DVD Idiots Guide

[ksf]

Happy New Year to everyone - especially Igor and his team.

I have been reading through many of the interesting and varied topics and continue to be amazed by the wealth of knowledge and experience there is regarding the latest beta versions of PTE.

I would like to try burning a short sequence to DVD but am unsure as to the correct sequence (and which options) I should follow. Forgive me if I have missed this information on another topic elsewhere but can anyone produce an idiots guide to writing a pte show to a dvd disk for me please?

Thanks, Keith

[Ken Cox]

maybe have a look at the dvd section

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=4

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1408

ver 5 is different but the basics are here

ken

[alrobin]

Keith,

Ken has directed you to some excellent discussion of how to convert version 4 shows to video.

Version 5, beta 8r, has taken much of the guess-work out of the process, however, and simplified it considerably. While there is a lot of discussion on this procedure in the video section, and the pinned thread for the new beta version of PTE, basically the main steps are as follows:

Assume you are burning an AV composed of images of resolution 1024x768 px, and want the show to be viewed on a regular 4:3 aspect-ratio TV set (via a DVD player).

1. Set up your sequence in PTE version 5. (You don't have to create it as an "exe" file). Note that this procedure will not work with slideshows built with older-versions of PTE

2. In Project Options / Screen, select aspect ratio 4:3

3. Save the AV sequence (as a ".pte" file).

4. Select "Video" at the bottom of the main PTE window. This will open a menu with two options. Select "Create DVD disc". This will open a separate program called "Video Builder".

5. Browse through the panel on the top left to where you saved the ".pte" project file and click on the appropriate folder.

6. Click on the project file where it appears in the window on the right, and select "Add" at the bottom of the window. An icon for your file should now appear on the horizontal frame at the bottom of the screen. If you want to add additional PTE project files you can do so at this point.

7. Open Project options and make the following selections (leave everything else as is):

-- TV system: select NTSC if in North America, and PAL nearly everywhere else.

-- Menu aspect ratio: 4:3

-- Titles aspect ratio: Auto

-- Advanced options: Select "Return to menu ..", "Add chapters ...", and "Animated menu" (if you want a fancy movie-type menu on the DVD).

8. Click "OK".

9. Click "Next" (bottom of the main window). This will open a colourful "Menus" window where you can select the background you want (in the vertical bar on the left hand side). You can move things around, resize the titles by clicking and dragging the corners, right-click on the various titles and objects shown to make changes, etc., etc. Or, you can leave everything as is and go on to the next step.

10. Assign a project name, and check off the options you want - for now, if you just want to burn a DVD, just select this option, and leave the others unchecked. You can experiment with the other options later.

11. Insert a DVD in the burner, and click on "Start". You will see a "log" of your progress as the various video files are rendered, and the burning process starts. The time taken will be roughly proportional to the time for your AV production and the size of the image and audio files.

Hope this helps some - please don't hesitate to post again if you run into snags along the way. Best of luck!

[ksf]

Keith,

Ken has directed you to some excellent discussion of how to convert version 4 shows to video.

Version 5, beta 8r, has taken much of the guess-work out of the process, however, and simplified it considerably. While there is a lot of discussion on this procedure in the video section, and the pinned thread for the new beta version of PTE, basically the main steps are as follows:

Assume you are burning an AV composed of images of resolution 1024x768 px, and want the show to be viewed on a regular 4:3 aspect-ratio TV set (via a DVD player).

1. Set up your sequence in PTE version 5. (You don't have to create it as an "exe" file). Note that this procedure will not work with slideshows built with older-versions of PTE

2. In Project Options / Screen, select aspect ratio 4:3

3. Save the AV sequence (as a ".pte" file).

4. Select "Video" at the bottom of the main PTE window. This will open a menu with two options. Select "Create DVD disc". This will open a separate program called "Video Builder".

5. Browse through the panel on the top left to where you saved the ".pte" project file and click on the appropriate folder.

6. Click on the project file where it appears in the window on the right, and select "Add" at the bottom of the window. An icon for your file should now appear on the horizontal frame at the bottom of the screen. If you want to add additional PTE project files you can do so at this point.

7. Open Project options and make the following selections (leave everything else as is):

-- TV system: select NTSC if in North America, and PAL nearly everywhere else.

-- Menu aspect ratio: 4:3

-- Titles aspect ratio: Auto

-- Advanced options: Select "Return to menu ..", "Add chapters ...", and "Animated menu" (if you want a fancy movie-type menu on the DVD).

8. Click "OK".

9. Click "Next" (bottom of the main window). This will open a colourful "Menus" window where you can select the background you want (in the vertical bar on the left hand side). You can move things around, resize the titles by clicking and dragging the corners, right-click on the various titles and objects shown to make changes, etc., etc. Or, you can leave everything as is and go on to the next step.

10. Assign a project name, and check off the options you want - for now, if you just want to burn a DVD, just select this option, and leave the others unchecked. You can experiment with the other options later.

11. Insert a DVD in the burner, and click on "Start". You will see a "log" of your progress as the various video files are rendered, and the burning process starts. The time taken will be roughly proportional to the time for your AV production and the size of the image and audio files.

Hope this helps some - please don't hesitate to post again if you run into snags along the way. Best of luck!

Many thanks Ken but Al's reply was more the sort of answer I was after. By the way Al, you probably don't remember me but we had a good chat in the bar at Cirencester. Hope you are keeping well, best regards, K.

[alrobin]

By the way Al, you probably don't remember me but we had a good chat in the bar at Cirencester.........

Hi, Keith,

Sure, I remember you - you were there with Brendan (sp?), (and Alan & Phil). But I didn't realize it was you on the Forum until now. Good to "talk" to you again!

By the way, Ken taught me everything I know about creating DVD's!

Happy New Year, and all the best with PTE!

[ksf]

Hi, Keith,

Sure, I remember you - you were there with Brendan (sp?), (and Alan & Phil). But I didn't realize it was you on the Forum until now. Good to "talk" to you again!

By the way, Ken taught me everything I know about creating DVD's!

Happy New Year, and all the best with PTE!

Thanks Al,

By the way, I wasn't having a go at Ken - it's just that I had looked at the v4 info as suggested but I felt it didn't really relate to the new style v5 and I found your reply more in line with what I needed to know.

Sometimes it is just a case of having the courage to check various options and click a few buttons - at the risk of making a few more coasters or cycle reflectors!

Anyway, I did actually manage to burn a show to DVD (TDK DVD-R) last night but... when I play it on the TV the picture seems to be cropped particularly at the top & bottom. The TV is widescreen but I burned the DVD at 4:3 ratio - could this explain the cropping? Also, I appear to have lost some quality (sharpness) from the images which were all 1024x768.

Any ideas?

[Lin Evans]

Thanks Al,

By the way, I wasn't having a go at Ken - it's just that I had looked at the v4 info as suggested but I felt it didn't really relate to the new style v5 and I found your reply more in line with what I needed to know.

Sometimes it is just a case of having the courage to check various options and click a few buttons - at the risk of making a few more coasters or cycle reflectors!

Anyway, I did actually manage to burn a show to DVD (TDK DVD-R) last night but... when I play it on the TV the picture seems to be cropped particularly at the top & bottom. The TV is widescreen but I burned the DVD at 4:3 ratio - could this explain the cropping? Also, I appear to have lost some quality (sharpness) from the images which were all 1024x768.

Any ideas?

Hi Keith,

A bit off the main topic, but if you want to save some money on "coasters and reflectors" - LOL, why not buy a few rewritable DVD's? I find that the initial cost of the rewritable (about four times the cost of regular media here in the U.S.) is very quickly amortized when testing new technology and ideas with DVD The media is good for hundreds or more rewrites so after the first four I figure I'm saving money...

Best regards,

Lin

[alrobin]

Hi, Keith,

I didn't mean to imply that you and Ken were at odds - from what I could tell, you are both very amenable characters. Don't ever call up Ken and tell him you are a telemarketer, though!

Lin's advice re the rewritable DVD's is very good - I have been using them while extensively testing the new betas, and only made 2 "coasters", before I ended up buying a bunch of RW's. These have worked fine for me since.

Re the cropping, the shows shouldn't appear cropped, unless, possibly, if you were using the "Cover slide" mode in PTE "O&A / Properties". You should have black bars on each side instead.

Check to ensure that you have the aspect ratio set correctly for both the PTE project file and Video Builder. If set OK, and the problem still persists, then Igor would have to resolve the problem for you as he did for me when I was trying to get a 16:9 show to play properly on a 4:3 TV set.

Re the loss in sharpness, it is a fact of life that you will lose some definition in video mode, compared to the images alone (or in a PTE show), viewed on your pc. You have to use very expensive hardware and codecs in order to achieve the quality of a commercial movie DVD. With amateur equipment, everything is a compromise. But, I am surprised at how good our attempts at videos do appear when played back through a DVD player and a good-quality TV set or projector.

[ksf]

Hi, Keith,

I didn't mean to imply that you and Ken were at odds - from what I could tell, you are both very amenable characters. Don't ever call up Ken and tell him you are a telemarketer, though!

Lin's advice re the rewritable DVD's is very good - I have been using them while extensively testing the new betas, and only made 2 "coasters", before I ended up buying a bunch of RW's. These have worked fine for me since.

Re the cropping, the shows shouldn't appear cropped, unless, possibly, if you were using the "Cover slide" mode in PTE "O&A / Properties". You should have black bars on each side instead.

Check to ensure that you have the aspect ratio set correctly for both the PTE project file and Video Builder. If set OK, and the problem still persists, then Igor would have to resolve the problem for you as he did for me when I was trying to get a 16:9 show to play properly on a 4:3 TV set.

Re the loss in sharpness, it is a fact of life that you will lose some definition in video mode, compared to the images alone (or in a PTE show), viewed on your pc. You have to use very expensive hardware and codecs in order to achieve the quality of a commercial movie DVD. With amateur equipment, everything is a compromise. But, I am surprised at how good our attempts at videos do appear when played back through a DVD player and a good-quality TV set or projector.

Hi Al (and Lin)

Thanks for the tips regarding dvd coasters - I haven't really used DVD's that much before so I just bought the first pack I could without thinking too much about the RW aspects. I'll check which options etc I had set and have another go later to see if I resolve the cropping issue. I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, Lin, I loved your Colorado snow pictures - looks fabulous although probably a bit of a nuisance for you to shovel it out of the way. I live on the coast just north of Liverpool, UK, and whereas we used to get a lot of snow 20 years ago it is now rare that we get more than an inch, if at all. Probably a sure sign of global warming? So in some respects I envy you.

Bye for now,