Newb needs help with VHS home movies

[Subsoniq]

Hey guys, i am hoping you can point me in the right direction for my question. We have a lot of really old VHS tapes (85-95) that I am putting onto dvd.

What I am trying to accomplish is record from the vhs to dvd as a new medium, and then from dvd to my computer. From there, i would like to save individual chapters from the dvds as individual files (and if possible make them look better, but i dunno if that is even possible). Once i have a library of all the parts from our vhs, i want to pick and choose files to make my own dvds. Also being able to name each chapter in the menus would be awesome.

I have gotten them from vhs to dvd, and from dvd i am using an old program i used to use years ago (dvd decrypter) yo get the video_ts files, but from there i am stuck.

My main question is what would be a good choice for software to pick the video_ts files that i want and put them on dvd, then have a menu where each chapter is named. Any information you can give me will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!

-Adam

[aedipuss]

you might try vob2mpg to convert the vobs to mpegs, then you can use the mpegs to author new dvds. if you don't have a video editing software to cut out the parts of the mpgs you want, the free Mpg2Cut2 would work. and with dvdauthor/gui you can create new dvds with chapters and menus.

[Subsoniq]

By converting from vob to mpeg, will there be qualilty issues? Also will i need the IFO or BUP files from the dvd rip? Is that also how you would recommend to store and archive each clip? Thanks again for the help.

[lordsmurf]

A VOB file is a package, not a video format. The VOB can contain MPEG-2 or MPEG-1, although it's almost always MPEG-2. So you don't need to "convert" as much as you just need to "extract".

See the editing guides here: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/guides/video/index-edit-encode.htm
Several of them are for starting with DVDs.

[Subsoniq]

I appreciate the help so far, but I keep hitting brick walls..

I have copied the VHS to DVD, I have gotten the VOB files off the DVD using DVD Decrypter. I have also used VOB2MPG to pull mpegs off the DVD. I tried using Windows DVD Maker, but I got an error. Read somewhere that it works good with WMVs, so I have also converted the MPEGs to WMVs, and tried it again, only to get another error.

Can someone point me to a software package that I can use to take either the VOB files, the MPEGs, or whatever and make a DVD with the ability to add names to chapters etc.

I looked quick earlier, is Pinnacle Studio HD V14 do the trick? I can get it for like 30 bucks.

[aedipuss]

the fewer times you re-encode the better. don't render the mpeg-2s to anything else as they are what you need for making new dvds. once you have the mpegs use mpg2cut2 to create a clip, which could be a chapter if you want. once you have all the mpg clips use dvdauthorgui to create menus for the clips and author the dvd.


don't know if ps14 will do it without re-encoding.

[LCSHG]

lordsmurf post does say it all.

In my world A VOB file IS a JPG file. A change From VOB to MPG does not effect play in a PC or standalone.
As to improvement, a DVD disk is digital and would most likely appear better if played properly to tje DVD recorder.
I assume t by your posts that the VHS contains no CPAnd the content was recorded better then Sp .
Garbage in Garbage out



Edit
Change is from VOB extension to a JPG

[nic2k4]

Direct answer to your question, DVDShrink (Nero Recode, if you have it) will let you pick out clips from your movies without degradation. Trimming can be somewhat imprecise though. DVDAuthorGUI, to create a disc layout and menu. Both are free, but might be a little limited and harder to use.

I've been doing this with TDA v2 for home movies for years. It's an older program I never bothered to upgrade since it's never given me any problems. It's been replaced with TAW but all the extra features are not needed for your purpose. Version 2 only allows for 4:3 menus, the newer ones do 16:9 too.

What's so great about it is it doesn't convert or re-encode the video at all, it keeps everything in DVD format. I've used it to extract clips from movies which I used to make a new movie from. I've trimmed out mistakes from movies and set chapters where I wanted them. It's been very helpful in fixing DVDs from a Sony camcorder, so that other editing programs could read the video.

The menu creation is based on templates, but you can edit any layouts. It can create motion menus and with some imagination you can achieve professionnal results. Using PGCEdit, I was able to make DVDs that show a short clip only once before showing the menu.

It's not free, but you can try it for 14 days. Combined with some free programs like VOB2MPG to make moving menu backgrounds, PGCEdit to edit navigation and PowerDVD or DVD2AVI for still capture (for menu backgrounds), you can make some impressive DVDs.

[Subsoniq]

Thanks nick, ill try that out as well. Over the past few days ive installed like 8 different things. Im getting lost in them all. I was able to create a new VIDEO_ts file using that dvdauthorgui, but it would not play on my home dvd player, but worked on my computer. Is there a walkthru to use that program to create menus, because when i tried to use the menu feature it would want to open a m2v file i think.

Im starting to think this is more trouble than its worth, ill problem just record specific parts from vhs to dvd, stop it, load another vhs, record a part, etc. At least it works that way.

[nic2k4]

That's what I meant when I said the free programs might be harder to use, the learning curve is a little steep with DVDAuthorGUI. The results make it worth the effort. Look for GUIDES AND HOW TO'S on the page you go to when you click on the DVDAuthorGUI link. Also, look at some of the user comments for links to other guides. It's still easier to do all the work in the PC, trimming is no big deal with DVDShrink.

M2V files are just the video component of a VOB, you can use PGCEdit to demux a VOB. Get the VOB from a clip you selected from one of your movies, using DVDShrink. To make an M2V from a still you need an MPEG encoder, I use Tmpgenc. I don't know if free ones like QuEnc or FreeEnc can take JPG as input.

There are a lot of great guides here, you'll learn a lot quickly.

[nic2k4]

I was able to create a new VIDEO_ts file using that dvdauthorgui, but it would not play on my home dvd player, but worked on my computer.

How did you burn that disc? You can't just drop the files onto a disc with Windows. You have to use a burning program like ImgBurn and select DVD Video format.

[lordsmurf]

I appreciate the help so far, but I keep hitting brick walls..
I have copied the VHS to DVD, I have gotten the VOB files off the DVD using DVD Decrypter. I have also used VOB2MPG to pull mpegs off the DVD. I tried using Windows DVD Maker, but I got an error. Read somewhere that it works good with WMVs, so I have also converted the MPEGs to WMVs, and tried it again, only to get another error.
Can someone point me to a software package that I can use to take either the VOB files, the MPEGs, or whatever and make a DVD with the ability to add names to chapters etc.
I looked quick earlier, is Pinnacle Studio HD V14 do the trick? I can get it for like 30 bucks.

You're using the wrong tools.
Windows "Maker" softwares are the wrong tool. Pinnacle Studio is buggy crap.

You need to try an MPEG editor with built-in authoring functions.
Look at Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD. Buy and download here.
Guide for using it here: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/showthread.php/editing-womble-mpeg-381.html

What you want to do is really, really easy.