Re-creating avi files from finalised DVD made through Pinnacle.

[rodhudson]

Hi. I need to recreate avi files from some DVD's that I made using Pinnacle Studio 8, as the originals have been wiped, and the videos need re-editing. Any suggestions ?

[mats.hogberg]

See guides under CONVERT left for DVD to AVI. There are lots.

/Mats

[jlietz]

...the originals have been wiped, and the videos need re-editing. Any suggestions ?

If you don't need to do anything more than just basic cutting clips, rearranging, etc., I would stick with editing the MPEG-2 files rather than converting them back to avi. Mainly because you will end up reencoding the file in the eventual avi -> mpeg-2 or authoring step. You can do basic cutting, rearranging, and transitions with MPEG Video Wizard or MPEG Video Wizard DVD. They both have free 30 day, fully functional trials.

Edit: More importantly, these apps won't re-encode the mpeg-2 file, only the parts where transitions or titles are inserted.

[rodhudson]

Thanks for the advice. I downloaded 'Videoredo' and converted the VOB files to mpeg. But when I load these back into Pinnacle, there is no sound. Presumably this is a codec problem, but I don't know anything about that. On investigation is seems the audio on the VideoReDo files created is not mpeg2 layer2, which Pinnacle seems to want, but DVD_LPCM_AUDIO. i'M NOT SURE HOW TO GET ROUND THIS, AND HOPING SOMEONE CAN TELL ME. Thanks.

[mats.hogberg]

LPCM is basically wav, and should need no codec. But try making mpg from your VOBs with vob2mpg instead.

/Mats

[OldAmateur]

I would not use Pinnacle to author a DVD from .mpg files. (Actually, I wouldn't use Pinnacle for anything, but that's another thread.) When I last used Pinnacle -- two or three versions ago -- it insisted on re-encoding everything, including material that was already in DVD-acceptable format, the result was mediocre at best, and it was cruelly slow.

I would use TMPGEnc DVD author, for ease of use, or DVD-Lab, for design flexibility. As I recall, both of them have free trial versions that are pretty much fully functional.

[rodhudson]

Thanks. I'll try that. Just downloading the necessary 'dotnetfx' from MS, which may take a while on my Dialup connection !. One more thing.....is there any tool to measure the quality of video contained in a file ? Presumably, as a file passes through various different tools, [being digital], the quality remains the same, or slightly worse. Is there anything to actually improve it ?

[mats.hogberg]

Is there anything to actually improve it ?

No...

/Mats

[rodhudson]

OK. Thanks for your help all. I seem to be on the right track [!] now. Just one more thing.....[there's always 'one more thing, isn't there' !] Is there any reason why I should use a DVD Decrypter to access the VOB from a DVD if I can see them and copy them from the DVD to a folder through Explorer ? Or am I missing something that won't become apparent until later ? And then I'll regret not doing it ? Or do you only need to use one if you can't access anything from a DVD. In my case, I'm only working with files that I've created myself, so I don't know if that makes a difference.

To 'Old Amateur'....I appreciate what you say about Pinnacle, and agree in most respects, but I've used it for so long now that I'm loath to make a change! I've got used to having several projects on the go and letting them render overnight on different machines. Also the 3 mixable sound track time lines are useful for me. I suppose it depends on what you need from a program.

Thanks anyway.