TMPGEnc DVD Author
from
Pegasys
If you own a DVD recorder and you have a DVD burner on your computer and are
running either Windows XP or 2000, TMPGEnc DVD authoring program from Pegasys
is a great way of compiling your own DVD customised disks - either of your home
movies, favourite TV programs or movies downloaded from the internet.
I have a Sony DVD recorder and whilst its text-based menus are easy to
follow, they are rather boring. Another problem I found was that DVD +/- RW
disks would not play on my ordinary DVD player, or on my computer, or on my JVC
DVD (TV) player even after they were finalised. But the TMPGen DVD
authoring software was the answer to nearly all my problems, and it would also
handle DVDs that were recorded in VR format.
After an pain-free, easy installation with no re-start required, I opened
the program and was presented with clickable buttons to, Start New Project,
Open Existing Project File, Write DVD Folder to DVD R/RW, and Open
Help, which I clicked on first to get a feel for the program. I found that
all the instructions in "plain English" were really easy to
follow, which makes a change from many software packages I have bought.
Then came my first experience with the program and all I can say is that
it was just as easy as the installation had been.
On clicking Create New Project, I was taken to the Source Set-up
Page. Here I had a choice to add a video file from my
hard drive (which would need to be MPG1, MPG2 or M2V/MP2 video files) or
Add DVD video. But I was working from a DVD +RW I had recorded of
a TV, just to practice with the software, so I clicked on Add DVD video.
What happened then was not only amazing but so easy to do.
The disk spun in the drive and a window opened showing the files that were on
it. When I clicked on them, they loaded themselves into the list window with
options to delete or edit. I clicked on edit and another
window opened that showed the entire video, frame by frame that I could scroll from
left to right or vice versa, going backwards and forwards through the movie.
Editing Out Unwanted Frames
I first clicked on a picture frame (it became highlighted), I then
clicked on Set as start frame, scrolled through to where I wanted it
edited out, selected that frame and clicked on Set as end frame. I then
clicked on the cut button and all the selected frames (that were
highlighted) were removed. I went through the entire movie program
and removed all the commercial breaks.
Next I clicked on the top button labelled Create Menu. Here I could
select, many different background themes, text styles and lots more - to make
my project look extremely professional.
Finally, I clicked on the button labelled Output. Checked the box
labelled Create DVD folder, chose a location on my hard drive in which
to save my work (movie) and clicked Begin output. The program
whirred into life and around 20 minutes later (with my 3GHZ processor)
another box opened asking if I wanted to open the DVD burner tool. I clicked Yes
and in no time at all, my DVD was burned minus the commercial breaks that
played perfectly on all my DVD players.
To summarise, I found this to be an excellent program that I cannot fault -
the result are superb!
To recap: System requirements are... P3 Processor - minimum of 800MGZ but P4
is recommended and for all Video work, the more powerful the proceessor, the
better easier it is to work with - I have a P4, 3GHZ with 1024MB of RAM.
To Puchase:
TMPGEnc DVD authoring softare is available
at a price of $78.99 (price December 2005) as PC Mall. Just click
on the button PC Mall below cut and paste or type in (DVD author)
without the ( ) into the search bar at the top of the page
and it will take you to the correct page where you can make your purchase
Thanks for reading.
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