6/29/03 Rev 0.9
This guide is based on the excellent “DISH PVR to DVD WITH RE-RENDERING GUIDE” by Dishtester2002. After using that document to get started, I began experimenting with different tools better suited to my needs. When I had finally had a procedure that worked for me, it was sufficiently different that I thought a guide for it might be useful to others.
The main difference is the use of Cinema Craft Basic rather than TMPEGEnc for MPEG-2 encoding. Since CC Basic doesn’t do many things that TMPEGEnc does, it requires additional tools. It is much, much faster than TMPGEnc for encoding though. I re-encode at 720 x 480 for maximum compatibility with standalone DVD players, as I want these disks to play properly on any DVD player and home theater receiver/processor. For this reason I also use AC-3 audio, rather than MP2.
You will need the following tools:
Here is the template I start with. It loads the necessary plug-ins, sets the audio and video sources, and combines them. What is missing at this point is the command to trim the commercials:
LoadPlugin("f:\DVD2AVI\mpeg2dec.dll") LoadPlugin("f:\DVD2AVI\mpasource.dll") v1 = mpeg2source("f:\cartoonrips\1.d2v").BicubicResize(720, 480) a1 = mpasource("f:\cartoonrips\1.mp2") AudioDub(v1, a1)
Note that the first argument to the “mpeg2source” function is the .d2v file created in step 1. You can use Notepad or any other text editor to create the .avs script.
The easiest way to do this is to load your .avs script into VirtualDub, and use the scroll bar and arrow keys to determine the frame numbers.
LoadPlugin("f:\DVD2AVI\mpeg2dec.dll") LoadPlugin("f:\DVD2AVI\mpasource.dll") v1 = mpeg2source("f:\cartoonrips\1.d2v").BicubicResize(720, 480) a1 = mpasource("f:\cartoonrips\1.mp2") AudioDub(v1, a1)Trim(0, 20432) + Trim(25357, 45064)
CC Basic needs to know whether the source is top field first or not for encoding. If you enter the wrong value, all movement in the resulting video will be jerky and appear to flicker. Most programming I’ve seen on Dish has been top field first, but some has not, so you need to check each video before you encode. Launch Bitrate Viewer and load each of your .m2v files by clicking on the button labeled “…”.
Note any files which say “No” next to “Field topfirst” in the information panel.
I normally use 2-pass VBR with an average bit rate of 6Mbps, which is overkill considering the source, but I can still fit four half-hour cartoon episodes (with commercials removed) on a single DVD. I create .wav audio with CC Basic, although you could do all audio conversions in BeSweet. Here is my standard template for encoding cartoons. Select the standard template under the “Template” menu to edit it, make your changes, and then click “Add” to save the modified template under a new name.
An important setting is the value of “Offset line” in the advanced video settings. This must be set to “0” for video which is top field first, and “1” for video which is bottom field first, otherwise all motion will be very jerky. Since most programming on Dish seems to be top field first, set the default in the template to “0”, and change it if necessary once your .avs files are batched up and ready to be encoded. You could also create separate templates for top field first and bottom field first.
Once your template is set up properly, you can just load your .avs files and encode them. Since CC Basic allows you to batch encode files, I usually load up a bunch of files and let it run overnight
If any of your video files were bottom field first, double-click on the corresponding .avs file in this dialog, and change the “Offset Line” setting in the Advanced Video settings. The dialog looks very similar to the template setting dialog, except it also has per-file settings, since these settings can be changed for each batched file.
Once Cinema Craft Basic has finished encoding, you should have a .mpv and a .wav file for each program.
I just use the command line here since I usually batch up a lot of files at once. My DVD authoring software will only accept AC-3 audio at 192kbps, so the command line for BeSweet is:
f:\BeSweet\BeSweet.exe -core( -input 1.wav -output 1.ac3 ) -ota( -G max ) -ac3enc( -b 192 )
1.wav is the input file, and 1.ac3 is the output file, obviously.
If your authoring software requires program streams, you will need to mux the audio and video together. TMPEGEnc’s MPEG Tools can be used for this. Select “MPEG Tools” from the File menu (get rid of the wizard dialog, if present) and click on the “Multiplex” tab. Select “MPEG-2 Program” as the type, and load your .mpv (video) and .ac3 (audio) files:
Change the location of the output file by clicking on the “Browse” button if necessary, and then click on “Run” to create the program stream.
Now you’re ready to author your DVD in your favorite authoring program.