Adding titles during conversion of VHS to DVD

[avz10]

I am in the process to transfer my VHS home videos (PAL) to DVD. I capture using Intervideo WinDVD creator (Best results after some trials), do basic editing(basically deleting unwanted sections) with Virtualdub, use a filterchain(after much trial and error), encode with TMPGEnc, then author and write. This works relatively fine.

Two questions: Is it possible during the editing process (not during the authoring) to add some basic titles? I have tried to load the AVI footage on to my Motion DV Studio from Panasonic (I use this programme to edit my camcorder video), but I cannot load it. Any free software available?

Second question: I get my best result with this filterchain, any comments?
Level (25-230)
RmPAL
Dynamic Noise Reduction 8
2d Cleaner 8
Hue, saturation, with the saturation setting at 1,3
Sharpen 15
With regards to getting rid of noise, I have tried different combinations, using MSU Denoiser, DNR, SNR, 2d Cleaner, temporal smoother, etc.
With regards to sharpening, I have tried Unsharp Mask (gives a “halo” around the subject), X Sharpen, and higher settings of sharpen.

Any comments would be helpful

[guns1inger]

The UnSharpen mask is superior to the built in sharpen filter, however the default settings are way to high for my liking. I now do most of my work in avisynth as there seem to be a wider range of better filters.

The other thing I would add is that many of these settings will vary from tape to tape, so don't just expect a single chain to for every tape you throw at it.

As for titles - try Wax2 from debugmode, and output as DV avi (or convert to DV avi later with vdub). You should then be able to load it into DV studio.

[avz10]

Thanks for your comments. I have downloaded Wax and willl try it out.
Can you please explain step by step how to convert to DV avi with vdub (what my settings should be?)

Thanks

[avz10]

Two more questions/comments:

Ihave tried Wax2 last night, just to try to add 2 clips and then to render it. It stops at 4 GB. Any reason, or any good easy guide available on the programme?

With regards to your comments about Unsharp mask, my default settings are: Diameter 5, Stength 0,, threshold 10. Whenn trying to edit, I have decreased the strenghth to -1, but still no good. Should the other settings also be reduced or changed?

[dvd3500]

It stops at 4 GB

That is an old Windows FAT32 limit. You can't make files bigger than 4 GB.

[guns1inger]

Unsharp Mask - drop the diameter to down to 3 and then adjust the other settings.

FAT32 is the most likely cuplrit for 4gb file sizes. There is a FAT32 to NTFS converter in Windows, or you can look at something like partition magic. Better yet, put in a new drive and format it as NTFS. If you intend to do mych video, 40GB won't go far.

Finally, vdub to create DV-avi

1. Install the panasonic DV codec (free - found in the tools section under codecs)
2. Resize to DV resolution (NTSC 720 x 480, PAL 720 x 576)
3. Save as DV avi