Noob question: Putting text over a video (making a compilation DVD)

[Salva Veritate]

I'm planning to create a compilation DVD of snippets from several Rage Against the Machine shows this weekend using TMPGEnc. Every 2-3 songs I'll switch up the show. When I do this, I want to put "Roseland Ballroom, New York, 8/17/96," etc, over the video for a few seconds while the band is just getting ready to play the song. How do I do this? Is there a way I can do this with TMPGEnc?

[pawel]

I'm not sure if I understand what you want to do but... if you want to blend/fade two clips together you need to use NLE editor, like Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, Ulead MediaStudio etc. Otherwise you can demux, cut & joint them in Project X or Mpeg2Schnitt but there won't be any smooth transition.

Full mix requires video re-encoding which is lossy process.

[Salva Veritate]

At the beginning of each clip, I want to put text over the screen.

I don't really care about transitions or fancy stuff like that. I'm doing the whole process the easy way with TMPGEnc. I already did it once without text or anything so I know basically what I'm doing.

[U2Lynne]

Did you take a look over at videohelp.com yet? They have a ton of tutorials and also a great help forum. You might want to go see if they have a tutorial for this and if not, make a post in the forums and see if you get an easy answer there.

[Salva Veritate]

No tutorial that caters to my specific needs. I forgot to mention I'm a noob and they assumed I want subtitles. I think the people here are more in tune with what I want to do.

[U2Lynne]

I know what you want to do, but I'm no help. I've done it on my Mac when authoring a quick VCD/DVD of my kids concert, but don't have any idea of how to do it on a PC, sorry.

[pawel]

So, the best way would be to make a clip with the same properties of your basic video (bitrate & resolution). You need NLE editor or Adobe After Effects to do it. It can be done also in any MPG editor, i.e. TMPGEnc Express:
- make a graphic file or series of them with text coming/fading
- open it/them in an MPG editor and render as video

Sorry, I don't know any freeware but perhaps such soft may exist -> check http://www.videohelp.com/tools

Next, these text MPGs should be inserted into the same track as the concert clips to avoid pauses between.

[Dog_Z]

I've used Pinnacle Studio to do this. Although not freeware it is inexpensive. It will do a lot more than this..

[rhinowing]

couldn't this just be done with subtitles....

[Salva Veritate]

I've already uploaded the video. Thanks, though! :D

[willndmb]

subtiltes is what you want to do i think
or what you can do is make a plain black screen with words that plays for however long before the actual clip starts