DVD to FLV plus need to edit and file sizes are huge.

[mickthetree]

Hi All

Firstly hands up, I've bitten off more than I can chew. Been reading through the site for a while now and I'm more and more confident that I'm doing it all wrong!

I need to convert 6 DVDs worth of content into a format that I can edit and then encode them to FLV files to host on a customers website. Most of the clips produced from the DVDs are between 15 minutes and 1 hour

So far I have converted all of the .vob files to .mov files using MPEG Streamclip. Took the bets part of 2 days.

Example a 38minute clip from the DVD run through streamclip as given me a 8.5Gig file!!

I then edited them in Premier Pro 2 took an hour just to open the 8.5 gig file.

Then I encoded them to .flv files using Adobe Flash CS3 Video Convertor. took best part of a day to do all of them.

I have for example a 38 minute clip which is now a 158MB FLV file and the quality still isnt great! Sound and audio sync are good though!

Can someone point me in the right direction of if there are better programs to be using at each stage? (would MPEG video wizard allow me to do the ripping and editing?)

Can you suggest a setting to pull the files from the DVDs at which will give me good quality files to then encode to flv files?

Will any of these programs export the edited video straight to FLV?

I will be doing one set of these DVDs a month.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Mick

[filmboss80]

I cannot see why you would convert vob files to mov. That is an unnecessary stage. You could just demux the vob and edit the mpg file for editing in Premiere. Or, you could skip Premiere (if your edits are simple, cuts-only edits without elaborate effects or transitions) and use either of these free tools:

AviDemux: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AviDemux

Mpg2Cut2: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Mpg2Cut2

After you finish editing, convert to flv with your Adobe Flash converter, or use a freebie tool like WinFF.

As for ripping DVDs to your hard drive, just copy the VIDEO_TS folders from the disc to computer. This will not work on copy protected discs, however. In that case, you would need DVDFab HD Decrypter. There is also an older ripping tool, the similarly named DVD Decrypter, which is very good, but cannot handle newer copy protection schemes.

Your problem was that you were not using all the right tools for the task, and you were taking an unnecessary intermediate step in the mov encode.

[mickthetree]

WOW Thanks very much for the advice

I was convinced it was all wrong.

I'll readup about demuxing and look at those tools. I need to make simple cuts and add titles. Can either of those handle titles?

many thanks again

[filmboss80]

The tools I mentioned won't handle titles. If you are doing that, there will indeed be some encoding, especially for editing in Premiere. Premiere editing can also get complicated if the audio stream is ac3.

[mickthetree]

Hmmm Any other progs that can do the titles? Sounds like premier might be a bit overkill for my needs!

[filmboss80]

Make the titles in Premiere. Export the titles as mpeg2 files. Go back to either MPEG Streamclip, Mpg2Cut2, or AviDemux and link the title to the edited mpeg2 video clip. Export as Mpeg2 at a good bitrate setting, like 8000kbps. Open that finished mpeg2 file in Flash or WinFF and convert to flv.

That is how I would do it. However, I am not 100% certain it will work. (I don't make flv movies the way you do using the tools you are most familiar with.)

[mickthetree]

thanks great info filmboss. really appreciate it.

this is my first venture into this so I am completely open to suggestions of better ways to do it as I'm not really familiar with any of it!

[filmboss80]

Actually, if your version of Premiere will support mpeg2 editing (including the audio stream), then the titles and video cutting can all be done there.

[mickthetree]

I think my main issue with premier is the amount of time its taking me to get the files open in there.

But you are saying that I could Demux the files instead of converting them to MPEGs or AVIs and once Demux'ed I could open them in premier. Do all the editing then export them and then convert to .flv format?

[filmboss80]

Here is the process I use, but it is not the only way. I do it this way because of my own familiarity with the software.

Once I get the DVD vob files on the hard drive, I open them with VirtualDub-MPEG2. I also make sure I have a DV codec (like Panasonic DV codec or Cedocida DV codec -- but not both) loaded on my system. Also, I have AC3ACM loaded in the VirtualDub folder and installed, so that I can convert the DVD's ac3 audio stream to wav. In VirtualDub-MPEG, I select DV avi as my output and save the vob file as an avi.

From there, I open the avi file in Premiere (or other DV editor) where I can edit, add titles, transitions, etc.

I do not have Adobe Flash. My kids like to put YouTube videos up, so I just use WinFF to make the flv files. YouTube has updated their options, so you may consider several alternatives on what format you would want to export your Premiere timeline to. In my case, I just export the edited project as another DV-AVI, then open the finished video in WinFF and export to flv. Sometimes I will raise the bitrate for the best quality, but I make sure the finished flv is no bigger than 25mb.

There are several recent posts on this site about newer YouTube upload requirements, and you have other output options than flv.

Premiere handles DV-AVI files very well, but has to do some extra processing for DVD source materials. Mere demuxing a vob to mpeg2 may not help speed the process up. That is why I prefer to convert vobs to DV-AVI with VirtualDub. There are other ways to accomplish what you want, bypassing Premiere altogether. I had mentioned Mpg2Cut2 and AviDemux in earlier posts, and if you can get by with simple, cuts-only edits, they are great options. With them, you can take the finished mpeg2 files and convert to flv with WinFF.

Also, since you have the Adobe Flash converter, look into the manual (or help file) to see what video formats you can import into it. This may help with your decision-making process. Like I said, there are several ways to do what you want to do.