[webraider]

I have ordered the Plextor ConvertX hardware TV Encoder. This cool box comes with a tuner, EyeTV software and built in mpeg 1,2, and 4 encoding! I'm going to use this to record TV obviously, but also to convert some Video Tapes to DVD! I'm not interested in High Def at this point but these are the options avaiable.

Encode it in mpeg 2 and opening it directly in Toast to edit and burn on DVD (sort of cool, but I have to update toast... and I hate using an app that otherwise I just don't need... even if it is a cool app)

Encode it in mpeg 4, open it in i-movie, do my thing, then import it to i-dvd. (I'm not exactly sure about this, but won't the import to i-dvd take time?? won't this be re-encoded to mpeg 2 and the quality not as good as if I stayed mpeg 2 all the way???)

it seems that option 1 is still the best, fastest option, best quality option. Is there any advice out there? I just wish i-movie supported mpeg 2 natively or that i-DVD would open an mpeg 2 file. That's wishful thinking on my part. I'm a bit confused with all the encoding that goes on so please help me if I'm off.

Thanks for input... no pun intended

[Uncle Skeleton]

A couple of suggestions:

1: Editing. Toast doesn't edit video, only lets you set in and out points, and it won't even do that if your video files are already encoded MPEG. The only good native MPEG editor I know of for Mac is MPEG StreamClip (and even then you can only do trimming, no effects). For MPEG-2 it requires the QuickTime MPEG-2 decoder.

2: Codec. It's a little known fact that MPEG-1 video is also DVD compliant (at VCD parameters which is basically all the MPEG-2 video you ever see). VCD quality is slightly better than VHS, and significantly below broadcast quality, but honestly it's good enough for most people. What makes this fact interesting is that it allows you to fit 4x more video on a disc (since the resolution is 4x smaller than normal MPEG-2 video (both codecs have pretty much the same compression quality)). As a bonus, you wouldn't need to buy anything to use MPEG StreamClip for trimming it. Give this a try, definitely for your VHS transfers but also for your native captures and see how you like it. You'll have to re-encode the audio for this since VCD audio is not compatible with DVDs, but that's easy.

3: Authoring. Don't use the iApps. This is just a suggestion; they will work, eventually. But they are designed for your original content, and are unsuitable for anything else. As mentioned before, use MPEG StreamClip for editing (I really hate to use the word editing for what's really just "cut", but there it is). If you're too cheap to get Toast, there are open source alternatives like Sizzle. Also ffmpegX might have some way to author DVDs. Then you burn them with Disk Utility. Toast really is superior though.

[webraider]

Originally posted by Uncle Skeleton:
A couple of suggestions:

1: Editing. Toast doesn't edit video, only lets you set in and out points, and it won't even do that if your video files are already encoded MPEG. The only good native MPEG editor I know of for Mac is MPEG StreamClip (and even then you can only do trimming, no effects). For MPEG-2 it requires the QuickTime MPEG-2 decoder.

Well, with the EyeTV software you can edit what you record from with in it. Then you can "export it" to different programs like Toast for burning onto a DVD. My question is that even if I record Mpeg 2... Do I even need Toast.. I'm thinking I do as far as the ability to set chapters, locations, etc..., but if that's all I'm doing, maybe there's a way around Toast alltogether

[hab]

Edit (trim out commercials and unwanted content) using the EyeTV software. Export the MPEG-2 file from EyeTV. Drag the file to Toast and burn away. Why Toast? It works seamlessly with the EyeTV software. Plus gives you options for output (VCD, SVCD, DVD). Makes a simple menu. However, does not do "chapters" at user defined intervals. Sets chapters automatically at 5min intervals.

[webraider]

Originally posted by hab:
Edit (trim out commercials and unwanted content) using the EyeTV software. Export the MPEG-2 file from EyeTV. Drag the file to Toast and burn away. Why Toast? It works seamlessly with the EyeTV software. Plus gives you options for output (VCD, SVCD, DVD). Makes a simple menu. However, does not do "chapters" at user defined intervals. Sets chapters automatically at 5min intervals.

okay.. but i was just readind and there are two other solutions available for Free. MovieGate, and Sizzle. I don't know if Sizzle works because it has to have a seperate audio stream... MovieGate seems to work and there are pictures of it being accessible from the French Version of EyeTV. Movie Gate is a full DVD authoring program and it seems to work. The reason I am leary about toast is that I don't want it messing up my finder and other i-apps from accessing the internal SuperDrive that I have. Toast seems to be getting obsolete these days, and MovieGate will let me fix the intervals in the chapters. Toast is $80!!!!

[webraider]

Originally posted by webraider:
okay.. but i was just readind and there are two other solutions available for Free. MovieGate, and Sizzle. I don't know if Sizzle works because it has to have a seperate audio stream... MovieGate seems to work and there are pictures of it being accessible from the French Version of EyeTV. Movie Gate is a full DVD authoring program and it seems to work. The reason I am leary about toast is that I don't want it messing up my finder and other i-apps from accessing the internal SuperDrive that I have. Toast seems to be getting obsolete these days, and MovieGate will let me fix the intervals in the chapters. Toast is $80!!!!

I just wanted to update anyone who is interested. You don't need toast at all with EyeTv. You can send it to i-movie and i-DVD without re-encoding or losing quality. You can also edit the project in EyeTv (cut out commercials) and then use Sizzle to author the DVD... this works fine... Toast isn't needed at all. Cheers.