Help with DVD authoring/editing?

[gastrof]

My computer came with twin software programs called Power DVD and Power Producer.

When I started using Power Producer a couple months ago, I started with a DVD recorded off TV on a stand-alone DVD recorder.

The recording was of the old movie THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

I put the DVD into the computer, drag'n'dropped the files off the DVD onto the computer's hard drive, and started working with the files.

I made flawless edits removing the commercials, and was really satisfied with the results.

My DVD recorder (with TV tuner and hard drive) splits recordings into separate files if they're beyond a certain length/size.

This can be right in the middle of scenes, so I was a little afraid of the results, but Power Producer joined the two recording files perfectly. No sign at all of a separation on playback.

More recently, tho', I found that other stuff I've worked with hasn't joined as neatly, and there are these little glitches or "hiccups" that happen at the join point where the two files come together. The video will freeze for a split second, and the video and audio will be VERY briefly out of synch.

Again, this wasn't the case with the first movie I edited.

The original hard drive recordings made on the actual recorder and any DVDs I make from them still show no signs of "hiccups" at the point where one file ends and the other begins. They still play fine.

It's only if I drag'n'drop these files from a burned DVD to the COMPUTER's hard drive and use Power Producer to join them to each other, that there's always a glitch now.

Could it be that the old movie was in black and white and that left the computer less to deal with in processing the new version of the .vob file/s?

Could something have happened to the DVD recorder the original discs are being made on?

Could it be that the computer now has a lot of other stuff on the hard drive than it did when I edited the black and white movie?

Is this something you see when using home DVD authoring software?

If anyone can give me a little info here, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[trekkiedane]

This 'hiccup' something that happens while you watch it off your hard disk or also when you watch the finished dvd?

Those "power" applications wouldn't happen to be 'CyberLink'? -not very good software if you ask me -not for anything but the shortest of clips anyway.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

There is probably a frame or two at the end of the clip indicating a transistion of sorts. I vaguely remember running into this problem before. In my case it was a DVD I had authored and then wanted to go back and re-edit it. In between segments there were a few odd frames, they didn't do anything when you played the DVD but they showed up in the clips and had to be cut when I joined clips.

Anyway, I haven't used Producer but it sounds like the same thing. You should be able to zoom in with the timeline and examine individual frames. Check out the frames at beginning and end of the clip, you probably need to clip one or two frames. I think those frames may be some indication to a dvd player to jump to the next clip, but when you join clips they cause a blip because they aren't supposed to be in a contiguous file.

 

[JustAFriend]

When I started video editing, I tried a ton of different packages.
Crashes, burps, bum disks, you name it--- I had it.

Switched to Sony Vegas Studio with DVD Architect (less than $100)
and have had ZERO problems since. Easiest to use, no-brainer package.

 

[gastrof]

This 'hiccup' something that happens while you watch it off your hard disk or also when you watch the finished dvd?

Those "power" applications wouldn't happen to be 'CyberLink'? -not very good software if you ask me -not for anything but the shortest of clips anyway.

The hiccup is there from the editing window all the way to a newly created DVD being played in a separate machine. It affects the new version of the recording every step of the way from the time the two files are joined.

As for CyberLink's stuff....

I didn't pick it. It came with the computer, and it did work fine with the first movie.

 

[gastrof]

There is probably a frame or two at the end of the clip indicating a transistion of sorts...

...you probably need to clip one or two frames. I think those frames may be some indication to a dvd player to jump to the next clip, but when you join clips they cause a blip because they aren't supposed to be in a contiguous file.

How many fames should I clip, and how do I know which ones to remove? Also, why would it not happen with the first film, but be happening now?

 

[gastrof]

Here's an even more annoying turn of events...

On the most recent "project" I was dealing with, I cut the original recording on the stand-alone machine down to just the two segments that ended up with the "hiccups". The rest of the recording I deleted. (Already had saved the files on DVD and on the computer's hard drive.)

When I made a new DVD off the stand-alone machine's files, those two segments were now so short they formed a single file on the disc.

Yep.

Drag'n'dropped to the computer, they played with NO "hiccup", since there was no join point.

I used this new file, divided it into the two segments again, and replaced the messed up portions from the original attempt with the two new intact versions.

The final version was now complete with no "hiccups".

I'd rather not have to do this with every movie or show.

There's got to be a way to work with DVD files and author DVDs without this happening. You never hear of anyone else having anything but the kind of results I had here the first time.

I can't even ask the manufacturer about this, because the software's apparently the first version, and they don't support that version any more.

 

[trekkiedane]

The hiccup is there from the editing window all the way to a newly created DVD being played in a separate machine. It affects the new version of the recording every step of the way from the time the two files are joined.

As for CyberLink's stuff....

I didn't pick it. It came with the computer, and it did work fine with the first movie.

Unless LaxScrutiny is right and it is a matter of removing a frame or two I see no other way out of it than to try and splice the clips in a different software to see if the problem is universal (try VirtualDub -it's under the GNU General Public License and not as flashy to look at, but actually quite nice to work with.)

Me too; Loads of more-or-less useless programs and applications came with this machine - ranging from Internet Explorer to some of that CyberLink stuff

Pretty cool though: the moment you plug your new pc in you can get started playing with complex stuff like video editing

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Well, even if I am wrong, this is something you should learn .

Take any clip. Go to the end. You should have a button to advance the film a frame at a time (in Windows Movie Maker the least you can do is 2 frames, not all software is the same). This button is usually near the "play" button on the view window, you have a "go back one frame" button, a "Play" button and a "Go forward one frame button". Sorry without having Director installed and giving you a screenshot that's the best I can do.

You have a "cut" button to cut your clip. Just cut the last two frames off the clip.

Also, make sure when you join two clips that there is no space between the clips. Usually they should join automatically, but you have some older software I'm unfamiliar with.

You should also have a way to expand and contract the timeline. The timeline is the row of frames visible along the bottom (all editing software is similar this way). Usually there is a + and - near the timeline, and/or a maginifying glass icon. This will zoom in so that instead of looking at a 10 minute segment you are looking at a 5 second segment, for example. If you zoom right in you should be able to see if there is anything odd sitting at the end of the clip.

You should also be able to look at the soundtrack in the timeline and notice if there is a "blip" of sound.

Why does this happen? Because there is a transition at the end of the clip already, which is designed to lead into the next clip. The transition merges several frames so it looks like a smooth fade, but when you cut a rendered transition and then join it again that just leaves some orphan frames in the middle.

 

[farmkid]

The hiccup is there from the editing window all the way to a newly created DVD being played in a separate machine. It affects the new version of the recording every step of the way from the time the two files are joined.

As for CyberLink's stuff....

I didn't pick it. It came with the computer, and it did work fine with the first movie.

Unless LaxScrutiny is right and it is a matter of removing a frame or two I see no other way out of it than to try and splice the clips in a different software to see if the problem is universal (try VirtualDub -it's under the GNU General Public License and not as flashy to look at, but actually quite nice to work with.)

Me too; Loads of more-or-less useless programs and applications came with this machine - ranging from Internet Explorer to some of that CyberLink stuff

Pretty cool though: the moment you plug your new pc in you can get started playing with complex stuff like video editing

I agree you mayjust need some different software. There's actually a decent chance you already have something else to do it. If you have Nero, you probably have Nero VisionExpress and/or Recode. VisionExpress is used for creating DVDs and Recode is used for ripping and recoding DVDs (unencrypted, of course) to new a new DVD or file on the hard drive. If you don't have Nero or something else, I would suggest looking into getting a new software package. You can usually get something decent for $20-$50 (or even free after rebate if the sale is right).

As for VirtualDub, it is a great program and very useful for joining/cutting, changing framerate, coverting format, etc. I use regularly. The downside, however, is that it can only save .avi files. Using VirtualDub will require re-encoding your files at least once. If you put it back on a DVD, you will have to re-encode twice. That's a lot of wasted time and an unnecessary loss in quality.

Another thing you might think about is getting a TV tuner card for your computer. That will allow you to capture files directly to your hard drive (not split into separte .vob files) and will bypass the whole issue with transferring to your computer via DVDs burned in your DVD recorder. You can get one like the popular Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 for around $50 which will record DVD-ready MPEG2 files directly without using the CPU. Personally, I have one that uses the ATI Theater 550Pro chip that I quite like. I hardly watch TV on the TV anymore because I prefer to record it with the card and watch it later (skipping the commercials). I also have dozens of DVDs of stuff I've recorded and kept. If you're going to be doing this a lot, it's something worth thinking about.

 

[trekkiedane]

As for VirtualDub, it is a great program and very useful for joining/cutting, changing framerate, coverting format, etc. I use regularly. The downside, however, is that it can only save .avi files. Using VirtualDub will require re-encoding your files at least once. If you put it back on a DVD, you will have to re-encode twice. That's a lot of wasted time and an unnecessary loss in quality.

Oops, right, I forgot. Suppose that's what comes from doing most of my video stuff in DivX

Another thing you might think about is getting a TV tuner card for your computer.

I must admit that I'vwe forgotten what kind of tuner card is in my pc, but that is, indeed, a very nice way to capture tv shows for making your own discs (as I wrote: I don't make actual dvd's but DivX-discs -The quality (not HD though ) is fine and I love being able to have twelve eps of a show on one disc!)

 

[farmkid]

As for VirtualDub, it is a great program and very useful for joining/cutting, changing framerate, coverting format, etc. I use regularly. The downside, however, is that it can only save .avi files. Using VirtualDub will require re-encoding your files at least once. If you put it back on a DVD, you will have to re-encode twice. That's a lot of wasted time and an unnecessary loss in quality.

Oops, right, I forgot. Suppose that's what comes from doing most of my video stuff in DivX

Another thing you might think about is getting a TV tuner card for your computer.

I must admit that I'vwe forgotten what kind of tuner card is in my pc, but that is, indeed, a very nice way to capture tv shows for making your own discs (as I wrote: I don't make actual dvd's but DivX-discs -The quality (not HD though ) is fine and I love being able to have twelve eps of a show on one disc!)

I agree the DivX is great for archiving shows. I more than a spindle full of DVDs full of TV episodes I've converted to DivX and burned to DVD. Unfortunately, my DVD player doesn't play DivX, so watching those is limited to the computer. If I record a movie from TV or kids shows for my children, I make regular DVDs since those will most likely be watched on the TV.

 

[trekkiedane]

I agree the DivX is great for archiving shows. I more than a spindle full of DVDs full of TV episodes I've converted to DivX and burned to DVD. Unfortunately, my DVD player doesn't play DivX, so watching those is limited to the computer. If I record a movie from TV or kids shows for my children, I make regular DVDs since those will most likely be watched on the TV.

Don't I know that

The first dvd player I bought was about 12 $ too cheap -I hadda give my dad that and get myself one that did the DivX thing