What are the Necessary Video Tools

[rbmerc]

Hey everyone, with so many different tools out there that have been cluttering my computer, I really want to narrow it down to just 2 or 3 tools to use. I use Adobe Premiere Pro for my video editing that I capture from DV tapes. Then I export it in mpeg2 format... Now there is about 1000 different things I can do from there it feels like. What are the best steps? Do I need all these small video applications? I have so many that it is crazy! I just want like 3 main things that I use to prepare my DV home videos that have been edited in Premiere Pro to work with when preparing for the DVD format... Thanks for the input guys!

-merc

[teegee420]

Premiere can obviously take care of your capturing and editing needs, and it looks like you're using it to rednder to mpeg-2 as well. If that works for you, great. A lot of people choose to use a seperate mpeg encoder. The only stage your post didn't address was authoring. I don't know which program you are using but TMPGEnc DVD Author and DVD Lab are pretty popular here. Aside from that there's not much else you need. What programs do you have that you are unsure of whether to keep?

[housepig]

I would say, whatever you do, keep Virtualdub. it's like a swiss army knife for video, and it's only a couple megabytes, if that.

[awlchu]

I would add three programs to your toolbox:

TMPGs excellent AC3 2-channel encoder. Saves room for higher bitrate (video). $30US

bitrate viewer (paid), Allows you to review the GOP structure and other important stuff of your mpeg2 files prior to authoring $40US

Any DVD (software) player. Play back your authored DVD using a 3rd party tool. Helps find problems outside Premiere Pro.... I like Sonic's Cineplayer ($25US).

[lechtin]

I second DVD-Lab, but since you already have Premiere, you might want to give Adobe Encore DVD a try to author. You can then set your chapter points in Premiere and import them. The user interface is also pretty similar.