Working on first big project

[bg63s]

I'm young and like making dvds and designing things. So my school had a show and it was recorded on vhs and I recorded some it. Im gonna buy a dvd recorder to transfer the tape. After i get past that my problem is how will i be able to mix the footage so it will cut two different angles??? Programs I have are Song Vegas 6, TMPGENc 3 express and tsuanmi dvd recorder. Also I want to make an introductory video showing highlights from the show, or maybe just the cover of the program for the show.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[kisrum]

how will i be able to mix the footage so it will cut two different angles???

Does this mean you have tape from two different vhs camcorders?

You may want to get advice on what kind of DV recorder to get first and tell people what your budget is.

[bg63s]

The event has already been tapped. One person taped the whole show on vhs, and i taped some of the show on my digital camera. so I will but a dvd recorder to record the dvd and put it on my computer. Then i want to combine the videos on a dvd

[kisrum]

I'm surprised you haven't been told to READ THE GUIDES about ten times by now, but deadlines are deadlines I know.

I'm not much help on the dvr process since I don't have one, but after you've got both tapes on DVD then, if I were you, I would:

1. RIP it to my hard drive with dvd decrypter (free) which will dump a bunch of .bup and ifo and vob files on your hard drive in whichever directory you choose;

2. open the .vob files with Mpeg video wizard (maybe thirty day free trial, so don't get it too early), and EDIT/JOIN the different bits that I want in whatever order and maybe do some titling and transitions;

3. export (ENCODE) to dvd compliant mpeg2 with Mpeg video wizard;

4. take the compliant mpeg2 files and open them for AUTHORING in Tsunami DV Author

5. use the authoring features in Tsunami to insert chapters and build a simple menu and create the appropriate Video TS and Audio TS files;

6. use (free) Imgtools Classic (only Classic, I'm told) to take the Video TS and Audio TS files and create the .iso file (IMAGE) which will eventually be burned to a new DVD;

7. BURN the DVD with what you started with, DVD Decrypter.

This is NOT the only way. There are many paths to salvation but I have only found this narrow one. There are many more ways to perdition.

Guides to your left will offer a bewildering number of different ways to do it, but the bold face steps above are the things that have to happen. Search the guides for your three packages at least.

Never used Sony Vegas 6 but it's probably at least advertised as capable of steps 2 through 6, maybe 7, but does it do them well? No opinion. It probably EDITS in .AVI format files which is arguably better, but maybe not worth your trouble if you've already burned to a DVD before it reaches your computer. TMPGENC 3 Express would ENCODE from AVI to DVD compliant Mpeg 2, I think. Haven't used it, but I believe it has a good reputation.

Steps 2 and 3 are often done with VideoReDo (free trial??) or Cuttermaran (free) but I've never used either of them.

Some people would CAPTURE the vhs tapes directly to the hard drive (tricky), depending on the audio and video outs on the VHS camcorder and audio and video ins on your video card, and edit in AVI format instead of vob/mpeg and then ENCODE to dvd complaint mpeg2. Others would rip the DVD of the vhs footage, but rather than burning the "digital camera" (does that mean digital camcorder or digital camera?) footage to DVD, they would transfer that file directly from the camera using usb or firewire and then EDIT from there.

No help on the intro video.

[Beavis]

You really don't want to edit in MPEG... Capturing everything to DV, editing in DV, then rendering the final project to DV, and then encoding to MPEG for your distribution DVD is the best way to go. Do this within Vegas. The biggest problem will be sync'ing up the two different tapings exactly. Pick the version that has the best audio track and sync the videos to that and then work on switching or fading back and forth the video tracks as you want. Your intro stuff will be just basic cutting and editing in Vegas once the entire show is in your library. This is really more of an editing question than a DVD authoring question. You might also get some good help on the dedicated Vegas forums out there.

[edDV]

You really don't want to edit in MPEG... Capturing everything to DV, editing in DV, then rendering the final project to DV, and then encoding to MPEG for your distribution DVD is the best way to go. Do this within Vegas. The biggest problem will be sync'ing up the two different tapings exactly. Pick the version that has the best audio track and sync the videos to that and then work on switching or fading back and forth the video tracks as you want. Your intro stuff will be just basic cutting and editing in Vegas once the entire show is in your library. This is really more of an editing question than a DVD authoring question. You might also get some good help on the dedicated Vegas forums out there.

Yup this is the more professional approach but one needs to first experience the pain and quality loss from editing a DVD transfer in order to realize the value of a project strategy.

No way to teach this from text. It needs to be experienced in life.

Next time they will plan.