Newbie has a problem with elephants. And giraffes. Help appreciated.

[AnnaMorphic]

My sister in law has an enormously misplaced trust in my abilities to master video editing. This is because I do know how to rip a DVD and make a back-up copy -- but beyond that, no chance.

Recently, she decided to take my late father-in-law's 8mm, or 16mm, can't remember what it was called, home movie collection and send it to a firm which puts them together and makes a DVD. She paid several hundred pounds for that. The result is a faithful DVD version of all the films my long-since deceased FIL took. . . in the random order in which she provided them.

The result is eccentric, to say the least. It's particularly noticeable in regard to her wedding day, where she's filmed inside the church at the altar and the vicar is about to say stuff about death do us part when an elephant appears to do the parting. No longer is her imminent husband at her side but Nelly from Chester Zoo waving her trunk. The wedding continues with pictures of other elephants as well as chimpanzees who were not, as far as I can remember, in the congregation at all, but then abruptly changes to exterior filming of sister-in-law leaving the church with her new elephant -- correction, new husband.

The next segment, if such be the word, chronicles the progress of the newly married couple along the road to the wedding reception in a vintage car, a happy event which starts off in a country hotel but then unfathomably appears to have transferred to the giraffe house at Chester Zoo. It's all rather startling. I know my memory can be faulty, but I really don't remember trying to push my way past a giant freakin' giraffe to get to the bar.

This kind of scenic amazement continues on throughout the DVD, culminating in the christening of my nephew, where he is splashed with water from the font as well as water from the penguin pool -- again, I think, at Chester Zoo (unless his godparents were penguins, which I don't think they were, because I thought my wife and I were. And we're not. Penguins, I mean.)

So-oo . . . My sister in law has given me this memorable DVD in hope I can. . . do-something-with-it. Well; I have. I've ripped it to a video TS folder and then made copies of it, this seeming to be essential before I wreck it with whatever clumsy attempts I make next. I have then paid good money to buy what someone somewhere told me was a "very good video editor", viz: VSDC Pro, or VDSC Pro, can't remember which. But I paid for it and I even have a User Manual to go with it.

Unfortunately. . . this is as far as I've got. What I'm trying to do is to get father-in-law's historic 8mm / 16mm home movie collection on-screen and thereafter selectively remove elephants from the wedding, giraffes from the reception, and penguins from the christening.

But I can't even get started, because the VDSC or VSCD or God-I-wish-they-had-a-memorable-name software seems not to want to open the video TS folder and let me see everything on screen: all that happens is, the folder opens, and lists all the files in it, but I've no idea which .VOB I'm supposed to be dealing with. Or wot.

I appreciate, this is truly a newbie query, and considerably below the standard of enquiry that is usual on these boards, but seriously, seriously . . . I would appreciate some help. Not everyone will necessarily have had difficulties with elephants and giraffes and penguins but they might at least know how the heck to use this VCDS thingie to sort things out???

[johnmeyer]

The ideal way to do this is a program which can losslessly cut and re-arrange MPEG-2 files. Womble and VideoRedo are two that I have. VideoRedo is specifically oriented towards doing exactly what you are trying to do because it also has the ability to re-create the DVD when you're finished.

These are the steps I use:

1. Rip the DVD to your hard drive, using your favorite ripper. I use DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink (old, free programs) but you can use others. It helps to configure the program so that it creates a single VOB file.

2. Open that VOB file in VideoRedo (or MPEG-2 cutting program of your choice). In that program, cut and re-arrange your video so that elephants stay with elephants, etc.

3. When you are finished editing, create a new MPEG-2 file. If you use one of the programs I recommend, or one that I'm sure other people will come up with, it will not touch the video at all (i.e., it will not re-encode it) so there will absolutely zero loss of quality, except for a few frames around each cut, where a few frames may have to be re-encoded. You'll almost certainly not see these re-encoded half-second segments because the re-encoding quality loss is not noticeable in that brief a time period.

4. Re-author the DVD. You take the new MPEG-2 file, put it into the DVD authoring program, create new menus and chapter stops, and burn a new DVD.

[videobruger]

in the random order in which she provided them.

Your FIL's films may be made as Chapters on the DVD. To check it out use MakeMKV to generate a single MKV file and open that file in MKVToolnix GUI. If there are chapters it's shown as below:


[Attachment 44687 - Click to enlarge]

On the "Output" tab in MKVToolnix GUI you may then select Splitting before chapters as below and press "Start multiplexing":


[Attachment 44688 - Click to enlarge]

and you can start sorting out which files belongs together and in which order and append them in MKVToolnix GUI


[Attachment 44689 - Click to enlarge]

If the films are not chapters you can start editing the generated MKV file in VSDC.

[betwixt]

I love AnnaMorphics style! I just got home after traveling through Chester from a meeting and can confirm it isn't like that in real life, people lead normal lives without the aid of "pop up" animals.
(at least most of them do.... I did spot a few odd looking characters while I was there.)

Worst case scenario, if the sections are just spliced randomly together as one file is you rip the DVD to hard disk, which you know how to do already, then edit them back together in a more chronological order. Most editor programs will import a DVD file structure then allow you to cut sections out and rearrange them. When re-authoring the DVD, make chapters, one for wedding, one for zoo and so on, it makes selection easy from the players menu.
Brian.

[aedipuss]

use something like vobtompg to convert the dvd to mpg. then import the mpg to your editor. cut it up at appropriate points. re-arrange said videos to your liking. export new mpeg-2. author to new dvd format if you want to burn new dvds.

or LOL if you want a pro to edit it you'll have to pay a bit but it shouldn't cost much. supply them the ripped dvd folder on a file sharing site and it can be cut up and re-arranged without any loss of quality. it will still be in the supplied dvd(mpeg-2) format. a new dvd can be made with the parts re-arranged. pm me if you want.

[AnnaMorphic]

Massive THANKS to john, videobruger, betwixt and aedipuss for riding to the rescue like this. It really is appreciated! I'm now going to spend some time following up all the advice, exploring the links so kindly provided, and learning how to get everything sorted the way it should be.

If at the conclusion of this heroic effort I finish up with a production within which my sister-in-law is seen to marry a penguin, or my own dear wife's mother takes on an even greater resemblance to an elephant than is presently the case, I shall resort to Plan B, or possibly Z (as there are quite a few options here) and either take up aedipuss's suggestion or just leave it as it is and hire in David Attenborough to do a voice-over.

Thanks again then, everyone. I will report back on this thread, regardless. (I know, just what you all wanted to hear.)