DVD to raw files to re-authored DVD. Read for details.

[brianconnolly]

I'm fairly new to video editing and the various types of files and their qualities. First, let me give you some background information on my project just so you can get an idea as to where I'm coming from. I always feel like these sorts of things are easier and more interesting when you know what the person is trying to do.

I film my friends' band from time to time and over the past year or two I've recorded about fifteen different shows for them. Usually my process for putting the video on DVD is this:

1) Film to miniDV on a camcorder (either a Canon ZR60 or a Sony VX1000).

2) Put the miniDV tape in a Panasonic AG-DV1000

3) Transfer from DV to DVD over DV out/in using a DMR-T3040

This process gives me auto-chaptered DVDs with lame intro menus. I have over a dozen of these DVDs and since each show is between 20 and 30 minutes long, I'd like to condense the DVDs down to three or four (maybe less). That way I can archive them easier and both members of the band have their own copies that are managable.

Ok, so this is what I've tried so far:

Process One:

I found a program called Womble MPEG Video Wizard (in fact, I've seen it discussed on these forums) and it can export MPG from VOBs directly without any fuss. It can even overlay text and effects so that's nice. I'm not sure if this program is the best solution, though, because I'm not certain all of the original quality is maintained in the transfer.

Also, the process to transfer multiplexed files from VOB to MPG takes an inordinantly long amount of time. Is it normal for it to take over three hours to convert 20 minutes of video to MPG from a VOB file?

Finally, the exported MPGs work fine in a program like Nero XPress, but they crash Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 no matter what I do. I'm not certain why Premiere can't handle them but it locks up after about ten seconds of working with the MPGs that MPEG Video Wizard exports.

Process Two:

I looked into TMPGEnc XPress because I saw it recommended multiple times in different threads, but I'm not quite sure what sort of settings to use. I read a few guides that dealt with using TMPGEnc in regards to XVID /SVCD compression, but I'm not entirely certain that these processes are the same as if I wanted to edit a video in, say, Premiere.

I tried a few different settings and TMPGEnc exported the MPGs very fast but the quality was dismal (makes sense I suppose). I guess I don't quite understand the process yet.

Process Three:

Finally, I found a small application on this site that converts VOB files to demuxed M2V/AC3 files. I then used a program that converted the AC3 audio streams to WAV, but I don't know how to convert the M2V to something that Premiere can work with.

Conclusion:

What I'm looking for is an answer to this question:

What is a reasonable method for exporting video from VOBs with the intention of editing in Premiere and then re-authoring in a program such as DVDLab or Nero XPress? Keep in mind, I want to minimize any sort of quality loss and I have plenty of hard drive space so that is not an issue.

Any thoughts on this issue are appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[guns1inger]

First, don't use any Nero product for authoring DVDs. Chances are it will reencode your hard work to look very poor indeed. DVD Lab is a much better choice as it doesn't re-encode.

Premiere does not like editing mpegs, as you have discovered, but Mainconcept produce a plugin for Premiere that allows you to edit native mpegs without having to reencode the bits you don't touch.

How complex it the editing you wish to do ? Is it simple cuts, or lots of cross fades, overlays, transitions and effects ? If it's the former, stick with Womble, although I don't know why the speed is so slow. Or consider VideoRedo.

If it's the later, then you will have to get the Mainconcept plugin, or convert your M2V to a lossless avi codec like huffyuv and edit.

[reboot]

I use ReJig to rip vobs to m2v/ac3.
Cuts with Cuttermaran.
Major editing with Sony Vegas 5 (or movie studio 4).
Authoring with DVDLab Pro.

[brianconnolly]

I think that's where my line of thinking failed. I was under the impression that MPG would work fine in Premiere. I'll try out converting my M2V to an avi like you suggested.

[Baldrick]

or frameserve the dvd/vob/mpg directly to premiere, no need to convert to avi :
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=261416

[brianconnolly]

hm, well i guess i should explain that i don't really need to do any heavy editing (not for this certain project at least, the next one will need such things).

these are just 20-30 minute live shows that will be put straight on to dvd. they're only one camera angle so there is no need for fades or wipes... nothing like that.

what i'm trying to figure out now is how to get separate video and audio streams exported for composition in DVDLab (sine DVDLab uses demuxed files, not multiplexed).

using MPEG Video Wizard i can easily export the video in MPG form without the audio (and it goes pretty fast to boot). but when i try to export the audio track separately, it only exports to MPG and not WAV. if i could just get MPEG Video Wizard to export to WAV i'd be all set, but thus far that seems impossible.

edit: i just realized that it exports MPGs for the audio, but GSpot reveals that it's just a WAV file. i renamed the MPG to a WAV file extension and Foobar2000 played it just fine so let's see if DVDLab can deal with it or not.

[brianconnolly]

guns1inger (or anyone): do you know of any decent HuffyUV guides? i couldn't find any on the site and looking through google didn't give me anything worth a damn.

i tried converting an m2v to an avi compressed with huffyUV and the video turned out ok save for the playback... super choppy and jittery.

[guns1inger]

As it is lossless, huffyuv requires a fair bit of grunt to play back. Your PC should be able to handle it though. Have you tried defragging the HDD ? I always defreg before a capture or major edit session so the outputs ramain contigous.

[brianconnolly]

playback isn't smooth at all (nor is the preview in Premiere). i'm not sure if my computer is to blame or if i'm just not encoding it with the proper settings.

[mats.hogberg]

If you just want to take any # of DVDs and author them as different titles on one DVD, all you have to do is: demux m2v + audio from each source DVD.
Author these as separate titles/movies using TMPGEnc DVD Author or DVD-Lab. Create a title selection menu.

Done.

/Mats

[dcsos]

playback isn't smooth at all (nor is the preview in Premiere).

Never trust a preview in any version of PREMIERE..never play back the project within PREMIERE

output the section in question and view in a PLAYER for accurate assesment of what you've create[/quote]

[brianconnolly]

If you just want to take any # of DVDs and author them as different titles on one DVD, all you have to do is: demux m2v + audio from each source DVD.
Author these as separate titles/movies using TMPGEnc DVD Author or DVD-Lab. Create a title selection menu.

Done.

/Mats

well i've moved on to a new project. now i'm mixing two camera angles of a concert i filmed using two separate camcorders.

my problem right now is timing my angle switches to match the beat of the music. i'm trying to inject some style into the final edit by doing quick angle changes with certain beats in the music, but since the playback is so choppy it's hard for me to cut the video accurately.

[dcsos]

Try reducing the PREVIEW or SOURCE clip windows to Poatage Stamp size
You can still make edit decisions in a tiny window..maybe it won't stutter at the tiny size?

[SLK001]

The HUFFYUV codec isn't optimized for playback, ergo the choppy video. Your best bet would be to frameserve the .M2V file and use the AVISYNTH interface and filters for your transistions, and use VirtualDub to view the intermediate steps.

As you can see, there are many different ways of achieving the results you desire.

[brianconnolly]

ok, well i'll try a few methods of getting the frameserving to work (i can't get the guide Baldrick linked to work properly).

[brianconnolly]

adobe premiere has given me nothing but problems. i'm using the frameserving technique that Baldrick suggested (finally got it working) but the video is still jittery. the problem isn't with the video files because they play back flawlessling in media player classic, but once i load them into premiere the video stutters (even if i turn the preview size down to 25 percent).

am i doing something wrong? what's the deal?