DVD Burning leaves movies pixelated.

[shaun0207]

Hey Guys:

I'm using a macbook air with a Memorex Dual layer 16x Burner.

I've been using Toast to burn all my movies but the quality keeps coming out horrible. Some of the movies were setup for PAL formatted players, so I can understand the issue there. But for the stuff formatted in NSTC , I'm not sure what the problem is. Most of the movies I'm downloading and burning are HD formatted as well. Is that the problem? For the larger movies I use Dual Layer DVD's, so they dont get compressed and I'm still having the issue.

Is there a better program to use to use for burning to improve the result?

 

[thomanjones]

What are the sizes of the original files on your mac (in MB/GB), and what type of file is it? Or are these straight ripped DVDs (Folder or dmg with a 'video_TS' folder inside)? Single click the folder or file and press command+i to see file size and format.

 

[shaun0207]

What are the sizes of the original files on your mac (in MB/GB), and what type of file is it? Or are these straight ripped DVDs (Folder or dmg with a 'video_TS' folder inside)? Single click the folder or file and press command+i to see file size and format.

Most of them are MKV files and are about 700mb. The HD ones are are Mp4 (2-3GB) and m2ts (4-5GB)

 

[spinnerlys]

Pixelation does not have to do with what broadcast system the DVDs were burnt in. PAL is even better than NTSC in picture quality, image resolution and colour representation (NTSC is sometimes called Never The Same Colour).

I don't really know about Toast's video converting capabilities, but it sounds to me, like the encoding process fracked up the quality.

Normally to encode properly you have to use a 2-pass encoding process, in which the first pass is used to analyze the image (content and fast movements and so forth), the second pass is the used to apply the findings and encode the video properly, so that no artefacts or or issues arise.

The .mkv and .mp4 files most probably use an MPEG-4 codec to store their footage, the .m2ts file is another MPEG transport stream (MPEG-2 or -4).


For most of my compression and conversion issues I use MPEG Sreamclip or Compressor (comes with Final Cut Studio), and then use Toast or Burn to just burn the DVD (and maybe add one of their dreadful menus) without them converting the footage.

 

[shaun0207]

Pixelation does not have to do with what broadcast system the DVDs were burnt in. PAL is even better than NTSC in picture quality, image resolution and colour representation (NTSC is sometimes called Never The Same Colour).

I don't really know about Toast's video converting capabilities, but it sounds to me, like the encoding process fracked up the quality.

Normally to encode properly you have to use a 2-pass encoding process, in which the first pass is used to analyze the image (content and fast movements and so forth), the second pass is the used to apply the findings and encode the video properly, so that no artefacts or or issues arise.

The .mkv and .mp4 files most probably use an MPEG-4 codec to store their footage, the .m2ts file is another MPEG transport stream (MPEG-2 or -4).


For most of my compression and conversion issues I use MPEG Sreamclip or Compressor (comes with Final Cut Studio), and then use Toast or Burn to just burn the DVD (and maybe add one of their dreadful menus) without them converting the footage.

When I had a windows computer, I used 2nd pass encoding. Wasnt sure it Toast was capable of it. Is MPEG Sreamclip free?

 

[spinnerlys]

When I had a windows computer, I used 2nd pass encoding. Wasnt sure it Toast was capable of it. Is MPEG Sreamclip free?

Yes. www.squared5.com

But to be able to open (therefore play and convert) MPEG-2 encoded video (mostly video DVDs - .vob files) you need to buy the QuickTime MPEG2-Playback Component for 19.99USD from the Online Apple Store.

 

[shaun0207]

Yes. www.squared5.com

But to be able to open (therefore play and convert) MPEG-2 encoded video (mostly video DVDs - .vob files) you need to buy the QuickTime MPEG2-Playback Component for 19.99USD from the Online Apple Store.

Cool. I already have the Quicktime Playback component. I've been all through Toast and I dont see any options to have 2nd pass encoding.