DVD Burning and conversion program recommendations

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sewsable

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#271978 4-Jun-2020 09:35

I've got a Windows 10 PC with a DVD writer and I've just downloaded all of my Bluprint classes since they're closing down and they're supposed to be "forever classes". The files all downloaded in .ts format which can't be read by a DVD player so I now need to convert and burn them to DVD to keep them permanently and to enable me to watch them on my DVD player. I've downloaded DVD Flick which might be doing the job, has the advantage it's free, but wow, is it slow! It's still encoding the audio files 17 hours after starting and is on class 7 of 8. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a better program that's free or if not free at least not expensive and much faster; I don't want to grow old doing this! I used Internet Download Manager to do the actual downloads while in its free trial which worked really well, but it doesn't convert files unfortunately.

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#2497989 4-Jun-2020 10:04

The easiest solution is to not use DVDs,

Convert the .ts files into mp4 with Handbrake ( pretty sure it can do it,) if is cannot then I'm certain MakeMkv will,

Copy the Mp4s to a USB stick and use that to watch the files from

If your TV or DVD player doesn't have USB play back then get a cheap media player

richms

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#2498022 4-Jun-2020 11:09

Some bluray players will play files off dvd media, have you tried just burning the ,ts files onto a disc and seeing what happens when you put it in rather than authoring a dvd video disc? I wouldnt use dvd media now, just putting them on a flash drive is probably faster and will work in most players either as a .ts or you may be able to remux it into something more compatible rather than have to reencode it.

Depends on what is in the .ts however. They can be many codecs and some are not well supported.

Richard rich.ms

robjg63

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#2498034 4-Jun-2020 11:43

It appears handbrake (Free and very competent bit of software) can convert from .us to .mp4.
I agree with the comments above about converting them and copying to USB sticks.
Depending on the size of the files do a cloud backup as well if they are very important to you.
From my experience, DIY home burnt disks aren't always that resilient sadly.
Many DVD players can playback media files (like mp4).
What make/model of DVD player do you have?

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sewsable

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#2498097 4-Jun-2020 12:08

robjg63: It appears handbrake (Free and very competent bit of software) can convert from .us to .mp4.
I agree with the comments above about converting them and copying to USB sticks.
Depending on the size of the files do a cloud backup as well if they are very important to you.
From my experience, DIY home burnt disks aren't always that resilient sadly.
Many DVD players can playback media files (like mp4).
What make/model of DVD player do you have?

I've got a Panasonic DVD s-58 so I can watch NTSC DVDs and a Sony BDP S5500 Blu Ray. I might look at the cloud backup, I've got a free MegaSync account; will have to check how much data it can store. I do have a large flash drive on the way from AliExpress; couldn't find one large enough here and even the one that's coming won't store them all.

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scuwp

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#2498132 4-Jun-2020 13:02

sewsable:

robjg63: It appears handbrake (Free and very competent bit of software) can convert from .us to .mp4.
I agree with the comments above about converting them and copying to USB sticks.
Depending on the size of the files do a cloud backup as well if they are very important to you.
From my experience, DIY home burnt disks aren't always that resilient sadly.
Many DVD players can playback media files (like mp4).
What make/model of DVD player do you have?

I've got a Panasonic DVD s-58 so I can watch NTSC DVDs and a Sony BDP S5500 Blu Ray. I might look at the cloud backup, I've got a free MegaSync account; will have to check how much data it can store. I do have a large flash drive on the way from AliExpress; couldn't find one large enough here and even the one that's coming won't store them all.

Surely a portable SSD or large flash drive would be enough. How many disks were you proposing to make, a few thousand?!

My vote is also not to convert to media that is already obsolete. Future proof by keeping digitally.

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wellygary

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#2498148 4-Jun-2020 13:40

sewsable:

Even the one that's coming won't store them all.

How many episodes do you have?

A regular DVD holds around 7GB, USB sticks with 256GB are common enough, so thats 35+ disks?

If you transcode the .ts files you should end up with a smaller file size....

You can rip a 35GB bluray and have a very acceptable 1080p Mp4 thats 4-7GB....

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robjg63

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#2498154 4-Jun-2020 13:44

The SONY Blu-Ray certainly seems to support mp4 (and mkv) files. So a DVD full of these files should be playable.

The Panasonic - not so much.....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

bluedisk

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#2498160 4-Jun-2020 13:51

I use Uniconverter professionally and find it to be very good. Not free but for me its a small price to pay for getting the job done.

https://videoconverter.wondershare.net

sewsable

88 posts

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#2498163 4-Jun-2020 13:55

wellygary:

How many episodes do you have?

A regular DVD holds around 7GB, USB sticks with 256GB are common enough, so thats 35+ disks?

If you transcode the .ts files you should end up with a smaller file size....

You can rip a 35GB bluray and have a very acceptable 1080p Mp4 thats 4-7GB....

114 classes total from memory. DVDs are 5.7G and the USB stick I have coming is an A+C type so I can use it on my tablet as well; 256G with both connections aren't common, I normally buy through Ascent and they only had up to 32 G

Into Xbox, knitting, spinning yarn, and my family. Love my Android smartphone!

wellygary

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#2498175 4-Jun-2020 14:07

@SD resolution (what you would get from DVD) I've currently got 200 odd 45min episodes of Stargate SG1 as mp4 in around 100GB

So you should be able to get 114 classes into 256GB if they were around 3 hours each....

blackjack17

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#2498192 4-Jun-2020 14:49

sewsable:

wellygary:

How many episodes do you have?

A regular DVD holds around 7GB, USB sticks with 256GB are common enough, so thats 35+ disks?

If you transcode the .ts files you should end up with a smaller file size....

You can rip a 35GB bluray and have a very acceptable 1080p Mp4 thats 4-7GB....

114 classes total from memory. DVDs are 5.7G and the USB stick I have coming is an A+C type so I can use it on my tablet as well; 256G with both connections aren't common, I normally buy through Ascent and they only had up to 32 G

Couldn't you use a standard usb stick and an adaptor? Less than $100 all up

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MEMSDK63140/SanDisk-Flair-256GB-USB-30-Flash-drive-Fashionable

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPPPDY1034/PUDNEY-USB-C-ADAPTOR-KIT

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Dugimodo

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#2498365 4-Jun-2020 16:08

Whatever you end up doing keep a backup, DVDs are not reliable long term and neither are USB flash drives.

I used to burn a lot of DVDs, the failure rate after 5 years was very very high. I ended up throwing them all away.

Also whatever software you use see if it has an option to use your graphics hardware to do the conversion, depending what hardware you have the GPU can be much much faster. Nvidia has Cuda or Nvenc, Intel have Quicksync, forget what the AMD one is called, but they can all help with video conversion.

Rikkitic

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#2498368 4-Jun-2020 16:09

I also don't see the point in converting. It just seems like an unnecessary and inefficient extra step. But when I still did that kind of thing, my software of choice was VideoRedo, not free but well worth it to me. It handles basic editing, ad removal (for stuff copied from TV), format conversion (.ts and .MP4), and DVD burning.

An excellent free converter I also used is Any Video Converter, which handles many formats, including .ts to MP4. My DVD burner of choice was also an excellent freebie called CDBurnerXP. Don't be put off by the name. It works fine with Win 7 and I would imagine probably also Win 10.

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mclean

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#2498817 5-Jun-2020 10:34

Dugimodo: Whatever you end up doing keep a backup, DVDs are not reliable long term and neither are USB flash drives.

I used to burn a lot of DVDs, the failure rate after 5 years was very very high. I ended up throwing them all away.

I agree, but keeping duplicate copies improves the reliability enormously, and is practical if the data is pretty static. Even so, it's still nerve-wracking when a failure happens and you're forced to make a new copy from the (hopefully) good one.

jpoc

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#2498825 5-Jun-2020 10:42

The cost of a media player (from AliX) that will play the transport stream files directly will be less than the cost of the blank recordable DVDs.

Save time, save money and acquire an extra shiny toy all at the same time. What could be better?

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