Advice on editing software

[Newbie 332]

Hey,

So long time lurker here looking for some advice. I have Premiere 6 that I have been using for years and have been very happy with it except for the whole .mpg editing issue. I am looking for a all in one program to do my editing and possibly dvd movie burning. Just trying to cut down on several programs having to be loaded to do one thing.

Anyhow, I am looking for suggestions for a program in the $100 range that can edit .mpg and dv. I would really like it to be able to save to xvid too if possible. I have downloaded a couple of trials like, tmpge 4.0 express which worked great for me editing out commercials of mpegs. I have read that some have had issues with it, :dunno I looked 7 months back and searched with no clear cut answer. Just looking for the best all in one. Doesn't have to be perfect at all just what you guys consider to be the best around that price point.

THANKS!!!

[navi310]

Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 - US $99.99

[cdb]

Sony Vegas 6.0 (pro version) at B&H Photo

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/434966-REG/Sony_SV6000DVD_Vegas_6_Video_Editing.html

[guns1inger]

If you are just trimming the commercials and top and tailing mpegs then look at VideoRedo or Womble Mpeg Wizard. Both are dedicated mpeg editors, and can edit without having to re-encode the whole file. Premiere and Vegas (and their Elements and Studio versions) are able to correctly open mpeg files now, however they decompress them to the timeline, and must re-encode the entire timeline, which is slow and costs you a generation. Womble Mpeg Wizard DVD also authors with menus for you as well.

Either premiere Elements or Vegas Movie Studio will be fine for DV editing and outputting to Xvid, although personally I would rather use AutoGK or Dr Divx for that step.

[Newbie 332]

So I had downloaded womble two days ago and that worked fine for me last night.

Does anyone have an opinion if Womble or TMPGE 4.0 xpress is better.

[guns1inger]

I only use Womble for editing (mostly simple trimming). As an editor it is a far better option than TDA. As an authoring tool is is pretty basic. Again, horses for courses. I don't author with Womble.

[Newbie 332]

I only use Womble for editing (mostly simple trimming). As an editor it is a far better option than TDA. As an authoring tool is is pretty basic. Again, horses for courses. I don't author with Womble.

So I used womble a couple of times and am a little confused. When I set it to "automatic" for the encoding (goes the fastestest cause it doesn't have to re-encode everything) I get files that are 352 X 480 and 480 X 480. If I set it to "dvd ntsc" It says that the ratio should be 720 X 480. Does anyone know if this is an ok setting?

Also, if I am watching a computer file on a tv (plasma, lcd) should it be interlaced?

[guns1inger]

When you export from the timeline, click the details button. If all is blue (video and audio) then no re-encoding is occurring, which means the resolutions you are getting out are what you are putting in.

352 x 480 is NTSC half-D1 and is valid for DVD.

480 x 480 is an SVCD resolution, and is not DVD compliant.

What exactly is your source material ?

[Newbie 332]

When you export from the timeline, click the details button. If all is blue (video and audio) then no re-encoding is occurring, which means the resolutions you are getting out are what you are putting in.

352 x 480 is NTSC half-D1 and is valid for DVD.

480 x 480 is an SVCD resolution, and is not DVD compliant.

What exactly is your source material ?

.tivo files. would it be worth it to encode it as a 720 by 480?

If it comes up with 480 by 480 can I just use womble to encode it as 720 by 480? I don't care about the extra time. I just run it while I am at work.