Need tutorial on DVD editing, etc.

[clumb31]

I am really confused by all the formats and intricacies in editing, burning and viewing DVDs. Is there a good tutorial regarding all of this?
For example, someone sent me a DVD (content from a video cam). It has 2 files, each play well on my computer and TV. One file is MTS and the other one on the same disk(!) is AVI. Why would they be different when they deliver the same? Then there are DVDs that have Audio_TS and Video_TS. Then I read about MP4, VS, MPEG, etc. It is enough to blow my mind!
As I said, my main object is to put a DVD, perhaps one recorded from my TV, in my computer (windows 8), get it on the hard drive perhaps edit it, and then burn a clean copy that will play in my -DVD player. Any suggestions on tutorials and programs to use will be appreciated

[hech54]

DVD(playable on a set-top DVD player) is MPEG2. It can be nothing else.....and it must be authored so it contains a VIDEO_TS folder like the one you have on your HDD right now.

[videobruger]

Tutorials? Why not start here on this site. In the top left corner. What is .. DVD. Then there is the guides. For start on DVD's maybe this FAQ. Then lookup unfamilary concepts/term on Wikipedia.


Since your goal is to produce video DVDs you will need aan authoring programme. AVStoDVD is probably the preferred on this site. I personally like DVDStyler. Start by producing ISO/DVD folds (VIDEO_TS/AUDIO_TS) to test before actually burning.


YouTube often have tutorial like these for DVDStyler

Creating A DVD in 61 sec with DVDStyler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zarVpzLFw6E

DVDStyler - Create a Menu For TV-Episodes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62yzfqA8m9g

How to make a DVD without menu from a MP4 file using DVDStyler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRk-XrkR8oE

DVD Styler Advanced User "How To" Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVTSWvz1eCQ

2011-10-02 DVD Styler Tutorial Burning Videos or Movies to DVD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCvMWGdVqHI

DVD Styler Make Professional DVD in 5 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYa6nVulBFU


And of course: Read the manuals. And then .. Google is your friend.

[hello_hello]

There's basically one format for a "video DVD". It's a bunch of files with extensions such as ifo and vob inside those video_ts folders, which when burned to disc correctly make the type of video DVD disc you'd buy or rent. Programs designed to convert video to DVD video format know exactly how to do it so you can burn the files as a working DVD video disc.

As you probably know, DVDs can also hold files. Any type at all, they're just files burned to a disc. That's a DVD data disc, not a DVD video disc..... obviously.

Then of course.... there's DVD data discs which contain files which just happen to be video files. You have one of those. If you're going to burn a self-contained video/audio file to disc it'd be burned as a data disc. Whether they be AVI, M2TS, MP4, MKV, FLV, etc.... they're all just "containers" and depending on the container, they're able to hold certain types of video and audio. There's not really a standard as such, more what you'd call "common practice" when it comes to video files. Without going into the history of it all, AVI is the container most often used to hold a certain few types of video and audio, MP4s are most often used to hold something else... etc etc.

Whoever gave you the disc was no doubt just trying to play it safe. The original video and audio were possibly already in the M2TS format, and chances are he also converted both to a different type of video and audio which the AVI contains. He burned both to the same disc and probably figured if the player you happened to be using wouldn't play one of them, then the chances are fairly good it'd play the other. Most DVD players will play some sort of video simply burned to a DVD data disc as a single file. You seem to have discovered yours does. DVD players tend to be fairly limited in that respect though. More modern types of players, even most Bluray players, will play a wider range of video.

Personally I don't bother with creating DVD video discs any more. Most media players have a USB input these days. You can convert video to AVI/MP4/MKV etc where as a general rule a single file contains an entire movie or TV episode and store it all on a USB hard drive and plug it into your Bluray player to watch it. There's no reason why you couldn't burn those same files to disc to have a backup copy too, but there's much easier ways to play it than messing around with discs.

[clumb31]

Thanks for all the useful help. My TV and DVD player(Not BluRay) don't have USB connections. My main desire is to copy a TV movie to my DVD recorder, transfer it to my W 8 computer, edit to eliminate the commercials, or delete certain parts and then burn it for future play to DVD.
Incidentally, don't I ALSO need an editing program to do this?

[Wolfen]

why not skip the dvd recorder and go straight from your cable box to capturing on the computer ? if your cable box doesn't send out encrypted signals ?

[sanlyn]

His cable box signals are encrypted, usually copy-once. It would not matter if the tv movie were recorded to a DVD recorder or into the computer (good luck finding a good capture card). Except for the old "network" broadcasters and PBS, most cable channels use copy protection of some kind. The cable box will output composite, s-video, and component video signals plus audio. HD is available only thru component. With most HD cable boxes, the 4:3 output of s-video or composite will be a 4:3 image with 16X9 letterboxed inside, or a 4:3 image with an even smaller 4:3 image letterboxed and pillared inside. Besides the format problem, it will usually be copy-once. You can edit it, but you can't re-render it or burn it to DVD-R; the possibilities are transfer (i.e., move, not copy) the unedited recording to DVD-RAM or another hard drive.

The other possibility is to use an SD digital box rather than an HD box, if the cable company still provides SD boxes. Record from the SD box s-video or composite output. The recording will be 4:3, with 16x9 letterboxed and most 4:3 broadcasts in full-screen 4:3. However the problem of copy-once on more and more stations remains the same. For editing you'd have to record to a DVD machine with HDD (or record one disc at a time at lower bitrates), or to a computer with a capture device that accepts s-video or composite input.

The other possibility is to by an HD PVR such as a Hauppauge unit, record HD and/or SD from an HD box's component output (which will usually have the proper aspect ratio). These devices generally ignore copy protection -- for the time being, anyway. Record thru the device via USB to a computer. Then take it from there.

The in-between details for these scenarios depend on how the O.P. gets the broadcast signal.

HDMI recording: forget it.

I have used TMPGEnc editing and authoring products for years. No problems. There are free editors: be prepared to get "free" in terms of varying degrees of usability. Then there are behemoths like Vegas Pro, Premiere, etc., where you pay lots of money for features you'll never use.

[sanlyn]

Personally I don't bother with creating DVD video discs any more. Most media players have a USB input these days. You can convert video to AVI/MP4/MKV etc where as a general rule a single file contains an entire movie or TV episode and store it all on a USB hard drive and plug it into your Bluray player to watch it. There's no reason why you couldn't burn those same files to disc to have a backup copy too, but there's much easier ways to play it than messing around with discs.

Right. That's what most consumers do. They spend a fortune on external drives, PC's, software, etc., sit around the house for hours/days/weeks/months distilling all their video stuff as you describe (while the kids are away at the day care center). They carry their hard drives with them to their relatives on holidays and hook the drives to their relatives' $30 Coby player and everyone wonders why the TV screen is a blank.

As long as we have the average user who never figured out how to program a VCR, those 5" discs will be around. Meanwhile, like you, I have to shuffle through a pile of hard drives if my wife wants to watch a mystery on Sunday night. I'm behind in updating the Excel spreadsheets that are supposed to tell me which video is on which drive. Fortunately the Mentalist episodes and the old E.R. stuff are on discs, which she handles well.

[hello_hello]

Right. That's what most consumers do. They spend a fortune on external drives, PC's, software, etc., sit around the house for hours/days/weeks/months distilling all their video stuff as you describe (while the kids are away at the day care center). They carry their hard drives with them to their relatives on holidays and hook the drives to their relatives' $30 Coby player and everyone wonders why the TV screen is a blank.

That all seems pretty foolish. If I was going to take a hard drive full of video with me on holidays I'd at least pack a laptop and a HDMI cable.
So are you saying if you prefer not to use hard drives for storage there's no need to spend a fortune on drives, PCs or software, and Einstein's general relativity needs updating to account for the different rate at which time passes in the vicinity of an optical drive burning a disc?

As long as we have the average user who never figured out how to program a VCR, those 5" discs will be around. Meanwhile, like you, I have to shuffle through a pile of hard drives if my wife wants to watch a mystery on Sunday night. I'm behind in updating the Excel spreadsheets that are supposed to tell me which video is on which drive. Fortunately the Mentalist episodes and the old E.R. stuff are on discs, which she handles well.

I don't know..... in my experience someone who can never figure out how to program a VCR is just as likely to have trouble working out which remote plays the discs.... my mother wasn't exactly the fastest VCR programming learner but even in her mid 70s she's mastered the art of playing video from the USB drive I have connected to her TV.

I gave up trying to keep track of what video was on which drive a while ago and went through a video reshuffle. Movies on a few drives, TV shows on another few drives, all in alphabetised folders. That way I don't need lists because according to the name of the video it can only be on a particular drive.

[clumb31]

I still don't understand what program I would need, IF I had gotten the show or movie onto my computer and wanted to edit it to eliminate parts of it and then burn it to a new DVD. What program could I use?

[yoda313]

What format will the file you are working with be in? There are countless cutting programs. To burn you use imgburn.

mpg2cut2 can do vob files directly if memory serves - if these come off of say a dvd recorder.

Lots of others as well. Some dvd authoring programs can open a file and let you trim the video before authoring the dvd itself.

Looks like in the third post videobruger provided a good sample of links for you to follow. Did you read any of them?

To look on your own here on this website go here:

If you are doing realtime capturing with a device start here:

https://www.videohelp.com/capture

If your format isn't an mpg2 file with a resolution of 720x480 or 720x576 read this for converting sources to dvd format:

https://www.videohelp.com/convert

To create a dvd from advanced menus to simple basic movie only stuff read this:

https://www.videohelp.com/author

Again for burning discs use imgburn and nothing else.