AVI's from VHS tapes to 4 separate DVD titles?

[leslie80]

Well let's try another post and see if I can get any help addressing my unusual demands:

* I have .avi's ripped from VHS
* Want to put four 30-minute shows on a DVD
* Want to encode using *mpeg-2*

problems thus far:

* Spent all of yesterday trying to use Avi2DVD and Diko. Can't see how to add different titles to one DVD (*not* different parts of the same title, seperate "shows" 30 min. long each)...why does this have to be difficult?? Is there ANY freeware out there that can make this process intuitive??

* Wanted to edit .avi's in Virtual dub, basically just crop the video borders to remove noise on the edges (and possibly adust audio volume and/or de-interlace). Whenever I try to do anything without compressing the video (because I wanted to save that step for Avi2DVD or Diko and go to mpeg-2, so no need to compress twice...same goes for audio compression), the video file that is created is inexpicably several times larger than original rip - HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE????????

Furthermore, I can't crop video frames or apparently set start-end points on my videos with Avi2DVD or Diko, wtf?! I am trying to avoid redundancy and just compress everything once, but if I do anything in the way of editing with Virtualdub the file size becomes enormous...but I'm not increasing anything!

DEEPEST apologies if I haven't worded this properly, please take pity and advise on wtf I can do. I know my questions are outrageous and it's ridiculous to suggest that program authors would address any of my questions in a faq or help guide, but nevertheless...

affectionately yours,
-Leslie

[redwudz]

I'll attempt to answer a few of your questions:

I would give up on the all-in-ones if you can't get them to do what you want.

It shouldn't be that hard to make separate titles on a DVD, though. Assuming freeware here, I would try DVDAuthorGui and you should be able to put your DVD compliant MPEG-2 files in there as separate titles.

For VirtualDub, anytime you crop or filter, you will have to re-encode. But if you started with DV video, just re-encode to DV and you should have little quality loss. Install the Panasonic DV codec for that. If your output from VD is much larger than the input file, you probably forgot to select a codec.

When you get the video the way you want, you can save the audio out as a WAV and drop that into Audacity audio editor to filter and adjust it, then save it out again as a WAV. Take that WAV and run it through ffmpeggui to convert it to AC3, then you can combine it back with the video when authoring. I do this with TDA, but DVDAuthorGui may be able to do the same. If not, just mux them back in after the MPEG encoding.

For encoding the VD edited AVI to DVD compliant MPEG-2 video, try one of the freeware encoders from 'Tools' to the left. Use a bitrate calculator to find the needed bitrate. You want to have (4) 30 minute clips for a total running time of 2 hours? That's what you would plug into the bitrate calculator. That give you a bitrate of about 4800, a little on the low side, but probably OK. You can encode a short 5 minute clip to see how it looks.

I hope that helps a little.

As an additional note:

In the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks, Moderator redwudz

[lordsmurf]

You cannot "rip" VHS. You capture it.

[leslie80]

I'll attempt to answer a few of your questions:

I would give up on the all-in-ones if you can't get them to do what you want.

I could care less if it's all-in-one, that's actually my last resort as they rarely offer the best results or most options. I only considered all-in-ones when the instructions for the seperate programs all proved too difficult to understand. I can't devote days to this subject, however eager I am to have nice results. At this point, I will settle for much less than I'd planned on initially.

It shouldn't be that hard to make separate titles on a DVD, though. Assuming freeware here, I would try DVDAuthorGui and you should be able to put your DVD compliant MPEG-2 files in there as separate titles.

It shouldn't be, but the programs I've used so far have not been intuitive. I will try that next, thank you (wanted to go ahead and respond in case you are still online).

For VirtualDub, anytime you crop or filter, you will have to re-encode. But if you started with DV video, just re-encode to DV and you should have little quality loss. Install the Panasonic DV codec for that. If your output from VD is much larger than the input file, you probably forgot to select a codec.

Thank you. I wish this was in a newbie FAQ somewhere...surely even some newbs want to set start-end points? I didn't want to re-encode, I was hoping to be able to set start and end, amplify volume, and possibly de-interlace *without* having to compress again just for those things. But if that's the only way, I will encode before my final encoding to mpeg-2.

When you get the video the way you want, you can save the audio out as a WAV and drop that into Audacity audio editor to filter and adjust it, then save it out again as a WAV. Take that WAV and run it through ffmpeggui to convert it to AC3, then you can combine it back with the video when authoring. I do this with TDA, but DVDAuthorGui may be able to do the same. If not, just mux them back in after the MPEG encoding.

I was considering adjusting audio seperately as you described...now, I will avoid any further frustrations related to audio *if* at all possible.

For encoding the VD edited AVI to DVD compliant MPEG-2 video, try one of the freeware encoders from 'Tools' to the left. Use a bitrate calculator to find the needed bitrate. You want to have (4) 30 minute clips for a total running time of 2 hours? That's what you would plug into the bitrate calculator. That give you a bitrate of about 4800, a little on the low side, but probably OK. You can encode a short 5 minute clip to see how it looks.

I hope that helps a little.

thanks

As an additional note:

In the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks, Moderator redwudz

OK. I posted a *very* specific question on another forum recently, with no replies, so I've been sort of experimenting with that also
-Leslie

[leslie80]

You cannot "rip" VHS. You capture it.

wow...I wish I'd known before I posted that!!
mortified,
-Leslie

[thecoalman]

I could care less if it's all-in-one, that's actually my last resort as they rarely offer the best results or most options. I only considered all-in-ones when the instructions for the seperate programs all proved too difficult to understand. I can't devote days to this subject, however eager I am to have nice results. At this point, I will settle for much less than I'd planned on initially.

Freeware apps can very powerful tools but usually have a steep learning curve. They weren't made for people that just wish to push a button. If you don't have the time to learn what you are doing stick with the consumer apps.

BTW, don't crop your video, mask the edges. Do a forum search for mask .......

[leslie80]

Freeware apps can very powerful tools but usually have a steep learning curve. They weren't made for people that just wish to push a button. If you don't have the time to learn what you are doing stick with the consumer apps.

I think there are a huge amount of people inbetween those that receive sexual gratification from the time wasted in using a command line app, and those that need software with one button only: "push this to convert .avi into DVD with animated menu (5.1 audio)"... but that's just my opinion

BTW, don't crop your video, mask the edges. Do a forum search for mask .......

I will, thanks. I have been cropping with VirtualDub to remove noise on borders, but I believe it was you that posted earlier saying this wouldn't be viewable on tv anyway?? So I'm a little confused as to why I'd need masking or anything else, but I wil read up on it.

Currently, I am looking at using the following:

1. Use VirtualDub to extract .wav (saved seperately)
2. Use VirtualDub to set start and end points for video. Based on what you are telling me, I shouldn't deinterlace or crop. So the last thing I'd do with VirtualDub would be to select Panasonic DV under compression and save new video file.
3. Use Avi2DVD to encode video (chosing this app because it has GUI for HC encoder).
4. Use audio editor as needed to amplify or filter .wav I saved earlier.
5. Use ffmpeggui to convert .wav to ac3
6. Use BitrateCalc to calculate bitrates etc...
7. Use DVDauthorGUI to recombine .wav's with mpeg-2 files and author DVD.

Any comments on those choices?
The main question I have is the PanasonicDV compression thing in step 2. Again, since I'll be encoding to mpeg-2 afterwards, I didn't want to compress anything before that part of the process (step 3 above), but I was getting a ridiculously huge file after simply setting new start & end points and resaving (step2). Based on what you said earlier, it sounds like I have to pick a codec to prevent the giant file, and using the PanasonicDV compression option in VirtualDub will do this with the least amount of video degradation...correct?

thanks again,
-Leslie

[thecoalman]

So I'm a little confused as to why I'd need masking or anything else, but I wil read up on it.

Some people mask them so you can't see them on a computer screen where they will be viewable.

[redwudz]

If you started with DV, it's a good format to re-encode to. One thing though, it has strict settings on framesize. If you were to crop a few pixels off to clean up the video, the codec would probably choke on it. The nice thing about DV is you really have no settings to mess with, which makes it easier to use for encoding.

DV audio is probably PCM, so converting to AC3 will save some space when you encode. I usually encode the audio first, after editing the video, so I know the size of the audio file, then when I encode, I make sure my video file will fit on the DVD, added to the size of the audio and maybe 200MB added for authoring. Then when you author, it should all fit with the best possible bitrate.

It gets to be a bit of a pain when you are doing all this with 4 separate files, but just watch your total file size to make sure you have enough room to fit it all on the DVD.

After you do this a few times, it gets a lot easier. I generally only do one video per DVD, and I frameserve the edited video directly from VDM to TMPEGnc encoder and that eliminates creating a edited file on my hard drive and saves some hard drive space and time. I don't know if that will work with the freeware encoders.

[lordsmurf]

You cannot "rip" VHS. You capture it.

wow...I wish I'd known before I posted that!!
mortified,
-Leslie

Don't worry about it. Something to remember for next time.

[leslie80]

If you started with DV, it's a good format to re-encode to. One thing though, it has strict settings on framesize. If you were to crop a few pixels off to clean up the video, the codec would probably choke on it. The nice thing about DV is you really have no settings to mess with, which makes it easier to use for encoding.

OK, I just won't do any cropping at all in that case...especially since most of the "border hash" won't be visible on tv's. I did start from DV: VHS through camcorder to PC via firewire. Audio is PCM.
Frankly I can't get past the fact that I have to re-encode at all merely to adjust the start and end points of the video. Until I find a prog that can do it (without re-encode) though, I guess I will. Seems like horrible waste of time, in addition to degrading video (if only slightly).

DV audio is probably PCM, so converting to AC3 will save some space when you encode. I usually encode the audio first, after editing the video, so I know the size of the audio file, then when I encode, I make sure my video file will fit on the DVD, added to the size of the audio and maybe 200MB added for authoring. Then when you author, it should all fit with the best possible bitrate.

sound good, thanks for the tip. I wish everything was as simple as ffmpeggui is with that particular process (wav to ac3)!!!

It gets to be a bit of a pain when you are doing all this with 4 separate files, but just watch your total file size to make sure you have enough room to fit it all on the DVD.

well, seeing the results I got from captured VHS that was at least 3 generations down (rare stuff), I am definitely going to do one video per DVD...I wonder if I should even consider using dual layer DVD for video that is the poorest quality (can it make a noticeable difference?).

After you do this a few times, it gets a lot easier. I generally only do one video per DVD, and I frameserve the edited video directly from VDM to TMPEGnc encoder and that eliminates creating a edited file on my hard drive and saves some hard drive space and time. I don't know if that will work with the freeware encoders.

I've seen the term "frameserve" a lot already. As much as I don't want to learn yet another prog for this process, I will take a look if it will save significant time in the long run (that is, assuming there is freeware that can frameserve and isn't too difficult to use...definitely must have GUI!).
thanks,
-Leslie

[thecoalman]

Until I find a prog that can do it (without re-encode) though, I guess I will. Seems like horrible waste of time, in addition to degrading video (if only slightly).

I'm not very familair with VirtualDub but there is an option under audio and video for selecting direct stream copy which should prevent reencoding. This only applies of course if you are doing absolutely nothing except trimming the video. Someone with aa little more Vdub knowledge will have to confirm that.

[MysticE]

After playing around with capturing VHS I finally just bought a Pioneer standalone DVD recorder. It actually has a few picture tweaking options and the output is DVD ready. Start/end points are easily trimmed in DVDShrink (it's a pain in Nero). I use NeroVision (with 'smart encoding' ticked so it doesn't reencode) for simple menus and chapter stops, it only takes about 20 minutes. It is a quick painless process. And as was noted although the edges and bottom look awful, on a TV they look fine.

[redwudz]

If you only do basic cutting and pasting, you don't need to re-encode. Re-encoding is only needed if you change the structure of the file. If you don't crop, filter, or change it except for cuts and pastes, or as you described, adjust the start and end points, you can just use 'Direct Stream Copy'. And save it under a new filename.

One problem with dual layer is that it introduces another layer of complications to your project. If everything goes right, no problem. But sometimes it doesn't and you have wasted a disc. I would avoid DL until you have a fair amount of experience with DVDs and have a little money to waste on failures.

Frameserving doesn't work with all MPEG-2 encoders. You would have to check that. I use TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 and it saves me a lot of time. Frameserving's not a program, it's a part of VD. Here's one guide to give you some idea of the process: https://www.videohelp.com/virtualdubframeserve.htm