Looking for recommendations on converting DVD+RW to Xvid and editing it

[Spring Rubber]

Basically, I'm looking to convert clips of TV programs I have recorded on DVD+RW's to Xvid for the purpose of posting them on a message board. There are plenty of guides here on the site, but I'm looking for some personal advice in deciding what is best for someone like me who's new to working with digital video. I'm looking to do all of this with freeware since I really can't afford to pay anything to get the software I need. I also need to be able to edit the video so I can make individual files for short clips, and for a couple DVD+RW's that I recorded, I also need to adjust the resolution of the video as I accidentally recorded them too tall and narrow.

Also, is it possible to just rip small clips from the DVD+RW, or must the whole thing be ripped before converting to Xvid? Additionally, would I need to use a different process than I would for DVD+RW if I had a different recordable format, such as -R, +R, or -RW that my DVD recorder automatically converts to DVD Video?

[guns1inger]

Open the discs with DVD Shrink. Go into Re-Author mode, drag the title to the lefthand pane and right-click to set start and end points. Backup to the HDD, then use AutoGK to encode the clip from the new structure you created with Shrink.

[Spring Rubber]

It mostly worked out okay, but the bottom of the video got cut off somewhere in the process. What could be causing this?

Oh, and the video/audio sync really falls off, even just two minutes into a clip.

[guns1inger]

Open the VOB in virtualdubmpeg2 instead of autoGK and test for audio issues.

[Spring Rubber]

Seems that the sync issues only occured because I used a larger Xvid video to create a smaller one. When I create the smaller video directly from the VOB, everything turns out fine.

How about the bottom of the video being cut off? I would think it was caused by DVD Shrink, but I don't know for certain. What can I do to prevent this?

[guns1inger]

Shrink doesn't change video. It doesn't resize or crop. All shrink does is alter the way the video data is represented in order to reduce the size. If you are losing image it is happening elsewhere.

Do you see the whole image in virtualdubmpeg2 ?
Do you see the whole image if you watch the VOBs on your PC ?

[Spring Rubber]

Yes, I do see the whole image in virtualdubmpeg2. I tried to use that to encode the video in Xivd, but the audio/video sync turned out horrible.

[guns1inger]

Post your AutoGK settings

[Spring Rubber]

AutoGK Settings

[Spring Rubber]

I just solved it myself by trying options. Turns out I needed to lower the threshold in AutoGK. I did notice that the finished product has a bit of unwanted flicker to the video, which is something the preview did not have. Would this be caused by the heavy compression I used to keep the video to 8MB?

But just when one problem is solved, another turns up. From the looks of things, DVD Shrink only recognizes the latest title to be burned onto the DVD+RW. For instance, on this one DVD+RW, I have one recording from last night and one recording from today, each of which has its own title. While I can play both just fine, DVD Shrink only shows the one from today.

[guns1inger]

Shrink possibly can't read multi-session discs, as normally DVD Video cannot be multi-session. Try using DVD Decrypter instead, or just copying the files using Windows Explorer.