PG needed to RIP/EDIT/MENU/BURN

[mousetater]

NEEDED: One program to do the following:
-to rip home videos off of a freshly burnt DVD from VHS (made with set top Samsung DVD recorder/dubber)
-then to input the ripped videos into so I can edit/make chapters/MAKE MENUS!/add titles (basically like WMM)
-then, finally burn onto a DVD that is playable in most players.
Is there such an animal out there?? If so, what/where??
Thanks
This forum has SOOO much information in it and so many different programs do different or same things it gets really confusing.

[Denvers Dawgs]

Just out of curiosity, why just one program to do all?

[MackemX]

there isn't one progran to do all that but I can agree that it does get confusing as there are a few options

first off tell us are you looking for a completely freeware route (probably longer but obviously cheaper) or do you have an idea of what you would be willing to pay?

@Denvers Dawgs, wouldn't you want one program? I'm sure would as using a mixture of programs is sometimes time and space consuming, nevermind confusing to someone who's new to using them

in fact, thinking about it, though not my choice, wouldn't Nero Vision Express do it all?

DVDLab would also let you do it everything but I haven't a clue regarding it burning though. But these 2 programs are not free

[mousetater]

Well, good question. That's just an "ideal" program.
What I'm doing is bringing several, probably 10 or so, old family VHS tapes onto DVD. I want then to dump em on the hd, crop out the slow unimportant parts. Menu/Chapter the remainder into a nice timeline of our family and children. I'm not sure how many DVDs I will end up with, but it'll be organized and easily found when we want to see a part.
Here's what I'm doing and it's not working and I'm gettin frustrated.
-xfer vhs to DVD (works fine with Samsung)
-I can rip it into MPG on my hd., but WMM doesn't use MPG. So, I've struggled with a DVD to .avi pg. (avi.net/dvd to avi) I can't tell you why avi.net doesn't work. Seems to work with everyone else. It just says it can't import that file when I click on ANY of the files that are ON the DVD.
-I have ripped them into DVD Decrypter. I have VIDEO TS.IFO/ VIDEO TS>VOB in decrypter....all of these confusing files. Do I open them with avi.net?? Which one?? all of em?? do they combine?? Which one typically has ALL of the vid/audio on it??
I'm sorry good people, I'm pretty durn good with pc's and this has taxed me, tryin to read/sift thru all the posts/helpful tutorials. etc. with all of these different programs. They all link to another/and another.
-I love editing with WMM. Sonic MYDVD has been my favorite for creating menus though. Can also drop a nice pix slideshow on it.
So, I know it's lengthy but I want this winter project to work out good. I can do the editing fine. I just am having a problem getting from DVD to a format that is useable by whichever program.
Thanks folks for your help.
I like free, but if it has a trial and is a good program, shewt, I'd pay for a good one to do all of that! :P

[MackemX]

you don't need to do anything with the DVD's once you have created them from VHS apart from rip the complete DVD to your HD

from then on you should just stick with a program that works with VOB's. As I mentioned you can use something like DVDLab and import the VOB files directly without demultiplexing them. You can then create menus and chapters or whatever else with it and export it and it does all the work of rebuilding for you. I just don't know if it burns as I haven't used it properly in ages. Even so you may already have a burning program even if it doesn't

there's no need to demux the files if they are home movies as that's just a waste of time and resources

you should check out some of the DVDLab guides to see what it can do

[guns1inger]

If your edits are basicallt simple cuts, then TDA is probably the closest thing to meet your criteria. You can directly import the VOBs, make simple edits, add menus and chapters, then output a compliant DVD file structure. I believe TDA also has a burning engine, but it is a bit flakey, so perhaps a better burning tool is required. Still close a single solution.

If you want to do more complex editing - cross fades, titles etc then I think your will be generally disappointed with any one-program solutions. While some of the cheap and cheerful consumer editor say they can do this, there are usually compromises in the final qualiy of the encoders. As mpeg isn't the best codec for repeated encodes (quality drops of pretty rapidly) you need to use a good encoder for the final output. Seperate tools is the best way to maintain quality - best of breed and all that.

While I agree that DVD Lab Pro is a great authoring tool (I use it myself), it cannot edit for you. It can trim the ends of clips, it can be set to skip over the boring parts as if they weren't there, but it can't actually remove them. And again, the burning engine leaves a lot to be desired.

[ulapines]

Never had any problems burning with TDA, abt. 70 DVD