Hello
I'm new to this forum to Roxio 9. Basically I'm a professor doing popular media research so I'm capturing TV shows on TIVO and using Roxio to edit so that I just have very small clips (like all of the scenes that show Samantha dealing with breast cancer on Sex In The City). You should read this as "I'm technologically challenged"! Anyway, I've managed to get the .tivo files and edit them so that I produce .dat and .dmsm files; now I'm trying to put some of these clips together in one production. However, when I try to "Add Video" (a .dat file) to a production I get the message "One or more of the files you are trying to add cannot be edited, and have not been added." Can anybody help me with this? I'd sure appreciate it! Thanks! Kim

Kim,
those dmsm and dat files you "created" are not video files at all but are the editing instructions, etc that make up your project. You can use "Output As " to output your project to a video files (such as mpeg or avi) which can then be added to the final Videowave project

Hi Walt -
Thanks so much for your (simple!) explanation. I've done what you said before, but I was hoping there was a process that involved fewer steps. Sigh.

I'm wondering if you could advise on a related issue... what is the best output format? I've tried outputting to MPG-2 for DVD, best quality, but the sound doesn't work. Then I tried Generic MPEG-1 for DVD, normal quality, and the sound worked, but it was a tiny image. Any suggestions?
Best, Kim

Don't output them to anything. Open MyDVD, bring in your .dmsm files, make a menu, and burn your production to a DVD.

Again, you guys who are answering my questions are great!

It's my fault for not being clearer about the use of my videos, but I'm not yet creating DVDs. I'm trying to create files that can be used later for a variety of media. I may put these short clips on a website or a DVD to accompany a book. First, I'd like to take the snippets that relate to one storyline and put them together in one digital file (for instance, Samantha's breast cancer ordeal on SATC or Lily's pregnancy and birth on Crossing Jordon). I'd end up with a bunch of digital files that each have one storyline. So, I'd like the best output style that would allow me to a) edit and decide later how to publicise.

Thanks! Kim

If you are planning on doing some more editing later on on some clips, it is always best to keep the highest quality as you process bideo. This means that should output via Videowave to the DV avi format.

Once you go back to doing the editing,

mpg1 files are low quality designed primarily for burning to CD. The question is why doesn't the sound work for the mpg2 (DVD video quality).

Download and run Gspot on one of the original files. It will tell you want codec are being used and if the codecs are on your computer.

Post your results here.

There is also a possibility that those TV shows are protected so that they can be played but not edited.

I outputed my productions as .avi file and that worked great (well, except that they're pretty dark, but that's another issue and I'll start a new thread if I can't figure it out).

I still haven't figured out why the sound doesn't work on the mpg2 files. I tried the Gspot program (on my laptop) and it says that the "codec(s) are installed." I couldn't capture a screenshot of the output from running Gspot (probably another symptom of being technologically challenged!). It's weird that it would say the codec's installed since on one of my computer's (desktop) it actually says it can't play the .mpg3 video because the codecs aren't installed. I can't download Gspot to this computer without getting tech support involved (annoying in a big way - not the tech support folk, just the necessity of getting them to give me adminstrative access).

I'm bummed that I can't get the .mpg3 files to work because that's a smaller file size and therefore would be better for sharing. I'll keep trying if you all will!

Thanks! Kim