What is the best current AVI to MPEG 2 converting software?

[avz10]

I searched the site and most of the threads are quite old.

I am converting my VHS tapes to DVD via my Canon Legria HV40 camcorder. I have now quite a few gigabytes of AVI files. I am using WinDV for the capturing in DV. In the past I have used TMPEnc for conversion.

What is the best current AVI to MPEG 2 converting software (free or not too expensive?)

Thanks!

[yoda313]

Independently hcenc or quenc. If you want the whole package for dvd authoring go with avstodvd. THat way you can author the full disc with or without a menu and get your video_ts folder that way. If I'm not too much mistaken you can incorporate imgburn with avstodvd and burn after the encoding is done - not a 100% sure on that bit though. (edit - what I mean is hcenc or quenc will encode to mpeg 2 - avstodvd can be used to author the vobs themselves with a menu if you want it - and fyi avstodvd will use either hcenc or quenc internally - you can decide which).

Back in the day tmpgenc plus would have done it. If you still have it it should work though I'm not sure if this is h264 avi it may not work with the older tmpgenc software. The newer tmpgenc suites certainly do work with h264. You just have to read which ones do.

Edit - avstodvd should work with just about anything. You say avi - is this dv-avi or something else? If you are unsure you can use gspot or mediainfo to identify the codec that was used.

Edit - scratch that last edit - I do see now you used dv capturing so it is definitely dv-avi which is good.

[avz10]

Thanks for that.

I have Pinnacle Studio 15, but due to the size of all the folders I thought I should convert first and then edit.

Does that approach sound right, or will I loose quality if I edit after I have converted?

[yoda313]

I have an older version of pinnacle but I haven't used it in awhile.

When you say edit do you just mean cutting?

If you are just cutting you can do that at any point along the way.

If you are doing things like filters and fades and wipes and that kind of stuff I'd use the original source first. Then convert.

So if you are just cutting load the original files and load into pinnacle and do everything. You can cut either right there in the program or afterwards. If I'm not to much mistaken pinnacle can make a full dvd directly from your source material. So you could just load the original video and create the whole process in one set of events with the one program. To me that makes more sense. That is if you plan to stick with pinnacle.

If you weren't going to stick with pinnacle you might want to separate the processes. Its up to you really.

But if you are doing more than just cutting the video when you say "edit" you should use the original files first. Then convert after that.

Edit - not to be more confusing but you can use mpg2cut2 to cut the files and it SHOULD be lossless - that is no reencoding - once they are in mpg format.

Alternately you can cut the orginal dv-avi files with virtualdub using direct stream copy. However they will still be quite large. Original dv-avi is 13gb/hour. Your cut file would be smaller than that - dependent on how much time you cut out of the video of course.

[avz10]

When you say edit do you just mean cutting?

If you are just cutting you can do that at any point along the way.

If you are doing things like filters and fades and wipes and that kind of stuff I'd use the original source first. Then convert.

Most of it will be cutting. Perhaps here and there a title, but nothing more.

So if I hear you correctly, you say that after capturing with WinDV, I can either cut with "mpg2cut2", or import into Pinnacle and save as either a DVD or MPEG file- they have that option.

With hcenc it seems as if I need to encode the audio and video streams. I have started looking into scripts for Avisynth, but it seems quite complicated.

What about programmes like AVS Video Converter- a top 10 site gave it the best rating- only 33 USD??

So to summarize, my options for converting are hcenc; Pinnacle or perhaps something like AVS Video Converter?

[_Al_]

-win DV - capture DV avi
-use Pinnacle or other videoeditor to load those DV avi and cut it, trimm it, shuffle clips around
-export DV avi (no recompression should take place)
-store that DV avi movie, this is your original to archive
-export AC3 audio, 192 or 224 kbps
-encode DV avi to mpeg2 for distribution on DVD, you get m2v video only

You can load this easy avisynth script into HcEnc encoder:

AviSource("D:\your_DV.avi")

MAIN tab -average 8000, maximum 8500, profile-best, dcprec 9, aspect ratio 4:3,SMP, autogop, make DVD compliant
Settings 1 tab - interlace options - interlaced, BFF, chroma downsampling - interlaced

-use ifoedit to make DVD, DVD author/ author new DVD , load m2v, AC3, choose VIDEO_TS folder (you just create empty VIDEO_TS folder before)
-use imgburn and burn that VIDEO_TS folder to DVD

[yoda313]

I can either cut with "mpg2cut2", or import into Pinnacle and save as either a DVD or MPEG file- they have that option.

I don't believe mpg2cut2 can work with dv-avi - that is what you originally captured with. mpg2cut2 is for mpeg 2 video files.

For cutting the original dv-avi you would use virtualdub and the direct stream copy option. Select your in and out spot then save as a new file.

You should not have a problem importing the dv-avi directly into pinnacle. You will be able to do all your editing in pinnacle and make your dvd that way if you want.

What about programmes like AVS Video Converter- a top 10 site gave it the best rating- only 33 USD??

I'd start looking at avstodvd which is freeware. That is if you don't want to use pinnacle for the entire process, which you can by the way.

export AC3 audio, 192 or 224 kbps

I personally would prefer 384kpbs but that is just me.

-use Pinnacle or other videoeditor to load those DV avi and cut it, trimm it, shuffle clips around
-export DV avi (no recompression should take place)
-store that DV avi movie, this is your original to archive

Just a question - would it still be wiser to keep the original untrimmed avi for future use? I know it would be a little larger than the trimmed version but you'd have more cutting options later.

One example being if you happened to have commercials or some interesting bit that wasn't in the main presentation you could go back to the whole captured file. Of course you could trim that out separately I suppose and save that as an unaltered dv-avi file. Just thinking outloud here.

use ifoedit to make DVD, DVD author/ author new DVD , load m2v, AC3, choose VIDEO_TS folder (you just create empty VIDEO_TS folder before)

I think ifoedit might be a bit intimidating for a relative beginner. That was why I suggested avstodvd.

I actually never used ifoedit much. I'm not "dissing" the program just never found a need for it.

[_Al_]

Just a question - would it still be wiser to keep the original untrimmed avi for future use? I know it would be a little larger than the trimmed version but you'd have more cutting options later.

I keep them both, and have all backed it up on two separate HDD. So it is a lot of data. Some data are at different places, it shouldn't be all at one place.

But as I keep saying this is the only thing that has some value to us, our own materials or production. These data are unique. It needs to be sorted out constantly,HDD's with larger volumes are being made so there is often copy/paste at work to shuffle them around and organize them, it needs constant attention, but it is worthy I guess. You can have PC , hardiscs full of crap, data, movies but at the end if you loose it our own videos, photos would be the only thing we would miss. I realize that often when I get new computer. With the old one all that crap on it, it seems to be important then you get new PC and that old crap is being forgotten with the exception of video, photos.

[avz10]

Well, thanks for all the comments.

I have started with the easiest approach, taking the comments into consideration. Having captured with WinDV, I am now using avstodvd, which has HCEnc included, but I set the output to MPEG and not DVD. This seems to work well.

I am amazed by the quality of the tapes, quite a number when playing back, starts OK and then quite soon starts with increasing noise and then for a while is returning to normal. As this is happening to quite a few of my tapes- now+-20 years old or less, this is a wake-up call!

What I have done in the past, was to make individual tapes for the children, cutting out parts that were not applicable to them. I should not have done so and want to "cut and paste" to make one chronological file. BUT, have I not done so, I would have lost so much as some tapes are now basically useless.

So my next question is- does anyone know of a prgramme that has two storylines, so that I can cut from one line and paste into the other, in other words line one will be the better line, and I can add cuts from line two into into line one, basically by dragging that part over? I hope this is clear- two input lines to create one export line.

As I will not really do editing, but more cutting and pasting, I want to do this in MPEG due to the AVI space constraints.

Just a last point- the colours and blacks looks a bit washed out- I have in the past used some Virtualdub filters . Would this still be an option in MPEG?

I hope I made myself clear enough!

Thanks