alot of info here..and I just got lost.

[bgd73]

Hi,
I am a newb who thought I had my mpeg2 figured out easy enough.

Until I wanted to edit. locally, no problems. back to dvd...holy cow. A problem.

my camera is panasonic sdr-s10p1, standard mpeg2 ready for dvd with a 704x480. Currently waiting for dvd+r discs seemingly from another universe, for my nuglobal ddw081 dvd burner, I have made video playable local by many of even more ways to do so at no visible loss, and even tweaked x264 to squash it into 693:1 compression nicely. Anyway...

I stumped myself when it came to wondering how to author a dvd only after movie maker type editing ability.

What is as simple to take a pile of mpeg2 clips non-resized, nor re-encoded, right off my camera as an mod and do simple win movie maker stuff...and ready for the burner after titles etc etc.. I spotted tutorials for several programs here, and that is where I really got lost.there are too many to choose and want to spend around 50 bucks or less or even open source. I tend to worship open source as it is, ideas welcome. I find nothing in searching net, in fact this place is as real as I have found yet about the subject.


As for the camera and 9542kbit/s going to SD, I am in the awe I guessed I might be (I waited for this type of mpeg2 for several years, doubts included.). It has been out for a year, and as tough as the mil standard sticker on the side claims.

Thanks for help.

-barry

[edDV]

Open source doesn't apply much to MPeg2 because royalty payments are excessive for the little guy.

The good MPeg2 encoders are all expensive. That gives advantage to higher volume commercial products that can spread the royalty costs and qualify for the better OEM encoder packages.

IMO ULead Movie Factory is the best value DVD authoring software. It uses the Mainconcept MPeg2 encoder software development kit (SDK) that powers most prosumer software. Ulead puts in more of the high value features (like realtime render and smartrender) than do their low end competitors like Sonic, Sony and Adobe.'
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1173965700866?trkid=dvsedid&trkid...FSeiiQodQXUFNQ

Another to evaluate is TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 which is a little guy product for the little guy in the open source tradition but it can't be free due to the reality of MPeg2. Features abound.
http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html

For higher up needs check out DVD Lab Pro.

[guns1inger]

You might also look at Womble Mpeg Wizard DVD, which can do your editing, add titles and audio effects, the do basic authoring (still menus, chapter lists etc), or the slightly more basic VideoRedo TV Studio

[bgd73]

You might also look at Womble Mpeg Wizard DVD, which can do your editing, add titles and audio effects, the do basic authoring (still menus, chapter lists etc), or the slightly more basic VideoRedo TV Studio

thanks for replies. little guy big guy. Just make it a smart guy not getting robbed of too much...and he is the judge of it...isn't he?

I am evaluating mpeg wizard video, and it seems very very good. Exactly what I am looking for. There is one anomaly and I found them within 5 minutes after crashing it for reasons unapparent. That is, the sound gets clipped unable to play beyond video (quite odd..it is the only error for 70 bucks) and I cannot figure out what is doing this automatically. I did figure out to shut off "maintain aspect ratio" on a rather hidden menu unobvious to allow for the vast dynamics of any size I want in the pc world maintaining aspect ratio (704x396=16x9 from a 704x480 video for example). I do like the basic sub titles , etc etc. I may purchase, and then again, I found adobe premier elements 4.0 that would allow for blu ray for me the little guy and addons an artsy clever would figure out.(who knows what i may compile worth something to somebody someday).

How is premier elements for basic stuff. Can I be dynamical on the pc encoding side of things, beyond hard set rules of 720x480 and dvd? I like h.264, avi, 20mbit, and on and on. mpeg wizard allows for this, the only error as stated was the auto clipping of audio tracks to the length of video involuntary.

thanks again.

[edDV]

Premiere Elements is focused to camcorder input to DVD (or iPod) output and is good for that. It won't be as good with tuners and odd file formats vs ULead VS or MF. Only Ulead offers the realtime MPeg2 Mainconcept encoder module.

Your camcorder records MPeg2 so any use of Premiere Elements will force a recode and quality loss. The Womble editor can cut without reprocessing the entire clip. It just needs to recode the GOP at the cut.

[bgd73]

Premiere Elements is focused to camcorder input to DVD (or iPod) output and is good for that. It won't be as good with tuners and odd file formats vs ULead VS or MF. Only Ulead offers the realtime MPeg2 Mainconcept encoder module.

Your camcorder records MPeg2 so any use of Premiere Elements will force a recode and quality loss. The Womble editor can cut without reprocessing the entire clip. It just needs to recode the GOP at the cut.

ok, thanks.
I was just browsing through elements faq, and I clearly remember a new fact about adobe elements in version four+ was the ability for mpeg from anything. this is a tidbit i found in thier faq:

How can I use MPEGs in my version 4 project?

grisetti steve - 07:38am Nov 3, 2007 Pacific


Premiere Elements 4.0 includes a default project setting designed to work with MPEGs, specifically those MPEG files downloaded from hard drive and flash memory camcorders.

You can't change these setting in mid-project, but for your MPEG-based project, select the option to start a new project and click Change Settings.

The presets for a Hard Drive, Flash Memory camcorder will automatically reverse the field dominance of the input, resolving a common interlacing issue experienced when MPEGs are imported into Premiere Elements.

Once you File/Export/Movie from a project with these settings, the new AVI will have the correct lower field first interlacing for DV-AVIs and can be used in a standard Premiere Elements project without re-rendering.

I guess there is a difference for memory and hard disk interlace, and seems trivial. The best deinterlace yet has been the mpeg wizard, even after all the open source genius. WMV9 has been a great encoder within that prgram. I am still undecided, but do find alot more dynamical ability in premiere, even though I am not much into it.
Would love an mpeg in premiere guru to let me know exactly. the prices all seem to be similar, now it is up to a good decision. I do not see adobe using ffdshow and I may just shrug off the idea of getting it. I have only found one bug in the wizard, and that is fixed with a black screen (if you refer to my previous post).
Thanks again.
I also went and looked at ulead. again seems similar as premiere.

[edDV]

The issue is quality loss when recoding MPeg2/4 or deinterlacing to wmv.

There are heavy generation quality penalties for using an end distribution format in a camcorder. If you don't edit, you can set in/out points and directly author to DVD (MPeg2) or BlueRay (AVCHD) but anything else has heavy generation loss penalty.

[bgd73]

hey thanks again.
As I still do not have the dvd+r from another universe for my nuglobal burner.. I have yet confused myself again without an answer. (Editors are no longer a priority right now)

Does the tv standard right off the camera need to stay interlaced. Or do I treat it like I do on my pc and find the best looking picture, then go back to attempting mpeg for dvd...?

also, if you can follow what i did for options in virtualdubmpeg2 for deinterlace:

blend fields together: saw a ghost of a frame following, but no lines. thought that was ok, but not good enough
dropped field one:gained a bit of color, seemed sharper. no ghost at all. no lines at all.
dropped field two: not so good, but no lines.
unfolded fields side by side: field 2 indeed is the whole pictur looking good.
I also tried combining a field (duplicate) and all that did was double the file size for no apparent good reason.

So. I am encoding with field two for the pc. Dropping field one. Does the mpeg for dvd need this too? I thought it needed both and interlaced and pretty much left alone for the dvd standard. I just do not know. I bounce the camera around alot, and create lines, so I need to do something? or leave it alone? do the fat tv pixels blend together magically?

[guns1inger]

For DVD you should not deinterlace. The playback hardware will take care of this for if necessary, and do a much better job. Deinterlacing by throwing away half your image, as you are now, produces a softer, blurred image.

I don't know what you mean by fat TV pixels.

[bgd73]

For DVD you should not deinterlace. The playback hardware will take care of this for if necessary, and do a much better job. Deinterlacing by throwing away half your image, as you are now, produces a softer, blurred image.

I don't know what you mean by fat TV pixels.

fast reply. fat tv pixels are an analogy. 704x480 on a 10 year old 25 inch screen is the same quality, but bigger. PC is high definition and not using 13.5 mhz and perfect tv standard. the mpeg2 is however. Vsync and horizontal are two different things in the pc, and yet entirely different again in the "old" tv world.(hence my want for mpeg2- but it did occur to me that posting a vid once and awhile on the net needs a good encode) I had a hunch they go together on the tv. I am guessing at this point the field I saved is the faster horizontal scan pc contend with, leaving the other scan (field one) a video killer. Tv great , pc dud.If you have lost all concern for video, you have an LCD and won't ever know what I am talikng about. Graphics truthfully and seriously are still mastered with a big "old" crt and LCD displays are for people who watch them.
thanks for quick answer. Keeping both fields is a dud for me.. unless I barely move and both atay twunned...and then again, I still need to deinterlace for pc. Anyhoo. the mpeg2 is a rock for video, and don't mind bouncing things around.

The mpeg wizard questions I had are answered, and it is excatly what I am looking for. It seems to get confused about the 704x480, but did export an mpeg2 to my pc as a test and strange settings within the program to get the 16:9, and going to a disc should be ok. But can't say for certain yet.There is no obvious setting to gain the 16:9, but did find one that appears to work.

[guns1inger]

Under the Export option, on one of the tabs, is an Advanced button. This opens a dialog with an Aspect Ratio option. Womble calls 16:9 9:16, but you get the idea. Sorry about the vagueness, but I don't have womble in front of me, and only use this tab when I have video from VOB2MPG, which strips the AR flag when it extracts.

FWIW, I still have a big 'ol CRT whie I wait for a lotto win to allow me to buy a widescreen of suitable quality for my liking (still waiting . . . . . . . )

[edDV]

It seems what you have coming from the camera is 704x480i (probably upper field first) at 9542kbit/s.

Your DVD authoring software should allow those settings for direct authoring without recode. If the video is 16:9 then specify 16:9 or 1.2121 Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR).

If the video playback is jumpy, you might want to back off on camera bit rate to around 8500Kbit/s and try again.