Pointers on miniDV -> DVD method

[fillishave]

Hi,
After reading lots and lots of posts and tutorials on this site (which has helped tremendously!) I still feel a bit unsure of if I found a good way of going about this or not.

What I want to do: Capture some miniDV-stuff, edit it and then put in on a DVD.

This is the process I was thinking of using:

• Capture to DV-avi with Premiere Pro via firewire.
• Encode it to MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc (extract audio-file to WAV with Virtualdub if using TMPGEnc)
• Edit it in Premiere Pro. This is where I’m a bit unsure. If I edit it in Premiere and then render it to my final MPEG-2, haven’t the TMPGEnc-encoding been unnecessary since I will still end up with the built in Premiere encoding?
• Convert sound to AC3 in Premiere (I think…)
• Author it with Ulead DVD Workshop
• Make my parents very happy for having a good way of looking at video of their grandchildren.

Does this sound like the right way to go? If not please tell me what to improve.

Is it overkill in terms of quality to use TMPGEnc for the MPEG-2 encoding? It’s just your average home-video I’m using. Also, which program encodes the fastest?
Also do you recommend Ulead DVD Workshop for authoring or should I try another software?

Thanks a bunch for reading and thanks a bunch in advance for replying!
/Filip

[bugster]

Nearly right, but as you say the 1st encode with TmpGenc is not required and in fact will make your life difficult.

Capture as DV AVI

Edit the Avi and save as DV-Avi

Encode the edited video to mpeg-2 (with TmpGenc or Premiere or other...)

Author.

Burn.

[fillishave]

Thanks for the help Bugster!
From your personal experience, which is the best way to go with Premiere vs TMPGEnc in terms of quality/rendering time for the final MPEG 2?

I think I have to buy a new harddrive though. My available 30-40 gig won't last too long if I need original DV-Avi+edited DV-Avi+MPEG 2

[bugster]

From your personal experience, which is the best way to go with Premiere vs TMPGEnc in terms of quality/rendering time for the final MPEG 2?

I havn't tried the mpeg-2 ouput from Premiere so I can't comment on that. I am happy with TmpGenc and as I have been using it for a while now, quite familiar with what it can do.

You are probably right about needing a new HD though!

[daamon]

Hi fillishave,

I've recently achieved what you're aiming to do (and with the help of bugster, coincidentally). So here's some pointers if they're of any use...

When encoding with TMPGEnc, I find this guide:

http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

...VERY useful for refining my settings. Make sure you read it carefully as there is a lot of info that can be missed. As a guide I use the following bitrate settings:

Max = 9,000 (See * below)
Average = 6,000
Min = 2,000 (as advised by bugster)

* I believe that the max bitrate on a DVD (taking everything into account - video, audio etc.) is 9,484kbps. You need to adjust your max to take this into account.

Audio in WAV (also known as PCM) is uncompressed and at 1,536kbps (takes up a fair chunk of your 9,484 "allowance") so I use VirtualDub to extract the audio (after I've saved my project to DV AVI) as a WAV file. I then convert the WAV -> AC3 (@ 192kbps, much lower leaving more for the video) using Baldrick's ffmpeggui (dead easy to use compared to BeSweet, and uses the same encoding routine).

You can do audio and video in TMPGEnc, but the audio comes out as MP2 - I believe that only European DVD stand-alone players can handle MP2. I think it's similar in size and quality to AC3.

I then combine (multiplex = mux) the video (.m2v file) and audio (.ac3 file) during authoring stage using TMPGEnc DVD Author. I don't know if Ulead does this. I use TDA coz it's:

Beginner-friendly.
Fairly versatile.
Full functionality for 30 days.
Knocks out decent looking DVD's.
Burns too.
I've not used anything else (yet, gonna try out DVD Lab) so can't comment.

I hope that is of use. Good luck...

[fillishave]

Very useful help daamon! Thanks a lot

[daamon]

Pleasure to be of help. Good luck.