How do I (can I) edit video on a DVD

[psappie]

I have approximately 40 8mm analog tapes that I want to convert to DVD for preservation purposes. Thinking the quickest way to do this would be to copy them to DVD without any editing (the editing being the time consuming part).

After I've preserved all the video on DVD, can I then edit them at a later time and create a set of more "polished" DVDs? If yes, what is the process for capturing and editing DVD video?

Thanks,
Paul

[psappie]

Also, I would like to ask if burning to DVD, then editing and re-burning to DVD is more likely to create video/audio quality problems. In other words, are any of the following methods preferred?

1. Capture 8mm analog to PC
edit
create DVD

2. Capture 8mm analog to PC
create DVD
capture to PC (how?)
edit
create DVD

[gadgetguy]

What hardware do you have to capture/transfer the video from the tapes to the computer?
For preserving for future editing, I would recommend capturing/transferring to DV-AVI and save the resulting video as Data DVDs. Note that these DVDs would not be playable in a desktop player, but at any time in the future you would be able to bring the videos back into the computer for editing. DV-AVI uses about 13.5 gig per hour so you would be able to put about 20 minutes on each one.

[holistic]

You question has many answers. It cannot be answered simply. You will need to make a few decisions and post back the approach you wish to choose.

You will have to do much research Paul (see guides to left), but I had a similar issue years ago and this is how I approached it.
I originally started out (back in 2001) capturing my VHS with a video capture card, capturing in HUFFYUV and converting to MPEG2 @ ~4500 bitrate, and putting it on a CD (DVD were just a little to expensive back then )
After doing about 10 hours this way, I decided there had to be a better way. There is !

Get a DV camcorder (or canopus type card) that will allow for “capture” of the Hi8 video as DV.

I now “transfer” my Hi 8 through my DV camera as a DV (*.avi file). Files are stored on numerous ( 4 * 120 Gb drives) so far and more to come. The video is stored on the harddrives by date (do it any way you like) then I import about 80 minutes at a time into my NLE (Adobe premiere) , edit down to 60 minutes and export as MPEG2 @ ~9000 video bitrate 384 audio for archiving. The MPEG is nearly as good as the original and at 60 minutes only takes about 4Gb of DVD space. The disks are then ready for the kids to watch on the laptop or HTPC. (I don’t bother with the authoring to DVD spec for the reason I have a HTPC). The original DV *.avi files (ie : harddrives) are then safely locked away.

Method :

(1) Hook up hi8 camcorder to DV  DV to firewire , “capture” the video.
(2) Once on the harddrive, I use Virtual Dub to do a preliminary edit of any floor shots etc… and resave with “Direct Stream” out of Virtual Dub
(3) I then take the cleaned up *.avi file and import into Premiere, adding titles and transitions.
(4) Once the editing is complete I export a ~60 minute clip as MPEG2
(5) Burn MPEG2 to DVD as UDF – done



Notes : Why not make a DVD? See reasons above HTPC. OK, I have on occasion made a holiday DVD with chapters and all but I just don’t have the time. Am only interested in keeping the content.
Why store the video on hard drives? Unlike the Hollywood crap, the video of my kids can never be recaptured. I basically have 3 sources of data. The original tape, the almost original *.avi video file and the mpeg2 on DVD.
UDF ? huh … well you just read up on it !! UDF allows for file sizes over 2Gb.

[psappie]

Thanks for the quick responses.

I have a Panasonic PV-GS250 that I am using to convert my analog tapes to DV-AVI.

I think I still have two questions.
1. What are options (pros/cons) for preserving the video (80 hrs)
a. hard drive - DV-AVI
b. hard drive - MPEG2?
c. DVDs - MPEG2?

2. After preserving the content, I then want to "clean-up" the content. Can I do this if I preserved the content in MPEG? In other words can I go from MPEG2 back to DV-AVI, and then clean up the content before converting to MPEG2 on DVD? Is quality lost though the DV-AVI to MPEG2 to DV-AVI to MPEG?

Paul

[gadgetguy]

Yes quality is lost going from DV-AVI to MPEG2. How much is lost is dependant on many factors, but it can never be recovered by converting back to DV-AVI. And the second encoding to MPEG2 will lose even more quality.

[Richard_G]

Remember, mpeg is a 'final product' format and not an editing one. Not only is there quality loss in the encoding, which, if the encode settings are chosen carefully, shouldn't be noticable, mpeg is not intended to be edited. DV avi however, is perfect for editing.

As you are using a DV camcorder as a passthrough, why not just record the 8mm footage onto MiniDV tapes and archive those until you want to do something with them? They are about the most robust archive method around and you'll still have best quality footage to use when you do come to edit.

[psappie]

Richard G - thanks for the excellent suggestion!

From an economic standpoint here are some rough calculations.

80 hours of analog tape.

1. Preserving DV-AVI on hard drives
80 hrs x 12 GB/hr = 960 GB
This would require about 5 - 200 GB hard drives @ $150/hard drive
Total cost = $750

2. Preserving video on miniDV tapes
80 - 1hr tapes @ $3/tape
Total cost = $240

[Lem Motlow]

I guess it really boils down to how much time you have to invest. I was basically in the same situation as you- had about 60 hours of 8mm and some VHS to convert.

I experimented with several methods but in the end used a Pioneer DVD recorder that I bought for about $220 to "capture" the 8mm tapes on RW discs. I would say quality is very good.

Then I transferred the captured MPEG to the PC and used the Womble MPEG Video Wizard to cut the video up into individual clips. It's a great tool and is very fast when saving the clips as it doesn't re-encode them.

Burned data discs with MPEGs as the new archive/ backup and then burned the discs for viewing with menus with Nero.

Good luck on your project.