IS There Any Way to EDIT My MPEGs?

[skip2mylou]

Hey everyone , i just converted some home videos to MPEG and now i am wanting to add transition and video effects to them . now i hope this shouldnt be a problem, and that there hopefully is a way TO edit :P . so i guess im basically asking which program would be best to edit and stuff . thanks and happy posting!

[daamon]

Hi skip2mylou,

I'm guessing, as it's home video, the source (i.e. before it was MPEG) was AVI?

If so, do your editing in the AVI and then save as AVI. Then encode to MPEG.

Why? Coz AVI lends itself to editing much, much more than MPEG - This is because you can edit at frame level in AVI, whereas you can only edit at the I picture in MPEG. Also, editing MPEG's can lead to problems, commonly audio sync problems.

[epo]

MPEG can be edited at frame level too (at least Womble MPG2VCR and Ulead can do this), but this involves recompression of some frames. Another problem is with audio as it is also stored in frames (typically 24 ms) with boundaries not matching with video frames. And because of that there are rising sync problems.

[skip2mylou]

@ daamon

yes u r correct
the home movies were first AVi, then i encoded them . ok editing the AVIs sounds good . so which is the bect program that i can use?

[johns0]

Virtualdub is the best freeware program for avi edit.

[bottle-necked]

I do that all the time. Ulead VideoStudio V7 is a good program. It's a trial download so you can see if you like it and you can usually find it on Ebay too. The full version does have more transitions effects than the trialware. The program can be setup to 'smart render' so it only reencodes the portions of the transition effects and not the entire video. This can be checked by the video 'pausing' except where the transitions are. If it pauses it's smart rendering, if it's playing then it's encoding. If set properly it will use the smart function.

I have never had any sync problems using the program with MPEG2 source material. I suppose it can happen(?) though, but so far not to me. It actually does a nice job rendering transition effects with MPEG2 material. I tell no loss of quality, although my average effect is either fade to black or crossfade. I don't usually do those fancy effects. They hurt my eyes.

Good luck.

[skip2mylou]

hey thanks every one
i downloaded that virtual dub thingy and i am gonna try it out . i am also planning on tryin the Ulead thing too . thanks again and i will post back with results . thanks again. bless yall.

[skip2mylou]

@ johns0
@ bottle-necked

ok im a a newbie so b4 i get in over my head, i was wondering what guides i would use . please advise for both virtualdub and ulead PLEASE . thanks soooo much.

[daamon]

@ skip2mylou

What are you using to encode to MPEG? The three dedicated tools (rather than "all-in-one" apps) that seem to be the favourites on this site are: TMPGEnc, Cinema Craft Encoder and Mainconcept MPEG Encoder.

For my editing, I use Adobe Premiere v6.0 - it's a powerful tool with a steep learning curve, but produces top results once you've (finally) cracked it (which I haven't, fully!). It's pricey @ US$700 from Adobe, but I've seen people say you can pick it up on eBay for US$100.

Once you've done your editing, what are you aiming to do after that: VCD? SVCD? DVD?

For VCD / SVCD, I've used VCDEasy with TMPGEnc and found it very effective.

For DVD, I encode with TMPGEnc (settings set manually, having followed this guide: http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html) then author with TMPGEnc DVD Author - but I'm gonna trial DVDLab and Sonic ReelDVD now I'm more confident / knowledgeable.

I started with SVCD to get basic principles under my belt, and then went on to DVD. Learnt to walk before running...

Enjoy...

[skip2mylou]

@ daamon

alright, im glad u asked that question . ok what i did was usin my digital camera, i was able to take short video clips and i shot a few home videos. however when i upload them to my comp, they are .MOV. so i used RAD Video Tools to cenvert to .AVI and then i used TMPGEnc along with QTreader (Quicktime Plug-in) to encode the .AVIs to .MPGs . now what my goal is is to put these .MPGs onto VCD and then view on my standalone DVD player (VCD compatible). however, i did not just want to view short, choppy clips, instead i wanted to watch a smooth running video, and what better way than using transitions . now the first thing that came to mind was Windows Movie Maker, but that converts to Windows Media after editing, and that doesnt help, unless there is a way to convert Windows Media to .MPG . so i figured that the next best thing would be to edit the .MPGs or .AVIs. so here i am.

HOPE THIS HELPS
thanks again everyone

[qlizard]

I find it very difficult to read your posts because of all the smileys!

[spidey]

Windows media to Mpeg can be done in Vegas Video 4

[skip2mylou]

@ qlizard

oh please excuse me for the SMILEYS, i just want to create a pleasant atmosphere. sorry again, but thanks for posting your thoughts.

[skip2mylou]

in my previous posts i said this:

now the first thing that came to mind was Windows Movie Maker, but that converts to Windows Media after editing, and that doesnt help, unless there is a way to convert Windows Media to .MPG .

however, due to my stupidity, this was an assumption which hadnt been tested. so to prove myself wrong, i opened Windows Movie Maker and i edited and avi and i tinkered around, and guess what, i was able to skip several steps and i created and edited MPEG, ready for disc burning. however i probably wouldnt have gotten this far wothout everyone kind and generous posts, so thanks to everybody who helped to solve my problem, for i am truly thankful. i just want to let everybody know that because of yall, i am one step further in preserving my family's memories. thanks again everyone and bless yall.

-skip2mylou

[bottle-necked]

It seems like I'm always doing some sort of video project and I usually wind up in Ulead VideoStudio. I have versions 5, 6, and 7. V5 isn't much count. V6 is my favorite but I can't seem to get it to capture AVI using HuffYUV codec. V7 seems to do everything pretty well so I find myself it most of the time. Adding transitions, making slide show movies, adding text, cutting and pasting video, etc. I probably couldn't finish many of my projects without these programs.

I've got Windows Movie Maker but I don't use it. I don't think I've ever created a single project in that program. I've always updated it on the windows site but on this install of XP it hasn't even been started the first time yet.

What I've trying to say is.... loose the Windows Movie Maker and get a good editing program you like. You will be far better off than messing around with that piece of sh*t program.

Just my 2 cents.
Good luck.