Capture vs. RIP

[clayton]

I have several commercial DVDs that I wish to edit and reburn. I'm not sure of the best way to approach the project. I have an analog capture card and Premiere. I think I have two possibilities;

1) capture using my analog capture card (DV500 DVD), edit in Premiere, convert to MPEG and burn.
or
2) use a tool like ImToo and rip to .avi, edit in Premiere, convert to MPEG and burn.

Which of the two approaches will yield the best quality assuming that I use the same MPEG conversion utility (TMPGEnc)? I must use a full-fledged editing tool like Premiere because my edits aren't just simple cuts, I'm also editing the visual presentation and audio track (editing for content). One of my assumptions is that Premiere can only edit the movie as an .avi file.

Any suggestions?

[Baldrick]

2. Rip to DV AVI(like the panasonic dv codec) or huffyuv AVI using for example DVDx.

[Karate Media]

Premiere does not natively edit MPEGs, but you can buy a plug-in from MainConcept that will give Premiere MPEG-editing functionality. Of course, it's $250. But it's an option.

Otherwise, I'd recommend staying digital (rip and convert) rather than putting any analog into your workflow.

[Baldrick]

Mainconcept MPEG Pro. (clickable link)

[Phantom Of The Opera]

2. Rip to DV AVI(like the panasonic dv codec) or huffyuv AVI using for example DVDx.

Baldrick, let me make sure I haven't misunderstood you. You're saying DVDx will allow me to convert my DVD to DV-AVI (using the Panasonic DV codec, for instance)??

[Baldrick]

yep, just set it to avi and panasonic dv codec and audio to acm

[jtoolman2000]

Install Any DVD and TMPGEnc DVD Author. The later will now allow to rip the protected DVD to MPG-2 which you can then "Edit", sort of, re-author / re compile and burn back to DVD. Also I believe that Pinnacle Studio 9.3 will allow you to edit MPGs but I might be wrong.

[clayton]

That is what I expected but I wasn't confident enough in my expertise to make a decision. Thank you for your input.

If there are any more opinions, please don't hesitate to reply.

[clayton]

I definately need to use Premiere because of the types of edits I plan on making.

[mjliteman]

I used to use DVDx because it allows for ripping and transcoding in one step, but I prefer another method that's less DVD drive intensive and maybe faster.

1. Rip w/ DVDDecrypter. Set file splitting to none.
2. Transcode to DV-AVI w/ VirtualDubMod or even DVDx if you like. Select you codec and transcode.
3. Edit in Premiere
4. Encode with Adobe MPEG Encoder (or frameserve to your favorite)
5. Author and burn.

Each of these have sub-steps, of course, but you can learn them easily from the guides and searching the forum. That's the overall process I would use.

MJ

[clayton]

Your response prompted a follow-up question that I hope isn't too off topic. I have encoded with Adobe MPEG before and wasn't impressed with the quality. Generally is it considered a top notch encoder? I had already started turning to TMPGEnc.

[mjliteman]

That's why I said "or frameserve to your favorite," but Adobe MPEG Encoder uses the Mainconcept encoder which many believe is one of the best. In fact, I have the standalone Mainconcept encoder and am perfectly happy with it. Also, I only use it for video encoding (BeSweet for audio) and if you learn the ins and outs of the settings - that goes for any encoder - you'll probably be happy with the results.

MJ