Best product for editing camcorder mini dvd's?

noclue2 · Post by **noclue2** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:10 pm

Hi,
I have a Sony dvd camcorder, and I've heard that Ulead products support the editing process from the "mini dvd's" (mpeg 2 format). It would be great to buy a product that captures from my computer dvd drive, and that supports hobbylike editing, adding titles, and authoring.

Can anyone recommend which product would best suit my needs?

Thanks!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:16 pm

If your new to Video Editing then go for
VideoStudio 10

If you are looking for something that is more powerful BUT also a bit more complicated to use then go for
MediaStudio 8

noclue2 · Post by **noclue2** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 2:28 am

I did download video studio 10, but it only occasionally captured my videos from my mini dvds in my computer dvd drive. It gave a "failed to read DVD information" error message. I did try a few different dvd's.
Does it actually have this function to capture from the mini dvd's?

It seems silly to hook up the camcorder to the computer or use a different software program to capture from the dvd drive that doesn't edit or author well.

Thanks for any advice you have for me.
Shelley

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 2:56 am

noclue2 wrote: It seems silly to hook up the camcorder to the computer or use a different software program to capture from the dvd drive that doesn't edit or author well.

Thanks for any advice you have for me.
Shelley

I agree it does seem silly...However the problem you are going to encounter is that your camcorder probably records to MPEG2. Editing this format is risky. Everytime it gets re-encoded, you lose quality. MPEG2 is intended for viewing not editing. You could record it to a DVD, but it is already on a DVD so why record straight to DVD?). If you import the video then slap a title on it, or cut it up, place transitions, then the program, VS will think it is a new file and re-encode it.

Generally hooking up the camcorder to a computer is via Firewire and the video transfer is in the format of DV (AVI). Which is a lossless format and can be edited without the loss in quality.

Ron P.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:33 am

The dvds need to be finalised in the cam before they can be read properly by your pc, this may be the reason you are getting the failed to read message.

noclue2 · Post by **noclue2** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 3:29 pm

Thanks Ron,
Yes, it is MPEG 2 format, and it is nice to just pop it in a dvd player to watch. But for those other occasions, some editing would be nice.

I'm fairly certain I have finalized the discs skier hughes, but thanks for the reminder anyways.

Have a great week!

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