Beginner Needs Assistance...

[pinkstonm]

Hello I am a relative beginner in the Video World but I have a need to make a recruiting DVD for my son to send off to schools that are in contact with him.

I have a sony DVD cam 201 and I film all his games. Once we get home we transfer the game film to a regular DVD.

Here is what I am needing to do...

1. segment the DVD game films extracting highlights (what is the best thing to use?)
2. Build a HighLight DVD with Still pictures and video segments (what softwares should I look at to do this?)

Thanks

[toryamos]

not exactly sure how you want to customise the final output. maybe dvd shrink in re-author mode can help. also TMPGenc DVD Author could be what you need.

[jdizzy40]

Send me your outline and material and a blank check. What you are wanting to do and come out nice is going to take software, knowledge and a lot of time. It is not going to happen overnight. When you refer to best thing, are you referring to software? How was the video captured to disk? And was it captured to your computer? What your source is will be very important during the editing and authoring stages. The time to learn is not when you have a deadline the next day. I see this often and quite simply, you need a lot of seat time reading, learning and trial and error. The last project I worked on took over 13 hours to get completed, and the video was less than 20 minutes long. Just as a director films many takes of a scene, you too will need to do the same. What software do you currently have to edit and author with?

[daamon]

Hi pinkstonm,

Welcome to the forums.

1. Look into VideoReDo - I've not used it, but I've only ever seen good things written about it, and it's designed for editing MPEG files (the format DVD is in).

2. Video segments: TMPGEnc DVD Author would be a good place to start, or check out the freeware DVD authoring apps - see "Tools" section.

2. Still pictures need to be encoded in one of two ways:

a) As MPEG stills.
b) Create a slideshow and then encode the slideshow.

Either way, you need to end up with a DVD compliant MPEG file that can then be included during authoring.

[redwudz]

If you are editing from a recorded DVD, that makes it a little harder. If you camcorder permits it, save in DV format and edit with that.

For MPEG editing, one of the inexpensive programs that works well is MPEG Video Wizard.

Beyond that, there are a lot of advanced video editors. You can find them in the 'Tools' section. <<<

MPEG is fairly hard to edit and keep audio/video sync That's mainly because of the compression. DV can be much easier to edit. Even the freeware VirtualDub does a good job of simple DV editing.

Once you get the video to a compatible DVD format, then menus and the final setup is done in an authoring program. TMPGEnc is the one I use, but there are others with more features.

[Epicurus8a]

I second redwuz's idea for MPEG Video Wizard for editing. It's one of the few MPEG editors that works well. It's a bit pricey, but they offer a 30 day free trial. TMPGENC DVD Author works well for re-authoring the edited files to a new disc.

I use Ulead DVD Workshop 2 for authoring. It works well, but it's very pricey. Ulead also sells a home version: DVD MovieFactory 4. I can't comment on it because I haven't tried it, but they offer 30 day free trial too. MovieFactory 4 is priced resonably and might be an all-in-one solution that will work for you.

Since you're a newcomer, be aware that there's a lot of junk being passed off to unsuspecting buyers. Before you spend any $$$, search this site carefully, and don't be afraid to ask questions. You'll find there's a wealth of information here - but it takes time to find it.

Good Luck

[harley2ride]

You can get an ADS PYRO AV/LINK (capture device) with Adobe Premiere Elements (decent editing/encoding software), for $155.00. You can capture from your camera, from tv, from vcr, encode directly to mgeg2 and burn to dvd, or save as avi and edit. Lots of bang for the buck this way... It all depends on what you want to do. Or, you can watch ebay and pick up an ADS capture firewire card with Adobe Premiere 6.5 for around $60.00. But, Premiere 6.5 has a huge learning curve..

[Longboarder]

Another software package that I have had good success with is Sony's Vegas Movie Studio and DVD Architech. I've done 8 or 9 projects with menues and no problem. You can ad stills with a simple drag and drop on the time line they use for the workspace. I haven't used the other programs recommended so I can't comment on their ease of use or quality of finished project. They may be beyond my ability (I've been at this only a few months). You can download a trial version from the Sony website to try out. Good Luck

[harley2ride]

I've used vegas as well. Very good program. If you want to buy it, I would suggest getting an older version (much cheaper), and if you have a kid in school, you can buy an education edition for a real bargain. The education version has everything the same as the full blown expensive version. They just discount it a lot for students. Same goes for a lot of other softwares.

[pinkstonm]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try them.

This is a GREAT FORUM.

By the way the films I have are on DVD where recorded with a sony DVD 201 then using their software uploaded to a full sized DVD.