Burned first DVD, need some tips

[snapshotmd]

Hi everyone!

I just burned my first DVD using stuff I'd captured on a Sony DCR-TRV33 and using Sonic's MYDVD and ArcSoft's ShowBiz software.

While viewing the DVD I noticed
1)the video was choppy when filming motion (waving arms),

2)and all the transitions did a double take, that is, it'll repeat the last second or two during the transition.

My initial thoughts were the choppyness is because the footage was filmed indoors (low light) so that the shutter was hindering a smooth flow. However, when viewed straight from the tape on my TV, it was very smooth.

The transition double take problem could be software related. What do you all recommend I use as a A/V editor?

Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

Thanks!
Ken

[northcat_8]

Not knowing about your set up but just giving you some of my experiences...

Your choppy video may come from your capturing it on your PC. If the video looked good playing from the tape...then it should look good on the PC. I don't think low light or shutter had anything to do with choppy video unless it was choppy on the tape.

As far as your transitions doing a double take, that is more than likely in the rendering of the video that you took into your authoring software. Meaning that when you put the clips together and made the final video file that you were going to import into your authoring software was rendered poorly.

Some capture cards only work with certain softwares so you'll want to take that into consideration.

As far as A/V editing programs...

Adobe Premiere
Pinnacle Studio 8

are the main 2 that I use. Ulead's Video Studio is OK, I used that when I was first starting out.

Some system specs, processor speed, RAM, HD format and size, capture card, captured format (DV-AVI, MPEG, etc), frame size and other things like that would be helpful.

[snapshotmd]

northcat,

I just updated my profile to include all the detailed techie stuff.

Did some research and saw that ArcSoft ShowBiz didn't get very high marks. As a matter of fact, it looks like not many apps do well at all. Sony Screenblast seems the best so far, but it needs to go thru MyDVD for menus, same as Showbiz... Ugh! Adobe Premiere seems like a monster and overkill.

Guess I'm gonna be looking at ALOT of coasters.

If you have anything else to add, I'd really appreciate it!

Ken

[basstrap]

I'm new at this too. I'm capturing using my Sony Digital camera via firewire (digital and analog via analog-digital pass-through).

I tried Ulead's Movie Factory 3- it gets the whole job done (capture, encode, author, burn), but I think that I want a bit more flexibility.

I'm trialing a product called EditStudio4 (www.puremotion.com) for capturing and editing. It's pretty inexpensive for the basic edition and when I had questions, they responded right away- even though I am just trialing it at this point. It has some pretty good documentation too.

For authoring, I'm trialing both TMPGenc DVD Author and DVD-Lab. I think I will probably end-up with TMPGenc DVD Author because it allows me to preview the audio while placing chapter points and it has a plug-in for AC-3. Otherwise, DVD-Lab would probably be my first choice since it has more flexibility (though it is a bit more complex to use).

For encoding, I am considering TMPGenc Plus 2.5 and the MPEGXS plug-in for EditStudio4.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[northcat_8]

As far as a video editor you are bound by how much you want to spend. Premiere is premiere...literally...but you pay for it. It will run you around $700.00.

I do video editing and authoring as a little business. I use Pinnacle's Studio 8 for capturing and editing my video. The software is buggy as can be but I capture at 720x480 DV-AVI and I can render my video to just about any format from AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV, RM....it was a cheap software that does what I need it to do. I render my final videos into MPEG-2 in S8 and then use Ulead DVD workshop to make the DVDs. I have grown tired of the limitations in DVDWS though and I have been checking out TMPGenc DVD Author and DVD-LAB. I like the ability I have to make my own menus in Adobe Photoshop with the transparent layers. TMPGenc is ahead of DVD-LAB in my eyes as well but both programs are very good in my 5 days of evalutation of them. In my testing the speed of encoding is about the same, videos look to be of the same quality.

I still think your issues that you first posted are a result of what I said the first time.

If you watch the video before taking it into your DVD authoring software, you can get many of the glitches out of it. Like the double take on the transitions and things. I have found that if your video is large, then you are better off to do the video in pieces, edit them so they are exactly like you want them and then put them together at the end. For example, I am doing a basketball highlight video right now. I have over 200 clips. If I try to make one long project of all 200 clips...first of all, clipping and editing them would take a month of sundays but any problems I may run into affects the whole project. So what I do is I make 20 game clips. I put an intro on each one, transitions where I want them and then render each one individually. Then when I get ready to go to DVD, I take those 20 clips put them on the timeline, transition between them, add the music or voice overs and render it to DVD compliant MPEG-2. That way I only have one large MPEG-2 file to import into my DVD Authoring software. Now I do that for all the different things I am putting on the DVD.

Anyway, the point is, if there is a problem I'm not back at square one ever. The furthest I have to go back is to the individual game files.

I don't know of any free video editing softwares that are really good enough to spend time with. I do know you should stay away from Microsoft's Movie Maker programs...they are trash. I use to mess around with 2 softwares....Gear Pro and Vegas ....I think were their names....I don't know if either one is still around or not....when I got premiere I kind of let them go.

Are you sure your video card is an ATI Radeon 3200??? If so, you should upgrade that right away.

[snapshotmd]

Are you sure your video card is an ATI Radeon 3200??? If so, you should upgrade that right away.

Damn, you caught me! It's actually a 9200... I couldn't really remember off the top so I just stuck any old number that sounded remotely right.

I believe you n.cat when you said it was a software problem. I've downloaded about 4 trials tonite and spend it testing PureMotion EditStudio 4. This seems to have alot of nice features to it, except it seems I can't add text to the movies. I kinda like the idea of having intro/ending credits. I love the fact that I could mix audio and fade it! Thanks for the tip basstrap! I've looked at DVDLab and said "Huh?" I'm gonna have to tackle that when I have more time.

If anyone else has anymore suggestions, give a holler!

Thanks!
Ken

[basstrap]

I haven't tried it yet, but the introductory guide explains how to add text.

http://www.puremotion.com/downloads/index.htm
(go to the bottom of the EditStudio Extras section)

and here's a tutorial for scrolling credits:

http://www.puremotion.com/editstudio/tutorials/scrollingcredits/index

I've been playing with the MPEGXS plug-in encoder tonight and I really like the quality that I'm seeing.

[snapshotmd]

basstrap,

Hmmm.... very interesting! I'm gonna have to try this later on. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks!
Ken

[snapshotmd]

northcat,

Do you split the video up upon transfer to your puter, or do you have one big file and split it later?

I'm trying to figure out when you stop recording. Do you do it mid-scene? or do you try to guesstimate when you stopped recording the scene?

Ken

[northcat_8]

I cut it up as I capture it into the computer. Typically there are parts of the videos that I don't want so the cut points is easy. If it was a continuous video and I wanted it all, I would break it about every 15 minutes or so. A lot of it depends on what format you are capturing in and the sizes of your HD. I just haven't had very good results editing large files.

Where ever you cut it...just rewind the tape a little and capture a little before you cut it, so when you put it together you have an over lap and you can put it back together and it will look seemless.

You know something that I kind of over looked...is your system tweaked for video? Do you shut down all background programs when rendering video? Like anti-virus, anything you may have running in the background? You may want to check out some websites to disable some of those XP services that you don't need.

www.blackviper.com
www.mikeshaw.co.uk (I think)

there are several others.

But too many background programs running, you running out of ram or page file will cause video glitches or program crashes.

[snapshotmd]

n.cat,

I doubt running out of resources is the problem cuz
1) I did everything with only the app I'm running open,
2) I have 1 GB of RAM, or at least I think I do,
3) I have hyperthread, or at least I think I do.

I'm pretty sure it had to be ShowBiz that screwed up my video. The first time around I did almost everything, except menus and burning, on SB. Then I tried capturing thru MyDVD and the video looked smoother. I just need to find a good reliable editor with most of the bells and whistles to capture and edit.

I did see all the choppiness and double takes in SB preview, but I kinda figured, or hoped for a miracle, that it wouldn't show up on the final product.

Ken

[northcat_8]

I have 1 GB of PC2700 DDR RAM and a 3072 MB page file, and my PC still bogs down after several hours of strenuous video work and my box is tweaked to the gills for video editing.

It may not be your problem, but the things you described...especially the transitions...is a symptom that I have experienced when I'm needing to reboot my machine because it is bogging down.

You are not really running 1 GB of RAM in your video processing. If you right click the clock and open task manager you will see several items running in the background...the numbers to their right...is the amount of RAM they are using. Too many of those and you could actually be running your video editor with seriously reduced RAM.

Even little things like system restore, anti-virus programs, firewalls, fragmented page file, etc, can eat up a lot of system resources that you need for video editing.

Just a suggestion, you do need a new video editor anyway.

I also read somewhere that hyperthreading is not good for video editing...you may want to research that, I'm not 100% sure but I believe I read that somewhere.

[snapshotmd]

I just converted my first movie captured and edited in EditStudio to mpeg with MPEGXS. Played it for the first time and it had MPEGXS flashing all over the screen and no audio (damn them!!!) I'm guessing the MPEGSX is only there until I pay for it, but what about the audio? There is a choice of PCM and mpeg audio. Is this the problem?

Otherwise, the movie looks great! No chops or doubles.

I am a little miffed at the limited text choices, but I think I could deal with it.

n.cat - Thanks for the info, I'll keep what you said in mind if I run into any problems.

Ken

[basstrap]

Hmm.. my test burns with EditStudio/MPEGXS had audio. I used PCM audio and then authored in TMPGenc DVD Author.

[snapshotmd]

basstrap,

What did you use to playback your mpeg? Mine opened up in Windows media player.

Ken[/quote]

[basstrap]

My mpg file opens up in PowerDVD and the audio and video play fine. I also played the DVD (authored and burned in TMPGenc DVD Author) and it plays fine.

I opened the mpg file up in Windows Media Player 9 for comparison- it had audio, but the sound was masked by loud static- I'm not sure why.