Current Version 1.5.1

DVD2DVDR GUIDE
This guide shows options to set for NTSC DVDs muxing with DVDLab...see here PAL DVD options.

Main movie only using CCE. Relatively simple to use and authors DVD video files ready to burn. You can do 2 pass VBR with CCE Basic $58 and get excellent results. Works with just about every current version of CCE. Requires a fairly fast computer or a lot of patience.

Windows 2000/XP with an NTFS partition to handle video files larger than 4GB. Anywhere from 15GB to 35GB of free disk space. DVD2DVDR automatically checks for adequate disk space before processing. Also requires at least 1024x768 video resolution or higher.

NTSC DVDs you need DVDLab $79 or Scenarist NT to mux and author the DVD video files.

DVDLab currently only supports ONE audio track | no subtitles. Scenarist can do multiple audio tracks but currently the scenarist script with dvd2dvd-r gives a compile error with subtitles.

Rip to .ISO with DVDDecrypter and mount with daemon tools.
Or rip all files with DVDDecrypter.


Source: choose the drive letter of the virtual DVD mounted with daemon tools and point it to the VIDEO_TS directory. Or if you ripped in File mode choose the directory that containing the video files..usually VIDEO_TS.

Destination: choose a directory on a partition that has at least 15GB to 23GB of free space. If processing from Virtual DVD (.iso) or directly from the DVD it'll automatically create a directory from the label name of the DVD with a timestamp. I always just choose ==dvd2dvdr== as main destination.

Authoring Mode: choose Scenarist NT. Choose this for authoring with either DVDLab or Scenarist.

Click on the PGC of the main movie.

Uncheck all subtitles as currently authoring with DVDLab doesn't support subtitles and authoring in Scenarist with subs gives a compile error (1.4.9). Uncheck all audio streams except main one for DVDLab.


Variable Bitrate 3 passes or 4 passes is the max you should chose. Beyond that you won't notice a difference. 2 pass VBR is still excellent and gives much better results than Instant Copy. Set bitrate min to 1000 and max. to 7500.

Encoder Options:
NTSC DVDs check Progressive. Uncheck Linear quantizer scale and check Zigzag scanning order since Bitrate Viewer reported progressive, nonlinear and zigzag. Always uncheck Upper Field First.
Check Force Film, 2:3 pulldown, Set 'Drop-Frame' flag, Set Progressive-Flag.
Settings in the screenshot work great with most NTSC Movies. I usually don't even check in Bitrate Viewer. Choose MPEG2DEC.DLL

Find out more about CCE Encoder options go to doom9.org | Quick Link | DVD2SVCD Guide | Advanced DVD2SVCD reference and see Encoder CCE section


Settings
Expert Mode (allows to edit .avs script) and choose between MPEG2DEC.DLL or MPEGDECODER.DLL.
Shutdown Computer when finished is convient when going to bed (gives 10 second warning).
Delete unnecessary Files saves you from having to manually delete files but doesn't really give you that much additional disk space.

Press GO and in it'll verify free disk space and in about 3 to 10 hours (depends on CPU of computer) you'll have your video new video file and ac3 audio file ready for muxing and authoring with DVDLab or Scenarist. DVD2DVDR gives excellent file prediction, usually between 4.35 and 4.37GB.

DVDLab - DVD Authoring and Burning with project files from DVD2DVD-R
Main Movie Only with no Menu. Only ONE audio track and no subtitles.


Open DVDLab and click Import Files. Ctrl-A to select both Video .M2V and Audio .AC3


After importing you'll see them listed in the Assets window.


Drag and drop Video track onto Movie 1. Next drag Audio track onto Movie 1.
Select Menu 1 then hit Delete key to remove the menu.



Click + Draw Links and connect like so. It's imperative you connect Title Button to Movie 1, otherwise your DVD will NOT Play in your standalone DVD player.


Open Info.txt file that dvd2dvd-r created for you and select all chapters and copy and paste them into a new text file named chapters.txt or whatever. Or you could delete everything except chapters and resave Info.txt.


Double click on Movie 1 or click Movie 1 tab near bottom to get Movie 1 window into view.
Right click on Chapters and select Import Chapters... locate chapters.txt and import it.


Click Proceed after verifying movie length (shown in Info.txt) and chapters will be created.


Now your ready to compile and burn your DVD.


Output Folder (Root) creates VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders for burning.
Temporary Folder creates one huge temporary .vob file. Set to another hd to increase muxing speed.
Automatically Start Recording when Completed don't forget to put in your blank DVD+R or DVD-R.


It took 12mins and 24secs to mux the video and audio files with DVDLab.


DVDLab started burning the DVD.


You don't have to burn with DVDLab but it's nice to come back 35mins to 60mins later and have your burnt DVD. Volume Label will be MYDVD unless you manually burn with DVDLab then you can specify it. If you don't have DVDLab burn it for you then you can use whatever you wish.

Muxing with Scenarist NT if you still wish to use Scenarist to mux rather than DVDLab do the following:

Authoring with Scenarist NT with DVD2DVD-R project files

Open Scenarist and press New from Script... button.


Click ... next to Script File and locate SCENARIST_SCRIPT.SCP that DVD2DVD-R generated for you.


Click ... next to Scenarist File and make up a name (I put movie for example) and click Open to save it.
It'll start importing and verifying your video assets. Takes a couple of minutes.


Click on Layout Editor tab and set the following options.
Target Directory: leave as default
DVDRoot Directory: leave as default (creates VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS in subfolder 0)
Mux Directory: set to another harddrive if possible to speed up muxing and authoring.
Check Delete When Done to delete the 4.37GB of temporary files it creates.
Now click on Start


It took me 15 mins from pressing Start to Finish. Total time using Scenarist is about 20 mins.

Your all done. Now you have Video Files ready to burn to DVD-R.

Bitrate Viewer download the limited freeware version (never expires) 2.65MB
Using Bitrate Viewer is an optional step. Only use if your unsure of the settings to use for CCE.

Open Bitrate Viewer and select the VTS_0X_2.VOB ...ok that is extremely important..so it's worth repeating select the VTS_0X_2.VOB from the main movie VTS. Ok now did I say open 0.VOB or 1.VOB? No I didn't so don't do it. Don't have it analyzing the intros but the main movie itself. Did I mention to select the VTS_0X_2.VOB only?



After 5 seconds you can copy and paste the last few lines into notepad for future reference to set the CCE settings and close out of Bitrate Viewer. Most likely give you errors but no need to worry.