DVD Transfer & Authoring?

[walter2]

So, instead of gettind a box that puts my VHS videos into my computer, i can get a dv camcorder that i can run those through and output uncompressed video to my computer via firewire??? and if so, please suggest a few models that have this feature.

walter2 - the answer to your question is "yes," sort of. using the VCR -> camcorder (analog-to-DV passthrough) -> hard drive in DV .AVI format is technically a compressed format. the DV .AVI files will be about 13 GB per hour of footage that you capture/transfer to your hard drive. but the quality of the captured files is VERY good (very likely the best you can get at consumer-priced equipment).

i believe most miniDV camcorders now have the analog-to-DV passthrough feature. but to name a few... Sony DCR-TRV350 digital8 camcorder, Sony DCR0TRV22 miniDV camcorder, (i'm sure all of the Sony brand miniDV camcorders that have come out after the TRV22 have this feature).

basically, find a camcorder you're interested in, then try to locate the manual (google for the model number + keywords "manual pdf") and then open up the PDF manual and press CTRL+F and type in "analog pass through" or "captue video" and you can quickly find out if it has this feature.

hope this info is helpful.

[AAR.oner]

i would agree with h_vargas on this...as far as i know [and i actually don't know everything] if you don't have atleast a few thousand dollars to spend on a Pro-level VCR deck and A/D converter, going with a miniDV camcorder is yer best quality-for-the-money...

before having access to high-end equipment, i used the vhs>miniDV>computer method for a number of old punk/metal videos i had gotten over the years [which, granted, were not of the best quality to begin!] i never really had any problems and it'll only set ya back the cost of the cam [$300 bucks or so]

hope that helps...cheers

[rherron]

I have a question about DVD chapters. I got this fantastic Sting video (the picture and sound are superb) from EZT (from 10-31-94 Phoenix Seagaia Resort, Miyazaki, Japan – broadcast on TV there). The only problem with the thing is the cue points to advance between the chapters do not correlate with the start of a song as they usually do with concert DVDs. This means one cannot easily advance to the desired song when watching the video. This also means that one cannot easily rip the audio portion from the DVD to burn as a CDR (I use ImToo DVD Audio Ripper which basically makes each chapter a track). I don't know much about authoring DVDs but I am hoping one of the files contains the cue points for each chapter. Is this correct? Or, are the cue points embedded in the VOB file itself? Basically, I’d like to be able to wipe out all the cue points and redo them so that each chapter corresponds to the start of a song. Can someone tell me if that is possible and if so how would one go about doing it? I appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Rob

[pawel]

The easiest way: download freeware http://www.xmpeg.net It rips audio to a single wav file - right click and choose "Extract Audio to > WAV file".

[rherron]

Originally Posted by pawel

The easiest way: download freeware http://www.xmpeg.net It rips audio to a single wav file - right click and choose "Extract Audio to > WAV file".

I'll give that a try this afternoon. That may solve the audio issue. Thanks.

But...

I want to fix the video as well. I've been playing with ifoedit. I think I may need to write a new ifo file. Not sure. Anyone...?

Rob

[RainDawg]

Correct, you'll need to reauthor the DVD. The process of authoring does nothing with the .vob files by default, but rather writes the ifo and bup files to suit....including chapter breaks, menus, etc.

The only way I can think of to do this (unless there is a method of editing the ifo files directly that I am unaware of) is to use a DVD authoring program (TMPG DVD Author is a good one). Rip the disc to the hard drive and load the entire Video_TS folder. Then delete all of the existing chapter points, play the DVD through and insert your own, reauthor the disc, and burn it.

As a side note, I hate getting DVDs with scattered chapters breaks like that...I'd rather have no chapter breaks at all and have one long clip than the generic 5 minute breaks some people put in.

[rherron]

RainDawg, thank you for the suggestions. It may be a couple of days before I have enogh time to devote to figuring out how to fix this DVD, but I'll give what you suggested a try.

Thanks,
Rob

rherron - what does the menu on the Sting DVD you're referring to look like? i suspect the DVD was made using a standalone DVD recorder, as they typically insert the 'random' chapter points in approximately every 5 minutes.

there are several ways you can adjust the 'cue points' on the DVD (i think they're technically called 'chapter points' or 'chapter markers,' but whatever, i know what you're talking about). if the DVD has a menu you like - or if you want to be lazy and not re-do everything, just correct the placement of the chapter points - then all you have to do is save the DVD to your hard drive (everything in the VIDEO_TS folder). then use a program to manually change the chapter points. (i believe IFOEdit can be used for this. it's quite a powerful piece of software.)

another way is to rip the audio and video streams from the DVD, import them into a DVD authoring program, then (re-)author the DVD. during the process of authoring, you can add chapter points, background images for the menus, and so forth.

[rherron]

You're right. It was made on a stand-alone DVD recorder – no “menu” in the traditional sense. The chapter points are random in relation to the disc’s content . I called them cue points because that’s what they’re called in the audio world – when you split a WAV file into several tracks, such as with Gold Wave, you insert cue points. I didn’t know what they were really called in DVDs – chapter points or cue points or whatever. I figured y’all would know what I meant. I tried and tried to edit the ifo files with ifoedit and could not figure out how to do it. It’s quite obvious that the info is in the file. You can see where each chapter begins, both in terms of time (and you’re right, the chapters are about 5 minutes apart) and frame number. But you can’t seem to edit that info.

I really don’t know how to create an ifo file. I plan on screwing around with it. But if someone would like to give me some instructions (and I mean I want you to tell it to me like I’m a three year old) I’d be grateful.

Thanks,
Rob

unless you're pretty familiar with DVD file structure, then it would probably be easier to get a DVD authoring program and just rip the DVD's audio/video streams, and then re-author it.

or, if you don't care about having pretty menus, you can use IFOEdit to author the DVD, easily. (and yes, you can insert chapter points).

to do this, rip the DVD's audio/video streams (SmartRipper or DVDDecrypter work fine), and make sure you have the ripping software set to "demux"/demultiplex the audio/video streams, and have it rip the audio/video as one long file for each stream (both audio and video).

then, at some point, find out where you want each chapter point... obviously the first chapter would be at 00:00:00:00. write down these chapter times on a piece of paper (or in Notepad or whatever), and use a video time calculator - there's a free one out there, which google will pull up i'm sure - that will convert time codes to video timecode. save this as a .txt file.

open up IFOEdit, click on DVD Author, then import the video and audio streams. under the "Scene changes / Chapters" section, there's a button to browse for/open up the chapter point text file you saved. select the destination (where you want the new VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders saved on your hard drive). then click OK, and it should start creating the DVD.

then just burn it with your software of choice. should work flawlessly. i know several people who only author DVDs using IFOEdit, as they don't want to take time to create menus.

[headygouda]

Master Thread for questions/issues related to DVD Authoring


Hey, I am putting syncing a show for the first time here, already did it with vegas5 and ulead to cut track it out and author the dvd. But I used 24bit pcm .wav and it came out as mpeg1 layer ii, i'm assuming to match the 'mpeg2 standard'.. but i have been burning 24bit audio to listen to as 'dvd-video' with an audio track, so I know dvd's can hold 24bit .wav and be played back on a dvd player.

Anyone have any tips on how I can mix the video with my 24bit .wavs??? I'd really prefer to keep the 24bit audio there - with a good stereo, you can hear the difference.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[willndmb]

many times WITH video the audio and video are to high of a bitrate
you might have to compress the video down more or switch to ac3 audio

[headygouda]

Ok. what if I am willing to accept only 40 minutes of video/audio on a dvd, how would I even go about authoring a dvd with 24bit/48khz .wav, uncompressed?

I am using vegas...is it possible?

Originally Posted by headygouda

Hey, I am putting syncing a show for the first time here, already did it with vegas5 and ulead to cut track it out and author the dvd. But I used 24bit pcm .wav and it came out as mpeg1 layer ii, i'm assuming to match the 'mpeg2 standard'.. but i have been burning 24bit audio to listen to as 'dvd-video' with an audio track, so I know dvd's can hold 24bit .wav and be played back on a dvd player.

Anyone have any tips on how I can mix the video with my 24bit .wavs??? I'd really prefer to keep the 24bit audio there - with a good stereo, you can hear the difference.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Couple of things... I'm not sure exactly what you're doing. You can't really make a DVD with Vegas, you can make the raw materials to author a DVD in another program, so I'll guess that's what you're doing.

The reason your audio came out as mpeg is probably because you had "include audio stream" checked when you went to render the video. You might find it best to render audio and video streams separately, spend some time selecting the file type and customizing options when the "render" window is open. There is an option for 24 bit wav files and a variety of sample rates, but I am not sure that will be ok when you go to author the DVD.

If you are doing simple cutting/editing, here is a way you can do that without re-encoding your video.

http://www.digitalfaq.com/edit/mpeg2vcr/mpeg2vcr.htm