First, Hi, Newbie here!!

Ok so just tried making my first DVD.

Have many video files of different types on my pc but decided to start with a movie.

The movie came in 2 parts, both around 800mb video files.
Using bundled software with LG dvd+/- ram drive ( neodvdplus 5 ) tried to add both files to make a dvd...told me I would end up with a 10000mb file and may not fit on disc!

Opened up intervideo's win producer to merge the 2 files and save as svcd mpeg...PAL. This gave me a 5.5 gig file..still too big.

eventually managed a 4gig dvd...used good quality setting (instead of better or best)on neo dvd to fit on 1 disc.

When the two files were merged and saved...they were encoded. When neodvd did its thing, the file was encoded again.

Any way, the original quality of the video files was ok, not brilliant but watchable. Now on the dvd the quality is very poor. Very pixelated ( artifacts?)

What have I done wrong?

What is the best software to use to merge files and save, what are the correct properties of a vcd/svcd and dvd...

Any idiot guides?

At mo, just want to convert pc video files to svcd or dvd to watch on home player.

Any help or advice greatly appreciated!

system xp2700, 1 gig ram, 2 x 160 gb SATA drives, LG dvd +/- ram drive, Aopen cd-rw, Radeon 9700pro, XP pro....

p.s b4 I got dvd drive, made SVCD copies on cd-r....ran well, good quality..

I would suggest, that you view our "GUIDES" regarding this subject, please do a "search" on the subject, and I am sure that you will find the answer that you are searching for.

(in reply to jotto)

You must adjust the settings of the encoder you are using when creating of the mpeg2 file. This way there will be only one encoding phase and hence the results will be otpimum.

Each time you re-compress/encode you are essentially loosing quality.

Most mpeg2 encoders should have settings adjustable for quality against file length.

(in reply to jotto)