Could use some advice for burning Macross Frontier DVDs

[manwiththemachinegun]

Hey folks,

I'm a half way literate cumputar person, but believe it or not, I don't have much experience in burning DVDs.

So, I'm planning on burning either AONE's or Lunar's episodes to DVD for playback on either my NTSC DVD player or my American model PS3.

Simply put, what are going to be the best programs, methods etc for burning multiple episodes (And I'm not sure if they're hard or soft sub) to a DVD that I can actually USE and not lose too much video quality? For a beginner, should I stick with AVI XVID over MVK? Because I've heard MVK is a real bitch to convert to DVD.

FYI, I DO plan on buying Frontier when it's out in box set (Already have Animego's original series SDF and Macross Plus)... But that's a long ways off.

[miriya]

I can not even get MPEG streamclip to convert these, nor compressor, nor anything in final cut studio. I was able to get something on "burn" but it took a long time to convert and then the widescreen was chopped and of course lost the subs on either side.

I would like to know too.

I may try canopus on my pc if I have to.

[Vifam7]

Hey folks,

I'm a half way literate cumputar person, but believe it or not, I don't have much experience in burning DVDs.

So, I'm planning on burning either AONE's or Lunar's episodes to DVD for playback on either my NTSC DVD player or my American model PS3.

Simply put, what are going to be the best programs, methods etc for burning multiple episodes (And I'm not sure if they're hard or soft sub) to a DVD that I can actually USE and not lose too much video quality? For a beginner, should I stick with AVI XVID over MVK? Because I've heard MVK is a real bitch to convert to DVD.

FYI, I DO plan on buying Frontier when it's out in box set (Already have Animego's original series SDF and Macross Plus)... But that's a long ways off.

Well, if you use Lunar's Xvid fansubs (or generally any avi type file), it should be a cinch with Nero. (the subs will be burned-in though)

Real easy with Nero even for a pretty computer illiterate guy like me.

Edited July 22, 2008 by Vifam7

[Kronnang Dunn]

For a beginner, should I stick with AVI XVID over MVK? Because I've heard MVK is a real bitch to convert to DVD.

MKV has superior image/sound, but is only good for watching it in the Pc. For DVD I would recommend XVID... U can convert it to DVD Video format or keep it as such in a data DVD, since some DVD players can even read XVID...

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Try the guides at doom9.org for DVD. The PS3 can play back mp4 formats if I recall, and there's tons of guides a google search away.

Either method will result in a hit in quality though.

[manwiththemachinegun]

Thanks again for the advice,

I'm also going to try to use a program called mkv2vob to turn the MVKs into a file format my PS3 can read. Then I'll just burn the information files to disk and play each episode separately.

I could care less about menus etc, I just want to watch my Macross on my TV.

[condiment king]

I've already done exactly what youre wanting to do and did it with Nero Vision Express.

Right now I have:

Disk 1: Ep1 Deculture, Regular Ep1, Ep2, Ep3

Disk 2: Ep 4-7

Disk 3: Ep 8-11

All with menu's, background, and music.

Just waiting for either Lunar to finish ep 15 so I can make my next disk or if Shinsen (I think has the best subs) will release 12-15 as well, but they are so far behind right now I dont know if they are...

If you want the image files I can make them available, but they are around 4 GB each

Edited July 22, 2008 by condiment king

[Tobi54]

Try TMPGE dvd author:

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda3.html

I have tried multiple DVD authoring programs, and this is hands down the best one, it also converts files to Divx if you want to only play them on the PS3, you can have DVD video quality on the episodes as long as you dont put more than 4 episodes per disc, mess around with the settings, use 2 pass encoding for better quality and make sure you set it to 100% quality under video settings, good luck.

[Zinjo]

http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/

VSO's ConvertXtoDVD is what I use.

The interface takes a little bit to get used to (as with all software), but it converts just about any format and allows limited customized menu screens, allows you to adjust for TV overscan, etc... and it isn't the resource hog Nero Vision is.

I like it and it's constantly being updated and improved from user feedback.

Edited July 22, 2008 by Zinjo

[Master Dex]

I just wait for Shinsen's releases since they are in avi format. I have a computer running Vista (yes I know it sucks but that is beside the point) and I just use Windows DVD maker and it seems to work fine. Takes quite a while to encode the DVD before actual writing but it isn't bad. I don't have a widescreen TV in my house so I always get a little bit chopped off but I think on a widescreen TV it will look fine. I have 2 DVD's so far: 1 has episodes 1-5 (1 is deculture edition, I didn't burn broadcast version), and disc 2 has episodes 6-10. Since Shinsen is only up to ep.11 now I have to wait until they are through 15 for my next disc.

[Kronnang Dunn]

Does anybody knows the DVD recording speed recommended for compatibility with most players?

[Xeros]

The most slow available

[azrael]

The most slow available

Let me explain. No wait, there's too much. Let me sum it up.

The slower you burn, the less chance you'll have an error on the disc. The faster you burn, the greater chance that you'll have an error on the disc. So burning data at 1x or 8x won't matter unless burning at 8x produces lots of errors.

[Garou Kuroryuu]

Try the guides at doom9.org for DVD. The PS3 can play back mp4 formats if I recall, and there's tons of guides a google search away.

Either method will result in a hit in quality though.

Doom9's converter program is the one to convert from MKV (as others) to PS3-readable MP4, right?

That's a good one, and fast! But if you're converting a soft-subbed file (like MKVs), you lose the subs, unless you use a hard-subbed file, which is usually non-HD.

I want HD hardsubbed MF files!!!.... pretty pretty please? anyone?

[DestroidDefender]

Doom9's converter program is the one to convert from MKV (as others) to PS3-readable MP4, right?

That's a good one, and fast! But if you're converting a soft-subbed file (like MKVs), you lose the subs, unless you use a hard-subbed file, which is usually non-HD.

I want HD hardsubbed MF files!!!.... pretty pretty please? anyone?

I've been fighting with this for a couple months now. I want to format the episodes for the PS3 and serve them from my PC. The same format on saved on a data DVD should play on a PS3 too. After weeks of hair pulling (which I can ill afford) I have Macross 7 #1-15 and all Frontier except DeC, 2,3 & 5 playing on my PS3.

But I have not found anything for the PC that actually works to transcode the video and embed the subs and keep the HD resolution. For the mac I've had some success with MKVTools. But it's hit or miss. It did all the VIP Macross 7 remastered episode perfectly. For Frontier it did most of the Chihiro's, Lunars and some of the Gattai's. About half the time the video ends up truncated and unusable. It does render the subs very nicely though. Sometimes when the MKVtools made mp4 doesn't work on the PS3 I can reprocess it with one of the PC converters (since the subs are already in the video stream) and make some thing that works on the PS3. That would be with Hand Brake or PS3 Video 9.

I wish I knew more about the process so I knew why some subbers mkv's would convert and some would bork but its all very frustrating.

I do know if you make them into an orthodox DVD file then you are down sampling them to 1040x480i - Standard TV resolution.

best of luck!

[akt_m]

Does anybody knows the DVD recording speed recommended for compatibility with most players?

I guess the speed doesn't matter, what is important is the quality of the DVD-+R used and the burner. My benq 1640 can measure the recording quality by using nero CD-DVD speed. I read once somewhere that the best media was ty002 (something like that..), i bought a few of those (sony dvd+r) and the quality was something like 98%, but i just used for pictures and other important stuff.

[Batou]

I've been using Nero for this, burning the Shinsen subs versions (since AiA disappeared ... pity, because I think the mp4s transferred much better, with less quality sacrificed during encoding).

I'm hardly an expert, but I'll recommend you get good quality name brand dual layer dvds for burning. I've had the best luck with Sony. My dvd player, which isn't particularly old (2-3 years maybe?) or cheap seems to have problems reading lesser quality disks. I tossed out the first few disks as coasters until I realized it wasn't the encoding screwing me: they play just fine on my pc ... I just much prefer watching them on the big screen, so fat load of good it does ...

Your mileage may vary.

Edit: Doh! Didn't see the post right above me ...

What he said.

Edited July 25, 2008 by Batou

[ruskiiVFaussie]

while we are on the subject of Frontier DVDs - http://www.yesasia.com/global/macross-f-ma...-0-en/info.html

too bad we can't find someway of adding subtitles like the previous dvd releases? - http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=22110

or can we? i'd love to snap these up. Screw the blue-ray. But i need subs.

Edited July 26, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[Shacky]

too bad we can't find someway of adding subtitles like the previous dvd releases?

or can we? i'd love to snap these up. Screw the blue-ray. But i need subs.

I ususally download the RAW files and take the subtitles from one of the groups (mostly GG and Gatai). I noticed the RAW files use the MBS versus the TBS version that the groups use which means the subtitles are a little off after the opening. So I opened one of them and found the tags that indicate they use Aegisub to create the subs. This program is freeware so I downloaded it and it can play the video while reviewing the subs frame by frame. I then highlight the subs I want moved and then move the video to the correct point. One click on the toolbar and all the subs are offsetted so they match with the video. That's enough for me to play with the subtitles for a little while to retime them and it's usually less than one hour.

So what you need for DVD is to convert the ASS (stylized subtitles) to a simple SRT format. This is actually harder to do since you have to make decisions on what you will keep from the Karaoke and some of the text doesn't fit for really long parts. I have a cheap Phillips DVD player from Costco that can play the 704x396 video if I convert the ASS to SRT without having to convert the video. I used this as a test and found my subs getting cut off at the edges because the text was too long. It was at this point that I decided it would take too long for me to do so I just dusted off my HTPC and put the files on there to playback on my TV.

One thing I miss is the comments on the proper text to use for the subtitles. I could take that feedback and just edit the ASS files easily to correct translation issues. But that's a side topic...

So it can be done, but I just don't have the time to go through it all. In summary, download the RAW, download the ASS files, convert the ASS to SRT, then convert using your favorite tool (like TMPEG) to create DVD VOB files.

[taksraven]

I have 2 DVD's so far: 1 has episodes 1-5 (1 is deculture edition, I didn't burn broadcast version)

Interesting decision. Is that because you thought that the broadcast edition was crap compared to the deculture edition or was there another reason? I would love to do a dedicated poll on this subject (deculture vs broadcast version), but I will probably wait until the series is over.

My solution is just to have a DVD player that can play the raw avi files. (some can). That way you don't lose much picture quality (but you don't get menu's and chapters, a sacrifice I am willing to make).

Taksraven

[creamyhorror]

But I have not found anything for the PC that actually works to transcode the video and embed the subs and keep the HD resolution. For the mac I've had some success with MKVTools. But it's hit or miss. It did all the VIP Macross 7 remastered episode perfectly. For Frontier it did most of the Chihiro's, Lunars and some of the Gattai's. About half the time the video ends up truncated and unusable. It does render the subs very nicely though. Sometimes when the MKVtools made mp4 doesn't work on the PS3 I can reprocess it with one of the PC converters (since the subs are already in the video stream) and make some thing that works on the PS3. That would be with Hand Brake or PS3 Video 9.

If all you're doing is hardsubbing the subtitles (making them a permanent part of the video) then, you can just follow this guide (try the "Alternative Guide", it's less complicated than the method in the very first post):

MKV to MP4 Guide @ Animesuki

I've been using Nero for this, burning the Shinsen subs versions (since AiA disappeared ... pity, because I think the mp4s transferred much better, with less quality sacrificed during encoding).

That's an interesting phenomenon, if it's true. I see that Shinsen releases 245mb XviDs while AiA did 178mb H.264s (at a very slightly higher resolution), so I'd assume that their visual quality should be close (Shinsen's might be slightly better). Did the final DVD-video encodes look significantly different in terms of quality?

I have a cheap Phillips DVD player from Costco that can play the 704x396 video if I convert the ASS to SRT without having to convert the video.

If you're playing 704x396 XviD video, why doesn't it already have subtitles (since it presumably came from a fansub group)? After all, a major reason why groups release in AVI format is to allow easy playback on computers and standalone players that do not support modern .ASS subtitles.

[Shacky]

If you're playing 704x396 XviD video, why doesn't it already have subtitles (since it presumably came from a fansub group)? After all, a major reason why groups release in AVI format is to allow easy playback on computers and standalone players that do not support modern .ASS subtitles.

Interesting that you caught that. There are two groups releasing 704x396 RAWs: Shinsen-Subs and Zero-Raws. Being a RAW, they don't include the subtitles. I'm actually grabbing these versions because they play better with the highest quality I can get on my 6 year old machines (higher resolution is choppy). These RAWs are released before the subtitled versions and I use the soft-subs to watch the episodes with English subs by the weekend.

If all you're doing is hardsubbing the subtitles (making them a permanent part of the video) then, you can just follow this guide (try the "Alternative Guide", it's less complicated than the method in the very first post):

MKV to MP4 Guide @ Animesuki

Also interesting as I haven't played with the scripts for Avisynth and I was thinking of giving up on my PSP for watching episodes again on the plane. I'll have to play with this as well. Thanks!

[creamyhorror]

Interesting that you caught that. There are two groups releasing 704x396 RAWs: Shinsen-Subs and Zero-Raws. Being a RAW, they don't include the subtitles. I'm actually grabbing these versions because they play better with the highest quality I can get on my 6 year old machines (higher resolution is choppy). These RAWs are released before the subtitled versions and I use the soft-subs to watch the episodes with English subs by the weekend.

Well, you have a lot of options in that case - Kei's AVI, Lunar's AVI, an AVI version of ours, or you can get ours and downscale it yourself (using Avisynth as described in the Animesuki link). Of course, if you find shifting the timing in Aegisub is faster, that's perfectly fine too.

Also interesting as I haven't played with the scripts for Avisynth and I was thinking of giving up on my PSP for watching episodes again on the plane. I'll have to play with this as well. Thanks!

Good luck then.

[DestroidDefender]

If all you're doing is hardsubbing the subtitles (making them a permanent part of the video) then, you can just follow this guide (try the "Alternative Guide", it's less complicated than the method in the very first post):

MKV to MP4 Guide @ Animesuki

MKVTools on the Mac actually embeds the subs this very easily. But the MP4 it turns out is sometimes unplayable on the PS3 or the video stream is truncated. I've read the instructions above but I'm not clear what one actually does with the AVS file. Do you select that as the input file for PS3 Video 9?

Edited July 28, 2008 by DestroidDefender

[creamyhorror]

I've read the instructions above but I'm not clear what one actually does with the AVS file. Do you select that as the input file for PS3 Video 9?

I assume this part applies:

If you need a hint: select "Convert", then "Current conversion" tab. Then just click the "Convert video" button and select the AVS file you just created.

You can also use VirtualDub, MeGUI or other tools that accept AVS files as input. All the given AVS script does is render the subtitles on each frame of the video; Avisynth can then serve these hardsubbed frames to any encoder program that accepts AVS files.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that there are MKV -> AVI tools out there that automatically do the hardsubbing for you, I suggest don't remember any off the top of my head.

Edited July 29, 2008 by creamyhorror

[DestroidDefender]

Since you seem to know about these things Creamyhorror let me ask you this. When I try and playback .mkv's on my PC the sounds is out of sync with the video stream. This seem to be a problem with all the PC players but the same .mkv's play fine on my mac.

I've tried digging thru the codecs and looking for updates but I don't really know what I'm doing. Is this a known problem with an easy fix?

[creamyhorror]

Since you seem to know about these things Creamyhorror let me ask you this. When I try and playback .mkv's on my PC the sounds is out of sync with the video stream. This seem to be a problem with all the PC players but the same .mkv's play fine on my mac.

I've tried digging thru the codecs and looking for updates but I don't really know what I'm doing. Is this a known problem with an easy fix?

I replied to you in the Ep 16 Talkback thread. In case you missed it, here's my reply again:

For CCCP: If you're having trouble with video keeping up with sound or subtitles, try re-registering your CCCP filters (open CCCP Settings via the Start menu, go to the 2nd page of settings, and check "Re-register all filters"). If that doesn't work, open Media Player Classic, go to View > Options > Output (in the left menubar) and make sure Overlay Mixer (under DirectShow Video) is selected. Also try closing other programs (e.g. Firefox, torrent clients, whatever) before you play videos. Failing that, consider trying CoreAVC (www.coreavc.com), the fastest H.264 video decoder, which may solve the problem if your computer is just a bit too slow to play the video back using CCCP's inbuilt decoder (ffdshow).

So what CPU does your PC have? The CPU's the key determinant of the maximum level of complexity in the videos you can play.

Edited July 30, 2008 by creamyhorror

[Kronnang Dunn]

I just got VSO's convert X to DVD and it works pretty good!!!

It converts anything to DVD format (in a temp folder), and then lets u burn the new DVD video/audio files in a blank DVD. U can convert mkv., mp4., DVix, avi, anything to DVD format...

It lets u use custom menus, chapter entries, fonts, menu backgrounds/video and menu audio... Is great!!!

I haven't burned any Macross Frontier episodes yet, but I just made 3 dvd's with up to 8 chapters each of the original Animeigo Macross in them and they look and sound very very well...

I recommend it a lot...

Edited July 30, 2008 by Kronnang Dunn

[DestroidDefender]

So what CPU does your PC have? The CPU's the key determinant of the maximum level of complexity in the videos you can play.

CPU is a 1.82Ghz athlon w/ 1G ram. Running XP SP3

I re-regged CCCP and confirmed the overlay setting in MPC.

Still the same - the sound doesn't cut in until 6 second after the video stream starts playing. It's not just the HD MacF files. Even TV episodes of ROD or Mac7 do the same thing. And it's the same with ZoomPlayer or MPC.

This used to work!? In trying to convert videos for the PS3 & PSP I've probably installed one too many amateur made apps and broken something.

Edited July 30, 2008 by DestroidDefender

[creamyhorror]

CPU is a 1.82Ghz athlon w/ 1G ram. Running XP SP3

I re-regged CCCP and confirmed the overlay setting in MPC.

Still the same - the sound doesn't cut in until 6 second after the video stream starts playing. It's not just the HD MacF files. Even TV episodes of ROD or Mac7 do the same thing. And it's the same with ZoomPlayer or MPC.

This used to work!? In trying to convert videos for the PS3 & PSP I've probably installed one too many amateur made apps and broken something.

It's pretty strange that your sound is lagging behind your audio instead of the other way round (audible lines are being spoken long after the corresponding speaking animation, right?). It sounds like some sort of codec conflict, but not being an expert, I recommend that you go to http://www.cccp-project.net/, click on "Chat", and ask for support - there's a troubleshooting process that any available staff will walk you through. If there's no response, try again later.

Your Athlon 1.8GHz CPU might be a little too slow to play HD H.264 video, but that might not be the problem since the sound comes in late (and since you have problems with SD H.264 as well).