[QUOTE=Zippity;2187658]O’C
Thanks for your comments.
All editing is done with TMPGEnc DVD Author [B]prior[/B] to my using DVD Shrink for compressing? the file (if necessary) and then burning the DVD.
In the past, sometimes 1Click DVD Copy Pro would not copy a DVD, so in those instances, I used DVD Shrink as a backup.
Recently I read about DVD Fab5, downloaded it, trialled it and liked it – hence my recent purchase of the programme :)[/QUOTE]
OK… Either you’ve answered my question and I’ve somehow missed it, or you haven’t, and the question still stands.
The authoring of mpeg files involves the addition of navpackets (which are multiplexed in with the video and audio data, as well as any substreams such as subtitles) and .IFO and .BUP files as seperate entities, as well as limiting the .VOB files to 1GB in size, to allow any DVD player to play the result, and still allow you to, say, jump from chapter to chapter, move to any point in the DVD and start watching from there, and menus to access portions of the mix that are not part of the main show, etc.
What it sounds like you are creating is an mpeg data disk written on a DVD blank, and not a true DVD (as in store-bought).
A data disk needs a file player (some PC DVD players will play authored files still on the HD), and stand-alone players (unless of a very rare breed) will not play them at all.
Duplicating data discs doesn’t require programs like DVDFab or Shrink (although they may be successful in doing it).
If a data disk is keeping you happy, great! With the right software, it can be played back and enjoyed - you just lose some of the features you would enjoy with a true DVD.
Getting back to your original post and question - no, DVDFab is a specialized piece of software that won’t take a straight, edited mpeg file from a HD and burn it to a blank DVD. (the file at that point, is not ‘already authored’, as you said in your first post).
Any file copier that will write to a DVD will do that much. That you’re getting Shrink to compress and write the edited files is an accomplishment, as I would have thought the program was a little pickier and wouldn’t do it.
If you bought DVDFab to back-up your store-boughts, congrats… I think you couldn’t have made a better investment.
And my original question… do you understand the difference between a true DVD and what you are doing?
Good luck.
O’C
