I would like to convert VHS to DVD's and have got myself a bit confused.

[airwolfUK]

Hi everyone

Been hanging around here for a while but this is my first post.

I would like to convert VHS to DVD's and have got myself a bit confused.

I have a number of old VHS tapes that i have captured to AVI files.

I have then conveted them to .mpg files using the MainConcept Encoder. I did this thinking i would not have to encode again

I am running a trial copy of Premier Elements 3 and have loaded the relevent .mpg files into the timeline and created a DVD menu structure etc.

When i run "Copy to DVD" PE3 seems to start the whole encoding process again. Is this right?

Will PE3 encode any media again even though it is in mpg?

Is there another way of doing what i want?

Sorry about all the questions but i have bee reading a bit, looking at various freeware, and $$ software but have completely tied myself in knots.

Lots to learn............. and any advice appreciated

[Abond]

I don't know Premier Elements 3, but usually the Adobe products are smart enough to not re-encode DVD compliant files. Two things I can think of - either your files are not compliant, or you didn't use the right option. For compliancy check look at this page left top "What is" - DVD and compare with the files you have.
I would demultiplex the output from MainConcept and author the DVD with Muxman (no menu) or GFD (with menu). Then I would burn the VIDEO_TS folder with Imgburn

[Baldrick]

I changed your subject. Please don't use subjects like newbie needs help.

[thecoalman]

I'm not familar with premeire elements either but most likely the MPEG settings you have in it differ from those of your source files.

[airwolfUK]

thanks for your help guys.

I also dropped a note on the PE forum and received an answer there.

"Premier Elements uses a DV-AVI workflow. That means you either put DV-AVIs into it or Premiere Elements must turn it into a DV-AVI before it can do anything with it -- including turn it into a DVD (MPEG2). "

I was advised to use a DVD builder that uses native MPEG in the workflow like DVD Architect or Sonic MyDVD

[TheFamilyMan]

If all you want to do is create a DVD using your MPEG2 files as they are, i.e. no editing, using Premiere Elements is not the best way to go, for reasons that you are now learning. A DVD authoring program, such as TDA or Ulead Moviefactory, will allow you to create menus and chapter markers from your MPEG2 files, and create a DVD with thoses menus and MPEGS files. Unfortunately, that's also another thing to buy. I think demos of these apps are available. Good Luck!

[airwolfUK]

thanks for all your help and tips.

As i said, lots to learn, but i have moved on in my knowledge due to this forum (oh...and other forums)

many thanks

rgds-

[airwolfUK]

Quick clarificaton...............

My source files are DivX encoded. The only thing available to me at the time was an ARCHOS 604 media player with capture capabilities through a DV Station.

Is it best to convert these to MPEG first, edit, create menus, burn to DVD etc., or leave them as they are and let the editing package re encode to MPEG/ DVD?

I am still looking for the best workflow method to achieve what i want and i guess see if its a waste of time to rencode to MPEG before editing or DVD building.

Thank for any tips

rgds-

[thecoalman]

My source files are DivX encoded. -

You should not be using DIVX for making DVD's.

There's two routes, MPEG or AVI capture.

For the best results a AVI captured using Huffyuv, DV-AVI capture device or other lightly compressed AVI is preferable. From there you can edit, filter etc. This file should be converted to MPEG once after all your edits. Converting to any compressed format should be done only once...

The other route is using a hardware encoder or DVD recorder to capture directly to MPEG, thids is a lot faster than AVI because the file is already DVD compliant. The trade off is it's not as editor friendly. From there use software designed for working with MPEG. These will only reencode what is necessary preserving most of the original file retaining quality.

[airwolfUK]

Thanks thecoalman for your help.

The tapes were 20+ years old and i had 1 shot at digitizing them.

Given i am where i am and cannot get the source tapes again, how would you recommend i proceed?

[thecoalman]

I don't do Divx... If you post the specs of what they are now someone else can give you some better direction on where to go with it. Specifically the resolution and bitrate. Most likely they are going to suggest you convert to a uncompressed AVI to make your edits, regardless encoding to MPEG should be the last thing you do.

[Abond]

Easy solution: convert the divx files to mpeg and edit with a mpeg editor (I would suggest Cuttermaran as free one)
Not so easy solution: load the divx file in virtualdub, edit there and frameserve to a mpeg encoder, or output to avi using lossless codec (Huffyuv, Lagarith). Then encode this avi to mpeg
Dificult solution: Load the divx and edit in Avisynth script. Load the script in a mpeg encoder and encode. Even it appear as dificult once I have learn it, never looked for another solution.

[airwolfUK]

thanks guys

I already started the MPEG conversion route using the MainConcept encoder but was dissapointed with the result. Fast - yes, but blocky video. I have been meaning to look closer at various settings to see if i can improve.

Any recommends on the best Freeware DivX - MPEG converter?

thanks again

rgds-

[thecoalman]

Fast - yes, but blocky video.

That's most likely due to a combination of the source and the settings you have selected for the encoder hence the reason I suggested you post the video specs. Most likely the resolution is between two DVD complinat resolutions, scale it up and macroblocking is usually the result, scale it down and you lose detail. Make sure you are using a very high bitrate, that can alleviate some problems. Generally you need to use about 4X to 5X the bitrate of whatever the Divx file is.

[Abond]

HCEnc. But it require avisynth script as input and I doubt the output will be any better than MainConcept. The blockiness is usually due to low bitrate set in MainConcept (use variable bitrate! no constant!) or highly compressed source or both. DivX is already lossy compression. So the blocks are already in the source and MainConcept simply "enhance" them.. To improve the visual quality you need to filter the video and the most powerful application for this is avisynth. There are quite a lot programs which can help you with scripting. Look here:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?toolsearch=avisynth&Submit=Search&s=&orderby=Name&hits=...uthorfeatures=