So, so many newbie questions

[who4ever]

OK, here we go! I downloaded and used Ulead VS9 trial version to capture videos from my VHS tapes and thought it to be a good program, so I bought the full version program from CompUSA for $100. First thing I am trying to do is burn a DVD video, but not from my captured files, from another one. I am a huge fan of The Who and have lots of videos of many of their concerts. Their guitarist, Pete Townshend has a Web site that has streaming video of one of their shows, from Yokahama, 2004. It runs for about 2 and a half hours and runs over and over again 24/7. I have this program, WMR, that saves this streaming video to my computer. Before I went to bed, I started recording the concert, which was one hour into it, and when I woke up, I stopped recording. So what I have is a file that starts 1 hour into the show, and then 3 full repeating versions of the show, and then about 30 minutes of the beginning of the show at the end. As my first project with VS9, I want to cut one full version of the concert, overlay a title at the beginning. set up about 4 chapters, I think they are referred to as, each with about 3 songs, create titles for those chapters, use a still clip from each of those chapters as the thumbnail for the chapters on the menu, and burn the DVD. Then I want to remove all files that have this concert from my computer.

OK, I gave it a lot of time. I don't find this program very user friendly just yet. The terms are confusing and many of the words and functions seem to overlap. I was hoping to tell you some of my problems and questions and see if any of you can help me. This is being run from notes I wrote down while trying to accomplish my project. It may seem confusing, but that is because I am confused.

1. The library seems very cluttered and unclear. I started with one file. Trimmed off the beginning and trimmed off the end, leaving four files. They all looked the same in the library. How can I tell which is the full clip, the cut beginning and end, and the middle, which is the only one I wanted?
2. Once I trimmed the video, I thought I should "save the trimmed video." From the speed of what was going on, it looked like it would take over 3 hours to save a 2 and a half hour video. Is this correct? Can something possibly take so long? Do I just get up and walk away for 3 hours?
3. Why can't I fast forward and fast reverse the video while it is playing to find a part that I was looking for? I have to play it, stop it, advance it, play it, stop it, advance it again, play it, etc., etc, etc. It seems silly that I can't just move the slide bar while the clip is playing, like you can when using Windows Media Player to view a video file. This takes forever.
4. When creating a title, I can fade out, I can fade in. How can I fade in and fade out?
5. This is most important-when viewing a project, WHY IS THERE NO AUDIO? There is only audio when playing a clip, not the project? I don't get it at all? I am viewing a concert video. Every scene looks the same. The only way to tell what part of the concert I am watching is by hearing what song they are playing, and I can't do that in project mode. Why in the world not?
6. Why does my trimmed clip begin with the clock at 2hours and 30 minutes and end at 5 hours. Once the clip is trimmed, why doesn't it start at 0 and end at 2:30? That would make it easier to judge what part of the show I am watching.
7. What is the difference between "save as" and "create video file"?
8. What is the difference between 'chapters' and 'menus.'

If any of you have the time and patience for me, could you tell me, step by step how you would accomplish the chore I am trying to do?
If not and you can only answer one question, tell me WHY I CAN'T HEAR AUDIO WHEN PLAYING A PROJECT FILE and how I can overcome this handicap?

Are there any really good tutorials out there where I can watch a project being created?

That's enough for now, I guess. I wish I could have someone stand behind me while I make a DVD just once. I'm sure it is not THAT hard. Maybe the User's Gude is just not that great. Thank you all in advance.

Dave Schwartz, Long Island, NY

[Ron P.]

Hi David, and welcome to the wonderful world of video editing

I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can. However I know I'm not going to answer them all.

First of all I've noticed that you have posted here previously. What helps us troubleshoot problems is knowing what your system is. So complete your system information in your profile. That way when ever you post a question we can just click on the system button to find out, instead of asking for it all the time.

Now there is a sticky located at the top of this forum that lays out certain info needed when asking questions. Read This First Sticky

For instances the video must be some sort of compressed streaming format. It could be WMV, MPEG, DivX, xVid, MOV. I don't know, so being able to provide good advice is difficult. VS9 has problems with being able to edit them. You may have out of sync problems, or VS just will not handle them at all.
I know sjj or Ken will probably be along and will be asking several questions in order to give you good solid advice.

1. The Library seems very cluttered and unclear...

Yes it does get that way. You can create several libraries. You could have a library for just the captured clips, another for First Edits, and so on. Just click on the Library Manager, and choose New. Then provide a name for the new Library. You have the options of Libraries for Video, Images, and audio.

How can I tell which is the full clip..

Generally by looking at the time, how long is the video clip. A cut clip's length is of course going to be shorter. Just hover your mouse over a clip and a tooltip will appear with the data. VS uses a date-time-number format to name the clips. For example 060215-003.avi would mean that the clip was captured on Feb 15, 2006 and it is the 3rd clip. Then you could also highlight a clip in the library, and look at the Timecode, which will show the duration of the clip.

Why can't I fast forward..

You can fast forward, however not like a DVD player. The little arrow above the Trim Handles, "Jog Slider" is how you can fast forward. You can drag it across, or press the "Tab" key, and you will see the blue cener flashing. Now just use your left/right arrow keys to move the Jog Slider. But you are correct you can not move the Jog Slider while it is playing. I don't know of any editing app that allows that.

Once I trimmed the video...

How are you saving it? Are you creating a video file, via Share--Create? The video is already on your hard drive. If you trimmed it, all you done was tell VS you don't want to use the portion of the clip from for example 0:10:15:10 to 0:15:20:03 (video timecode format is H:MM:SS:FF, Hours : Minutes : Seconds : Frames ). The project file (*.vsp) keeps all this information.

When creating a title...

Yes you can have the Title Fade in and fade out. It is called a Cross Fade. To set it, after selecting Fade, click on the double "T"s . A dialog will open where you can choose Fade-in, Fade-out, Cross Fade. You can also choose the duration, short, intermediate, etc...

Now for the audio problem, I don't know. It probably has to do with the format of the video. Did you d/l and install the MPEG4 plug in? It is free for registered users of the Full version. There's also a free HD plugin..


6. The time data is obtained from the video clip, when it is captured. So it does not reset. The Timecode will tell you the duration.

7. Save as, is saving a project (vsp) file. If you noticed in the drop down menu, you only have the option to save as Video Studio 9.vsp.... Create video is where you take your project, all the edits, titles, transitions, audio, music, etc.. and create a video file. If you are going to burn a DVD, then you should First create a dvd compliant video file. If you are in NTSC land, then you would want an NTSC-DVD.

8. Menus are the main clips, chapters are markers in the main clip. You can have several Video clips when you create a disc, and each Video Menu can have several chapters. Chapters are useful when you want to fastforward while playing the DVD, to a specific place. You can have seperate Menus for the chapters also.

The last thing that I can advise right now is read the
Recommended Procedures. Click on that link to take you there.
You have to take a little bit at a time, in order to learn how to properly capture, edit, and create DVD videos.

Again I don't know why you are not hearing the audio. But if you provide us with the properties of the video we might be able to narrow it down. Just right click on the video and select properties. What are they? What are your project properties?

Hope that helped some...gotta start somewhere...

Ron P.

[who4ever]

Thanks, give me time to respond to everything you asked. But are you saying that when viewing the project, I should indeed hear the sound? It works when viewing the clip, but not the project. This is my biggest problem at the moment. Even when I was trying to create chapters and menus I couldn't tell where I was in the video because it is a concert.
Dave

[Ron P.]

Yes you should hear sound. However when using the Preview, don't expect a pristine preview. Unless you have selected in File->Preferences "High quality" the project preview will stutter, may skip, and may not play all the sound. It is trying to put together everything that you have done on the fly. It is designed to give you an estimate on the project.
What is interesting is that you can hear the audio in the clip but not project mode. However uless you have split the audio, it would then be in the clip you are playing.

You can click on the Audio Tab in the timeline view and select the clip, and play to ensure the audio is there..

Ron P.