Alternative to DVD Author/DVDLab

[nwg]

I have been using TMPGEnc DVD Author to cut out adverts from recordings made by a Panasonic E50 DVD Recorder and go from RAM to DVD - /+.

However, the program is not fram accurate and shows only 12 frames per second. This makes frame precise editing impossible.

DVD lab is the same.

I have tried womble MEG2VCR which shows all the frames but only showed the first 15 minutes of a 45 minute recording. It is also diffcult to save without modfying the bitrate. I want the quality to be kept the same just minus the adverts.

Is there any others to try?

[jmoore6364]

Video Editing

Go to www.ulead.com, and download the trial for MediaStudio Pro 7. This program is great for cutting video. It features Smart Trim.

Breif Description of Smart Trim:

If you bring in a file of the same format as the project you create, you can slice and dice your video then use smart trim to create seperate files. It will not re-encode the video if its the same format as your project. So that means that the time to process is super fast. I can process a 3 gig file in just a couple minutes. 2.4 512

Downside:

The only downside is that u cannot use the selector bar on the timeline to move through the video (like in Adobe Premiere), you have to use the preview window jog bar. This means that when you move the jog bar in the preview window it skips a ton of frames depending on the size of the video you are cutting. You can however use the arrow keys to get frame by frame. Its a little to slow for me. So what I do for instance if I am cutting up Baywatch and just want the video of the girls I cut it down to 2 min, then cut that video out and trim it, then restore the project and cut out the next 2 mins. When I work with 2 mins the jog bar only skips around 20-30 frames. It takes a while especially if you are working on an hour or 2 hour movie.

Hope this helps?

[nwg]

Thanks I try it. I tried moviefactory but it doesn't like the Dolby Digital sound in the recordings.

[jmoore6364]

No Problem.

All I use MediaStudio for is to cut and trim fast, and some simple editing stuff. I stick with Premiere and After Effect for higher end editing.

Movie Factory is basically just to put a DVD/VCD together, not a tool for editing.

[ashy]

I have tried womble MEG2VCR which shows all the frames but only showed the first 15 minutes of a 45 minute recording. It is also diffcult to save without modfying the bitrate

I don't know about your reading only 15 mins of video problem, but regarding the bitrate changing problem:
Once you have clipped out the frames you do not require then simply click the record button, but *DO NOT* change *ANY* of the MPEGs parameters otherwise this will cause MPEG2VCR to re-encode.

Don't click any of the 'Video', 'Audio' or 'Batch' buttons.
Don't even change a parameter then change it back or if you do click 'Cancel' rather than 'OK' because even this will make MPEG2VCR re-encode.
Just simply give your output a file name and click 'OK'.

If you follow the steps above nothing will change except the frames you have cut and the file will be created quickly.

[nwg]

Thanks. I might try it again.

The 15 minute thing was weird though.

[nwg]

The 15 minute thing was being caused by recordings that had some editing before MPEG2VCR on the Panasonic.

Also, I saved a file and it came up with that the final size is going to be 8GB but ended up the right size of 3GB.

[ashy]

Yeh, it does that.
The file size estimation is always way off and I wish they would fix it cuz sometimes I'm running low on disk space, but know I have enough to process the file yet because MPEG2VCR grossly overestimates the size it won't let me process because it tells me I don't have enough space.

[nwg]

I just pressed the ignore button.

I put a recording onto DVD+RW, after I created VOB files from DVD Author from the new MPEG file.

When I editing with DVD Author, any place where I removed video paused the DVD player for a second or so. It doesn't happen when editing with MPEG2VCR prior to DVD Author.

[ashy]

OK, I got an earlier version which doesn't have the ignore option.
I should upgrade.

[nwg]

The version I got is 3.14.

[ashy]

Thanks.