making dvd home movie

[mmyuen2]

Hi, I am looking for some advice on making a DVD (this is my first time). I have a 35 min edited video (digital8) that I would like to put onto DVD. Some of the problems I have encountered are:

-I used Pinnacle Studio7 to capture and edit my project, output to tape, then I recaptured the edited version... but when I try to make that into one file it becomes too big (over 4 GB or 17 min)

-when importing 3 separate video clips into the DVD software (Sonic myDVD), and trying to play all clips as one movie, there is a stall when going from one track to the next (which is why I wanted to make the movie as one clip)

-what is the best DVD authoring software

-what kind of settings should I use to encode using TMPGEnc?... this is a video of a group of people on a trip in Europe, and there is a lot of motion and scene changes in the movie

Thanks for your help. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[racer-x]

What are the Mpeg-2 settings you are using? There is no way 35 min = over 4 gigs, Unles you're outputing to AVI.

I make all my home dvds with an Mpeg-2 - 720x480 - 8000 kbps - 384 mpeg audio. I always get over 1 hour worth of video on a 4.7 GIG dvd.

[mmyuen2]

um, what I had meant was that I was trying to first capture the D8 tape into a single .AVI file so that I could encode it later as one file. I don't know if this is the best way to do it but I was hoping to have just one track on the DVD for the movie.... because 1) the movie seems to stall between tracks and 2) I'd like just one main menu with the chapter points.

Thanks for your help. That was quick!

[racer-x]

If you have W2k or XP with NTFS, then you can capture to one AVI even if it is larger than 4 GIGs. But if you don't, just captuer to seperate clips. You can piece the clips together in Pinnacle Studio 7. As long as you output the time line to one Mpeg-2 File, You should be fine. The 35 min Mpeg- 2 DVD file will be well under 4 GIGs.

Hope that helps.

[housepig]

What operating system are you using?

If you are using Win9x or ME, and you're running up against the 4Gb limit, here's something you can do.

Capture your clips and edit them as .avi files, under the 4Gb limit.
Convert your edited clips to dvd-compliant mpg files with TMPGenc.
Use the Mpeg Tools in TMPGenc to join your mpg files into one big file. (See the Edit section at left for guides).

when you convert to mpg, I would suggest you do the VBR 2-pass with Layer 2 audio at 224. (VBR= Variable Bit Rate - uses space more efficiently. Although maybe not necessary if your stuff is under an hour. Layer 2 audio sounds good but is much more compressed and smaller than PCM audio, which is probably adding a ton of needless data to your project!) It's going to take some time, but it's worth it.

Next question - why are you outputting the edited file to tape, then recapturing? Why not just render to a file on your hard drive?

As far as best software for anything, you are going to get wildly divergent opinions. I really like DVD Lab for dvd authoring, and you can download the beta for free for 30 days right now. Do a forum search, you'll find the download site. But the best suggestion is download trials of everything you can get your hands on, and try it out. What works for me might not be the best solution for you.

hope this helps.

[mmyuen2]

Thanks very much "racer-x" and "housepig"....

Yes I am using Win ME and that was just the solution I was looking for. I will give TMPGEnc a try at joining the AVI files. As for why I had to recapture.... it was a rookie mistake.... I deleted the files after I output the movie to tape (and at that time I didn't have a DVD burner yet)... you live and you learn

I will give the DVD Lab a try also. Thanks again!

[ryanreko]

just on a note maybe you misunderstood, you cannot join the avi files because they are too big already but you can join the mpeg2 files cause they are not... plus TMPEG will not join avi files, (but Virtual Dub will)...

[ktnwin]

mmyuen2,
I am pretty sure that you are using FAT-32. This will restrict you to 17 min AVI capturing.
There are a few things you can do:
option 1:
1) upgrade to NTFS (you need Win2K or XP for this)
2) I do not know whether PS7 can author DVD or not but I am sure PS8 does (I have done that)

option 2:
1) for newbie, get neoDVD software
2) use neoDVD to capture directly to MPEG-2 format (your file size will be most likely less than 4GB)
3) author/burn DVD using neoDVD
For newbie, this software is cheap, fast, easy to use.

[LisaB]

TMPGEnc DVD-Author will play several clips in a row as a single movie with no stalling. It is the only program I've found so far that will transition seamlessly from one clip to the next.

Of course it's menu making capabilities leave much to be desired, but you could just import the VOB's it creates into another authoring program.