Suggestions on editing files

[StarsFan4Life]

Good evening everyone. I have been searching for 3 days straight for a good forum with informative people who really know what they are doing. I for one am somewhat a beginner but plan to purchase books and dvd tutorials to turn my noobishness into the above average abilities.

With that said, I have a lot to ask here so PLEASE bare with me.

I was recently married (November 1st) and had my videographer back out on us just weeks before the wedding. This group had all the equipment and it was going to be out "wedding gift" from them. That didn't exactly work out and we were only weeks away from the wedding, didn't have the $1500-$3000 budget to hire someone to do this. The wife and I got to thinking and decided that if we were going to spend the money...why not buy our own equipment and software and do it ourselves. I do enjoy LEARNING...but didn't realize it would be this intense.

We decided to purchase the following:

* Canon HF100 1080P HD Camcorder
* 3 x 16gb Class 6 SDHC drives
* Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 (upgraded to version c)
* Magic Bullets Looks for Vegas
* Sony DVD Architect 4.5 (with 5.0 for Blu-Ray)

We shot the whole ceremony and reception at the highest quality settings on the camera. I was able to export the .MTS files to my local computer for easier editing. According the Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 the video/.MTS files show a quality of:

* Video: 1920x1080x12 29.970 fps interlaced AVC
* Audio: 48,000Hz Stereo Dolby AC-3


I have been working with Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 for a month or so now getting used to simple editing (combining files, cutting out unwanted footage, etc) but am not really familiar with adding video FX to it (color correction, black and white, or basically changing the way the video "looks") but am learning about it. That so far is not my problem. What my problem is well.....a bit more complicated.

I personally have a PS3 that I can stream the .MTS files to and play them straight on my HDTV at full 1080p. However, all my family wants a copy of the wedding video and wants it put on a DVD. This is my problem....what the heck is the best way to do this? I have ran several days of rendering the video to different formats and find them all to be degrading towards the original footage. AVI files seems to be the worst and tooks 13.0gb of .MTS files and made them into one 26gb avi file. The video quality was that of a low-grade dvd and NOT HD quality. I have played with SEVERAL different version outputs and nothing can compare to the original quality of the .MST raw files.

What do you guys suggest if I want to take the raw .MTS files, combine them in Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 into one whole video and output them to the BEST quality (lossless if possible from the .MTS files)? Also, what do you guys suggest to do if I want to take the original .MTS files and convert them to a dual-layer (8.5gb) DVD or a single layer (4.7gb) DVD so I can give these out to family and friends. A simple guidance or walk through would be GREATLY appreciated!

Also does anyone suggest any good tutorials or books I can get to advance my skills in Sony Vegas Pro 8.0, Magic Bullet Looks and DVD Architect?

Right this second I was able to open an application called "ConvertXtoDVD" and add the raw .MTS files and have it compress down to be able to fit on a 8.5gb DL layer DVD. It is only at 24% and it started about 45 minutes ago so I will let you guys know the outcome in the morning.

I REALLY do appreciate any suggestions, constructive comments, or guidance on any of the tasks I have at hand. Investing $1000 on a whim like this is NOT something I tend to do, but when I spent $45k on a wedding and had only weeks to go...I thought it to be the best option. Needless to say, once I can get the hang of this, I plan to do a lot more for friends and family!

How do you PRO's do it?!

[jagabo]

When everyone says they want the video on DVD I assume this means a movie DVD that plays on their DVD player. That means standard definition (720x480) MPEG 2, not high definition anything. Vegas should have everything you need for that.

[StarsFan4Life]

Yes, standard definition is exactly what I am looking for. Most of my friends and family don't even have an HDTV but some do. I want to convert to a simple widescreen formatted DVD for them.

Now...when you say high definition dvd...what do you mean? Can this be done?

[manono]

Now...when you say high definition dvd...what do you mean? Can this be done?

He didn't say high definition DVD, unless there was mention of it in the pre-edited post. DVD isn't hi-def. It's standard-def 720x480. There's no way in the world it will equal your 1920x1080 source files in quality.

This is my problem....what the heck is the best way to do this?

As he said, you should be able to use Vegas for the conversion to DVD resolution MPEG-2 video. I don't use Vegas, but perhaps others can help.

[jagabo]

I did start out mentioning HD DVD and Blu-ray but I removed that from the post because I thought it might be confusing. I don't remember if I actually posted before removing the information.

In short, yes, it's possible to put high definition video on a DVD that HD DVD and Blu-ray players can play. But normal DVD players will not be able to play those discs at all.

[StarsFan4Life]

Ok. So I can take the originals, edit them how I want and then render them to MPEG-2 video format and then to DVD correct? What is the quality and settings I need to use on the MPEG-2 format to get the best quality possible for a 8.5gb disc? Same for a 4.7gb disk?

[StarsFan4Life]

Any more help would be greatly appreciated!

[guns1inger]

As with any DVD authoring, the quality comes from a) the source, and b) the encoding. Use as a high a bitrate as you can afford. Use a bitrate calculator to work out what the bitrate will be depending n the length of the video, and the size of the target disc. If you have a longer video, expect the DVD5 version to show a lower quality than the DVD9 version. If the video is around 65 minutes or less the two will be the same quality.

[jagabo]

Yes, you can render to MPEG2 for DVD (720x480). What bitrate you should use will depend on length. For 1 hour or less on single layer DVD, or 2 hours or less on dual layer DVD, you can just use single pass, constant bitrate encoding at 8000 to 9000 kbps. For more than that you should use a bitrate calculator to determine what average bitrate you need and do a 2-pass variable bitrate encoding.