Issue With Trimming Mpgs (virtually) In Mydvd

[operaq]

From struggling with EMC8 for the past week

and MyDVD, this is what I have experienced, so far.

(It is a good thing I was on vacation for the week.)

I am "burning" to an image on my DVD PC as I type

on this one and decided to share my experiences

while waiting...

 

Don't try to do editing in MyDVD.

 

If you have a video clip and you don't want parts

of it, take it into VideoWave, trim it and save new

files with the parts of the video you want. Then

save the trimmed segments for later cobbling into

video in MyDVD. Chapter marking seems to be fine

IF you are NOT working with panels you have Split

IN MyDVD if you have deleted the panels you don't

want.

 

If you try to work with panels in MyDVD that you

have split and edited IN MyDVD, the program

becomes unbearably slow. Click, wait 2 minutes,

click again, ...you get the idea. Before you say it,

I am running a P4-2.4MHz, and 1.25GB of RAM and

lots of available HD space with updated Video Card

driver and the latest DirectX.

 

My example project of the above:

 

I took a videotape with two programs. One is

75 minutes and the other is 40. I wanted to lay

them out in MyDVD as a double-bill and trim out

the excess on either end and between them.

 

When I did that in MyDVD, marking chapters and

navigating in the video became unbearably slow.

So, I decided to try a different approach.

 

I tried trimming out the second part and re-adding

the original video after the first panel- which was

not so bad to work with - though slow, too.

 

I trimmed the second panel of the video and

trimed off the first part. This time, I experienced a

new painful anomaly: When I played the second

segment or tried to chapter-mark it or preview it,

the audio would play at the correct speed, but the

video seemed to play at half-speed, so the sound

left the video behind quickly and kept advancing.

 

I have gone through four or five 2-4-hour iterations

of trying to do this DVD.

 

So, I tried trimming the two segments into two

completely new files using VideoWave with just

what I wanted in them. I brought these in as two

separate movies. The chapter-marking and menu-

titling worked so much faster than it did in the above

interations.

 

Almost every problem I have encountered seems

to stem from using the Trim and Delete mechanism

in MyDVD rather than trimming the video and saving

the files externally using VideoWave before cobbling

them together in MyDVD.

 

When I tried to burn it to an image, I got the

8007000e error while encoding the menu. <sigh>

 

However, reading other experiences, I see I should

have disconnected my internet and turned off my

anti-virus and firewall. I am trying to burn another

image as I type. I'll follow-up if there the issue

persists. I burned this image to a DVD for grins

and it plays just fine, BUT with no menus. When

you hit the MENU button, it toggles between the

starting chapter of each "movie". The chapters

are in the video because I can jump from one to

the others using the chapter-advance button.

 

If I can determine a path that works to my goal

in EMC8, I will be happy. I think I am close, but

hate to get my hopes up at this point.

 

Regards,

Gene

[james_hardin]

Some things that may help you along.

 

Whenever possible use AVI files instead of mpeg. The are much larger but since they use less compression you will find that your PC will work faster with them.

 

You are correct that VW is the place to do all of your editing.

 

However you do not need to waste your time outputting a file from VW. All you need to do is save the VW Project (dmsm) and use that in MyDVD when you add a Title.

 

Example – one AVI that I want to add 3 parts of it as separate Titles. Edit in VW and after splitting at 3 points, save as Master.

 

Load Master and delete the last 2 parts. Save as Title1.

 

Load Master and delete parts 1 and 3. Save as Title2.

 

Load Master and delete parts 1 and 2. Save as Title3.

 

Go into MyDVD and add Title1, then Title2 and lastly Title3.

[operaq]

Thanks, Mr. Hardin! That suggestion was just what

I needed to greatly improve my experience of MyDVD.

 

Cobbling the segments together in VideoWave was no

worse than it was in MyDVD. However, the chaptering,

thumbnailing, and resulting DVD was a MUCH less

painful process in MyDVD. Since my source was an

MPEG already, I didn't try the AVI route yet. But I

will.

 

I did still have the Chapter-1 thumbnail bug because

the clip was trimmed in VW. But adding a black .tif

as the first panel cures the problem, so I am not

choosing the thumbnail from the first chapter and it

works properly.

 

Cheers,

Gene