Home Vedio Tape to DVD - Short Segment or Whole Tape?

[wangy26]

I want to convert my home vedio tape taken by camcorder (both 8 mm and mini DV) to DVD. Most contents of my tapes are short segment; 3 to 15 minutes. I will edit them after I capturing them to the computer. I am considering two different ways of doing it after editing and debating which way is better.

1. I could save each short segment (a few minutes) as a separate .AVI file and then encode it to .M2V file. I could then import sevral files (each as a separate chapter) into DVD authoring software and burn them on a single DVD.

Or

2. I could save the whole tape as a big .AVI file and encode it to .M2V file. I could then insert chapter into each segment in a DVD authoring software and burn it on a single DVD.

I am relatively new to this and have only tested a few short segments of editing and encoding. I have not burned any DVD yet. I am wondering if above methods are doable. Is there any pros and cons for each methods?

I would really appreciate any inputs and opions of more experienced users. Thanks!

[GMaq]

wangy26,
I've been pondering doing the same thing you are talking about, I've decided to cap the whole tape as .avi then edit the little bits out with virtualdub.When you're done, if you are only going to remove bits of footage and not apply filters etc. if you copy the audio and video as "direct stream copy" instead of "full processing mode" then it will write the edits as a new .avi without re-rendering it (no quality loss). According to many people on this site there is no need to make your MPEG files at any higher than a 352x480 (ntsc) resolution from a VHS/Camcorder source, I've found this to be true as well, Anyway once you've made your .avi into an MPEG-2 file most good DVD authoring progs let you put chapters wherever you like, provided you've closed your GOP's during the encoding process. Hope this helps!

[Sugar]

What I prefer doing is segmenting the tapes when I capture in separate individal .avi for each set of actions.
I put them all in my editing software (Premiere) and edit each clip in the order I chosse and put them in the timeline. This leaves me the flexibility to play around it as needed.

I guess, the question about splitting the files from an authoring point of view will depend on your authoring software, the desired final output and the flexibility you need

When I was using DVDit, I found it was easier to split each chapter into a separate .m2v file. Now with Encore, I put the chapters in Premiere in my final film.
That being said, when I work on a big project and I am likely to make changes to a specific chapter, I encode each of them separately and relink them with the authoring software.