Need advice to make my own home video/DVD

[Vidnewbie1]

Hello all,

I am new video editing and need some advice to make a video (DVD if possible). I have Windows XP and no special video editing software, have done all my vids in the past using Microsoft Movie Maker. I have Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder but I don't think this will help for this task.

I would like to make a video with different sections i.e. Place 1, Place 2, etc (there maybe quite a few sections needed).

In each sections I would like to input a combination of pictures, video clips on already stored on my PC and background music in some cases.

I would like this on two formats.
1) I would like to put this all onto a DVD.
2) Keep a copy on my PC as a sort of DVD file that I can play on my PC like I would see it when inserted into a DVD player.

Any advice on the easiest, best and free way to go about this.

Thank-you all in advanced, I look forward to your suggestions.

[redwudz]

Most of what you describe is part of authoring the DVD files. GUI for dvdauthor is popular for that. Then probably a MPEG video editor. Mpg2Cut2 is one very basic one. Or AVIDemux, which can also encode may save a few steps. If you need to work with the audio, Audacity is a good choice. All freeware.

There's a bit of a learning curve for all these programs, but it you want flexibility and control, they are generally good choices for freeware. All those programs have guides at the bottom of their toolpages.

BTW, it would help us if you filled out your computer details so we knew what OS and what capabilities your system has.

And welcome to our forums.

[ranchhand]

If you only have one project to do and that is all, then what Redwudz suggested above is good; why spend money if you are only doing it once? If you have several projects coming up, you might want to consider investing in Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, or Pinnacle Studio 14 Ultimate Edition. If you are going to have a learning curve anyway, you may as well consider a dedicated software. Earlier versions of Studio, say 9-11 are quite buggy, but 14 is pretty stable and good quality, I just used it recently. Like Red said, you really should have a pretty hot machine to do this, at least a dual-core at 3GHz, 4 gig RAM and running Windows 7 would be ideal.

[Vidnewbie1]

Most of what you describe is part of authoring the DVD files. GUI for dvdauthor is popular for that. Then probably a MPEG video editor. Mpg2Cut2 is one very basic one. Or AVIDemux, which can also encode may save a few steps. If you need to work with the audio, Audacity is a good choice. All freeware.

There's a bit of a learning curve for all these programs, but it you want flexibility and control, they are generally good choices for freeware. All those programs have guides at the bottom of their toolpages.

BTW, it would help us if you filled out your computer details so we knew what OS and what capabilities your system has.

And welcome to our forums.

Thanks for the feedback. I have updated my laptop specs in my info.

Would you mind just breaking down what I need for what, i.e, can I just use GUI for dvdauthor or will I need one of the other software progtrammes also (Mpg2Cut2 or AVIDemux). Then for any audio for my dvd will I Audacity if I want any audio or can the other software programmes deal with the audio files?

Thanks also for thew advice about off the shelf software and PC specs, I may very well need this in the future.

Thank-you again your help is much appreciated

[redwudz]

If all your video, audio and photos are DVD compliant, then you may only need GUI for dvdauthor. But that's rarely the case, so some re-encoding is likely. You can look to the top left on this page for 'WHAT IS' DVD for the DVD specifications, format and structure. You have to follow that. And you would need something to trim your clips most times. That's why I mention a video editor. Same with audio. It all has to adhere to the DVD format.

You can use a program like MediaInfo to check the formats of your audio and video to see what they are at present. But I would start with GUI for dvdauthor as it is probably the most complex program to learn. You seem to have planned a fairly ambitious project for your first DVD, so this may take a while.

[Vidnewbie1]

If all your video, audio and photos are DVD compliant, then you may only need GUI for dvdauthor. But that's rarely the case, so some re-encoding is likely. You can look to the top left on this page for 'WHAT IS' DVD for the DVD specifications, format and structure. You have to follow that. And you would need something to trim your clips most times. That's why I mention a video editor. Same with audio. It all has to adhere to the DVD format.

You can use a program like MediaInfo to check the formats of your audio and video to see what they are at present. But I would start with GUI for dvdauthor as it is probably the most complex program to learn. You seem to have planned a fairly ambitious project for your first DVD, so this may take a while.

Would it make the project if I were to just produce the "project" for viewing on the PC for now, and worry about the DVD at a later stage? If I were to produce a "PC version" for now would the steps be the same as if I were producing the DVD version?

Thank-you very much for your helpful and prompt responses