Best way to copy MP4 to DVD

[robert600]

Thinking of the editing - I think you want to do that with different software than MultiAVCHD - I've done very little editing so can offer little advise about that (I do vaguely remember splitting big movies in half and trimming out end credits etc. using tsmuxer I believe) but WindowsMovieMaker may do a very good job. I'm always a bit leery of Microsoft products for this kind of thing - even their default media player is for me at least, a total nightmare.
The best use for multiavchd is to feed it multiple videos that are pre-edited and thus in ready-to-be watched condition. It's main purpose is to:
1/ create a menu whereby the end-users can select which of the videos they want to watch. This menu can be customized (edited) somewhat (and chapters added if wanted).
2/create the AVCHD structure (folders - file conversion etc) that a standalone blu-ray player can read.

Ok ... steps 1 and 2 are very promising! Step 3 ... not so much lol - but I think we can get there.

Thinking of Step 2: looking at the stream folder (this is on your hard-drive ... right?) - are there files other than 00000 and 00001?
Also .... in the BDMV ...Playlist folder ... are there files? In this folder, on my successful multimovie disc is a file (among others) called 00301. Opening this file with 'potplayer' displays the movie selection (top) menu but as I mentioned in an earlier post, the keyboard and mouse do not access the menu. But ... at least we will know if a menu is present in.

Just to keep us on the same page so to speak - when you play 00000 and 00001 in step 2 - what media player are you using?

 

[mr benn]

Yes , Im not a big fan of the new Windows Movie Maker either. The older version 6 was great , but it doesnt support mp4. Typical - they bring out newer versions that are worse than the old.

In the Stream folder there are only the 2 files that I mentioned. To play them I am using Windows Media Player,

In the Playlist folder, there are just 2 files also : 00001.MPL and 00000.MPL
I have had to install potplayer to get these to open , as WMP didnt open them . When open it plays the 2 clips I have selected. The video is good , tho slightly less than the file sin stream , and there is no sound.

 

[robert600]

ok .... the menu has not been created then. When you ran ran multiavchd in step 2 above: did you try to make a menu?

 

[mr benn]

Just to make sure, I have tried step 2 again, making sure I have selected a menu. I can tell its selected as the Main Menu preview is highlighted in the Menu tab.
Still just the 2 files in Stream and Playlist.

Am I selecting the right option after clicking Start , when i pick "'solid media' , 1080p 60fps " ?

 

[robert600]

Did you happen to click the main menu preview to see what was being offered?

Sorry ... I can't answer the 'solid media' question off the top of my head. I think what I will do (later tonight) is dig out 2 smallish mp4s (hollywood movie type rips), load them into multiavchd and save the output to my hard - drive - hopefully with a menu. If I pick small enough ones (and if successful) I can burn to a dvd and play them in my stand-alone blu-ray player. This is the closest thing i can think of to do that matches what you are doing. I think once i open the program and dink about with it, stuff will come back to me about how i used to do it.

 

[robert600]

oh .... there are many nice things about potplayer but one that comes to mind is ... if you hit the tab key while a video is playing ... lots of useful info comes up. You might want to try that with the 00000 file we talked of earlier. Just so you know what you've got after multiA transcoded it.

I will let you know how I make out with Multi --- but it will prob not be until tomorrow morning.

 

[robert600]

I forgot I had Multi here at work - I just had a quick look. Thinking of the 'solid media' question - No that is not what you want - you want AVCHD for optical media - and i guess for you AVCHD strict. Just be sure that prior to hitting the start button and trying this ... you go to the settings and untick the 'use IMG Burn' box.

Also - I don't recall ever ticking the 64 bit box - and yes my system is 64 bit. I wonder if that might be the cause of the 'stopped working' message. Anyway, go ahead and try multi again as above. Maybe then you will get the menu. To make the task easier (since the files are already transcoded) you could just load the 00000 and 00001 files rather than the originals. Does that make sense? Be sure to change the path of the output folder (or move the output folder you have already) because you don't want to overwrite the output you obtained in Step 2.

I will still try the movies tonight as stated in my earlier message but let me know how you make out with the above.

 

[robert600]

I mean the 00000 & 00001 files from the stream folder - not the playlist folder - wow this stuff gets hard to talk about lol.

 

[mr benn]

Okay , at the 50th attempt ( he he ) , we have some more files.

So Ive selected 2 mp4 files to copy , ensured '64' and 'use imgburn' arent ticked. I can view the Menu in the preview box, and it shows a menu with both files to be selected on it.
Clicked Start, and selected AVCHD strict.

The message about "x264.exe stopped working" still appears though
Anyway , clicking cancel after it displays the classic "do you want to send information" box appears clears it. and the transcoding continues.

At completion , I know have 6 files in the Stream folder : 00000 00001, 80010, 80011, 80020 and 80021. The last 4 files are just 546k in size, and nothing seems to play on them.

In the Playlist folder there are also now 6 files. All with a file type of mpls. 00000 , 00001, 00301, 00601, 00302, 00602. Playin gthe last 4 files , all seem to show menu's , showing my files to be selected on them.
There is a clipinf folder with 6 files , all clpi extensions. Plus a backup folder

Just as another test , I have tried ticking the imgburn box, and it has written the files to the disk, but it doesnt seem to automatically play them when i put the disk into a dvd or my bluray players. . But if i browse to the clips on my bluray , it does play the 2 short clips I copied. They were so short I couldnt really judge the quality,

 

[robert600]

Ha ha - are we having fun yet????

ok - very good news about the menu files! progress is being made! I think the 00601 is the one that should autoload when a disc is put in a blu-ray player.

Something I don't quite understand - when you say 'browse to the clips on my bluray - how are you doing this??? - I don't think my players allow for this - could you somehow browse to the 00601 file and play it?

no surpise about the dvd player not playing the disc. The bluray player however should although ... it shouldn't 'automatically play them - it should open the menu screen and let you pick which of the 2 videos you want to watch. Hmmmm .... I know you don't want to waste blank discs but I'm wondering if the RW blank is a problem. How about trying with a standard blank dvd that can be 'finalized'? You can always use another coaster - right? lol. If you do this and it doesn't play in your Panasonic - is there a friend or neighbour with a blu-ray player that you could try to play it on?

 

[robert600]

sorry .... in the above message I meant I think 00301 is the one that should autoload. Is there a way for you to browse to it and play it?

I'm doing a 2 movie multiavchd run now - will let you know how it turns out - it's looking like it might take about 5 hours.

 

[mr benn]

Browse on my Bluray .. Whaen I put the dvd into my Bluray , I can use the remote control to get to a screen that allows me to change settings, or see music / videos . If i select videos, then it gives me a screen where i can view the folder structure on the disk . I can navigate into the stream folder, and play each file in there. The 2 movie clips play fine, but clicking on the other 4 files does nothing. It wont let me open the other 3 folders on the disk (including Playlist)

I have tried using a DVD -r , and it does the same as a RW.

As a test, I selected AVCH disk (as oppsed to Strict). Again , the disk didnt play automically. But it has made several more files in the Stream folder, which if you click on some of them it shows a Menu screen, like a front page menu for a dvd would be , but you cant do anything on the screen as such,

 

[robert600]

I was really hoping that the DVD-r would solve the problem. Were you able to try that dvd-r disc in firiend's/neighbour's machine (preferably not panasonic)?

Everything went fine with my transcoding: no 'stopped working' message - i selected 'strict' to test this - I think in the past I'd always used AVCHD disc. Anyway when I pointed 'PowerDVD' to the generated folder on the hard drive - the menu came right up and I could select either of the movies and play them.
So .... I burned the folders to a dvd-r (got very lucky - the size of of the files etc. was just under the capacity of a single-layer blank). Again .... I don't use 'multi' to do the burning. I simply open IMGBURN, drag and drop all the files and folders that multi generates on the hard drive - tweak the settings to UDF 2.50 etc. (as mentioned in an earlier post) - set the burn speed to 2X and let it burn.
I've tested the resulting disc in 3 machines. A sony, a toshiba, and a ps3 - all 3 play the disc flawlessly. The menu screen starts right up and the video and sound quality of whichever movie is selected is very, very good.
I'm just leaving for work now - I will think about what this all means and write another post.

Another question though .... when you rent or buy a commercial movie blu-ray and put it in your panasonic. Does it take you to the menu screen where you have to select play movie, special features etc. or does it just start playing the movie?

 

[mr benn]

So I re-installed MultiAVCHD to see if that made a difference with the error message popping up - it didnt. Tho im not sure how good the 'uninstall' really was as when I downloaded the software again, it still remembered spme of the settings and titles Id put in before
It does keep prompting to update from version770 to 771, which then fails as cant find the server.

I have then copied the whole of the folder structure to the disc uing Imgburn. I ensured the settings were set as you descirbed in the Options tab. I selected the folder called AVCHD-20160824-233408 , and it copied all the subfolders - eg Stream , playlist, . When it has completed , it automatically opens a BluRay player (nero) , but nothing displays.

BUT...when i put it into my Bluray player...we have a menu !! And when i click on it the films play. So definitly a step forward here. I can see I need to play with the menus, and try longer clips so I can see what the quality is.

So , just a cple of questions going forward.
To get the best quality , in the 'transcode & fit to media options' should I select 2 pass VHQ ?
When you copy the files to disk, what folders do you actually copy ?
Am i right in assuming the disk will not play in a DVD player ? (as i tried it in mine, and it didnt play)

Ohm and if anybody can recommend a better free editing software than Windows Movie Maker, please let me know.

Thanks again for spending your time on this.

 

[robert600]

Wow - it plays! I'll bet the look on your face was priceless! That's very good news indeed lol. So it seems the problem was with 'multi' trying to control 'IMGBURN' - would you agree with that - is that only difference between what worked and what didn't?
Is the working disc a rewritable - or did you sacrifice another 'normal' dvd-r?

Yes the version of 'multi' I have is build 771 but now that you have it working I doubt it's a big problem. Who knows though, this build might eliminate the 'not working' problem. If you decide to get it - is there any software that you have that can remove all traces of your now installed version?
go to http/www.videohelp.com/software/multiAVCHD and click on Download multiAVCHD 4.1.771 (direct link) - I tried and it downloaded the install exe file just fine.

ok answers to questions:

yes - for best quality - 2 pass VHQ (obviously, the higher the quality - the larger the file size and the slower the transcode process)

'copy files to disc'? What I do is .... open IMGBURN and pick 'write files to disk' ... then i go to the destination folder that 'multi' writes it's output to (can't remember what the default location is called but I think there's a little window 'file destination' type box in the bottom left of multi that tells you (something like c:\multiAVCHD\AVCHD\). I select everything in that folder (i believe in one i did last night there were 4 folders and 3 files) and right click on the multiselection and drag it all over and drop it in the big 'SOURCE' box of IMGBURN. Then i adjust the settings in IMGBURN - give the disc a name and burn it (I never go faster than 2X). I think if you forget to put the settings to UDF etc. - IMGBURN is smart enough to warn you and ask you if you want it to apply the settings. Don't waste a disc finding out if this is true or not though lol. IMGBURN is such a good program that I actually donated to the project ... which for someone as 'tight' as me ... is high praise indeed ha ha.

My knowledge about DVD players is quite outdated but unless things have changed a great deal in the last few years - no, no DVD player will play a AVCHD disc - if it could, it would be a blu-ray player because that's essentially the format and file structure of your burnt DVD. You have in fact made a 'mini' blu-ray disc with a dvd burner - how many people can say that lol.

Hope someone can help with the editing software - although fooling around with 'multi' last night - it seems like files can be trimmed etc - I've never tried this feature and didn't even remember that it could do that - it might be worth trying.

Post about your progress!

 

[robert600]

oh and yes - the menu - you can spend hours playing about with those settings - change header, footer, bkgd colour, chapters etc.etc. I tend to pick 'carousel' most of the time but the others are good too.

 

[robert600]

I forgot to mention above in the 'copy files to IMGBURN'. After dragging and dropping the Folders/files into IMGBURN' I always hit the the 'calculate image size' button to ensure that the data will fit on the type of disc I'm burning. This is where I got lucky last night - it came out to 99% of a dvd-r! I can't recall ever coming so close to an upper limit before. I was very happy not to have to use a dual-layer!

 

[mr benn]

Grrr, this is still doing my head in , and I feel I have spent half my holiday this week doing this !

If I do one pass , then i still get the annoying "x264 has stopped working error message ", so I have to keep clicking "close program " to make the transcoding finish.

If I do any of the '2 passes' , then AVCHD just finishes after I click close program on the above error, and doesnt write any files in the Stream folder. Looking at the script box on the right hand side of the screen , it has the folloing information :

[14:14:39] *** Transcoding failed!
[14:14:39] *** Check ffdshow/avisynth/haali (reinstall)!
[14:14:39] >>> Download links: http/multiforum.deanbg.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17
[14:14:39] *** DEBUG: Try to play [c:\multiAVCHD\_TEMP\multiTEMP-20160825\20160825-141401-uncrop-running.avs] in MPC or other player, which supports AviSynth scripts and report the error to the author!


[14:14:39] tsMuxeR failed to process [C:\Users.......\MVI_4195.MP4]...
[14:14:39] No compatible folders/files processed...

Looking at the quality when I do 1 pass VHQ then it looks very good on my TV , so i dont know how much better 2 passes will make it ?


I have googled he 264 error and cant see any real solution. I can see that the x264 file sits within the multiAVCHD folder folder on my C drive.
I looked at downloading the file from another source but couldnt find where to get it from. However , i dont think its the file itself , as that would mean it would fail for everybody. I have even tried downloading multiAVCHD onto my laptop , but couldnt get it to work on there at all !
Ultimately I can sit by my pc and keep clicking close program for each file Im trying to add, but thats a pain .

So the crux is 2 questions
1 - how get rid of this 264 error .
2 - why is 2 passes failing (and how much does it really matter )

 

[robert600]

ok ... I'm headed to work shortly so ... some quick thoughts.

Did you download and install build 771?

'rid of 264 error'?: How about going to where that file is and renaming it. Then run 'multi' with your short video clips. You may get an error saying 'file not found' or .... maybe it will run fine without that file - I really don't know.

'2 pass failure' - sorry, I have no idea why it won't work. But, if the files look good without it - why worry about it? If you want to see some of the specs of the 00000 file that 1 pass generates - run 00000 in potplayer and press the tab key (your input file should be a few minutes long so you can do this (actually, this may work while the video is paused - not sure, never it tried it?). Another and better way to see the specs would be to download 'mediainfo' (freeware) but I'm thinking you're getting tired of endlessly downloading software.
I gotta go - will check for your reply when I get home from work.

 

[mr benn]

Yes I installed version 771

I forgot to mention that I did try and rename the x264 , then clicked on start , selected avchd , and the program quickly stopped , saying "nothing to do "
In the text box it says "17:53:25] tsMuxeR failed to process [C:\ blah blah I_4126.MP4]...
[17:53:25] No compatible folders/files processed..."

I opened one of the files in the Stream folder , using Potplayer, pressed pause. The settings show that the file is output and input in 1280 x 720 . Which Im guessing is in HD ? fps is 60 bitrate 726 if thats significant also.