Trying to get a handle on it all

[sangs]

Hello all. If you'd please bear with me while I try to verbalize what I need to know I'd appreciate it.

OK, I got the Sony TRV-33 MiniDV camcorder for Christmas. Immediately set out taking movies. Have had no trouble capturing AVI files to the computer. Tried a few software suites - Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 and the one that came with my Sony - and haven't liked the quality of the results. WinDVD Creator is incredibly easy, but the ease of use leads to low quality DVDs from what I've experienced. Have attempted to familiarize myself with TMPGEnc and Ulead. I understand how to convert the stream from AVI to MPEG-2 in TMPGEnc and man does that take a long time.

OK, so now that you know I'm not technologically deficient, here are my questions, issues, problems. Obviously I want the best quality possible and have decided that converting to MPEG-2 through TMPGEnc gives me the best video quality, since I plan to burn my movies to DVD for universal play. And I've read that I should encode my audio in something different from TMPGEnc, so I plan to do that (suggestions would be great). I guess my biggest question is once I go about converting in separate programs, how do I synch the video and audio streams so that they'll be together? (That was one big benefit of the WinDVD creator program, that audio and video were together.)

And as for editing, what's the most competent program? And do I need to edit the AVI video stream before converting the audio stream, or all together after converting both?

I've got a pretty good handle (I think) on authoring programs, but it's getting it to the authoring stage with everything synched together that has me a little perplexed. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and am not looking for the easiest solution, but for the best within my relatively small budget.

I'm sure I've left out some other issues I have, but hopefully I'll be able to tackle them through any suggestions in this thread. Thanks in advance.

[setarip]

"And I've read that I should encode my audio in something different from TMPGEnc, so I plan to do that (suggestions would be great)."

If you are starting with a captured .AVI file that contains both video and audio, there is NO reason or need to extract the audio for separate processing. TMPGEnc can properly process both the video and audio (Do NOT confuse your needs with those of some posters who download already created videos that contain non-standard .AC3 audiostreams).

1) Simply load your .AVI into "TMPGEnc" (Different than "TMPGEnc DVD Author") and select the DVD "wizard"/template to convert your .AVI to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (a different program than "TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)


**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress


If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode
(As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}

[sangs]

thanks very much. i will be sure to let you know of my success/failure with the program(s). i'm in the process of encoding an 8 GB file, so I probably won't get to it until tomorrow once it has finally finished. (I now know to use break up my files a little smaller during capture.)

since you've been so helpful already, let me bug you some more. where can i get some dvd media on the cheap? best buy, cc, etc., certainly charge a premium and during this newbie phase, that makes for some expensive coasters.

[setarip]

"thanks very much."

My pleasure ;>}

"where can i get some dvd media on the cheap?"

I'd suggest that you go online to meritline.com and purchase SPECIFICALLY some Ritek DVD-Rs or DVD+Rs - depending, of course, on the requirements of the hardware that will be used to playback the DVDs (I'm assuming that yours is a dual format burner)...

[sangs]

Again, thanks. Some excellent prices, I appreciate it.

One more though concerning my raw AVI stream. Before converting it to MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc, with what software should I edit it? I keep reading that it's better to edit the AVI stream before conversion, but I don't want to use something that is going to degrade the original stream during the edit process.

Oh and good assumption about the burner. It's a Plextor 708-A. I love it so far (as he knocks wood).

[sfheath]

TMPGEnc DVD Author has a rudimentry editor included - lovely program

[setarip]

"Again, thanks. Some excellent prices, I appreciate it."

As always, my pleasure ;>}

The suggestion/observation by "sfheath" is "right on the money"...

[sangs]

Banged it all out yesterday/last night without a hitch guys! Yahoo!

Although admittedly my video editing and menu designing/creativity skills need a bit more flair, I was able to produce a 55-minute holiday themed video using the TMPGEnc tools and it plays on all five DVD players in which I tried it. The difference between it and my previous attempts with the Intervideo WinDVD Creator suite are unbelievable in terms of PQ.

I have to admit that the rather tepid results from the previous DVDs I made had me wondering why I even bothered to switch to a DV camcorder. Not anymore. I just had to find the right conversion and authoring tools. Rest assured, the TMPGEnc tools won't be trial versions for long.

I owe you all a beer/cocktail for the great help.