

I had saved the episode on the High quality setting, which I now know is not a native dvd format, so will use medium from now on.

Transferred the espisode to the pc.
Used VideoRedo to edit out commercials and save to .vob 
Renamed the .vob file to .mpg (I realise we do not have to do that now.)
I used the gui4ffmpeg to re encode to the 720x480 resolution.
Put that file in its own folder under my documents.
Used DVDStyler to create a one button menu (I printed and followed their expample under Docs) then burned to .iso file.
Used Imgburn to put the .iso file on disc.

Used a Sony DVD-R disc, my burner is a Sony Dru-710a (if I remember right) and the DVD has worked perfectly on both my Sony dvd player and my toshiba.

Thanks again for everyones contributions, and I cannot stress strongly enough if you are just finding this thread, take the time to read it. 

And lastly, VideoRedo is absolutely worth every penny. Get the trial key (good for 15 days) and you will see. I wish all software were this intuitive and just plain old easy to use.

!S


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## bheller1

I have viewed several movies in a virtual player using Daemon Tools, and in no case did it have any jerky movements. I have successfully burned a couple of dvds, using the verify command. But a couple more of them didn't play properly. So I am thinking that my media is suspect (I think I am using generic compusa discs).


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## dlfl

bheller1 said:


> I have viewed several movies in a virtual player using Daemon Tools, and in no case did it have any jerky movements. I have successfully burned a couple of dvds, using the verify command. But a couple more of them didn't play properly. So I am thinking that my media is suspect (I think I am using generic compusa discs).


Interlace issues can cause similar problems too. It is not at all unusual for PC software players to play videos fine while a standalone will not, and interlace is exactly an area where the differ. When you re-encoded with gui4ffmpeg did you add the following options:

-flags ilme+ildct -top 1

That USUALLY works best on my TiVo videos BUT recently I had a case where it worked better to add:

-deinterlace

instead of the other options above. Carefully analyzing the resulting video, I found that 2 out of every five frames were identical but it didn't seem to be noticeable in the playback. TiVo recordings can have some wild and variable field interlace properties. Interlace problems will be minimized if you can avoid re-encoding (not to mention the time savings). Also many DVD players will play the 480x480 resolution of High or Best quality too, so give that a try if you want better than Medium quality. (But then some will only play 720x480.....)

I use Verbatim 16X DVD+R with no problems. You can get them for about 35 cents each (50 or 100) at Sam's Club or Best Buy (on sale).

Also, you are using the latest version of DVDStyler, right? (1.7beta7)


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## bheller1

Using 1.5b7 of DVDstyler, will upgrade.
Will get some better diskettes, but given your post dlfl and upon further reflection - if it was a problem with the quality of the diskettes, wouldn't I be more likely to experience different types of problems than the same one consistently? I switched to some Office Depot house brands I had on hand and still have the same problem.

And I didn't re-encode with gui4ffmpeg, at least not to my knowledge. I am using VRD, DVDStlyer, DVDDecrypter. Is there a way to accomplish the deinterlace in those programs?


----------



## dlfl

bheller1 said:


> Using 1.5b7 of DVDstyler, will upgrade.
> Will get some better diskettes, but given your post dlfl and upon further reflection - if it was a problem with the quality of the diskettes, wouldn't I be more likely to experience different types of problems than the same one consistently? I switched to some Office Depot house brands I had on hand and still have the same problem.
> 
> And I didn't re-encode with gui4ffmpeg, at least not to my knowledge. I am using VRD, DVDStlyer, DVDDecrypter. Is there a way to accomplish the deinterlace in those programs?


*Sorry*, I confused your situation with *Helspar* who was re-encoding with gui4ffmpeg.

Also the latest version of DVDStyler is the one you are using (1.*5*b7) not 1.*7*b7 per my typo.

Given you are not re-encoding, I don't know what to say about possible interlace problems. However the issue then could be simply that your standalone player does not like the format and will only be satisfied with 720x480 with AC3 audio, which means you might need to re-encode to those specs.

What format is your video? Has your standalone successfully played DVD's made with that format? Edit: I see from a previous post you had at least one that played OK. However if most do not, then format still may be the problem.


----------



## bheller1

dlfl:
The standalone (a two year old Toshiba, not expensive) has also played DVDs made with Sonic, or home movies burned on the computer, etc. I'll try to find someone's DVD player to try it on.

How do I tell if I am in 720x480, and is this determined by the quality I choose in TIVO when recording?

Thanks again for your help, dlfl and others.


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## bheller1

This is the info supplied by VRD for one of the files which produced a jerky image:

File Name: C:\ Recordings\Addams (2).TiVo
File Size: 2544834503 ( 2.37 GB )
Program Duration: 02:00:00.22
File Type: TiVo
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 352 x 480
Display Size: 720 x 480
Aspect Ratio: 4/3
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 9.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 224 KB
Profile: Main/Main
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: Layer 2
Audio Stream Id: xC0
Audio Bit Rate: 192 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz


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## dlfl

bheller1 said:


> This is the info supplied by VRD for one of the files which produced a jerky image:
> 
> File Name: C:\ Recordings\Addams (2).TiVo
> File Size: 2544834503 ( 2.37 GB )
> Program Duration: 02:00:00.22
> File Type: TiVo
> Encoding: MPEG 2
> Video stream Id: xE0
> Encoding Dimensions: 352 x 480
> Display Size: 720 x 480
> Aspect Ratio: 4/3
> Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
> Bit Rate: 9.000 Mbps
> VBV_Buffer: 224 KB
> Profile: Main/Main
> Progressive: Prog or Int
> Chroma: 4:2:0
> Audio Format: Layer 2
> Audio Stream Id: xC0
> Audio Bit Rate: 192 Kbps
> Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz


These specs indicate TiVo Medium quality. The encoding format is called Encoding Dimensions, i.e., 352x480. I don't think any TiVo quality will give you 720x480. High and Best quality on my TiVo are both 480x480, just different bitrates. Programs like Sonic/Roxio and Nero almost always re-encode to 720x480 and your home movies are most likely that format too. Thus, these DVD's made from TiVo and using DVDStyler may be the only ones you are making that are NOT 720x480. Your idea of trying a different standalone is a good one. Another potential issue is the audio. Sonic/Roxio and Nero will automatically re-encode the mpeg audio (called "Layer 2" in your spec listing) to Dolby AC3 format, which is officially DVD compliant (NTSC standard for USA). A standalone could balk at the audio too. If you re-encode with gui4ffmpeg it converts the audio also. Players vary a lot. I have a 6 year old JVC that will play any video or audio format you throw at it but my son has a two year old Sony that is much more fussy.


----------



## arielwire

Hi, many thanks to all the posters here- it's been a big help to figuring out how to back up my shows to dvd.

For the most part- I've been successful using VideoRedo and Nero. I had audio sync errors with DVD Styler- using mpg and vob renamed to mpg- The audio was way off in both.

My question- one of the movies I would like to back up has a choppy line running at the top of the screen- Is there any way to fix or remove this so it doesn't show on the dvd?
Thanks for any help/suggestions!
Ariel


----------



## greg_burns

arielwire said:


> My question- one of the movies I would like to back up has a choppy line running at the top of the screen- Is there any way to fix or remove this so it doesn't show on the dvd?


That white dancing line is usually at the top of all .tivo files I pull from mine. I believe is the vertical blanking interval (VBI) data. May contain closed caption (maybe not?) or other data (thumbs up info?). The TivoDesktop Plus codec automatically truncates it during playback. That won't help if using VideoReDo and extracting mpg.

Is this something that gui4ffmpeg could do something about?


----------



## arielwire

Yes, I see it on all mine as well. On most of the dvd's I'm burning, it doesn't show up-
but it is still there on one of them(so far). 

Also, the picture is a bit off center- so I'm pretty sure its the recording. 

I want to figure out how to clip the very top edge and a bit of the right to center the picture and remove the line....
Any ideas?


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> That white dancing line is usually at the top of all .tivo files I pull from mine. I believe is the vertical blanking interval (VBI) data. May contain closed caption (maybe not?) or other data (thumbs up info?). The TivoDesktop Plus codec automatically truncates it during playback. That won't help if using VideoReDo and extracting mpg.
> 
> Is this something that gui4ffmpeg could do something about?


I think so. I tried a re-encode of a short test clip and added
-croptop 2 -padtop 2
to the "Enter more options ..." line. It changed the top two lines to black instead of noise. According to mediaInfo it met D1 specs (720x480) with AC3 audio, and it played fine in WMP11. You have to do it in multiples of 2 lines. This was enough to remove the hash but obviously you use 4, 6, 8 etc. as desired. I am surprised if this noise is visible on a TV -- usually it would be lost in the vertical overscan -- but it would be seen on software players.

My test file was a 2.5 min mpeg2 that originated from TiVo Medium (352x480) and was saved from VideoReDo, then fed into gui4ffmpeg (ver. 2.1 the latest).

I also added my "standard" interlace-handling options:
-flags ilme+ildct -top 1

Now what if you wanted to just crop/pad the top lines WITHOUT re-encoding, hoping to save time ??? Don't know if gui4ffmpeg can do that or not but may try some experiments.

BTW the options I used are listed on the ffmpeg documentation site.


----------



## bheller1

An update on my saga - I bought a Sony DVD "upconvertor" after trying it out at the store with my jerky dvds, and it works just fine. Don't know how valid it is, but saleperson at Best Buy suggested DVD-R instead of DVD+R for greater compatibility.


----------



## dlfl

Upon further thought, I'm pretty sure you can't crop/pad an mpeg2 without re-encoding, just due to the fundmental technicalities of Mpeg2. Thus, if you need to crop/pad you might as well re-encode to full D1 NTSC specs while you're at it.

I did experiment with re-encoding with gui4ffmpeg, doing the crop/pad, but forcing the output resolution to match the input (352x480 in my case). It ran almost twice as fast as normal re-encoding (to D1) but it would crash every time right after completion. The output video was fine however. I suspect I caused the crash somehow by the way I rigged the options to ffmpeg.


----------



## arielwire

Dlfl-Thanks for checking all this out for me!
I am a bit intimidated by gui4ffmpeg- it seems rather complex to work with.
Do you think re-encoding with Nero recode might work?
Thanks again,
Ariel


----------



## dlfl

arielwire said:


> Dlfl-Thanks for checking all this out for me!
> I am a bit intimidated by gui4ffmpeg- it seems rather complex to work with.
> Do you think re-encoding with Nero recode might work?
> Thanks again,
> Ariel


I can't speak for Nero -- don't have it.

gui4ffmpeg isn't that hard to use:
1. Download, install and run the program.
2. Use "Open File" to load your mpeg or vob saved from VideoReDo or DSDump.
3. Change PAL to NTSC in the Video Format entry (use pull down menu).
4. Enter your bitrate (replacing the default 6000 already there).
TiVo Quality Bitrate
medium 3000k to 4000k
high 4000k to 5000k
best 6000k
Be SURE to include the 'k' on the end of the number!
5. Click save button and enter/select your output file name/location.
6. Add following to the "Enter more options ..." box:
-flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -croptop 2 -padtop 2
(Do not replace or remove anything already in that box.)
7. Click "Generate"
8. Click "Encode" then wait about as long as your video duration.

If the dvd playback is jumpy, replace 
-flags ilme+ildct -top 1
with
-deinterlace

You should be able to move the image left using
-cropleft 8 -padright 8
(for an 8 pixel shift)
Or a cropright/padleft combination to move it to the right.
(I haven't tried these but they are valid ffmpeg commands and should work.)


----------



## DonWidmore

Joey Bagadonuts said:


> A question for any litigators in the house. Would I be violating any copyright laws if I were to transfer a TiVo'd movie (a golden oldie from the 50's that hasn't been released on DVD) to DVD and then give that DVD to someone else for their personal use?


If it's copyrighted yes, if copyright was not renewed, no.

Don


----------



## 2004raptor

DonWidmore said:


> If it's copyrighted yes, if copyright was not renewed, no.
> 
> Don


I thought I read here it's against tivo user agreement to do this. Although tivo does not make _laws_.

Just wanted to get some clarification.


----------



## DonWidmore

2004raptor said:


> I thought I read here it's against tivo user agreement to do this. Although tivo does not make _laws_.
> 
> Just wanted to get some clarification.


ah, my bad, I just wanted to mention that it's technically illegal to distribute copyrighted films, but not public domain films. Sometimes the lack of a film on DVD may mean a confused ownership history. Usually though cheap knock-off companies produce $0.99 public domain films.

As far as Tivo is concerned, I believe it's against our agreement with them, but I'm no expert.

Don


----------



## poethius

I'm having a couple of problems with DVDStyler, and they may well be related.

First off, I'm unclear about the download/installation procedure. Version 1.5b7 has 3 separate *.exe download files (numbered 1, 2, 3), as well as the source file. Are all 3 necessary? It seems as though you can download any one of them, run the installer, and end up with a DVDStyler executable, with no error messages. I've tried installing all 3 and installing just one with no observable difference.

Secondly, none of these (perhaps botched) installations has been able to produce a *.iso file for me. I'm starting with a *.vob produced by VideoReDo from a *.TiVo file, dragged onto the timeline, with a single menu having one button. Settings are NTSC and MP2 audio. (This is a 480 x 480 recording at 3.5Mbps.) I invoke "Burn" on DVDStyler, and it runs well for a while, but eventually fails with this error:

Creating ISO image
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/DVDStyler/dvdauthor/mkisofs: Invalid request code. cannot fwrite 2048*1
Error executing of command: mkisofs -V 'DVD' -o 'C:\Documents and Settings\Poethius\dvd' -dvd-video 'C:\Documents and Settings\Poethius\dvd\'


I posted this on the DVDStyler forum, but have no reply as yet. Any clues? What can I try next?


----------



## greg_burns

poethius said:


> First off, I'm unclear about the download/installation procedure. Version 1.5b7 has 3 separate *.exe download files (numbered 1, 2, 3), as well as the source file. Are all 3 necessary?


Good question.

Here is the link.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=92301

Also why does this page still only have 1.5b6 listed? They are all betas afterall.  
http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/downloads.html


----------



## poethius

So I'm not the only one confused by this? However, there are people on this thread who have installed 1.5b7 successfully. What was your recipe?

Greg, any clues about that error message I'm getting? I haven't seen that one mentioned before. If fwrite is failing, maybe there's a file-protection issue. But which file?


----------



## greg_burns

poethius said:


> Greg, any clues about that error message I'm getting?


I'll leave that one to our resident expert; *dlfl*.


----------



## poethius

Looks like that problem is solved. Based on similar problems discussed on the DVDStyler forum, I changed the output directory to one with no spaces in the name, and the "Burn" option ran to completion. I got a *.iso. When I clicked on it, Sonic DigitalMedia Plus got launched -- I didn't even know I had it on this new HP machine -- and offered to burn the disc. So I said, "Sure, go for it!", and it worked.

The DVD plays f ine in the HP player. It plays without audio in WMP. It plays with audio on my ancient Sony changer, but the picture doesn't display right: It is squeezed horizontally, with part of it repeating on the right side. Looks like I need to convert it to 480 x 720 for this player. There's plenty of info on this thread about how to do that, so that's my next step. 

Thanks!


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> Good question.
> 
> Here is the link.
> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=92301
> 
> Also why does this page still only have 1.5b6 listed? They are all betas afterall.
> http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/downloads.html


My link for the DVDStyler home page is:

http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/

which instantly turns into the following when I click it in favorites:

http://www.dvdstyler.de/

If you click the "get the latest downloads ...." in the home page you go to this
download page:

http://www.dvdstyler.de/downloads.html

which only has two win32 executables: Vers. 1.4 and 1.5beta7

Looks like the "real stuff" is on the .de (German) sites.

Just to confuse matters, the 1.5b7 executable will tell you it is 1.5b6 if you do the help about thing, however the program author says this was a typo in the code -- it really is 1.5b7.


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> I'll leave that one to our resident expert; *dlfl*.


Whew  Glad he already fixed it himself


----------



## dlfl

poethius said:


> Looks like that problem is solved. Based on similar problems discussed on the DVDStyler forum, I changed the output directory to one with no spaces in the name, and the "Burn" option ran to completion. I got a *.iso. When I clicked on it, Sonic DigitalMedia Plus got launched -- I didn't even know I had it on this new HP machine -- and offered to burn the disc. So I said, "Sure, go for it!", and it worked.
> 
> The DVD plays f ine in the HP player. It plays without audio in WMP. It plays with audio on my ancient Sony changer, but the picture doesn't display right: It is squeezed horizontally, with part of it repeating on the right side. Looks like I need to convert it to 480 x 720 for this player. There's plenty of info on this thread about how to do that, so that's my next step.
> 
> Thanks!


Glad you solved it!

I (and I think many others) would recommend you use either imgburn or dvddecrypter to burn your iso files -- and check "verify" at least the first few times you use it on any new batch of discs. Free and available from videohelp.com/tools

If you use gui4ffmpeg to re-encode to "D1" NTSC compliance (720x480, w/ AC3 audio) beware of the bug that requires you to add 'k' to the end of the bitrate entry (e.g. 4000k). This appeared in the latest version, 2.1, also available from videohelp.com.

Be sure to see recent post for gui4ffmpeg advice.. Note the cropping options given in that post only are needed if you want to crop out "noise" on the top line(s).


----------



## poethius

dlfl said:


> My link for the DVDStyler home page is:
> 
> http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/
> 
> which instantly turns into the following when I click it in favorites:
> 
> http://www.dvdstyler.de/
> 
> If you click the "get the latest downloads ...." in the home page you go to this
> download page:
> 
> http://www.dvdstyler.de/downloads.html
> 
> which only has two win32 executables: Vers. 1.4 and 1.5beta7
> 
> Looks like the "real stuff" is on the .de (German) sites.


OK, good. Once there, if you click on:

DVDStyler-1.5b7-win32u.exe

what you actually download is called:

DVDStyler-1.5b7_2-win32u.exe

So that's the full designation of the "real stuff". OTOH, if you click on "Sourceforge Download Page", under the heading "DVDStyler all releases", you go to:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=92301

which, under 1.5b7, lists:

DVDStyler-1.5b7_1-win32u.exe
DVDStyler-1.5b7_2-win32u.exe
DVDStyler-1.5b7_3-win32u.exe

That's what threw me. I didn't know whether these were 3 _parts_ of the beta release or 3 different _versions_ of the beta release. I think you have just cleared this up, because the "real stuff" is 1.5b7_2. These must be successive interim versions. Presumably, 1.5b7_2 is considered stable enough for general beta test, while 1.5b7_3 is not. I think that's what I ended up with, however, because I downloaded and installed all 3 in succession, so the last one must be the one I'm using. I think I'll play it safe and revert to 1.5b7_2.

Thanks!


----------



## poethius

dlfl said:


> Glad you solved it!


Thanks! You and Greg have been of great help to lots of people on this thread alone. This is my first DVD project, so I'm benefiting from all that accumulated experience.

The thing about spaces in folder and file names caused an error for someone else on the DVDStyler forum. I'm guessing that DVDStyler is developed for Linux and then ported to Windows. Some years back, I was bitten by similar problems when using Unix and getting stuff from Windows users.



> I (and I think many others) would recommend you use either imgburn or dvddecrypter to burn your iso files -- and check "verify" at least the first few times you use it on any new batch of discs. Free and available from videohelp.com/tools


Well, that was my original intention -- to follow the recipe! I just happened to click on the *.iso file and was surprised to see Sonic come up, so I decided to go with it for the physical burn. It burned at 16X and did a verify (somewhat slower) automatically. But I think I'll go with imgburn in the future.



> If you use gui4ffmpeg to re-encode to "D1" NTSC compliance (720x480, w/ AC3 audio) beware of the bug that requires you to add 'k' to the end of the bitrate entry (e.g. 4000k). This appeared in the latest version, 2.1, also available from videohelp.com.


I just tried this out today. Even though I was aware of the bug, I got bitten anyway. I figured I may as well leave the default value of 6000 as is, but apparently that doesn't work without the 'k' either! Picture quality was pretty poor at 6k, so I'm redoing it.



> Be sure to see recent post for gui4ffmpeg advice.. Note the cropping options given in that post only are needed if you want to crop out "noise" on the top line(s).


That's the post I'm using. I'm doing the cropping, although I didn't notice the noise. I have seen that stuff many times before when adjusting the overscan on my TV set. AFAIK, the noise consists of data inserted into the video stream during the vertical blanking interval, such as closed captioning. Whatever it is, it is not meant to be viewed and can be distracting.


----------



## dlfl

poethius said:


> OK, good. Once there, if you click on:
> 
> DVDStyler-1.5b7-win32u.exe
> 
> what you actually download is called:
> 
> DVDStyler-1.5b7_2-win32u.exe
> 
> So that's the full designation of the "real stuff". OTOH, if you click on "Sourceforge Download Page", under the heading "DVDStyler all releases", you go to:
> 
> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=92301
> 
> which, under 1.5b7, lists:
> 
> DVDStyler-1.5b7_1-win32u.exe
> DVDStyler-1.5b7_2-win32u.exe
> DVDStyler-1.5b7_3-win32u.exe
> 
> That's what threw me. I didn't know whether these were 3 _parts_ of the beta release or 3 different _versions_ of the beta release. I think you have just cleared this up, because the "real stuff" is 1.5b7_2. These must be successive interim versions. Presumably, 1.5b7_2 is considered stable enough for general beta test, while 1.5b7_3 is not. I think that's what I ended up with, however, because I downloaded and installed all 3 in succession, so the last one must be the one I'm using. I think I'll play it safe and revert to 1.5b7_2.
> 
> Thanks!


This is really confusing! I have 1.5b7 that I downloaded shortly after it came out. I no longer have (or at least can't find) the downloaded file so I couldn't look for the _# on it. So, on another computer I downloaded and installed, one after the other, all three (_1, _2 and _3). I was amazed to find that *none* of them matched what I already had! My original DVDStyler.exe file was 6.8 MB while none of the other three is even 5 MB. And none of the others say 1.5b6 in the help-about -- they all say the correct version. Yet the version I have was downloaded as 1.5b7; it has the features described for 1.5b7, and the author assured me it *actually was * 1.5b7. Just doesn't make sense.

I've posted on the DVDStyler forum asking for clarification and suggesting they include these minor version numbers as part of the beta number (e.g., *1.5beta7.2*). If the differences were sufficiently minor -- who cares? But when the executable file size varies 30% or 40% you wonder if they're minor!

I suppose it could just be something simple, like compiling with the debug flag on.

Edit: I found the file I originally downloaded. It was 1.5b7 with no _# and was downloaded 11/10/06. This version is *not listed * on the Source Forge download page.

I installed the "current" 1.5b7 ( _2 ) and authored a simple test DVD. I noticed the scrolling status details are back. (They were missing in my old 1.5b7).

I couldn't process project (.xml) files made with the older version -- crashed it. I've already developed doubts about re-useablilty of project files, even for the exact same version. I'm wondering if the author has got some XML processing problems. But it's a pretty good buy for the price.


----------



## SixSixAtl

So two weeks ago my original DTivo 35hr HD died, and three days later I successfully installed a 150 hour drive and the CacheCard option I ordered from DVRupgrade...just in time for American Idol 2007!!!. I've had so much fun with this new set up.  Tonight's project was figuring out how to get rid of the fuzzy top line and the left black pad which brought me back to this forum.

I downloaded gui4ffmpeg. Here's the option line I settled on which got rid of the fuzzy top line and the noticeable left pad. I ended up with a nice clean and fairly even black frame around the entire picture:

-mbd 2 -flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -croptop 4 -padtop 4 -cropbottom 4 -padbottom 4 -cropleft 2 -padright 2 -qmin 2 -qmax 6

QUESTION: the source mpeg file was 171MB, but the output file is 472MB...why is the output file more than 2x the size of the original file when all I did was crop and pad around the edges? I also tried -qmax 9 but got the same large file size.

BTW I'm a novice...yesterday was the first time I ever even burned a DVD, and I've never burned a CD. I've just been following everyone's directions on this forum and everything is working. So far I've downloaded:

DVRchive Client Tools from DVRUpgrade
VideoRedo
DVD Styler
DVD Decrypter

My first TiVo-to-DVD project is bascially to edit my favorite performance clips from American Idol shows I transfer to my PC so that I can create an "American Idol 2007 Highlights" DVD.

This has been so much fun. You TC people are awesome.



dlfl said:


> I can't speak for Nero -- don't have it.
> 
> gui4ffmpeg isn't that hard to use:
> 1. Download, install and run the program.
> 2. Use "Open File" to load your mpeg or vob saved from VideoReDo or DSDump.
> 3. Change PAL to NTSC in the Video Format entry (use pull down menu).
> 4. Enter your bitrate (replacing the default 6000 already there).
> TiVo Quality Bitrate
> medium 3000k to 4000k
> high 4000k to 5000k
> best 6000k
> Be SURE to include the 'k' on the end of the number!
> 5. Click save button and enter/select your output file name/location.
> 6. Add following to the "Enter more options ..." box:
> -flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -croptop 2 -padtop 2
> (Do not replace or remove anything already in that box.)
> 7. Click "Generate"
> 8. Click "Encode" then wait about as long as your video duration.
> 
> If the dvd playback is jumpy, replace
> -flags ilme+ildct -top 1
> with
> -deinterlace
> 
> You should be able to move the image left using
> -cropleft 8 -padright 8
> (for an 8 pixel shift)
> Or a cropright/padleft combination to move it to the right.
> (I haven't tried these but they are valid ffmpeg commands and should work.)


----------



## dlfl

Your file growth is most likely due to using a much greater bitrate than that of your input file. Basically bitrate and duration determine file size.

I usually accept some file growth as a result of using a bitrate 10% to 30% higher than the input file, just to minimize quality loss (which always occurs when you re-encode).

Take a small clip from one of your videos, load it into VRD and hit Ctrl-L. What are the "dimensions"? What TiVo quality was used? What is the file size per hour (or per minute) of duration? Save the clip from VideoReDo and note the bitrate given in the message at the end. I bet you are using at least twice the bitrate of your input file in your re-encodes. (If not I have no explanation for the growth.)

I notice that with your cropleft/padright combo you are shifting the image 2 pixels sideways. Was that intentional?


----------



## SixSixAtl

You're right on the money. I initially kept the bit rate at the default 6000k thinking (incorrectly) that DTiVo files are always the highest quality. I just reencoded using 3000k for the output file (the source file bit rate was 2372k). The file went from 162Meg to 242Meg. Thanks for that tip.

My VRD .mpg files I processed from my TiVo file transfers have a fuzzy top edge, a black left edge and a clean right edge. 

cropleft 8/padright 8 simply moved the black left edge to the right edge; croptop 2/padtop 2 didn't completely remove all of the top edge fuzz, 

so...

I experimented with the crop options so that my files now have a clean black and fairly even edge on all sides using:

-mbd 2 -flags ilme+ildct -top 1 -croptop 4 -padtop 4 -cropbottom 4 -padbottom 4 -cropleft 2 -padright 2 -qmin 2 -qmax 6

Hey do you like WinXMedia to convert from mpeg2 to mpeg4 for moving files to my iPod library? I found that online for $20 and played with a trial version but haven't paid for a license yet. That's the last software tool I need for my TiVo to PC to DVD/iPod projects.

I haven't geeked out like this in  a long time. This has been so much fun.


----------



## hyachts

Just to add to the accolades...

After reading this thread in its entirety I abandoned myDVD (which was always awful) and DSD->Pinnacle Studio 9 (Pinnacle works pretty well for what I've needed in the past but was awful at reencoding Tivo). The VRD>gui4ffmpeg>DVD Styler>ImgBurn process worked like a charm for my shows recorded at best quality. They look great, too.

I have (at best) a marginal understanding of video encoding. Do you think that there is likely to be higher quality end product after it's captured at best and reencoded to Full-D1 NTSC, or medium left untouched? (I reencoded at 6000k for the "best" footage)

EDIT: In case it's not clear, the accolades should go to dan, dlfl, greg and a few others who have spent a lot of time fleshing out this process. Made it almost plug-and-play easy. BTW, I use your command line suggestions for interlacing, dlfl.


----------



## dlfl

@SixSixAtl:
I haven't tried WinXMedia but if you find something for that price that does what you want and is easy to use, you are way ahead of the game! I have a similar situation but my target is the Zune (which needs 320x240 WMV encodes). I trialed CuCuSoft's Zune Video Converter and thought it was very nice ($30). I think they have an iPod converter you might want to try. I ended up (since I get off on doing things the hard way) going with AutoMKV. I wrote one of the guides on the videoHelp site for converting mpeg2 to Zune WMV with AutoMKV. There is another guide linked to the  AutoMKV tool page  that says you can rip directly from DVD to mpeg4 formats (WMV, matroska, xvid etc.).

@hyachts:
I think the answer to your encoding question depends on the TV you view DVD's on. I have a low-end 27" TV that I suspect can't really show much better detail than medium TiVo (352x480). In my case the answer is bypass the gui4ffmpeg re-encode, given that my DVD player handles the medium resolution fine. I suspect if you had a bigger screen with better definition, best quality re-encoded to 720x480 (assuming your player won't play it otherwise) would look better (although not re-encoding would look even better if you can play it.)

So why have I messed with gui4ffmpeg, you may be wondering. I have a couple of friends/relatives whose players require the 720x480 with AC3 audio.


----------



## hyachts

I reencoded those shows in particular because I was burning copies of an appearance a colleague of my wife's did on TODAY and I wanted to be certain that what I provided her (and her coworkers) was as universally compatible as possible. I haven't tried burning a DVD at unmolested 480x480 yet; maybe that's a test for this weeekend.


----------



## gschmid

greg_burns said:


> Do you know what quality level it was recorded at on the Tivo? Basic, Med, High, Best? Play it back in WMP and do a File->Properties. What is the video size say? 480x480 (High or Best)? 352x480 (Med or Basic)?
> 
> Anything but Basic or Medium quality is going to want to transcode by Nero Vision Express or MyDVD. That will mess with the video quality.
> 
> Download the trial of VideoRedo (make sure you register it to allow more than 1/2 hour of video). Then try the DVDStyler method outlined in this thread. It will skip the whole transcode step and should easily fit that onto a single disc I believe.


 I'm looking at a 1 hr (59:59) TiVo file right now in WMP.
It's 1,243,080 MB on the drive.
It was recorded at Med quality.
WMP says its 640X480, 2.82 Mbps, 4:3 aspect ratio.

Several people have been quoting 480X480 for Med quality recordings...

However, I haven't found the answer to the question of why, when I try to use it in MyDVD 8, it doubles or triples in size (too big for the DVD)?

Someone mentioned that transcoding isn't necessary for basic or medium recordings...
Could this be the problem?
Is there a way to turn it off?

MyDVD is the "TiVo Preferred" solution, so I bought it. I see everyone recommending other ways to do it, but I would like to hear from someone who has made MyDVD work.

???


----------



## hyachts

I made myDVD work, but it was never fast and always bloated. 640X480 doesn't sound right, from everything I've read Basic and Medium record at 352x480 which is somewhat DVD compliant. As far as I know there is no way to force myDVD to refrain from reencoding, though.


----------



## gschmid

OK. Right now, I can't even get it to load one of my TiVo files... just hangs.
But, how were you able to get an hour or more file (~1.2GB) on to a DVD?
The last one I got to at least add showed -300MB available (too big).


----------



## dlfl

See this post  for some info on MyDVD you might find useful -- note this is the version of MyDVD that is in Roxio EMC9 -- may not be identical to other versions. The post gives the numbers for medium quality (352x480) TiVo or "LP" in MyDVD. You should also be able to select 720x480 with a bitrate between 5 and 6 Mbps and get 2 hrs of video on a DVD (with re-encoding of course). Just be sure to uncheck "fit to disc" and don't accept 8 or 9 Mbps on the bitrate slider -- that leads to the huge sizes.

There are people who use MyDVD and as the referenced post indicates, I've had some success with it. However the VideoReDo/DVDStyler/imgburn route seems to be much more popular at least around here ( and with me), with the option of re-encoding to 720x480 with AC3 audio using gui4ffmpeg if needed to make it play on some players.


----------



## ME2

Dan203 said:


> By using Nero you're forcing it to transcode the audio and video. The method I described skips the transcoding step and as such retains the original quality and takes a lot less time.
> 
> I'm not sure why you had problems with the audio. The audio from a .tivo file is DVD complaint and shouldn't have caused any issues.
> 
> Dan


Is that true for all programs? I like the AVS Video Editor, but if they lose quality, I'll stick with the Video Redo method...


----------



## gus738

sorry i didnt read the entire thread , what options or methods is there to burn my shows from my tivo to my dvds? i have a xps 700 several dvd recorders computer recorder etc etc... i have all the supilies i just need to know what programs to use (is there auto softwares and such?)


----------



## Jacksn

Can the process of getting my .tivo files on to a DVD be made easier then all the steps I've been reading?
Can't I just use "Tivo desktop plus" and/or My Sonic DVD?

J


----------



## dlfl

gus738 said:


> sorry i didnt read the entire thread , what options or methods is there to burn my shows from my tivo to my dvds? i have a xps 700 several dvd recorders computer recorder etc etc... i have all the supilies i just need to know what programs to use (is there auto softwares and such?)


See this post  for detailed instructions for a very popular method, sometimes called the "Dan203" process. If you don't want to spend the $50 on VideoReDo you can convert your TiVo recordings to mpeg2 (.mpg) with a free program: DirectShowDump. (You won't be able to edit out commercials or "clean up" the files of course.)

The Dan203 method puts the video and audio on the DVD exactly as they are, which is not usually strictly NTSC DVD compliant -- although most recent standalone players will play it fine. Not doing any re-encoding is how this process is so fast. If your player is fussy, you might need to re-encode using gui4ffmpeg (free). Detailed instructions for doing this are in this post.

Desktop is how you transfer the TiVo file to your PC. The Dan203 method is how you make a DVD once the file is on the PC. You can also transfer to your PC using free program TiVo PlayList  which actually runs a little faster.

Some people are happy using the Sonic MyDVD recommended by TiVo, but a lot more (IMHO) try that, get frustrated, and end up with the Dan203 process. It may seem complicated just reading about it but it really isn't and trying to get the other methods to work can be very frustrating.


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> If you don't want to spend the $50 on VideoReDo you can convert your TiVo recordings to mpeg2 (.mpg) with a free program: DirectShowDump. (You won't be able to edit out commercials or "clean up" the files of course.)


I hesitate to recommend DirectShowDump for use with DVDStyler. Doesn't it introduce audio sync problems on DVDs?

Don't forget tivodecode as well. Another free choice to convert TiVo recordings to mpeg2. Wonder if it also has the synch problem? I assume it does, since it is the process of saving as .vob in VideoReDo that seems to cure that.


----------



## dlfl

greg_burns said:


> I hesitate to recommend DirectShowDump for use with DVDStyler. Doesn't it introduce audio sync problems on DVDs? .


*Good point * I expect. I haven't actually used DSD output for DVDStyler input and I assume they would not have the VOB structure that's best for DVDStyler. In other words, a third advantage (besides editing and QSF) you get with VRD is the VOB style mpeg2 output that DVDStyler likes. I believe DVDStyler will work with the non-VOB mpeg2. However it has to demux/remux to get the VOB structure and (per Dan203) it doesn't do this as well as VRD, thus leading to more audio sync problems. It also takes longer for the remux.



greg_burns said:


> Don't forget tivodecode as well. Another free choice to convert TiVo recordings to mpeg2. Wonder if it also has the synch problem? I assume it does, since it is the process of saving as .vob in VideoReDo that seems to cure that.


Haven't used tivodecode, and would wonder the same as you about .vob. Does it have significant advantages over DSD ?


----------



## greg_burns

dlfl said:


> Haven't used tivodecode, and would wonder the same as you about .vob. Does it have significant advantages over DSD ?


It is slighty faster and doesn't require TivoDesktop to be installed at all. No GUI on the Windows side that I know about. But there is a slick right-click context menu thing you configure yourself to call it on .tivo files.


----------



## ME2

Hi,

I am using the DVDReDo/DVDStyler/DVDCryptor method of burning dvd's and I have a question. I just bought Redo, and it's great. I am in DVDStyler, and I see that's where you setup the menu's. Now, I'm a bit lost. Where do chapters get created? Is that in ReDo, or is it in Styler? I can't find it in either of them...

TIA...


----------



## msmart

Chapters are done in VRD. Tools>Options>Chapter Marks.

I'm fairly new at this myself and just now figured out (I think) how chapters work.

I thought I was setting chapter marks by having all three options marked but didn't realize (until now) that DVDStyler wasn't using them. Instead it defaults to 15 minute intervals.

In VRD, select any or all of the chapter settings and enable "Automatically Create A Chapter File". The resulting text file will need to be edited slightly to work with DVDStyler.

In DVDStyler, drag a video file to the timeline(??), right click on it and select Properties. Paste the edited VRD chapter file contents into the Chapters field.

VRD formats the chapter marks as hour:minute:seconds:frames. DVDStyler doesn't use frames (at least not by default) so I don't know if you have to remove the frames value from each chapter mark or not. Like I said, I just figured this out so haven't had a chance to render a disc to see how it works yet.

That should get you going though.


----------



## dlfl

Welcome to the forum msmart  

Not bad for a first post!

In case it isn't already obvious, if you just want to put chapters at equal time intervals you can just edit the chapter entry in DVDStyler without having to generate them in VRD.


----------



## msmart

thx dlfl. I've been lurking here for about a month. I've learned ALOT from you and the others here in this thread.

I've got a few posts under my belt over at the Pinnacle Studio discussion forum. I even posted a link to this thread in this {link removed until I get 5 posts} detailing my steps from what I learned here. I guess it only makes sense that I post a link back to that one completing the loop. 

btw, you are correct, it should be obvious that you can simply edit the DVDStyler field . Thanks for mentioning it. 

*Added:* Speaking of obvious, in VRD, you can choose a different Timecode without frames (HH:MM:SS) in the Chapters options.


----------



## ME2

msmart said:


> Chapters are done in VRD. Tools>Options>Chapter Marks.
> 
> I'm fairly new at this myself and just now figured out (I think) how chapters work.
> 
> I thought I was setting chapter marks by having all three options marked but didn't realize (until now) that DVDStyler wasn't using them. Instead it defaults to 15 minute intervals.
> 
> In VRD, select any or all of the chapter settings and enable "Automatically Create A Chapter File". The resulting text file will need to be edited slightly to work with DVDStyler.
> 
> In DVDStyler, drag a video file to the timeline(??), right click on it and select Properties. Paste the edited VRD chapter file contents into the Chapters field.
> 
> VRD formats the chapter marks as hour:minute:seconds:frames. DVDStyler doesn't use frames (at least not by default) so I don't know if you have to remove the frames value from each chapter mark or not. Like I said, I just figured this out so haven't had a chance to render a disc to see how it works yet.
> 
> That should get you going though.


Thanks! That did the trick.


----------



## gschmid

According to the Dan203 process, you "design a simple menu" in DVDStyler. I am not finding this so simple.

On one trial, I simply added a Menu button and then loaded the VOB file. This worked, but there is only the one menu option which plays the movie.

I want to build a fairly simple menu for a DVD with 4 episodes of a show, each having 3-4 chapters.

Can someone give me some help (There is no help file at all in DVDStyler)

Thanks,
Greg


----------



## greg_burns

gschmid said:


> According to the Dan203 process, you "design a simple menu" in DVDStyler. I am not finding this so simple.


I think that is what he meant by simple. As in a single button.


----------



## dlfl

gschmid said:


> According to the Dan203 process, you "design a simple menu" in DVDStyler. I am not finding this so simple.
> 
> On one trial, I simply added a Menu button and then loaded the VOB file. This worked, but there is only the one menu option which plays the movie.
> 
> I want to build a fairly simple menu for a DVD with 4 episodes of a show, each having 3-4 chapters.
> 
> Can someone give me some help (There is no help file at all in DVDStyler)
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg


Sounds like you missed the Operation Manual (PDF file), which can be downloaded from the Docs page linked on the DVDStyler home page.


----------



## gschmid

dlfl said:


> Sounds like you missed the Operation Manual (PDF file), which can be downloaded from the Docs page linked on the DVDStyler home page.


You are correct. I entirely missed the "Docs" page. I looked all over for some kind of manual EXCEPT there.

Thanks for curing my case of CRI.


----------



## 15968

Dan203 said:


> 1) Edit the file in VideoReDo and output it as a .vob file.
> 2) Change the file extension on the output file to .mpg
> 3) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu for it
> 4) Output it to an ISO image.
> 5) Burn the ISO image using DVDDecrypter.


Thanks so much to EVERYONE that has contributed to this thread! I got this to work on my Series 2 DirecTiVos (all Zippered) and am having a ball editing and saving off Season 3.0 of Battlestar Galactica and a few other shows I've had saved up. I used Dan's suggestion above, but have modified it to do it as follows:

1) Use TyTools to pull the files to the PC, edit out commercials, and save to mpg format (I found this article that steps you through everything: http://www.weethet.nl/english/tivo_extract_videos.php ) Things are a little different due to Zipper, but it was pretty easy to figure out those differences.
2) Load the file into DVDStyler and design a simple menu
3) Output an ISO from DVDStyler
4) Burn the ISO image using ImgBurn

So at this point its a completely free way of doing this. Comercial editing may not be as slick with TyTools, but it gets it done for what I need at this time (but I may still look at VideoReDo to see if it simplifies things).

The biggest issue for me was pulling the files off since DirecTiVos don't have TiVo2Go, so you have to use TyTools. Once I found the article at weethet.nl, I quickly became a ripping, editing, and burning fool


----------



## dlfl

That's cool  

Out of curiosity, are you saving VOB type files to input to DVDStyler? (I looked at the link you furnished and see you can save either regular mpeg2 or VOB style, which sounds just like VideoReDo.)


----------



## ME2

Hi,

OK. Now I am burning DVD's... 
Next step - I recorded a copy of my daughters basketball game today (in mpg) and I want to put it back on the Tivo. I put the file in the My Tivo Directory and launched the Tivo Server on my laptop, and Tivo see's it. I try the transfer, but it fails, saying that it wasn't there...? 

Also, when I try to play this file in VideoReDo, there is no sound, but if I just launch it with another tool (nero, for example) there is sound. 

Do I need to change the file back to a Tivo file? If so, how? 

Thanks... (for any help here and previous answers...)


----------



## greg_burns

ME2 said:


> Do I need to change the file back to a Tivo file? If so, how?


It does not need to be a .tivo file, but it does need to be in a specific MPEG-2 format.
http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=4012d160-79c3-4238-96c8-a27b323d1413

Videora helps out here.
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/TiVo/

Or you may want to try out TiVo.Net...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=337822


----------



## munchjim

I am trying your method and I am getting an error msg in Tytools that says
Sorry... Failed to get the first 10 initial chunks.

Background--series2 dt, programs transferred to computer with tivo-to-go, I just renamed the files from a tivo extension to a TY extension so that tytools could see them. Am I missing something?


----------



## Warren

so you have to first convert to .vob then change the file name to .MPEG?


----------



## ME2

Awesome! Thanks. I think I'm seriously going to have to consider a larger Tivo hard-drive...


----------



## greg_burns

munchjim said:


> Background--series2 dt, programs transferred to computer with tivo-to-go, *I just renamed the files from a tivo extension to a TY extension * so that tytools could see them.






munchjim said:


> Am I missing something?


I am going to be kind and not answer that.


----------



## greg_burns

Warren said:


> so you have to first convert to .vob then change the file name to .MPEG?


Save output as .vob using VideoRedo.

The renaming to .mpg was to deal with a bug in an earlier version of DVDStyler. That is no longer required AFAIK.


----------



## 15968

munchjim said:


> Background--series2 dt, programs transferred to computer with tivo-to-go, I just renamed the files from a tivo extension to a TY extension so that tytools could see them. Am I missing something?


.tivo and .ty aren't the same. You can't just rename it and expect it to work (sort of like renaming a .zip to a .exe and expecting it to run).

I'm still new to TyTools, but if you want to use it, then you need to setup tserver, and pull the .ty file via TyTools and not use Tivo2Go. That link I pointed to in my previous post details how to set that up and all the steps.


----------



## 15968

dlfl said:


> That's cool
> 
> Out of curiosity, are you saving VOB type files to input to DVDStyler? (I looked at the link you furnished and see you can save either regular mpeg2 or VOB style, which sounds just like VideoReDo.)


I'm still learning. I was saving to mpeg2 via TyTools, but will be trying VOBs next. One thing I'm trying to figure out is Chapters. If I setup chapters in TyTools then save to mpeg2, this doesn't seem to be seen by DVDStyler. Not sure if saving via VOB fixes this, or if I have to use a different tool.


----------



## dlfl

MikeF said:


> I'm still learning. I was saving to mpeg2 via TyTools, but will be trying VOBs next. One thing I'm trying to figure out is Chapters. If I setup chapters in TyTools then save to mpeg2, this doesn't seem to be seen by DVDStyler. Not sure if saving via VOB fixes this, or if I have to use a different tool.


The only way I know to get chapter settings into DVDStyler is to type or paste them into the chapters entry of the properties for the title (video). VideoReDo will save a chapter text file properly formatted so you can paste.

I'm pretty sure the VOB file won't have chapters in it. All you really need is the chapter time value in the format DVDStyler uses (look at the defaults already there).

The chapter file saved by VideoReDo is designed to be used by DVDAuthor which is the program underlying DVDStyler, but if there is a way to use the file directly I don't know it.

The reasons why it's better to input VOB to DVDStyler have been detailed (several times I think) earlier in this thread, for example this post.


----------



## Bluesfan77

greg_burns said:


> No GUI on the Windows side that I know about.


I just came across this tonight...

http://www.binarymethod.com/index.php?wiki=WinTivoDecoder

Just tried it out and seemed to work pretty good.


----------



## greg_burns

Bluesfan77 said:


> I just came across this tonight...
> 
> http://www.binarymethod.com/index.php?wiki=WinTivoDecoder
> 
> Just tried it out and seemed to work pretty good.


 

Started a thread about it, so it wouldn't get overlooked in here.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=342174


----------



## GerryinNV

Ok, I've been reading this thread and I'm getting dizzy...  All I want to do is burn a TivoDesktop file to DVD so I can play it on a regular DVD player. I tried this with Nero 7 Premium and it successfully opened the Tivo file and burned it to DVD.

Only problem is the video and audio are out of sync on the DVD. How do I need to fix this? It's probably in this thread somewhere but you guys are way beyond my level of experience with this.


----------



## dwit

GerryinNV said:


> Ok, I've been reading this thread and I'm getting dizzy...  All I want to do is burn a TivoDesktop file to DVD so I can play it on a regular DVD player. I tried this with Nero 7 Premium and it successfully opened the Tivo file and burned it to DVD.
> 
> Only problem is the video and audio are out of sync on the DVD. How do I need to fix this? It's probably in this thread somewhere but you guys are way beyond my level of experience with this.


Read the 31st post.

If you use Nero, it mentions a key step you need to do. A sensitive topic here.


----------



## GerryinNV

Ok, don't think that's it. I'm using Nero 7 Premium so not sure if it's just an issue of the different version discussed in post 31. Regardless, I downloaded DirectShow Dump as discussed, and the MPG output from Directshow also has the audio out of sync. It appears that the .tivo file is doing something (maybe on purpose?) that programs can't seem to resolve?


----------



## foreverjne

I've encountered audio drifting progressively more out of sync toward the end of the program. The solution that I've found is to first demux the mpeg2 program stream. I use mpeg2desc because it doesn't add or remove audio/video packets. Then use ReStream to reset the video elementary stream's GOP time stamps. This recalculates the GOP time stamp by the frames in the video stream. Finally author the DVD with the fixed video stream.

Both mpeg2desc and ReStream are free.


----------



## greg_burns

People have mentioned the using VideoReDo (instead of DirectShow Dump) and exporting as .vob helps with audio sync problems because it inserts "NAV packets".

http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/vobov.html

Should still be able to use .vob as input to Nero.


----------



## chalk61

I currently own Nero7. What is the best way to record my tivo recordings to dvd so I can watch them on a standard dvd player? I can't seem to figure out the best way after 17 pages worth of information.


----------



## greg_burns

chalk61 said:


> I currently own Nero7. What is the best way to record my tivo recordings to dvd so I can watch them on a standard dvd player? I can't seem to figure out the best way after 17 pages worth of information.


It is 17 pages of more or less the same steps repeated over and over. 

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4068071&&#post4068071


----------



## 1283

chalk61 said:


> I currently own Nero7. What is the best way to record my tivo recordings to dvd so I can watch them on a standard dvd player? I can't seem to figure out the best way after 17 pages worth of information.


Just run through DSD and use NeroVision with the .mpg file. Most of this thread is about using tools other than Nero.


----------



## greg_burns

c3 said:


> Just run through DSD and use NeroVision with the .mpg file. Most of this thread is about using tools other than Nero.


I would refer to post #482 if going that route. Some (but not all) have audio sync problems when using DSD and Nero in that way.


----------



## DonWidmore

I followed the directions listed in this thread to create a dvd. 

I create dvds that play on my computer
None of my DVD players recognize these DVDs.

I'm using VideoReDo, DVDStyler, DVDDecrypter

How do you troubleshoot this? My DVD Styler menu works. I'm checking to make sure it's burning in NTSC and not PAL. But I'm getting coaster after coaster. what surprises me is that my computer recognizes these as DVDs, but the DVD player doesn't. I'm sure there's a common error I'm missing, but trust me, I'm following the directions listed here to a "tee."

thanks,

Don


----------



## jmemmott

DonWidmore said:


> I followed the directions listed in this thread to create a dvd.
> 
> I create dvds that play on my computer
> None of my DVD players recognize these DVDs.


If they play on your computer and are rejected by your DVD player(s), there is a good chance that your players don't like the DVD media/format you are using. DVD players tend to be much pickier than computer DVD drives. You might want to check at the following location to see if your player(s) are listed to see what luck other people have had with different media/formats : http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers


----------



## dlfl

DonWidmore said:


> I followed the directions listed in this thread to create a dvd.
> 
> I create dvds that play on my computer
> None of my DVD players recognize these DVDs.
> 
> I'm using VideoReDo, DVDStyler, DVDDecrypter
> 
> How do you troubleshoot this? My DVD Styler menu works. I'm checking to make sure it's burning in NTSC and not PAL. But I'm getting coaster after coaster. what surprises me is that my computer recognizes these as DVDs, but the DVD player doesn't. I'm sure there's a common error I'm missing, but trust me, I'm following the directions listed here to a "tee."
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Don


To see if the video/audio format(s) are the problem try re-encoding a clip with gui4ffmpeg as instructed in this post Input this to DVDStyler. If the resulting DVD still doesn't play, you have a problem with either the media you're using, your DVD burner, or the player.


----------



## DonWidmore

Thanks. I will try gui4ffmpeg. I backed up all my kids dvds (they get scratched to heck) to Taiyo Yuden 8x blanks and they work on all the dvd players. I also converted vhs to dvd on a consumer recorder. I've burned maybe 300 dvds these ways. I have not successfully authored a dvd before, which I want to do.

thanks!


----------



## ray55125

Dan203 said:


> Try this...
> 
> The only peice of software that costs any money is VideoReDo, and it's only $50 and well worth the price. Everything else is freeware.
> 
> Dan


Dan,
I bought VideoReDo, output file as .vob then changed the extension to .mpg. Tried to load into DVDStyler but it will only accept .xml files. What do I do to load a .mpg into it for the menu? Also, any suprises outputing as ISO or loading ISO into DVD Decrypter?
Thanks


----------



## dlfl

ray55125 said:


> Dan,
> I bought VideoReDo, output file as .vob then changed the extension to .mpg. Tried to load into DVDStyler but it will only accept .xml files. What do I do to load a .mpg into it for the menu? Also, any suprises outputing as ISO or loading ISO into DVD Decrypter?
> Thanks


XML files are the project files. To load the video file drag it into the timeline (area at the bottom). You can drag it either from the Directories tab or from Windows Explorer. It doesn't really have to be renamed anymore, although sometimes only .mpg will show in the Directories tab.

Hope you're using the latest Beta version, 1.5beta7. If not, you should. There is a very good users manual  you might want to get.

Imgburn is the updated replacement for DVDDecrypter for burning -- either should be fine.


----------



## ray55125

Thanks for the help. I downloaded the upgrades and tried your suggestions and everything worked fine.
It's odd that I have been burning from Tivo to Nero with no problems then out of nowhere, this one particular program gave me problems. Everything worked perfectly until I tried to burn the DVD.
Anyway, thanks a lot. After 12 hours of struggling I was ready to get this project over.


----------



## dlfl

ray55125 said:


> Thanks for the help. I downloaded the upgrades and tried your suggestions and everything worked fine.
> It's odd that I have been burning from Tivo to Nero with no problems then out of nowhere, this one particular program gave me problems. Everything worked perfectly until I tried to burn the DVD.
> Anyway, thanks a lot. After 12 hours of struggling I was ready to get this project over.


You're welcome!

Anyone doing much with video conversion or making DVD's who hasn't had their "12 hours of struggling" is either lying or very lucky.


----------



## juthu

HI and excuse the ignorance. I have a trial version of Nero VIsion. I have TIvo Desktop and have been able to download a movie to my tivo desktop. I want to edit out commercials, before burning it to disc. Do i need to buy video redo? Or can Nero do what i want? I dont know how to transfer the movie from tivo desktop to nero...If I need to buy video redo...where do i buy it? I feel very stupid. thanks for any help.


----------



## dwit

juthu said:


> HI and excuse the ignorance. I have a trial version of Nero VIsion. I have TIvo Desktop and have been able to download a movie to my tivo desktop. I want to edit out commercials, before burning it to disc. Do i need to buy video redo? Or can Nero do what i want? I dont know how to transfer the movie from tivo desktop to nero...If I need to buy video redo...where do i buy it? I feel very stupid. thanks for any help.


Go to videoredo.com to download trial and/or purchase video redo.

Somewhere *in this thread* a poster mentions he used Nero to laboriously remove commercials but I don't think he describes how.

Coincidentally, I came across http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=220805&highlight=change+codec where a poster mentions how he managed to use Nero to burn and possibly edit:

"...1) Go to NVE3
2) Select 'Make Movie'
3) Browse for Media to My Tivo Recordings
4) Under 'file type' select "All Files *.*"
5) Pick your Tivo recording that you want to burn
6) Edit the file to using the sissors to the length and parts you want.
7) Select 'EXPORT MOVIE' and then select DVD format.
8) Export it, don't forget to name the file so you'll know what it is. It takes a minute for every minute of video time to export.
9) You now have a regular MPG movie file ready to edit, merge, etc. with other MPG files.
9) Back to Make Movie in NVE3 and select the exported file(s) and make a movie just like you would from any normal DVD format file.
10) Burn and enjoy!!!

Exporting it seems to clear any problems in transcoding etc.

Just burnt 3 different DVDs and they all work great!..."

I'm glad you asked as I always been curious too. Now maybe I'll be abe to try.

Note that the poster was using a full version of Nero. Don't know if it applies to trial, oem, or some of the free versions.

PS, I gave it a cursory try using my oem NVE3(nero vision express 3) version.

It is pretty obviously possible to do. I just need more advice on just how to use the scissors. Guess I'll have to check the Nero help guide.

If anyone is successful, please post just how to use the scissors to cut out the commercials.

Update: I'd like to confirm that NVE3 can indeed be used to edit out commercials, at least files that have been processed through DirectShow Dump to become regular mpeg files.
Obviously I didn't use the exact steps mentioned above but I was indeed able to make the edits on some BeyondTv hi-def files. Naturally the resulting burns are not hi-def(I don't guess), but they are the best looking 720x480 dvd's I've ever seen.

OK, final update: I was able to use NVE3 to edit out commercials and burn a dvd that should be playable on most players. These were the steps I used, which are fewer than those above and did not require conversion and the resulting burn had no audio sync problems:

1. Open NVE3
2. Select "Make DVD"-DVD Video
3. Select "Add Video Files" (Navigate to My Tivo Recordings-All Files)
4. Select "Edit Movie"-Use scissorss to edit. Click "?" on bottom left of page to 
open guide for detailed instructions(or just hit F1 will also open).
5.Click "next" until You reach "burn" button.
6. Click "Burn"

After clicking burn, it took my Celeron M 1.5ghz 80 minutes to burn a 42 minute show (after edits).

I only need to burn 2 or 3 shows a week so NVE3 will work just fine for me.

Again, thanks to the poster previous to mine, and also the one that stepped out his method. That really inspired me to learn how it could be accomplished.


----------



## mn2

Hello,

I tried MyDVD 6.2 trial to burn a DVD. Using Tivo Desktop (Tivo Series 2), the show played fine in the Desktop. However, when I played back from the DVD on both the PC and a standalone DVD player, the show was pixelated. Is this usual?

Is the Dan203 method still the best for putting Tivo captured shows on DVDs?

Thanks.


----------



## Dan203

My method is currently the only way to burn a DVD without transcoding the video, so what you get on the DVD is exactly the same as what you get on the TiVo. The only problem with it, other then it's complexity, is that there are still some DVD players which will refuse to play these DVDs because they're not quite compliant with the DVD spec. If you run into one of those then you'll have to use a program like MyDVD which can completely transcode the video to a DVD complaint format before burning it to a DVD.

Dan


----------



## 1283

Between MyDVD and Nero, I would use Nero.


----------



## dlfl

Dan203 said:


> My method is currently the only way to burn a DVD without transcoding the video, so what you get on the DVD is exactly the same as what you get on the TiVo. The only problem with it, other then it's complexity, is that there are still some DVD players which will refuse to play these DVDs because they're not quite compliant with the DVD spec. If you run into one of those then you'll have to use a program like MyDVD which can completely transcode the video to a DVD complaint format before burning it to a DVD.
> Dan


You can also use (free) program gui4ffmpeg to re-encode your mpeg2 to a perfectly DVD compliant one (including transcoding the audio to Dolby AC3), then use DVDStyler to author it, imgburn to burn it. Detailed instructions are given in this post and the process can be batched. This doesn't take any longer overall than using MyDVD or Nero to transcode and author and IMHO the big advantage is *you control the re-encoding * instead of trying to outguess those programs. If the menu design capability of DVDStyler isn't good enough for you, I understand there is a commercial program, DVDLab, that retains the advantage of not re-encoding while providing much better menu and navigation design features. (I haven't used it.)


----------



## ME2

Hi,

I received a dvd of a play for our church, and I want to put it on my tivo. I see multiple vob's on the dvd. I'm not sure how to go about how to transfer this from the dvd to my pc and then tivo. Can anyone give me pointers? I have videoredo and dvdstyler/decrypter, just not sure how to do this in reverse.

TIA...


----------



## mn2

Thanks for your help. I'll give it a try.


----------



## Dan203

ME2 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I received a dvd of a play for our church, and I want to put it on my tivo. I see multiple vob's on the dvd. I'm not sure how to go about how to transfer this from the dvd to my pc and then tivo. Can anyone give me pointers? I have videoredo and dvdstyler/decrypter, just not sure how to do this in reverse.
> 
> TIA...


Download the newest beta of VideoReDo. It contains an IFO parser* which will grab the video from the DVD and import it directly into the program. (just open the first IFO file on the disk) From there you can edit it, or simply save it to an MPEG file.

Note: Performance when editing directly from the disk could be slow, so you might consider copying all the files from the DVD to your hard drive first then opening it from there instead.

Dan

* I actually wrote the IFO parser so if you have any problems with it please feel free to contact me directly.


----------



## ocntscha

ME2 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I received a dvd of a play for our church, and I want to put it on my tivo. I see multiple vob's on the dvd. I'm not sure how to go about how to transfer this from the dvd to my pc and then tivo. Can anyone give me pointers? I have videoredo and dvdstyler/decrypter, just not sure how to do this in reverse.
> 
> TIA...


Piece of cake, point vob2mpg (freeware) at it, http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=VOB2MPG, a few minutes later stick the resulting mpeg(s) into a folder you have shared out with Tivo Desktop.


----------



## ME2

Dan203 said:


> Download the newest beta of VideoReDo. It contains an IFO parser* which will grab the video from the DVD and import it directly into the program. (just open the first IFO file on the disk) From there you can edit it, or simply save it to an MPEG file.
> 
> Note: Performance when editing directly from the disk could be slow, so you might consider copying all the files from the DVD to your hard drive first then opening it from there instead.
> 
> Dan
> 
> * I actually wrote the IFO parser so if you have any problems with it please feel free to contact me directly.


Where do you get the beta? I tried my version, but it says that method isn't supported.

I'm on version 2.5.5. 512


----------



## greg_burns

ME2 said:


> Where do you get the beta? I tried my version, but it says that method isn't supported.
> 
> I'm on version 2.5.5. 512


http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/forumdisplay.php?f=24


----------



## newcomer95

dlfl said:


> You can also use (free) program gui4ffmpeg to re-encode your mpeg2 to a perfectly DVD compliant one (including transcoding the audio to Dolby AC3), then use DVDStyler to author it, imgburn to burn it. Detailed instructions are given in [ ] and the process can be batched. This doesn't take any longer overall than using MyDVD or Nero to transcode and author and IMHO the big advantage is you control the re-encoding instead of trying to outguess those programs. If the menu design capability of DVDStyler isn't good enough for you, I understand there is a commercial program, DVDLab, that retains the advantage of not re-encoding while providing much better menu and navigation design features. (I haven't used it.)


 I notice that there are few mentions in this thread of the Sonic MyDVD software that is recommended from the TiVo website. Is it good? 
As a new purchaser, technically competent in many areas but totally clueless when it comes to all developments in media transfer and retention since VCRs (the last time I really had time to play with stuff), I need something that will burn DVDs, allow editing out of ads (automatic would be nice, but I can live with manual if it is significantly easier), without a lot of trouble. That is worth $50 or $100 to me, because I simply do not have the time to play with tweaking the various free methods. But obviously I want something that works well. Does MyDVD work well? The TiVo website implies that with a wireless setup on your home computer (I need to buy that as well; suggestions welcome), the MyDVD program should allow transfer to the computer and then to burning DVDs. 
And also, what about the hardware? I only have a CD burner on my computer, so what do I buy? 
Thanks in advance for those experienced members with the patience to answer a newbie's question. 
P.S. A little off topic, but I am impressed by the tone and the advice given on this website. So as an extra credit question, any thoughts on the best approach for getting photographs off the computer and onto storage media would be helpful too. It looks like the MyDVD studio group will do that too. I have filled up most of my hard drive with photos and I won't be able to do much of anything until I get some of them off. 
Thanks.


----------



## usnret

Dan 203. If I download/run the beta 516 will it screw up my 512 that I have purchased?? I want to try the IFO parser. Tks


----------



## dlfl

Does MyDVD work well? So easy to ask -- so hard to answer! My answer: sometimes for some people -- seldom for me. But keep in mind there are several versions of MyDVD and they differ. And I don't mind using software that is more complicated than one or two push buttons.

What works well depends on many things, including the video characteristics, the software settings, the hardware, the DVD media, and the goals and capabilities of the user. What you can get from a forum like this is anecdotes of what has worked well (at least on one occasion) for a particular user with a particular set of these variables. Your question is kind of like asking "what car works well?".

I'm convinced there is no process that won't cause problems for at least some of those who try to use it. I know this is a shock to newbies (like I was not too long ago) who don't see why things should be complicated and have read the glowing descriptions provided by TiVo, Sonic, etc.

To try to give a constructive answer, I believe there are users who do OK with MyDVD, some who use Nero products, and many who use the mostly free process known as the Dan203 process. And if any of them claim that achieving a 100% success rate on the first try is a piece of cake, I will doubt them.

If having a single-application, push-button process is important, then you might give MyDVD a try. But no one can assure you it will "work well" for your particular circumstances. I believe a lot of us who mostly use the dan203 method tried MyDVD first and .....

As for DVD burners, I use an old Plextor 708 that has been solid at 8X. Try videohelp.com for information on current models or someone else here may give some advice.

The Dan203 method is a little more complicated but you can get all the help you need right here. You can free-trial VideoReDo in uncrippled form for 15 days, IIRC. If you do much mpeg2 editing you will end up getting it anyway sooner or later.


----------



## 1283

newcomer95 said:


> I notice that there are few mentions in this thread of the Sonic MyDVD software that is recommended from the TiVo website. Is it good?


No, it's not. For single-application approach, I would recommend Nero instead of MyDVD.


----------



## newcomer95

dlfl said:


> I'm convinced there is no process that won't cause problems for at least some of those who try to use it. I know this is a shock to newbies (like I was not too long ago) who don't see why things should be complicated and have read the glowing descriptions provided by TiVo, Sonic, etc.
> 
> To try to give a constructive answer, I believe there are users who do OK with MyDVD, some who use Nero products, and many who use the mostly free process known as the [Dan203 process]. And if any of them claim that achieving a 100% success rate on the first try is a piece of cake, I will doubt them.
> 
> The Dan203 method is a little more complicated but you can get all the help you need right here. You can free-trial VideoReDo in uncrippled form for 15 days, IIRC. If you do much mpeg2 editing you will end up getting it anyway sooner or later.


 Yikes. I just flashed back thirty years to when I understood the difference between Betamax and VHS. Only things have gotten a lot more complicated while I wasn't looking. Thank you for the patient advice. I will try the Dan203 method. As you note, I am likely to need that software for other purposes anyway. 
As for connection from the Tivo to the computer: Do most people use the Tivo brand wireless USB network adaptor? And if I haven't bought a router yet, a standard 802.11g? (whenever I was looking to glom onto someone's wireless system with my work laptop in my old apt. complex, I noticed a lot used Linksys.)


----------



## dlfl

*newcomer95*,
No personal experience with it (my Tivo is hardwired to my router) but I'm pretty sure I remember several posts by OP I respect saying that, Yes, the TiVo wireless adapter is superior to others that might also work. My attitude is it's not an area where I would risk performance just to save a few bucks.

AFAIK, a standard router with 802.11g capability should be fine.

Have you checked out pyTivo yet? And the thread on it  here. It works great, even from my laptop via 11g wireless, or from videos stored on a USB HD attached to my other computer. Transfer your files to a computer, [edit], [compress to mpeg4, divx, xvid, or wmv for archiving], [put on a USB HD], then stream back to TiVo in real time for viewing. You can relagate DVD's to just another back up mechanism then! (Items in [] are optional. You can just stream back the .tivo files if desired.)

Tivo.Net is similar to pyTivo (see sticky thread, this forum) but at the moment it's unsupported and I like pyTivo at least as well.


----------



## mn2

newcomer95 said:


> I notice that there are few mentions in this thread of the Sonic MyDVD software that is recommended from the TiVo website. Is it good?
> As a new purchaser, technically competent in many areas but totally clueless when it comes to all developments in media transfer and retention since VCRs (the last time I really had time to play with stuff), I need something that will burn DVDs, allow editing out of ads (automatic would be nice, but I can live with manual if it is significantly easier), without a lot of trouble. That is worth $50 or $100 to me, because I simply do not have the time to play with tweaking the various free methods. But obviously I want something that works well. Does MyDVD work well? The TiVo website implies that with a wireless setup on your home computer (I need to buy that as well; suggestions welcome), the MyDVD program should allow transfer to the computer and then to burning DVDs.


I was in a similar spot. I tried MyDVD and the interface was nice and the program easy to use, but the results were poor. The quality of the show on DVD was not what I wanted. I tried the Dan203 method and I am pleased with the quality of the burned show.

Also, I use the Tivo USB Network adapter. It works well.


----------



## alyssa

Thought people might like to know the Dan203 method also works with Vista 32-

I couldn't seem to get DVDauthorGUI working but styler works like a charm.


----------



## dubluv

c3 said:


> Between MyDVD and Nero, I would use Nero.


i have nero 6, is there some plugin, or will i be able to use mine?


----------



## 1283

dubluv said:


> i have nero 6, is there some plugin, or will i be able to use mine?


If you don't have S2DT, then Nero 6 works fine. If you have S2DT, then you need to get Nero 7.


----------



## Dan203

Note: There has been a change to VideoReDo that effect this process. In the newest beta version there is no longer an option to save a file as a VOB. Instead you have to click the Options button in the save dialog and check the box that says "Add blank navigation packets". Right now this only effects the latest beta, but it will eventually make it into the main build, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Dan,

What does this mean? Does it mean we cannot get a .vob file out of VR? If so, does that now mean we will not be able to create DVD playable files? I would doubt that.

Does your notation of having to "add blank navigation packets" result in a .vob file?


----------



## Dan203

The reason this was changed is because the .vob file extension was misleading. The file that was being output before when you selected .vob was really just a .mpg file with blank nav packets added in, and not a true .vob. That's why you had to rename it to make DVD Styler recoganize it. Now you can simply check the "add blank navigation packets" option and output the file directly to a .mpg and it will work with DVD Styler, or any dvdauthor variant, right away.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Oh. Ok. cool.


----------



## jlb

Bump. Seems like a lot of new TiVo 2 Go users are headin' to these parts. Should we consider making this thread a sticky?


----------



## 6000rpm

holligl said:


> It looks like DVDDecrypter is no longer available. I've gotten as far as the ISO image, which I tried to burn with NERO but it didn't work. Any other readily available freeware to do the same?


is there a freeware option for some app that does the same thing as video redo?? where can i get it?


----------



## Dan203

Very soon we will be releasing a new version of VideoReDo which includes built in DVD burning capabilities. With that option you guys will be able to skip all these extra steps and use VideoReDo to do the whole thing.

Keep an eye on the VideoReDo forums for more info, and the possibility of getting in on the beta.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Hi Dan,

I assume the changes will incorporate making a basic DVD menu, which many have used DVDStyler for....?

This sounds great. Looking forward to the one-stop shopping. VideoRedo is one of the best purchases I have ever made.

Keep us posted!


----------



## usnret

Will the upgrade cost us or is it a freebie upgrade??


----------



## jlb

usnret said:


> Will the upgrade cost us or is it a freebie upgrade??


It shouldn't......

Direct from VideoRedo's website page on Customer Support:



> Complementary Software Updates: These are not just bug fix releases, but new versions that deliver new features that customers have requested and VideoReDo development has delivered.


----------



## steve614

YAY!!!

:up:


----------



## Dan203

Actually this upgrade will cost. We haven't decided on exact pricing yet, but the upgrade fee for current owners will be nominal.

Dan


----------



## jlb

Dan,

I am generally ok with a nominal cost, but doesn't that technically violate what is listed on the web-site?



> Complementary Software Updates: These are not just bug fix releases, but new versions that deliver new features that customers have requested and VideoReDo development has delivered.


This would clearly be a "new version" that delivers "new features". And unless nobody requested these features (hard to believe given how widespread use of VR has become), and unless VideoRedo outsourced development of this upcoming version, how does VR get around the above statement?

I don't mean to be picky, but I am curious? If I register for a product and that registration comes with "free updates", I would be a little upset at having to pay for any upgrade. Or course, if VR will continue to fully support the current build and offer to help fix if there are problems without forcing to upgrade, I would be less concerned.

Just my little $.02 on a day that should be called "JLB's cynical day".......


----------



## Dan203

This will be a major version release (i.e. v3.x), so it does not fall under that statement. VideoReDo Plus (i.e. v2.x) has been available for a few years now, and in that time has gained quite a few features free of charge. Including the #1 used feature here... the ability to open and edit TiVo files directly. However this DVD project was a big enough undertaking that we thought it warranted a major release number and in turn a nominal upgrade fee. In addition to the DVD features we've also added a new, more modern, UI which you can check out right now by downloading the 3.x beta from the VRD forum. (the DVD features are not yet active in that beta)

Dan


----------



## jlb

Thanks Dan.

That's what I was thinking. I agree. I love VR and it has been great. Combining functionality such that VR becomes a onestop shop is a major upgrade and will likely be worth every penny. Do you have an idea of what the fee will be? Let us know when you are able.

Also, if I download the 3.x beta, can it operate side-by-side with Plus, or will installing the Beta overwrite exisiting editions?

Is it the 527 build noted here: http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?t=3342

If I read that correctly, I should plan on loading to a separate directory and keep the Plus version active until this build is official......

As always, thanks for you help and quick responses to our questions!!!!


----------



## jlb

I should also apologize for my prior comment. If I had done more digging, I would have found the following on the web-site related to major vs. minor upgrades/builds. Thus, I retract my original comment about the likelihood that it would be free:



> VideoReDo Upgrade Policy and Pricing:
> VideoReDo Version Numbers: The current version number of VideoReDo can be determined by clicking on the Help > About menu. The version number will be shown as five fields separated by "." and "-" characters, for example: Version: 2. 1. 0. 392 - Jul 22 2005.
> 
> The first field, "2" in this example, is the major version number.
> The second field, "1" in the example, is the minor version number.
> The third field, "0" in this example, is the release number.
> The fourth field, "392" in the example, is the build number.
> The last field, "Jul 22 2005", is the date of the build.
> 
> Changes to the minor version are free for the life of the product: This includes both feature updates (changes in the minor version number, e.g. 2.0 to 2.1), or program fixes (changes in the release number, e.g. 2.1.0 to 2.1.1).
> 
> Major version typically involve an upgrade fee: A major version upgrade involves a change in the first digit of the version number (e.g. 1.6.2-302 to 2.1.0.400). Our policy is to offer a significant discount to registered users who upgrade from one version to the next.


----------



## Dan203

jlb said:


> Also, if I download the 3.x beta, can it operate side-by-side with Plus, or will installing the Beta overwrite exisiting editions?


Both will coexists on the same machine. The beta version has a "time bomb" in it that will stop it from working on the first of August, at that point there should be a new beta available which you can upgrade to, but you'll like want to stay on top of it as we've been releasing new builds about once a week to fix bigs the users find.

Dan


----------



## iphoned

Step by Step guide for transfer tivo to dvd

dvd-ipod.biz/tivo_to_dvd.html


----------



## jlb

Dan203 said:


> Both will coexists on the same machine. The beta version has a "time bomb" in it that will stop it from working on the first of August, at that point there should be a new beta available which you can upgrade to, but you'll like want to stay on top of it as we've been releasing new builds about once a week to fix bigs the users find.
> 
> Dan


Thanks. I registered on the VR forum and subscribed to the "new build" thread so I get alerts about it.


----------



## ilkeston guy

I am going to try VR to author some DVDs. Been using Nero for the past few months, but am tired of the lengthy encoding/transcoding process it goes through when preparing to burn DVDs.

Anyone know how to use Nero and avoid the transcoding process? I've trid DirectShowDump, too, to free the TIVO files to MPEG-2 format. But, Nero still wants to transcode before burning.


----------



## greg_burns

ilkeston guy said:


> Anyone know how to use Nero and avoid the transcoding process? I've trid DirectShowDump, too, to free the TIVO files to MPEG-2 format. But, Nero still wants to transcode before burning.


Only way I know (if sticking with Nero) is to record your shows at Medium.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3855107&&#post3855107


----------



## digimike5

Hi everybody,
Thanks for all of the help that everybody here has given! I just sucessfully created my first DVD from episodes on Tivo (going through VideoReDo, DVDStyler, and ImgBurn). The DVD worked amazingly well and played on both my Xbox and my other DVD player.

I just have one quick question. I would like to make a DVD of a long movie that autoplays when inserted without making a menu. Is there a way to do this using DVDStyler?

Thanks again.


----------



## Reba Ryan

Dan203 said:


> DVD Decrypters main purpose is to RIP DVDs from commercial disks to your hard drive. However it also has the ability to burn ISO images and is very good at it as well. Simply click Mode->ISO->Write and you will presented with a UI where you select a ISO file, insert a DVD and click burn.
> 
> Dan


 Can you possibly explain to me in english that i might understand (layman's terms, i think its called)...how can i burn to dvd/cd the programs i have on my tv desktop?
thank you very much


----------



## dlfl

Reba Ryan said:


> Can you possibly explain to me in english that i might understand (layman's terms, i think its called)...how can i burn to dvd/cd the programs i have on my tv desktop?
> thank you very much


You may find this ***thread*** helpful.

Unfortunately, even if you're willing to pay some $$ there is no simple push button solution that is guaranteed to work for all combinations of users, hardware, videos and DVD media. The method described in that thread is (I believe) one of the more popular ones among TiVo users.

VideoReDo is about to come out with an enhanced version that will eliminate the need for the DVD authoring step (performed for example by DVDStyler). Authoring is where you organize videos on your DVD with menus, buttons etc., and it cannot be skipped when making a video DVD.


----------



## j0nnyhb

Does anyone have the step by step for Nero? I have it already (version 6.3.1.19), so that is why I'm asking ... thanks in advance.


----------



## j0nnyhb

I'll answer my own question to some degree ... I don't have Nero Vision Express ... which would allow editing (what I want) and burning. Here is a nice set of instructions for NVE3:

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/nero.htm


----------



## Rose4uKY

I have Roxio Easy Creator 9 basic that came with my computer. Roxio said I do not need the suite. Mine came with Muvee 5 auto producer and when I add the Tivo file then click burn now it lets me name it and starts to burn and gets to 20% and then 5% of temporary files and everytime it locks up and wont go any further. Does anyone else know why this is? Maybe I do need the suite I don't know. I have a new HP visa computer and I bought these Maxell DVD+R X16 disc. I have a Dual Layer burner but someone said I need to kow if my burner is + - or both and I am unsure but thing it's both and my disc are + R.

I am getting this portable media player soon by Archos and I am going to probably buy plus so I may just convert the program with plus then burn it. I need to burn a show for a friend to watch on her DVD player on her laptop. Thanks, Rose


----------



## butter1093

I have a lot of tivo files, how could i put to my DVD?


----------



## wenling85

Burn with Nero 9
Or u can use aimersoft video converter ultimate which can rip dvd, convert videos, edit dvd/videos and burn dvd.


----------



## nyy574

I have looked through these forums a lot and I think I have come up with the simplest way to burn your Tivo files to DVD, using all free software. I am not a technical person, so I hope this helps. I have successfully transferred shows many times with this method:

1) Transfer the show to your computer using Tivo Desktop 2.8 software.

2) Run the resulting .tivo file through DirectShow Dump Utility. Search these forums for a link to the software. This makes it an mpeg file.

3) Finally, I burn it to DVD using DVD Flick, a free program (dvdflick.net).

If you need to edit any programs, like taking out commercials or removing extra portions, do this in Windows MovieMaker after you've run the file through DirectShow. Save that new file as a .wmv file and burn it with DVD Flick. I've had some audio issues trying to burn it with MovieMaker, but DVD Flick works fine.

Hope this helps.


----------



## greg_burns

VideoReDo TV Suite

Well worth the money.


----------



## D0mini0n

Why does VideoReDo want to transcode the video? I would be nice to edit and burn all in the same program.


----------



## msmart

It doesn't if you check "Accept non-compliant DVD settings". Unless your video is to big to fit on the disc, or if you have files with different resolutions.

VRD/TVS *does* edit and burn in the same program.

If you're having a problem, more info is needed.


----------



## bencody01

Burning TiVo files to DVD was a nightmare for some users. You may have already recorded 170 hours shows with your TiVo HD DVR or others and did want to clear them. Did you wonder a good way to put these TiVo recordings into PC or burn to DVD? Did you also want a really clear, simplified, but detailed article to help you transfer TiVo shows to PC, then copy them to DVD and playing in DVD Player?

TiVo Shows to DVD Player

What You Need:

The basic requirements are very easy  a computer and a DVD-burner/Writer, TiVo DVR. Other important items you will need include the TiVo Desktop software, DVD burning/authoring software, TiVo Converter.

1. How to transfer TiVo shows to PC?

With the new TiVoToGo, you can transfer programs from TiVo box to your PC or laptop. Before you begin transfer TiVo shows to PC, please connect your TiVo DVR to your home network and the internet. Then follow the steps:

Step 1: Download TiVo Desktop software for the PC, and then launch TiVo Desktop.

Free download here: TiVo Desktop software.

Step 2: Click Pick Recordings to Transfer. A window could appear to show your TiVo DVRs Now Playing List. Please check the box of the show (or shows) you want to transfer

Step 3: click Start Transfer to start transferring TiVo shows. Then the transferred the .tivo files could locate in My Documents\My TiVo Recordings in your PC.



Tivo to PC Using Tivo Desktop Software



Note: The TiVo Desktop software includes a TiVoDirectShowFilter.dll that is used to decrypt or unlock your TiVo shows using your MAK (Set when you install TiVo Desktop) to be viewed, converted, edited, transferred, or burned.

2. How to play TiVo shows on your PC?

In most cases, Windows Media Player in your PC could play MPEG-2 .tivo files. But sometimes you may not open it. For TiVo recordings are compressed using a format called MPEG-2; your Media Player needs a compatible MPEG-2 codec to use these files. There are several solutions:

Method 1. You can free download here: MPEG-2 Codec, or you can purchase a compatible DVD decoder from Plug-ins for Windows Media Player.

Method 2. You can use other free software media playersZoomPlayer and WinAmp, which also could import and play your TiVo-recorded shows in lieu of WMP.

Method3. If you dont have a compatible MPEG-2 codec, you can purchase TiVo Desktop Plus ($24.95), which includes a set of codecs including an MPEG-2 codec. It can also let you convert TiVo shows for playback on your iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, PSP or other compatible device, or to transfer compatible web videos to your TiVo DVR for viewing on your TV.

Method4. If you want a very easy but cover-all way, purchase Aunsoft TiVo Video Converter ($35), which is a powerful, all-codecs included software. It can help you convert all video/audio formats like TiVo, dvr-ms, MTS, M2TS, MOD, TOD, MKV etc to any other formats like MPEG, AVI, MP4, WMV, VOB, 3GP, DV, MOV, etc. I just use this way to convert TiVo files to my pc or other media players for playing.



Convert Tivo to DVD



3. How to burn TiVo recordings to DVD, copy TiVo to DVD, or convert TiVo to DVD?

Every road leads to Rome. And no matter for playing TiVo to PC, or burning TiVo to DVD, the first thing you must complete is to transfer TiVo shows to PC by using TiVo Desktop. And then burning DVD, you need a compatible DVD burner/Writer. Now I will introduce more than one way to let you successfully put your shows to your DVD, and play on PC or in a compatible DVD player.

Remember: If you simply save or copy your shows to a DVD, it will only allow you to play them on the PCs that have TiVo Desktop installed; Using some DVD creator or DVD authoring software like MyDVD, DVD Decrypter, or DVD Shrink, DVDStyler etc to create or author DVD that you can play on a DVD player.

Method (1). Some people like to use Nero ($59.99) for burning video to DVD; now Nero could let you burn kinds of video formats to Data DVD, which could be only play on PC. And it let you burn DVD folder with DVD menu or configuration to blank DVD for playing in DVD player. It is just DVD burner or DVD copy, not DVD creator. And Nero can not add .tivo directly, so you have to convert .tivo shows to .vob, or .mpg by using a utility software like Dirctshow Dump or Aunsoft Video Converter which could extract the content of .TiVo files as unprotected MPG files. Then you can burn a data DVD by using Nero.

Note: Dirctshow Dump is a free utility to extract the content of .tivo files as unprotected MPEGs. You can free download here: Free Directshow Dump.

Method (2). There are many roads to lead to Rome. You are really not limited to MyDVD, Roxio Creator 2010, VideoRedo, etc. If you let your TiVo files free by using one method like converting TiVo to MPEG using Dirctshow Dump, you have complete freedom to use any DVD editing/burning/authoring software you choose.

Method (3). I dont like a way is too time-consuming and complicated, so after transfered TiVo shows to PC, I just use a professional video converter - Aunsoft TiVO Video Converter to convert my tivo shows to vob first, and then use Nero to burn a data DVD for playing on my PC, if I want to play on my DVD player, I just use DVDStyler, which is a cross-platform free DVD authoring application for the creation of professional-looking DVDs. It allows me not only burning of video files on DVD that can be played practically on standalone DVD player, but also creation of individually designed DVD menus. And it is Open Source Software and is completely free. You can download here: DVDStyler1.8.0 beta 2.

Thanks for reading such a long article. I just want to give you a hint and hope you find your own good enough way to burn your TiVo shows to DVD and play on PC or DVD player.


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## dlfl

The aunsoft converter costs $35. This looks like a thinly veiled ad to me. There are good free ways to convert .TiVo to .mpg or .vob.


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## Spenner

dlfl said:


> The aunsoft converter costs $35. This looks like a thinly veiled ad to me. There are good free ways to convert .TiVo to .mpg or .vob.


Yep. Google "Ben Cody" aunsoft and he apparently pushes aunsoft in any video-related forum. And his Yahoo answers account, any question's answer, even about printers, is to buy aunsoft. http://answers.yahoo.com/my/qa/index;_ylt=AoSGx0BRQDCASlXo64jf78Hsy6IX;_ylv=3?link=answer&more=y&show=Ug4JmS6Iaa


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