DVD to Mpeg with editing and a watermark

[gilespeaks]

Would apreciate some help here regaring this whole process

The desire is to take some scenes from DVD's and convert them into mpegs with a watermark. It is to create some bespoke trailers for a website.

What would be the best use and processes and softeware to achieve this in your opinions so to recap we need

1.Good editing capability to take 30 - 40 mgb scenes from DVD's
2.Ability to put water marks on them
3.Have them in finished Mpeg format

and the overiding criteria is to make this as quick a process as possible as we want to do a lot of them

any help gratefully apreciated

[Comberman]

A tall order to describe within the limitations of the forum posting rules but for what it;' worth . . .
1. Convert the ripped scenes to avi.
2. Get hold of a video editing package that supports transparency or has a good titler (I use Premiere 6.5 but there are other, much cheaper Editors on the market that will allow you to work with transparent layers or give you a title facility)
3. If you want to put a logo out as a watermark. Create a frame with a transparent background layer (Photoshop or PaintShopPro). Create a new layer and paste in your logo in an appropriate position. (Make sure you keep the logo within the proscribed border for the screen).
4.Import your ripped avi into the editor.
5. Import your watermark frame as an overlay, making it the same length as your avi clip (Make sure transparency is working okay). If it is, then when you preview your clip you should see the logo/words on top of the movie.
6.Export clip preferably as uncompressed avi as you will not suffer much loss of quaity. Use avi2vcd to convert file to mpeg1 (an excellent compressor!!). Better if you can export finished video in WME format as this has excellent compression qualities for web design.
The main reason for using uncompressed avi is that it is easy to work with and convert to either Mpeg or WME. Very few editors do a good job of recompressing Mpegs.
It's not how I would have liked to explain the proc but I hope this provides some help.
Cheers

[gilespeaks]

Many Thanks for this

Tell me, will Premier 6.5 do batch processing of avi files to add the watermerk or will it be a one by one job?

Cheers

[setarip]

"The desire is to take some scenes from DVD's and convert them into mpegs with a watermark."

Just curious (assuming the scenes are from commercial DVDs) to know what right you believe you have to place a watermark on someone else's (the studio) work product...

[gilespeaks]

Copyright is not infringed if a small percentage of a work is used for the purpose of review or evaluation. So just that realy. The intention is not to pass off any work as anything other than the property of the creators just to show a bit of it to illustrate the review it is given

Happy to hear if I am way off track with this though

[ormonde]

"The intention is not to pass off any work as anything other than the property of the creators just to show a bit of it to illustrate the review it is given"

For the sake of expounding on "setarip's" initial point, you still have not explained why you would have to place a watermark on the scenes that you wish to cut out. You could easily "illustrate the review it is given" as you put it without the use of a watermark.

[gilespeaks]

Well the intention is to control the use of said clips so they were only used in this way on a specific site. Nothing more than that realy