HomePage 2 of 5: Starting and setting up a new project
Step 1: Starting and setting up a new project
Install TMPGEnc DVD Author - it's very straight forward, so you shouldn't run into any problems.
Start TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA). You will be shown the "Start Project" screen. From the top right hand side, click on "Options" and select "Preferences". Go to the "DVD-Video settings" section and click on "Video encoder advanced settings".
The settings here are important if you need to re-encode your input video to the MPEG-2/DVD format - if you are editing an existing DVD, then in most cases, you won't need re-encoding and so these settings are not needed. "Motion search precision" determines the encoding speed and quality, where the "Highest" setting will be the slowest and best quality. "Standard" should be good enough for most situations. The "Output bitstream for editing (Closed GOP)" option can be selected if you wish to edit the video (in TDA) before authoring - this option removes inter-GOP dependencies, which can cause playback problems in certain DVD players. The "Detect scene change" options should selected. Press "OK" to close this window
Back to the "DVD-Video settings" section, some audio options are shown. These are the default audio settings. Under the "Format Change" section, you can select "Convert non-conforming audio as below" to make these options affect any audio encodings that does not comply with the DVD standard (if the audio does comply, no re-encoding will be needed). The "Bitrate" can also be adjusted to lower/improve quality. And finally, you can select a default language for the audio/subtitle, which the DVD player will play by default in the event you have multiple audio/subtitle tracks. The options I've selected in the screenshot below should be a good default setting. Press "OK" to close the options window.
We're now back on the "Start Project" screen. Select the output format, NTSC DVD or PAL DVD, depending on your input source. Usually, if your input is 25 FPS or a multiple of it (eg. 12.5, 50), it is PAL. Otherwise, it is NTSC. Make sure you TV/playback device supports the format you have chosen (say you have a PAL source, and your TV only supports NTSC, then select NTSC). Click on "Start a new project" to continue. You should now make yourself familiar with the "Options" button and the "Save Project" option - keep on saving your project at regular intervals, to prevent you losing your work or making a mistake which you cannot undo. Also keep a note of the output size bar at the bottom of the screen - there are two markers, one for 4.7 GB (single layer) and another for 8.5 GB (dual layer), and depending on which type of blank media you plan on using, you need to ensure the purple bar (representing the current size of your DVD compilation) stays to the left of the marker so that the DVD compilation will fit on to the blank disc. The actual size in MB is also listed to the right of the size bar.
