MPG editing without quality loss?

[spup345]

I know I can remove & join MPG footage without losing any quality on the MPG.

But can I re-arrange the footage and/or add DVD menu's + chapters also without losing any quality?

Or does anything EXCEPT removing & adding (joining) footage require a re-encode and thus affect the end quality?

Basically, what type of MPG (DVD) editing can be done without requiring a re-encode. I have 100 VHS tapes and would love to mix & match the captured mpg files to get all the home videos in chronological order with chapters describing each "segment" (without re-encoding the already sub-par quality).

[Baldrick]

mpeg video wizard dvd. Only transitions will be reconverted.

[edDV]

I know I can remove & join MPG footage without losing any quality on the MPG.

But can I re-arrange the footage and/or add DVD menu's + chapters also without losing any quality?

Or does anything EXCEPT removing & adding (joining) footage require a re-encode and thus affect the end quality?

Basically, what type of MPG (DVD) editing can be done without requiring a re-encode. I have 100 VHS tapes and would love to mix & match the captured mpg files to get all the home videos in chronological order with chapters describing each "segment" (without re-encoding the already sub-par quality).

MPeg can be cut losslessly on the I frame.

If you cut inside a GOP (typically 15 frames or ~0.5 sec) you must recode at least that GOP. You also risk loss of audio sync.

Womble makes MPeg cutters that cut within the GOP and recode only the affected GOP. This is known as a "smart render".
http://www.womble.com/

[greymalkin]

were all the video's captured the same way (using the same resolution/bitrate/etc.)?

My understanding is the MPEG files need to be the same specs in order to do the stream copy.

[spup345]

I haven't captured anything yet so given that all the VHS tapes are home videos, there's no reason I can't capture them at the same specs (although bitrate will obviously be somewhat variable given the VBR nature of things).

So if that's the case, can I do all of the above (move segments around, cut out some segments, add new segments, then add menu/chapters & burn) while very minimally affecting overall MPG quality if I use Womble's software?

[greymalkin]

well when i combined the 3 back to the future DVD's I'm pretty sure those were VBR so I suppose that shouldn't matter.

Just to clarify:
1) Trimming, clipping, shuffling around, etc...none of that requires re-encoding. If you want a fancy crossfade between 2 of your clips or some other snazzy transition it will ONLY re-encode 2 seconds or so of video involved in the actual transition, then stream copy the rest. You'll notice it buzzing away, slowing down when it gets to the transition, then picking back up again when it gets past it. Since the transitions are already warping/dissolving/whatever your video, you won't notice any quality loss there, just the video doing the transition you asked it to do.

2) If you originally captured your video at dvd specifications and your chopped/mixed/etc. video isn't too big to fit on the DVD, the authoring process will not re-encode your video at all. Authoring will take the dvd-compliant mpeg files, wrap them in a pretty package and write additional files needed for DVD players to play them. The creation of menu's is simply making a seperate sort of "interactive video" frame that contains "shortcuts" to your video and has no effect on the actual video. Same thing with creating chapters, it's just another shortcut to a particular video or to particular places you specify within your video (like @ 3 mins, 42 sec, 15th frame right before aunt betty falls out of her chair).

So, in conclusion...make sure you get a good capture that you are happy with because the quality you see there is what you are going to end up with.

[spup345]

Great! Your last sentence seems to sum it up perfectly, it all makes sense now. Time to get started!

[edDV]

Great! Your last sentence seems to sum it up perfectly, it all makes sense now. Time to get started!

Yes for this to work, you must capture and export at the same MPG spec. Make sure you plan the capture to match DVD spec. The higher the bit rate, the higher the quality but the less the record time per DVD. And DO NOT deinterlace