burning an anime to dvd.

[zammazingo]

Hello,

First of all, i would like to apologize if my question is previously answered. I searched the forum and i found some answers. Some of those answers were old. So i decided to start a new topic and get the latest news.


What is the best software to burn an anime divx/xvid/mkv to DVD? Some people in the old threads mentioned ConvertXtoDVD. Is this still the best application?


Here are additional questions. I would be glad if you could also answer them:

1-) Is it ok if i burn a blue-ray rip to DVD. Would it work ok? Will it look better or worse?

2-) Can i have the subtitles hard coded? Would you suggest hard coding the sub-titles?


Over-All, what are the steps I should follow when burning an anime to dvd?
Thanks a lot everyone for their answer. I really appreciate it.

[Pentium100]

One question:

Are you planning to watch the anime in a regular DVD player, or do you just want to free some HDD space?

[Keraito]

Same question here actually cuz i accidentally deleted Nero from my laptop LOL
Im searching for a new DVD burn program tot burn DVD's which i can watch on a normal DVD player
Edit: Is it possible to burn mkv files and watch is on a regular DVD player aswell?

[zammazingo]

Thanks for your replies.

I am trying to watch the DVDs on regular DVD player.
Thanks again.

[Soryon]

Ok, here is what I do when I want to watch stuff on a DVD player;

First I use .AVI files because they are generally smaller in size and enable me to fit a lot more episodes on each disc. They are also hard subbed. I think some DVD players will play .MKV but I have heard of issues with soft subs. (I don't know a lot more about that as I use .AVI for the smaller file sizes. Easily place 26 episodes per disc.)

Anyway, I use a (free) program called CDBurnerXP.
I drop a dvd disc into the drive, and I am prompted as to what I want to do with it. I choose to burn a disc using CDBurnerXP, then I am prompted as to what type of disc I wish to burn. I choose "data disc." Then it takes you to a screen where you drag and drop the files you want to burn. Then just hit burn. A few minutes later the disc pops out. Place it in the DVD player and enjoy anime on your big screen TV.

[TorturdChaos]

Most DVD players I have seen won't tough AVI files.  Only thing they will play is the .vob files with everything setup correctly in the VIDOE_TS and AUDIO_TS folders.

Soon as I get home (I'm screwing around on my break at work) I will look at what I have been using - I can't remember what its called.

[zammazingo]

Thanks for both of your comments.

I am specifically interested in making the videos so they will play in any DVD player as TorturdChaos mentioned. (VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders).

I appreciate your help.

[daveLovesIt]

I choose "data disc." Then it takes you to a screen where you drag and drop the files you want to burn. Then just hit burn. A few minutes later the disc pops out. Place it in the DVD player and enjoy anime on your big screen TV.

This is really for DIVX players, which are able to navigate data discs (no different to a hard drive) and can read some varying formats depending on the model. Many newer ones recognise the .avi container but you have to be careful about what profiles the player can support and read, eg many don't handle more than 1 b-frame, or only play some sound formats etc.

Most DVD players I have seen won't tough AVI files.  Only thing they will play is the .vob files with everything setup correctly in the VIDOE_TS and AUDIO_TS folders.

Well, this is an actual DVD format, just like the ones you get in the stores, only difference is there is no region encryption, so you can see the .vob files etc if you mount the disc. This, as you've guessed, zammazingo, is the best choice for compatibility. Downside is, you won't get as much on a disc as with a data disc.

Mostly, you can convert pretty much any encoded anime to this format on the fly, but some arrangements of audio/subtitles can cause problems, tools depending. Best bet is to get some test discs working with your player/burner using some hard-subbed animes first, so you know the tools are working before you move on to introducing something more complex. And yes, you can convert .mkv into DVD just as easily as anything else, its just a container, you take out the audio/video and put it in another container. You can even make menus and shit!

Sadly, I kicked Windows out of my house some years ago and it never came back, I hope TorturdChaos will come back in a minute and point you at some tools, and perhaps comment on subtitles etc. Have fun!

[Keraito]

And yes, you can convert .mkv into DVD just as easily as anything else, its just a container, you take out the audio/video and put it in another container. You can even make menus and shit!

Sadly, I kicked Windows out of my house some years ago and it never came back, I hope TorturdChaos will come back in a minute and point you at some tools, and perhaps comment on subtitles etc. Have fun!

Interesting my friend... I hope he comes back soon and post some good linkies for me <3

[Xiong Chiamiov]

I've used DeVeDe the few times I've wanted to burn anime to disc.  There is a Windows version.

The only two issues I have with it are that it lies about how much space files are going to take (which is why I create an .iso first, rather than burning it straight to disc) and that there's no way to use multiple audio tracks.  Other than that, though, it's pretty nice.

1-) Is it ok if i burn a blue-ray rip to DVD. Would it work ok? Will it look better or worse?

You can burn any video you like to any sort of disc.  The important difference is that DVDs store much less data than BluRays, so you may have to downgrade your video for it to fit (or split it onto multiple discs).  A lot of people used to do this for CDs, which is why you'll find all those 700 megabyte encodes of movies floating around.

2-) Can i have the subtitles hard coded? Would you suggest hard coding the sub-titles?

Yes, and yes.

Over-All, what are the steps I should follow when burning an anime to dvd?

Find a program.  Plug files into it.  Repeat until satisfied.

Pretty much like any other software solution.

[daveLovesIt]

2-) Can i have the subtitles hard coded? Would you suggest hard coding the sub-titles?

Yes, and yes.

Sorry, yes... I should have mentioned that the difficulty with more complex subs lies in if your tool can transcode them to the format used in DVD's or not, rather than playback. They'll end up as .idx files regardless.

The man is right about hardsubbing. The only real reason to have a seperate subtitle layer is if you need to be able to turn the subtitles on or off for some reason.

[zammazingo]

Thanks for replies. I really appreciate them.

It would be wonderful if you could name couple of software that you use to hardcode the subtitles and convert/burn the dvds.

It was my original intention to get the names of those software when i started this thread.
I apologize if i was not clear.

I also apologize i can not go to google and check different software on my own. I dont have my own computer at the moment. I cant install and try different ones on this one. I will have access to my computer next week. But at that point i will not have much time to try different options.

As a summary, it would be wonderful, if you could name some of the software you used. Both *NIX and Windows solutions are fine.

I apologize if i am asking too much.
Thanks again.
Your replies are much appreciated.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

The one I mentioned, DeVeDe, does everything necessary to get a burnable .iso from a set of Matroska files, including burning subtitles onto the video.  I think the other solutions mentioned probably do as well.

[Keraito]

Still got some questions about burning:
For example:
I want to burn Chihiro sub's K-On! Season 1 of 1,7 GB or something to a dvd to see it on a normal dvd player.
They are all mkv files. Must i first turn it into a ISO file or use DeVeDe or CDBurnerXP to just burn it?
Can you make a kind of 'guide' which steps i must do and which settings?

[TorturdChaos]

Crap I forgot to look at what software I am using at home, sorry.  I will set a reminder in the phone so I don't forget tonight .

EDIT:
I've been using.
Interface is pretty minimal and so are the options but is pretty much idiot proof.  I know you can select subtitle tracks to add, and pick the audio track you want to use.  It imports .mkv and .ogm just fine.
My only real complaint the menu system is really limited on what you can do.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

Still got some questions about burning:
For example:
I want to burn Chihiro sub's K-On! Season 1 of 1,7 GB or something to a dvd to see it on a normal dvd player.
They are all mkv files. Must i first turn it into a ISO file or use DeVeDe or CDBurnerXP to just burn it?

Most programs allow you to burn the result directly to a disc.  I prefer to generate an .iso so that I can check to make sure it's what I want without wasting discs.

Can you make a kind of 'guide' which steps i must do and which settings?

Maybe.  There are probably several good ones out there somewhere.

[Keraito]

Still got some questions about burning:
For example:
I want to burn Chihiro sub's K-On! Season 1 of 1,7 GB or something to a dvd to see it on a normal dvd player.
They are all mkv files. Must i first turn it into a ISO file or use DeVeDe or CDBurnerXP to just burn it?

Most programs allow you to burn the result directly to a disc.  I prefer to generate an .iso so that I can check to make sure it's what I want without wasting discs.

How do YOU generate a iso from mkv/avi files.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

Something pretty close to this.

[Aadieu]

Hope this isn't offtopic advice, but IMHO, forgo the Dvd and go for hooking up a laptop via VGA(Dsub) or HDMI/DVI to your TV. You can get HD resolutions that way, and you don't have to burn anything and cross your fingers that the subs/audio/codecs will all work.

Also, the quality will be WAY better, because you can use graphics acceleration filters etc., while the DVD just outputs whatever the source had, no antialiasing, etc., no nothing.