Anime-Planet forum - View Single Post - Video Conversion AVI/MKV/MP4 to DVD (Free)

Dement · 03-06-2008, 12:27 PM

**While rm can be used I don't recommend it for sake of quality!**

This guide is tailored for people looking to burn to DVD for watching on their standalone DVD Player. All programs used in this guide are FREE!!!!
Programs you need:
FAVC: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/
Avisynth v2.56a, or later, installed: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/
.NET framework Version 2 installed: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/
MKVExtractGUI (used for subtitles): http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVExtractGUI

Installing:

Install .Net framework and AVIsynth first and once those are installed proceed to install FAVC (it's just a self extracting .exe). To install MKVExtractGUI extract it into a folder within your FAVC folder named, "MKVtoolnix". If you mess up extracting when you attempt to open MKVExtractGUI it will error out saying your missing some components.

Once everything is installed and you have a avi/mkv/mp4 you want on DVD open up FAVC. Note: For this guide I'm going to show you a DVD I'm working on for my local Anime Club that consists of the best AMV's of 2007 ^.^

Now if your new to converting some of the functions might look foreign so let me go over what each one does so you can customize your program for what you need.

----------

Sources & Output Tab:

-Destination Folder: This is the place FAVC will save your totally converted DVD. Please make sure your destination folder is on a Hard Drive with at least 10GB of free space! Nothing is worse then running out of HD space during a convert.
-Temporary Folder: FAVC automatically places all essential conversion files like .avs files into this folder. Again make sure you have enough HD space.
-Disc Capacity: Most of you will be using 4.37GB DVD's but if for some reason you have a Dual Layer DVD's at your disposal check 7.95GB. You can check your DVD's size by reading the front of the DVD. I don't suggest messing with custom size unless you know what your doing.
-Chapter Length: I very rarely if ever use chapters for my DVD's but through experience usually about 8-10 minutes for each chapter is pretty good. Chapters are used for quick fast forwarding on your TV. FAVC will setup a chapter every X minute you put in. Being that my AMV's are about 5 minutes long I really dont need chapters. In my example I set the chapters to 0 this will make the program do no chapters at all.
-Menu: I always use a menu even for long movies. It is essential for DVD navigation. However FAVC is limited to only 8 menu objects (this is the weak point of FAVC) and for my example I'm using 20 AMV's this forces FAVC to turn off Menu creation. If your looking to do other conversions with longer footage 8 or less objects should be plenty to fill a DVD.
-ISO Creation: You can set this to yes or no it doesn't really matter IMGburn (the free burning software we will use) can either burn an ISO or make an ISO for us automatically. I usually set this to NO.
-Open Imgburn: This simply... opens IMGburn after conversion is done.
-Working Files: This option will atomically delete your temp folder. I leave this on No!!! You might run into a problem where you could use the working files! Just remember to delete the working folder later if your DVD came out good.
-DVD Format: This is IMPORTANT make sure you set yourself to the correct DVD format for your region. In general NTSC is for North Amercia / Japan and PAL is European if your unsure of which format your DVD player uses look it up. NOTE: If you use a Playstation or Xbox for your DVD player they can read both PAL and NTSC and so can your computer (usually tehe)!
-Encoder: I recommend HC it has a nice 2-pass encode and its quite fast at it.
-Shutdown: I set this to No but if for some reason you want your computer to turn off after converting is done check this to Yes.

-----------
DVD Options Tab:

This tab is used for your DVD's Menu. Please note you can only put up to 8 videos on 1 DVD or you lose menu support. I will go over the Subtitles part more once I get there in this tutorial! Rest should be pretty self explanatory.

-----------
QuEnc/HC Option Tabs:

I don't recommend customizing this yourself unless you know what your doing. Luckily for us FAVC has pre-built options for us at the bottom. I generally find Balance to be the best for most things. If you have a Dual Core CPU make sure you set your Cores to 2. If you have a Quad Core (lucky) set Cores to 4.
Lastly the only other option we have to worry about is, "Incorporate TV Overscan". Let me explain what this does really quickly and why it does it. This option will put 16 pixel width bars around your video for example here is a snapshot of the AMV Skittles (on my computer) after being encoded with TV Overscan on:

Now your asking yourself why do you do this? Well televisions all have different overscan ranges you see when you watch a movie or cable TV you are losing the outside picture to TV Overscan! It's not a big deal really but we want ALL or MOST of our picture to show right? So putting them boxes in gives us more viewable picture on our TV. If you would like to read more about TV Overscan check here. With that said if you plan for your DVD's to be played in Televisions set this to YES if not hit this to NO.

-----------
Audio Options and Advanced Scripting Tabs:
Don't touch the Audio tab this should already be setup perfect for you.
The Advanced Scripting tab is used for AVS scripts. Being that AVS is a command line program it gets pretty technical. In general this tab should never be used unless you know how to write AVS scripts.

-----------
Importing and Encoding:

So we have FAVC all setup like we want it now so import your video/s you want on this DVD. Make sure your videos are in the right order in the box!

Now flip to the DVD Options tab you should see all your videos you imported. You can rename what they say on your menu from there. Also if you want a picture you can import a nice wallpaper in the background. NOTE: If your using Subbed MKV files and you want to retain the subtitles you have an additional step before converting.

FOR PEOPLE USING MKV ONLY! IF YOU HAVE AVI'S SKIP THIS STEP.
Quick explanation for why we need to rip a MKV before convert. Think of a MKV as like a "shell" inside the shell there can be multiple things (this is why mkv is so popular) like different audio languages, multiple Subtitles, and other things. Because of this shell we have to take the subtitles we need for our DVD otherwise if you convert now you will have a unsubbed DVD on your hands.

Ripping Subtitles from MKV: (Added pictures of me ripping the subs from the unlicensed show, "Shakugan no Shana II".)
1. Open up MKVExtractGUI
2. Import your MKV
3. Box should then be filled with the contents in the mkv "shell". Find the Subtitles track and check it. If you have 2 or more sub tracks choose the S_TEXT/UTF8 one. Otherwise if all you have is S_TEXT/ASS read the note below.

4. Click Extract.
5. Go to the saved file and open it in Notepad.
6. Resave the file in Notepad but change the Encoding to ANSI.

7. Repeat these steps for each video.

NOTE: FAVC HATES .ass SUBTITLES! YOU MUST CONVERT THEM TO .srt! Search google I assure you there are free programs that will also do this for you.

Once you are done go back to FAVC and there you will have to import your subtitle files for each video.

1. Highlight your first video.
2. Click the notepad icon.
3. Find your first extracted subtitle file.
4. Hit OK

Match up each Video with the correct Subtitle. Double check them in the box to make sure you have them correct.

Hard Subtitles this option is truly only available to people with MKV. Unchecked this will not show the Subtitles on your TV till you click your subtitles button on your remote. Checking this will force subtitles to always be shown on your video. I leave this unchecked but if you always want subs to show check it.

NOW BOTH AVI AND MKV USERS SHOULD BE IN THE CONVERTING STAGE!

Depending on how fast your computer is conversion could take all night or an hour. FAVC will tell you when it is safe to close FAVC during encoding.

-----------
Burning:

Before we mess with Burning our DVD. Double check your converted files and make sure they look and run right. I do this with VLC Player. Right click the Video_TS folder and hit, "Play in VLC Media Player" from there you can see your menu and everything. If it all looks good continue to IMGburn.

Once in Imgburn do the following steps:
1. Click Mode at the top and make sure your on Build.
2. Click the Browse for FOLDER icon.
3. Find your Video_TS Folder and hit ok.
4. Insert your Blank DVD.
5. Click the calculator and make sure your DVD is big enough (make sure it's not over 100%)
6. Click the Big icon on the bottom left that looks like a Folder pointing to a DVD.
7. If a Box pops up asking about the DVD's name just hit OK.
8. The Writing and Burning should start.
9. If you get some type of error saying "BAD SECTORS" or something like that don't worry it's nothing you did it was your blank DVD. If this happens just throw away that Blank DVD it was a faulty disc and try again. If this happens often you might need to buy better blank Media.

Thats it your all done! If you made it Congratulations! Now you know how to convert all your videos to DVD! Have fun!

If you want a menu larger than 8 videos or a more complex menu generation you will have to use DVD authoring software. I personally use TMGEnc DVD Author 3 for this but it does cost money to buy. I do still use FAVC for encoding however.

Here are some screens of the DVD I made while writing this guide:

Cheers!

03-06-2008, 12:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dement Anime Fan in Training Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Monroe, Michigan Age: 22 Posts: 140	Video Conversion AVI/MKV/MP4/MOV/OGM/WMV to DVD (Free) While rm can be used I don't recommend it for sake of quality! This guide is tailored for people looking to burn to DVD for watching on their standalone DVD Player. All programs used in this guide are FREE!!!! Programs you need: FAVC: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/ Avisynth v2.56a, or later, installed: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/ .NET framework Version 2 installed: http://favcfavc.googlepages.com/ MKVExtractGUI (used for subtitles): http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVExtractGUI Installing: Install .Net framework and AVIsynth first and once those are installed proceed to install FAVC (it's just a self extracting .exe). To install MKVExtractGUI extract it into a folder within your FAVC folder named, "MKVtoolnix". If you mess up extracting when you attempt to open MKVExtractGUI it will error out saying your missing some components. Once everything is installed and you have a avi/mkv/mp4 you want on DVD open up FAVC. Note: For this guide I'm going to show you a DVD I'm working on for my local Anime Club that consists of the best AMV's of 2007 ^.^ Now if your new to converting some of the functions might look foreign so let me go over what each one does so you can customize your program for what you need. ---------- Sources & Output Tab: -Destination Folder: This is the place FAVC will save your totally converted DVD. Please make sure your destination folder is on a Hard Drive with at least 10GB of free space! Nothing is worse then running out of HD space during a convert. -Temporary Folder: FAVC automatically places all essential conversion files like .avs files into this folder. Again make sure you have enough HD space. -Disc Capacity: Most of you will be using 4.37GB DVD's but if for some reason you have a Dual Layer DVD's at your disposal check 7.95GB. You can check your DVD's size by reading the front of the DVD. I don't suggest messing with custom size unless you know what your doing. -Chapter Length: I very rarely if ever use chapters for my DVD's but through experience usually about 8-10 minutes for each chapter is pretty good. Chapters are used for quick fast forwarding on your TV. FAVC will setup a chapter every X minute you put in. Being that my AMV's are about 5 minutes long I really dont need chapters. In my example I set the chapters to 0 this will make the program do no chapters at all. -Menu: I always use a menu even for long movies. It is essential for DVD navigation. However FAVC is limited to only 8 menu objects (this is the weak point of FAVC) and for my example I'm using 20 AMV's this forces FAVC to turn off Menu creation. If your looking to do other conversions with longer footage 8 or less objects should be plenty to fill a DVD. -ISO Creation: You can set this to yes or no it doesn't really matter IMGburn (the free burning software we will use) can either burn an ISO or make an ISO for us automatically. I usually set this to NO. -Open Imgburn: This simply... opens IMGburn after conversion is done. -Working Files: This option will atomically delete your temp folder. I leave this on No!!! You might run into a problem where you could use the working files! Just remember to delete the working folder later if your DVD came out good. -DVD Format: This is IMPORTANT make sure you set yourself to the correct DVD format for your region. In general NTSC is for North Amercia / Japan and PAL is European if your unsure of which format your DVD player uses look it up. NOTE: If you use a Playstation or Xbox for your DVD player they can read both PAL and NTSC and so can your computer (usually tehe)! -Encoder: I recommend HC it has a nice 2-pass encode and its quite fast at it. -Shutdown: I set this to No but if for some reason you want your computer to turn off after converting is done check this to Yes. ----------- DVD Options Tab: This tab is used for your DVD's Menu. Please note you can only put up to 8 videos on 1 DVD or you lose menu support. I will go over the Subtitles part more once I get there in this tutorial! Rest should be pretty self explanatory. ----------- QuEnc/HC Option Tabs: I don't recommend customizing this yourself unless you know what your doing. Luckily for us FAVC has pre-built options for us at the bottom. I generally find Balance to be the best for most things. If you have a Dual Core CPU make sure you set your Cores to 2. If you have a Quad Core (lucky) set Cores to 4. Lastly the only other option we have to worry about is, "Incorporate TV Overscan". Let me explain what this does really quickly and why it does it. This option will put 16 pixel width bars around your video for example here is a snapshot of the AMV Skittles (on my computer) after being encoded with TV Overscan on: Now your asking yourself why do you do this? Well televisions all have different overscan ranges you see when you watch a movie or cable TV you are losing the outside picture to TV Overscan! It's not a big deal really but we want ALL or MOST of our picture to show right? So putting them boxes in gives us more viewable picture on our TV. If you would like to read more about TV Overscan check here. With that said if you plan for your DVD's to be played in Televisions set this to YES if not hit this to NO. ----------- Audio Options and Advanced Scripting Tabs: Don't touch the Audio tab this should already be setup perfect for you. The Advanced Scripting tab is used for AVS scripts. Being that AVS is a command line program it gets pretty technical. In general this tab should never be used unless you know how to write AVS scripts. ----------- Importing and Encoding: So we have FAVC all setup like we want it now so import your video/s you want on this DVD. Make sure your videos are in the right order in the box! Now flip to the DVD Options tab you should see all your videos you imported. You can rename what they say on your menu from there. Also if you want a picture you can import a nice wallpaper in the background. NOTE: If your using Subbed MKV files and you want to retain the subtitles you have an additional step before converting. FOR PEOPLE USING MKV ONLY! IF YOU HAVE AVI'S SKIP THIS STEP. Quick explanation for why we need to rip a MKV before convert. Think of a MKV as like a "shell" inside the shell there can be multiple things (this is why mkv is so popular) like different audio languages, multiple Subtitles, and other things. Because of this shell we have to take the subtitles we need for our DVD otherwise if you convert now you will have a unsubbed DVD on your hands. Ripping Subtitles from MKV: (Added pictures of me ripping the subs from the unlicensed show, "Shakugan no Shana II".) 1. Open up MKVExtractGUI 2. Import your MKV 3. Box should then be filled with the contents in the mkv "shell". Find the Subtitles track and check it. If you have 2 or more sub tracks choose the S_TEXT/UTF8 one. Otherwise if all you have is S_TEXT/ASS read the note below. 4. Click Extract. 5. Go to the saved file and open it in Notepad. 6. Resave the file in Notepad but change the Encoding to ANSI. 7. Repeat these steps for each video. NOTE: FAVC HATES .ass SUBTITLES! YOU MUST CONVERT THEM TO .srt! Search google I assure you there are free programs that will also do this for you. Once you are done go back to FAVC and there you will have to import your subtitle files for each video. 1. Highlight your first video. 2. Click the notepad icon. 3. Find your first extracted subtitle file. 4. Hit OK Match up each Video with the correct Subtitle. Double check them in the box to make sure you have them correct. Hard Subtitles this option is truly only available to people with MKV. Unchecked this will not show the Subtitles on your TV till you click your subtitles button on your remote. Checking this will force subtitles to always be shown on your video. I leave this unchecked but if you always want subs to show check it. NOW BOTH AVI AND MKV USERS SHOULD BE IN THE CONVERTING STAGE! Depending on how fast your computer is conversion could take all night or an hour. FAVC will tell you when it is safe to close FAVC during encoding. ----------- Burning: Before we mess with Burning our DVD. Double check your converted files and make sure they look and run right. I do this with VLC Player. Right click the Video_TS folder and hit, "Play in VLC Media Player" from there you can see your menu and everything. If it all looks good continue to IMGburn. Once in Imgburn do the following steps: 1. Click Mode at the top and make sure your on Build. 2. Click the Browse for *FOLDER* icon. 3. Find your Video_TS Folder and hit ok. 4. Insert your Blank DVD. 5. Click the calculator and make sure your DVD is big enough (make sure it's not over 100%) 6. Click the Big icon on the bottom left that looks like a Folder pointing to a DVD. 7. If a Box pops up asking about the DVD's name just hit OK. 8. The Writing and Burning should start. 9. If you get some type of error saying "BAD SECTORS" or something like that don't worry it's nothing you did it was your blank DVD. If this happens just throw away that Blank DVD it was a faulty disc and try again. If this happens often you might need to buy better blank Media. Thats it your all done! If you made it Congratulations! Now you know how to convert all your videos to DVD! Have fun! If you want a menu larger than 8 videos or a more complex menu generation you will have to use DVD authoring software. I personally use TMGEnc DVD Author 3 for this but it does cost money to buy. I do still use FAVC for encoding however. Here are some screens of the DVD I made while writing this guide: Cheers! __________________ °º¤ø,¸Myspace¸,ø¤º° Last edited by Dement; 03-14-2008 at 04:13 PM.