Software for editing MPEG2 from camera for producing DVDs

[Gawker]

So about 2 weeks ago I bought a new video camera and since I'm already an electronics geek I wanted to make sure I bought one with the features I felt I needed. Primarily I wanted a HDD camera for ease of access to the video for editing and converting to DVD without having to dub off from tapes or discs. The problem I'm running into at this point however, is in the actual editing process...

I've been prefectly able to pop the videos off the camera or watch them directly from the drive after hooking it to my computer, but so far I've been unable to find the full featured editing software I had been hoping for. So far I've tried Womble's Mpeg Video Wizard which gave me the best experience with splicing and transitioning between clips, but seems to completely lack an audio mixing function.

Next I tried Vegas 7 which, thank god I didn't PAY FOR IT!!, was completely incapable of importing my video clips into the software for editing. After trying to import the video clips several times and having to end task Vegas every time because it had completely locked up I gave up and decided to keep on looking. The bad part is I'm still not finding anything that fits what I want.

Am I looking for something that doesn't exist in a single piece of software? What kind of different options are out there for editing and transitioning video as well as playing with audio levels for things like adding in music? I'd also like to be able to insert slide shows of photos into the timeline as well but without the ability to manipulate the audio with fades and inserted clips I'm kinda at a standstill.

[edDV]

...

Am I looking for something that doesn't exist in a single piece of software? What kind of different options are out there for editing and transitioning video as well as playing with audio levels for things like adding in music? I'd also like to be able to insert slide shows of photos into the timeline as well but without the ability to manipulate the audio with fades and inserted clips I'm kinda at a standstill.

Yes, your choice of MPeg2 limited your editing choices. Vegas 7 can work but not with your hardware. Decompressing MPeg2 is processor intensive.

Womble MPeg2 native editing will maintain video quality. One process is to edit video there and then use something like Sound Forge (or Sony Audio Studio) to go to work on the audio.

[BJ_M]

vegas 7 will work fine if you use it correctly - the sony knowledge base and forum covers this in detail ....

basically you rename the .mod file to either vob or mpg is it as far as i recall ... 100's of people are using this camera just fine (jvc HDD hard drive vid camera) with vegas 7 ....

[edDV]

Yes, but Gawker needs more than a 1GHz Athlon if he goes the Vegas 7 route.

[BJ_M]

true -- didnt notice that little issue

[Gawker]

Sorry gang, I didn't think to put that in the OP...I'm actually running on a pretty heavy rig. I've got a 10K RPM HDD a 2.4gHz processor and a gig of RAM so it sounds like the software really is the problem. One thing I'm thinking would work would be to use Womble (which I am loving BTW) for video editing and slide shows and such and like you guys suggested using something outside to do my audio work but I want to be able to fade multiple tracks in and out over each other similar to what a DJ does on radio or at a party for cleaner transitions.

I HAVE discovered a way to get Womble to do something CLOSE to what I want using the internal fades and volume controls and using thesecondary audio and voiceover tracks as my multi track setup. It's working pretty well so far but the thing it doesn't do that I want the most is fading the audio from the video in the middle of the stream. To get around that I'm trying to find a decent spot in the video clipping it there and muting the offending portion to be covered by the music. It's dirty but so far it's working...though I'm still hunting for something a little closer to the features I was hoping for. If I find it...hooray but if not then I think I can get along with this technique.

[Specialist]

If you're still looking for MPEG-2 editing options, then check out Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus.

Or Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8.

Either package edits MPEG natively.

There are some free tutorials on my Web site:

http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/tutoriallist.htm

Jerry Jones

[edDV]

For your style, I still like Womble for simple cuts/transitions followed by SoundForge (or consumer version) for multi-track to 2 track audio mixdown. Soundforge preserves video sync and allows editing/processing audio to video (AKA "audio sweetening" in the industry).

Think of this as "simple but pure" video followed by intensive audio that exceeds Vegas in capability.

If surround audio is the goal other programs would be used.

[A_51]

IF money is an issue try Magix Movie Edit pro. It cost $50 in store and have a $15 dollar rebate right now. I just upgraded from vertion 10 to 11. Also I tryed on my version of premiere (6.5) and it imported mpeg-2.

[Specialist]

That Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 was recently selling for $20 at a local electronics store!

I wanted to buy it and give it a try.

Hard to go wrong for that amount of money.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[pchan]

@Gawker,
If you can refer to the manual, there is an option that you turn on the "rubber band" in the audio track and easily adjust audio level.

[Gawker]

edDV : You've peaked my interest...but I'm not quite clear on how you do the audio work with Soundforge. Do you have to rip the audio out of your original video footage to work with and reassemble them down the road? How do you go about doing that? The software is a touch pricy to just grab and hope for the best so I'd like to be a little clearer before I take a plunge.

[edDV]

edDV : You've peaked my interest...but I'm not quite clear on how you do the audio work with Soundforge. Do you have to rip the audio out of your original video footage to work with and reassemble them down the road? How do you go about doing that? The software is a touch pricy to just grab and hope for the best so I'd like to be a little clearer before I take a plunge.

Soundforge will work with the audio tracks from the source video and add parrallel tracks from other sources, allow complex filtering and audio manipulation and build to a final audio track for export. Try the demo or the consumer version "Sony Audio Studio". Read the manual and product info.

Vegas was actually built over Sound Forge and includes some of the audio features.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=961
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?pid=975

[Gawker]

Ok so Sound Forge definately sounds like something I'd like to look into except the demo doesn't allow me to open MPEG files which makes it completely and 100% useless to me and impossible for me to evaluate whether the purchase price of $300 is worth it. Seems pretty stupid to require an additional plugin to the tune of $100 on top of a $300 piece of software in order for me to find out if I think it's worth buying...seeing as how I'd have to have already BOUGHT it to find out one way or the other. God I hate Sony...

[edDV]

Ok so Sound Forge definately sounds like something I'd like to look into except the demo doesn't allow me to open MPEG files which makes it completely and 100% useless to me and impossible for me to evaluate whether the purchase price of $300 is worth it. Seems pretty stupid to require an additional plugin to the tune of $100 on top of a $300 piece of software in order for me to find out if I think it's worth buying...seeing as how I'd have to have already BOUGHT it to find out one way or the other. God I hate Sony...

Just use wav and uncompressed avi files to evaluate. Functionality is the same.

[Gawker]

Got suggestions for software for easily converting my files over to AVI and WAV?