DVD Edit Re-Author: Fast Moving M2V

[jmcmike]

OK, here's the deal. I am working very hard on a fan edit of a movie. Here are my steps so far.

1) Ripped disc to one big VOB using DVD Shrink.
2) Demuxed M2V and AC3 from VOB with TMPGEnc Plus
3) Remuxed to video only MPG with TMPGEnc Plus
4) Presented video as AVI with VFAPIConvEN
5) Edited movie to taste and successfully created an edited AC3 5.1 audio mix with BeLight.
6) I am now trying to use cuttermaran to make the video from the native MPG stream to avoid reencoding.

Notes:
- Steps 3 and 4 are necessary because my NLE does not support M2V as input and using MPG as input runs the frames too fast
- My NLE is Video Explosion Deluxe, which is a rebranded version of Vegas Movie Studio
- Ignoring all steps for audio mix so as not to confuse the topic.

Here is where it gets wierd...

Cuttermaran does not take MPG, only M2V. So I demuxed an M2V from the MPG mentioned in step 3. Only when I open the M2V in Cuttermaran, the video length is about 25 mintes shorter than the MPG and the audio stream. Playing the M2V seems to run fast. The same thing happens in Windows Media Player.

So my first thought is perhaps I should go back to the source. So I demuxed a copy of the M2V from the source VOB. Same problem.

Furthermore, neither TMPGEnc or TMPG DVD Author will open the M2V. Keep in mind that the MPG I used for all of my edits displays the right time and plays at the right speed and it came from an M2V that came from the VOB!

I don't know if I am being clear enough so please ask quesitons if I wasn't.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on and how I might get a good M2V stream to make the cuts from in Cuttermaran?

Thanks for any help you may provide. While I am learning much, I am also quite frustrated.

[Soopafresh]

Use Mpg2cut2 . It'll take the full MPG file.

[jmcmike]

Use Mpg2cut2 . It'll take the full MPG file.

Sorry, but Mpg2Cut2 only does GOP level editing. I need a frame accurate editor. I know there are other payware tools (Womble, VideoRedo) but I am trying to do this without spending any more money right now.

Even so, I am perplexed by the problem as much as anything else. Why are these M2V files being rejected by TMPG DVD Author? It is supposed to take them as input.

I have seen a couple other posts with similar issues but they were resolved in some unrelated way.

[Abond]

Better use Cuttermaran after step2, opening m2v and ac3 to edit. If it comes also fastplaying look and correct the framerates with Restream.

[jmcmike]

Better use Cuttermaran after step2, opening m2v and ac3 to edit. If it comes also fastplaying look and correct the framerates with Restream.

Thanks for the ideas but I am using my NLE because I am editing the 6 channel audio as well and the editing environment of my NLE is much preferred to Cuttermaran. I was only trying to use Cuttermaran for the final video edits, after the "art" of the editing was done.

Also, I did check the M2V with restream. It showed 29.97 (what I expected) and "restreaming" the clip did not help the situation.

What I have ended up doing is using VideoRedo on a full MPG stream. I'll milk the trial and eventually buy it. It really is a great program.

In any case, I have finished the first edit. I popped it into my DVD player last night and I couldn't be happier. Now only 5 more discs to go...

[Abond]

sorry irrelevant...