Basic editing and DVD creation?

[wayne86]

Im converting VHS and 8mm home video to DVDs.

Im recording the entire tapes and the resulting files are too large to burn onto DVD.

Is there good software that will allow me to quickly view files content to determine where to cut and then easily cut a file into a couple of smaller files to then burn each to a DVD?
Maybe some simple titles at the beginning?

The software that came with the USB recorder, Ulead is very hard to understand how to use and even the english is not well stated and hard to understand so Im lookig for software that will make the task of burning 50 or 60 DVDs a lot easier.

thanks for any tips.

[thecoalman]

Assuming your USB device is a hardware MPEG encoder you want software that is only going to reencode the parts that you have edited or changed or the quality can suffer. Also assuming you want something easy there isn't too many products that fall in that category.

Ulead is one of them, others will suggest similar products. There is going to be a learning curve on par with the Ulead software no matter what you use.

[IKnowNothing]

For cutting MPEGs into bits have a look at MPEG-VCR from Womble http://www.womble.com/products/vcr.html It's easy to use and only recodes as a last resort. I use it to remove adverts from TV recordings and to convert AC3 sound to MPEG for DVD Building.

Betters till there is a free trial version (which is fully functional) so you can try and see if it will work for you before parting with your hard earned cash

With a bit of work you can also use MPEG-VCR to splice video clips together so if you had footage for a title you could add it to the beginning but there are no fancy transitions. For that I use Vagas from Sony but it's quite a learning curve.

At the end of the day whatever you decide to use it'sup to you but you will have to learn the application and experiment until you get what you are looking for

Have fun!!!

[edDV]

Im converting VHS and 8mm home video to DVDs.

Im recording the entire tapes and the resulting files are too large to burn onto DVD.

What hardware is being used for capture? "USB recorder" ?
What video format?

[wayne86]

thanks for the inputs.

Im using the ADSTech DVDXpressDX2. Its a USB device and Im converted the video/audio of VHS and 8m players to 1/2d files to eventually burn onto a DVD +R. A 2 hour tape is more data then will burn onto the DVD+R so really the only edit I really need to do is cut the file in 1/2 to burn 2 CDs or possibly combine smaller cuts to fill the DVD and in time order. Since all of these tapes are sequential in time.

If I could just cut in 1/2 and make 2 DVDs that would be great for me a min.

If not any trouble maybe adding a title in the front of the DVD.

Thats about all I need to do. Maybe ill upgrade the Ulead and see if that helps. One thing the Ulead version does is put a xmas overlay across the recording and I cannot see a way to delete or not do that.

If the tapes fit onto a DVD, id be happy just recording direct to DVD and step and repeat until all 60 tapes are done.

Any tips appreciated.

thanks for the help!

[theewizard]

what bit rate are you using for encoding from your source material

4000 should be more than enough for 1/2 DVD res ( 352*480 ), you might even be able to use less ( like 2500 )
4000-6000 is considered the sweet spot for D1, 1/2 DVD needs only half the bit rate for the same quality

commercial DVDs, have a 2hr movie on DVD at 720*480.

I have the adstech dvdxpress first version, and i have never had a problem with recording 2hrs of video per DVD

[wayne86]

what bit rate are you using for encoding from your source material

4000 should be more than enough for 1/2 DVD res ( 352*480 ), you might even be able to use less ( like 2500 )
4000-6000 is considered the sweet spot for D1, 1/2 DVD needs only half the bit rate for the same quality

commercial DVDs, have a 2hr movie on DVD at 720*480.

I have the adstech dvdxpress first version, and i have never had a problem with recording 2hrs of video per DVD

well I dont know. The Capwiz application that goes with product does give me an option to select bit rate. It does give me the option to select best, good, etc. I have it set for the Best. Looks like a 2hr tape takes up about 3.5G. Should I be using something less then Best?

[edDV]

Can't speak to your software but minutes recorded are determined only by average bitrate. Bit rate (in Kb/s) x seconds = file size. Total bit rate includes video and audio.

See the calculator.
https://www.videohelp.com/calc

[theewizard]

what bit rate are you using for encoding from your source material

4000 should be more than enough for 1/2 DVD res ( 352*480 ), you might even be able to use less ( like 2500 )
4000-6000 is considered the sweet spot for D1, 1/2 DVD needs only half the bit rate for the same quality

commercial DVDs, have a 2hr movie on DVD at 720*480.

I have the adstech dvdxpress first version, and i have never had a problem with recording 2hrs of video per DVD

well I dont know. The Capwiz application that goes with product does give me an option to select bit rate. It does give me the option to select best, good, etc. I have it set for the Best. Looks like a 2hr tape takes up about 3.5G. Should I be using something less then Best?

a DVD holds more than 4 gig, why do you think 3.5 gig ( 2 hrs ) will not fit on a DVD ?

is the size increasing when author the DVD ?

put a R/W disc in your burner, and open Movie factory instead of capture whiz, choose the dvdxpress for input device and select the 'record direct to disc' function. if my memory is correct you set the record time NOT the quality, the quality/bitrate will be determined by the program base on time setting

your taped input will be recorded directly to disc, the complete 2 hrs

you can edit this or copy and burn to DVD disc , and reuse the RW for the next project

[wayne86]

well I dont know. The Capwiz application that goes with product does give me an option to select bit rate. It does give me the option to select best, good, etc. I have it set for the Best. Looks like a 2hr tape takes up about 3.5G. Should I be using something less then Best?

I meant to say. Capwiz for the USB digitizer DOES NOT give me an option for bit rate, only a relative value from Best to Pretty Good.

[wayne86]

what bit rate are you using for encoding from your source material

4000 should be more than enough for 1/2 DVD res ( 352*480 ), you might even be able to use less ( like 2500 )
4000-6000 is considered the sweet spot for D1, 1/2 DVD needs only half the bit rate for the same quality

commercial DVDs, have a 2hr movie on DVD at 720*480.

I have the adstech dvdxpress first version, and i have never had a problem with recording 2hrs of video per DVD

well I dont know. The Capwiz application that goes with product does give me an option to select bit rate. It does give me the option to select best, good, etc. I have it set for the Best. Looks like a 2hr tape takes up about 3.5G. Should I be using something less then Best?

a DVD holds more than 4 gig, why do you think 3.5 gig ( 2 hrs ) will not fit on a DVD ?

is the size increasing when author the DVD ?

put a R/W disc in your burner, and open Movie factory instead of capture whiz, choose the dvdxpress for input device and select the 'record direct to disc' function. if my memory is correct you set the record time NOT the quality, the quality/bitrate will be determined by the program base on time setting

your taped input will be recorded directly to disc, the complete 2 hrs

you can edit this or copy and burn to DVD disc , and reuse the RW for the next project

Good question. I thought it might be because the consumer DVD +R cannot record as much?

I tried the direct to DVD recording and it crashed somewhere along the line so thats too risky to do I think. If I can find a way to set the digital recording quality of a 2hr tape to fit on a DVD do you think that will reduce the video quality much?
I think there must be a way to process a file so it will fit on a DVD+R where the file get compressed appropriately. Ill root around the Ulead program and see what I can find. Know of a way to take a file and make it fit?

Do you think the Ulead is good for what Im doing? Maybe I should upgrade to V10 (I have V9 SE now)

[wayne86]

theewizard:
I think I see what your saying now. I opened the Ulead Movie wizard and doing the video capture that way DVDExpress to DVD. It allowed me to set a time of 2 hours so I guess then it automatically sets bit rate. During the capture its saving a mpeg, I guess it either just leave the file for burning or just takes you to the next step automatically to burn the DVD. I let you know how it turns out.
thanks again

[theewizard]

I think your on the right track now

one thing i've learned and can't be stressed enough,

you should not try to multi-task and do video capture ,

when doing video capturing the PC is best left alone to do only that task

trying to do other things will just interfere with the video capture

[wayne86]

can I confirm what I hope is supposed to happen.

Using the Ulead Movie Wizard, and capture video function, I set the duration for the tape into the timer window.

Then Ulead will create a file that will fit onto a single DVD that I can burn with my PCs DVD burner?

I hear you about multitasking. If I was going to get into serious video editing, I can quickly see I would need a monster of a fast PC. So luckily the PC I use for video is an unused PC except for this video capture and burn task.

thanks again