DVD-RAM (Jerry?)

[Rob100]

Hi all,

It's been a long time (about a year!) since I posted in these forums. Been a little busy since we had a baby - never knew kids would take up so much spare time!

Anyway for the last year I've been using my Pioneer 104 writer and have always got good results.

Last November I also bought a Panansonic DMR-E30 stand alone writer. This was more for recording stuff from TV and a quick was of writing a DVD from the camcorder. Looking to get a DMR-E100H when released in the UK - so basically I am fairly "commited" to DVD-RAM.

I have been using a Toshiba and a Sony (Lite-on) DVD-ROM to read DVD-RAM discs on the PC and have been using TMPGEnc DVD Author to edit the VRO files. I had tried using MSP7 and DVDMF2, but these are so slow compared with TMPGEnc DVD Author and I seem to loose the AC3 audio when importing - maybe I'm doing something wrong with these. I only bought MSP7 the other day so haven't had a chance to play properly.

I have seen the DVD Burner II (p/n SW9571CYY) for sale for £100 inc VAT which seems to be a good price. This seems a good bet for me as I could use it to read from DVD-RAM, write to DVD-R (I know it's only a 2x writer) and for back-up purposes write to DVD-RAM.

Before I buy one can anyone give me some help.

1) Is this drive any good? Media compatability, reliabilty etc...

2) Is there any other software that can edit VRO files?

3) What software can I use to write/author VRO files on the PC (so I can play these back on the DMR-E30) or does anyone know if the E30 will play back "normal" DVD's when recorded on DVD-RAM. This would be handy for testing/approving edits.

Thanks in advance.

Rob.

[Rob100]

Since posting this afternoon I have played some more with MSP7 and can begin to answer some of my own questions.

After installing the "Mpeg Vio Driver Update Patch" which I d/l from Uleads site I can now "capture" the AC3 audio. I have since d/l'ed the 7.01 patch also.

I can now edit the .vro files and can save back to disc (HDD) with no rendering unless I add a fade etc. Now this is the disappointing bit... Why are fades, scenes where you've added titles etc so blocky! Absolutely terrible... I've has a play in the MPEG encoders advanced settings and have increase both average and minimum bit rates, but it's still now useable IMHO.

When I author (to HDD) the DVD-VR using the Ulead wizard all works well, but neither PowerDVD or WinDVD will play the file. Both happily play the source file recorded with my E30. PowerDVD crashes and WinDVD sits their doing nothing. One of the earlier DVD-VR tests I did worked, but this had MP2 audio rather than AC3. I need to do some more tests.

Edit: When I say "can't play the file" I mean that if I tell them to play DVD from folder it won't work. If I actually load the .vro file as a "file" then it will play.

Hope someone can help :-)

Rob.

[Jerry Jones]

Originally posted by Rob100
I can now edit the .vro files and can save back to disc (HDD) with no rendering unless I add a fade etc. Now this is the disappointing bit... Why are fades, scenes where you've added titles etc so blocky! Absolutely terrible...

Have you adjusted your project settings in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7.01 to precisely *match* the attributes of your Panasonic MPEGs???

(This is a MUST; if you don't do this then Ulead Smart Render technology will not work properly.)

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Rob100]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the reply.

As far as I can see all attributes match exactly. The unchanged portions of video do not get re-rendered, so surely MSP7.01 is "happy"?

Can you confirm that portions that are rendered on your system are NOT blocky? Maybe I'll install MSP7.01 on another machine incase something is screwed.

Can anyone pass any comment of the Panasonic writer?

Thanks,

Rob.

[Jerry Jones]

No blockiness is observed here.

I'm working with relatively high bitrate MPEG, however.

My Panasonic DVD disc camcorder MPEG has the following attributes:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 Bits, 704 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order B
(DVD-NTSC), 4 : 3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8800 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

Note how the properties of the Panasonic *camcorder* differ from the properties of the Panasonic *player/recorder.*

Here are the properties from the Panasonic DMR-E50 player/recorder MPEG:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 Bits, 704 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order B
(DVD-NTSC), 4 : 3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 9558 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
AC-3 Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Rob100]

Hmm... well I've just fired up the PC to do some more tests and now it seems to works properly. No blockyness :-) What's changed I don't know, but it's definately working okay now and very well. Maybe all it needed was a reboot?

This does leave me with one problem though authoring DVD-VR...

If I take a "source" (untouched by MSP7.01 editor) file and author a DVD-VR disc using the Ulead wizard this will play find in both PowerDVD and WinDVD.

However it seems that no matter what the audio format, once I've let MSP7.01 render/multiplex the file it, trying to play the DVD-VR disc (structure) will cause the software player to crash. I've tried both AC3 and MP2 audio and contary to my previous post the problem is there with both.

Jerry - can you happily author a DVD-VR disc and it plays okay in both software players and a standalone Panny recorder? Maybe NTSC works okay and it's something screwed for us PAL users only?

Getting there.... And price of Panny writer is now only £90...

Thanks again,


Rob.