Someone please critique my proposed first DVDR project plan

[wthess]

Ok, I went out and spent about $500 for a DVD writer and 160GB hard drive. I'm a complete virgin to video editing. My goal: To drop home movies from VHS to DVD, 2 hrs per DVD. Since the power company and mortgage company won't allow me to spend any more money, I must do this with free tools if necessary. I've researched this web site and forums for 3 weeks now. Here is my plan (with a few questions). Please critique and tell me if I'm on the right track.

1) Capture Video using VirtualDub so I can crop noise on the edges. Capture will be 720x480 NTSC. I'm going to choose huffyhuv for the codec if I can ever get it to pull up in Studio 8 (getting an error right now)
2) I will edit in VirtualDub
3) I will extract the wav audio in VDub.
4) I will save the avi file (huffyuv)
4) I will run the extracted wav audio through CoolEdit 2000 to remove hiss, noise, etc.
5) I will encode the edited wav to AC3 with Besweet (major questions here, see below)
6) Not sure how to attach the AC3 file back to the saved avi file. Please tell me how. VirtualDub? or BeSweet?
7) I will then Encode the file to MPEG2 with BBMpeg (not sure what extension it will have??? Please help)
8) I will then open the Mpeg2 file in Studio 8 (or worst case, if I have to spend money, in something else)
9) In Studio 8, I will add menus and chapter links. (I understand from posts here that this shouldn't cause Studio 8 to try to reencode Mpeg 2 when I drop to disk image)
10) After menus and chapters done, I will have Studio drop to a DVD image file. If I'm correct, it shouldn't have to render MPeg2 since it is already in that format.
11) I will then run Windows Media Player 9 or some other player that allows you to run dvd images directly from hd. This will be to test the chapters, menus, links, etc
12) Once everything seems ok, I will use Nero to burn to DVDR.

Additional questions I have other than the ones above are this. Once I encode to AC3, how do I attach it back? When I encode to MPeg2 file, what happens to the AC3 with BBMpeg? Also, when I bring it into Studio, what happens to the AC3? Then, if it is still intact after all this, what happens to it when I write the DVD image with Pinnacle? It doesn't have an option to drop to AC3, so what happens?

Thanks,
Todd

[Vejita-sama]

Well as a plan it's fine. But there are some steps I would do differently. There is no correct or best way to do this. Each person has a setup that they feel works for them.

Capture - There's a lot of debate about this. But the general rule of thumb is to capture at the highest resolution and bitrate your system supports then encode to a lower resolution/bitrate as needed.

But IMHO there's no need to capture a VHS source at 720x480, it's over kill. I would capture at 352x480. Or even save time and just capture directly to MPEG2 at 352x480. Why? Because VHS source just isn't that good. And for me the time savings and ease of capturing to MPEG2 more than offset the 'slight' quaility lost of capturing uncompressed and encoding.

Encoding - bbMPEG is a free. But TMPGenc and CCE basic are pretty cheap ($60 IIRC). TMPGenc has the first 30days of MPEG2 use free. So you might want to d/load it and try it out. TMPGenc is fairly slow, but MUCH faster than bbMPEG and gives much better quiality. It's also more newbie friendly.

Authoring - Please read the 'what is a DVDR' section to the left. Basically you do NOT need to put your ac3 encoded audio and avi 'make together.' In fact for faster encodes you should encode only the video, and encode the audio seperately.

Once you have an encoded video file (m2v) and audio file (ac3) you have to use a program to author the DVD (ie. generate the VOB files). See the author section to the left for more info.

Freeware wise the only choice I know of is IFOEdit. You can put a video and audio file/s together. But there are no menus or 'cool' extras. TMPGenc just released a DVD authoring program (haven't used it but there's a tread running about it now). Again IIRC it's ~$60.

Burning - you can burn with several programs. Freeware wise, DVD Decrypter is your best choice (just a good program to have anyway).

You might want to look at an 'intergrated program suite' like neoDVD. You can use their software to capture (direct to MPEG2), author, and burn DVDs. IIRC it's like $50, maybe less.

[wthess]

Ah, so basically the Authoring software dumps the ac3 file onto the image. Your process does sound like a better idea. I did my first capture the other day with Studio 8 and the resulting AVI file for a 98 min cap was 120GB!!! 20 mb/sec. I immediately looked for another solution and grabbed the huffyuv codec among others.

However, I have read somewhere here that if I capture directly to mpeg2 then edit it, when I save it, it will "reencode" thus causing me to lose more quality, which is why I chose huffy.

I like the ease of use of Studio 8, but it irritates me that I can't use huffy right now due to the error (I read about a setting in huffy that is supposed to clear this up. I'll try it tonight). Also, Studio 8 appears to try to reencode the audio, which I didn't want it to do because of ac3. However, I can try using Studio to add menus and chapters, on the video file only, then save it back out to an mpeg2 file (hopefully without Studio rendering it again), then use some other authoring program to create the DVD with video and audio. Looks like DVDLab or Ulead MovieFactory either one should be able to handle it if Studio doesn't.

[spiderman2k1]

I like to use a hugh end JVC VCR and a good really time MPEG 2 card I use Dazzle 2 PVR250 and 350 are very good I cap at 8000 CBR if it goes over 4.3gig I just use DVD2one to make it fit very easy way works every time

[wthess]

My capture port is built into my video card. Took me a few days to convince my wife we need a DVD recorder (She hates computers). Then, two days later, I had to explain to her why I needed a 160 GB hd. I don't think there will be peace in my house if I go for the dazzle, though I would love to have one.

[DJRumpy]

Your process is fine. Continue to capture in Huffman. It will give you better results. You are correct. Capturing to MPEG will lose quality, and the quality of the capture will be inferior to the AVI capture.

3) I will extract the wav audio in VDub.
4) I will save the avi file (huffyuv)
4) I will run the extracted wav audio through CoolEdit 2000 to remove hiss, noise, etc.
These steps aren't needed. Frameserve the file to your encoder (I'm assuming Studio8 accepts frame served input of course). No need to save a new AVI. Just make your modifications in VirtualDub, and frameserve the changes directly to your encoder. Mess with the audio, only if there is noise (not likely on a VHS tape)

For compatability, you can encode your audio to AC3 or PCM, but you'll also find that most authoring software will accept MP2/MPA as well (technically its not compliant with MP2, but it should work in just about any player). If you insist on AC3, then keep step 5.

You 'multiplex' this back into your MPEG if necessary, although most DVD authoring software will simply demultiplex this back into an AC3 audio stream and your video stream. Leave it seperate if your authoring software will accept it that way.

[wthess]

On some of them I will have to run them through cool edit due to the age of the tapes. I have some tapes that are 15 years old or so and have a "buzzing" sound in one or both channels. Lots of noise in the video on some of them too.

I don't think Studio 8 will accept frameserving nor will it accept AC3 files. I serioiusly considering DVD lab or Ulead MovieFactory now as I know they will handle it. I will admit that I don't know anything about frameserving other than it is the process of using one program to dump video/audio to another program realtime.

Additionally, I had hoped I could use bbmpeg to encode mpgeg, but it looks like I'll have to buy an encoder too. I would use TMPGenc Free version, but the Mpeg 2 expires after 25 days and I'm not going to be able to buy tmpgenc and ulead/dvd lab. I just got married back in Sept, built a log home, moved in last month, and those things are much more important than video editing.

Todd

[ktnwin]

For a newbee, the best solution would be to buy the AverDVD card/neoDVD software combo for about 40US$ (CompUSA) (I bought it for 10$ plus tax with a special 30$ rebate). You can capture from VHS tapes and burn them to DVD in near real time.
This solution has worked for many (even your wife who hates computer will be able to do it herself, then hopefully she will love computer).
Do a search on neoDVD in this forum.

[Vejita-sama]

ktnwin - the EZCapture card uses neoDVD (which I mentioned about). But captures to MPEG2 directly, which as I said gives lower quaility. Again, for me, VHS source is so poor that the lower quaility doesn't really concern me compared to the time/HD space of capturing uncompressed and encoding.

I've done that for my LD captures, but all my VHS tapes are pretty messed up. To each his own