I've just finished version 1.0 of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for my free scripts that many of you are using to create DVD-A discs for the car. No more having to use special directories and run batch programs. The objective was to make the process much easier to run (and for me to learn more about .Net programming).

This new GUI shell will:

• Let you just drag and drop wav or mp3 files into this program in any of 9 groups
• Allow you to re-order tracks by selecting them and using up/down buttons. (no more making sure the songs are named a special way to have them sort right)
• Check you HDD space prior to letting you make an image.
• Specify your DVD media size and then make sure you don't exceed it.
• Save projects for later use / Open projects previously saved.
• Allow you to pick a normalization factor (for mp3->wav decoding)

Here is the home page http://home.comcast.net/~adobeman/DVDAGUI/ Download version 1 and install. System requirements are below in this post.

Please don't expect things to be any faster. Unfortunately the same 2 passes are required as they always were. You still only get an ISO file that you burn with your burning software. Two HDD mode is still supported as well. If you are comfortable with the batch programs you may want to stay with them. It is up to you. It is all still free. For payware I still really like Cirlinca's DVD Audio Solo.

The system requirements are

• Windows 2000 or Windows XP
• Microsoft .Net Framework V1.1 or greater. If you have XP and have been keeping up with Windows Update then you have this. Windows 2000 users will also most likely have it.
• Plenty of hard disc space. You will need 2 to 3 times the size of the DVDA you intend to make. About 2X if you are using all wav file and about 3x if you are using all mp3 files. So for a 4.32 GB (full) DVD single layer disc made from all mp3s you could need up to about 13 GB free space.
• A computer with 2 separate hard disk drives is recommended. This way you can spread the disk requirements across 2 disks as well as greatly increase performance. Check out the “Options” section for how to set this.

Here is a screen shot http://home.comcast.net/~adobeman/DVDAGUI/image002.jpg

I hope this works out for any of you that try it, especially those who have found the previous scripts a bit too complicated.

 

Awesome job!!

I have been using your script for a while now and have yet to burn a coaster.

Thank you!!

 

Great job!! This gets better and better.

Props Adobeman!

 

Very cool. I just bought a dvd drive

 

Adobeman, been very pleased with the command line scripts so far. Thanks for all the time taken to come up with this

 

What program did you use to create this gui and script? I am in process of getting into Powerbuilder 10 and this was going to be my test project.... interested to see what you did.

 

I haven't tried to make a DVD yet, but the interface looks very pleasant. Thanks for your work!

 

Great work, thanks a lot

 

you are the freaking coolest!!!! i need like 15 % of your knowledge

 

I haven't tried making one yet, but you say you can put songs in any of 9 groups. When you're playing the disc on the car, how do you select the group?

 

Hold SCAN and RPT in at the same time. BTW I don't ever use more than group1 because the head unit in the TL goes to the next disc, not group, when a group finishes. So if you forget, or space out, and don't do the scan-rpt thing it is off to the next disk. I just throw everything in group one and rarely get to 99 tracks before the 4.3G is eaten up. If I do get to 99 tracks and still have left over space I just don't worry about it. 99 tracks is enough and media is cheap.

To all the other replies:
I really appreciate your compliments. Now I guess the program better live up to them (gulp). Please post back with any success, failures, or other experiences with the GUI. I tested this thing out a bunch on XP and 2000 machines. Hawhyen51 was also kind enough to help test prior to my releasing it (Thanks again "H"51). But sometimes things are unique to other people's computers and don't come out until many people use it.

 

im home yay!!! i am gonna try the gui then burn with dvdSanta
ill let you all know how itworks out

 

dvd santa version 3.44 . works with the gui

 

excellent work! I can't wait to try it out

 

Adobeman - hats off to you. I used your program this morning and burned the ISO file using Roxio. Worked perfectly. Thank you for the efforts in making this happen. I have a ton of MP3s to convert.

 

so i was wondering....if i put the songs in different groups would i have to hold SCAN and RPT to go to the next group?

 

Yes

 

Is there any program that can easily convert stereo to 5.1? I found a program once but it took like 30 min just to convert 1 song and MANY MANY steps!!! Not very user friendly. Anyone have any ideas.

 

sound like a great program. ill have to try it out, thanx.

btw how long should i expect it to take for a 4.3GB iso?

 

Abdobeman,
I haven't tried this yet, but just wanted to thank you for sharing your great work.

 

Good questions and gives me an opportunity to add some extra points. Since I usually run the scripts and come back later I can only estimate. I use 2 HDD mode and think it takes about 30 minutes to generate an ISO for a full 4.3 disc. Single HDD mode takes quite a bit more. Burn takes about 15 minutes for me since I can only go 4x.

The process

1. The GUI still uses the same underlying programs as my scripts did. Namely DVD Audio Tools, CDR Tools and BeSweet
2. The method used isn't fast. Especially since 2 passes are required to make the ISO.
3. If you can use the 2HDD mode it will always be faster. This allows either the original scripts or the GUI to read from different HDD than it is writing to.
4. The original scripts will always be faster than the GUI since the GUI saps some processor power. The GUI adds ease of use but that comes at some speed loss. I am not sure what % loss it is.
5. The GUI WILL catch errors better than the scripts (size limits, track limits, etc). This is especially true with mp3 decoding. The scripts won't catch those errors very well at all. If you plan to use lots of mp3s then I recommend the GUI or using CDEx to convert your mp3s before using the old scripts.

Mp3 to wav decoding, it ain't perfect...
It should be no secret to anyone that I dislike mp3s. I've bored others enough with why. But everone else seems to love them so I tried to build in a way to use then directly in the process.

1. BeSweet was chosen to be the decoder. I looked at using LAME to decode but it was more picky about mp3 files than BeSweet. (Odd since I think BeSweet's decoding is LAME based or a derivative)
2. BeSweet will often fail to decode an mp3. The GUI catches this. Additionally I had to limit mp3 files to 44.1K sample rate because BeSweet had problems with other sample rates.
3. My findings are that mp3 file integrity is all over the place. All the mp3s I made with CDEx/LAME to test the GUI decode perfectly. Many other mp3s acquired via "otherwise" did not. In all cases internal synch errors were noted in the files.
4. If you run into problems with the GUI decoding mp3 then I really recommend you get CDEx. It even decoded the bad mp3s although there were, as to be expected, skips in the wav files. In fact, even if you don't run into problems I still recommend you get CDEx. It is an awesome freeware tool. It will even easily decode mp3s not at 44.1K to wave files at 44.1K...just an incredible tool.
5. If anyone is familiar with any other better free mp3->wav decoders that can be used from the command line (or have an API for my C# code) then let me know about them and I might be able to make that an option for the GUI
   

 

WOW! Thanks so much for the GUI and the follow-ups . I just went through the process and burned my first dvd-a! EZ stuff thanks to your efforts .

 

thanx for all that.

i have 2 HDD. but iam not sure i understand you. in the options tab, i select the music from one HDD and have the program make an iso to the other HDD? i think thats what your talking about, am i right?

 

In the options page you want the location of the "DVD Structure Directory" to be on a different drive than the one the program is installed on.

So, if the program is installed on your C:\ drive then put the "DVD Structure Directory" on the other drive.

For example my computer has a C: and an F: HDD. The program is installed at "C:\Program Files\Adobeman's DVDA GUI". I created a directory called "F:\GUItemp" and used it for my "DVD Structure Directory".

The "Temporary Wav File Directory" only comes in to play if you are converting mp3 files with the GUI. In my case I leave it on the C: drive since it is faster if it is a different drive from the "DVD Structure Directory".

 

When you have 99 tracks under one group can you say "DVD play track 99" for example or do you have to click the next track button 99 times?

 

thanx, ill have to try that.

 

Not sure about voice control since I don't have nav. But if you are on track 1 you can just press the "previous track" button once to get to 99.

With the +/- track buttons on the wheel you are never more than about 49 clicks maximum from the song you want to hear. I know that sounds bad but it really isn't. Groups would require you to hold scan-rpt together and then you would still probably use the track +/- to get to the actual song you want. Also keep in mind that 99 songs is usually tough to get on a 4.3G disk unless they are all relatively short. In reality you will get 75 to 85 songs on it. That gets you about 35 to 45 clicks from the song you want max.

 

Thanks again - all 6 disc's in my changer are now dvd-a compulations . This should be a sticky IMHO as it is so simple and so useful to members.

 

My system does not accept track numbers higher than 30. I have tried "thrity-one" and "three, one" and neither are accepted. However, jumping right to track 30 is helpful in itself.

Not to sound like a "me too" n00b, but just wanted to add my thanks to Adobeman here. I never could get Cirlinca's software to work on my multimedia machine, but your GUI program worked first time out of the gate. I was sorely missing the ability to play MP3 CDs in my last vehicle, but making my own DVD-As from uncompressed WAV files is even better!

 

Kudo to Adobeman! Finally got around to testing out your new GUI scripts and they worked like a charm. Keep up the good work.

 

I may of missed it but does this also convert 2 channel to 5.1? Or is the result just a DVD with bunches of 2 channel audio?

This is definitely a great piece of work. Thanks!

EDIT:
Oh yeah, this is also a definite sticky IMHO.

 

If only someone had something like this for the Mac...

 

2 Channel only, there's another thread dealing with 5.1, do a search on it.

 

I just got two raptors on my computer (C and D) and so excited.

WD raptor:
10000RPM / 16MB Cache
2.9ms average seek (that's twice faster than typical 7200rpm drives)

This hard drive saves my ass working on anything. Either video,audio or photoshop. Program load in a blink.


I'm going to time how long it takes to do 99 songs using this program.

 

For 25 songs

Pass1-Making DVD Structure - 43 seconds
Pass1-Making ISO Image - 1:57 seconds
Pass2-Making DVD Structure - 44 seconds
Pass2-Making ISO Image - 1:33 seconds

Total: under 5 minutes

BTW, you must have D.Net 1.1, I had 2.0 and it wouldnt install.

 

Holy Crap Batman ! Are those times for real and did it work in the car ? Are those SATA II drives ?

Also, curious about the fact that .Net 2.0 wasn't OK. I would figure it is backward compatible with 1.1 But, this project was a .Net learning project for me so I guess there is more to learn. Perhaps I need to redo the installer.

For the rest of us with either 5400 or 7200 RPM IDE ATA drives it's probably going to take more than 5 minutes. a, er... lots more.

Thanks for the report Actuary. BTW, do you do a lot of software MPEG encoding on that rig ?

 

You are the freakin man.. This is so sweet. I just burned like 6 cds to one dvd.. Im so impressed.

 

Awsome work man, as usual, I think like 99% of the site uses your scripts, thanks man, and the GUI version is even so much easier........

btw, there is a spelling error, under "HELP" --> "About" you spelled Music MISIC, I'm sure it's a typo, just something to touch up for the next release...

 

I believe they are SATA I drives(for some reason, WD made them SATA I) - which is adequate because SATA I can handle 150MB/s. There are only two drives in that channel so each drive gets at least 75MB/s. Maybe few years down the road we will all need SATA II drives.

Burning time not included in those figures and yeah it works in the car - I mean creating image fast does not affect quality (except burning fast)

I used to have 10K and 7.2K. I believe going from 10&7.2 to 10&10 shaved off about 3 to 4 minutes in 99 track. From 24 minutes to 20 minutes. If you have two 7200RPM drives, it ain't bad at all - 25~30 minutes to do 99 songs. Now if you have single 5400RPM drive, it is time to upgrade.

Primary work i do is video. I download video from DV camera and edit them in Premier then put it back to tape or convert them to WMV or DVD. So I do some MPEG encoding when I export work to DVD. Business clients like DVD because DVD players are common.


Last word: I actually moved from 300G 7200RPM drive to 150G 10,000RPM drive. Half the size, but speed beats size in every aspect. 150G is biggest size available today for 10,000RPM drive. One of reason big enterprise hard drives aren't big at all.

 

Why isn't this a sticky?