falling at the first hurdle

[lakewud]

Hello fellow editors.

Before I make my plea, must be noted i have searched and read a fair few threads in the hope i will understand a little more about this thing called videostudio. But the more i read, the problems people are having, the more worried i am at even starting a decent dvd project - invloving editing the countless hours of past and present video/svideo and more recently digital footage i have.

So - without taking up more of your time. Please can someone..any helpful soul give me a straighforward, non-jagon answer to my problems.

Without going into great detail about my camcorder ( panasonic nv90 - 3 quater ccd chips ), firwire connection, and a new computer..1mb ram/pen. d 940 ish / yadda yadda yadda....

All i want to do is load footage, edit with a few little wipes and fades and titles, and burn ( perhaps a 1hours worth at a time on a disk )..not much to ask is it..really? But with so many different capturing processes and mpeg2 etc choices ( which no matter how many times ive read it..i still just dont grasp it )...in the ulead manual ( videostudio 9 ) tells you to enable and disable behind the wall chaching etc.

Whats the best way of getting the best quality footage captured in and the burned out? Do i need to change anything...cant i simply plug in the firwire and press capture.

As it stands, and perhaps its the camera, but im not overly impressed with the image quality on the tv screen, looks great incamera and on videostudio ( thou must point out, in capture mode all is fine..sound a little jerky ) but in edit mode sound seemed sorted..but when i come to viewing, just before burning, the image seemed to of lost a little quality?..is it just me..digital i thought you can edit time and again.

Sorry, for the couple of questions. But, any easy answers please.

And, is there a place where i can see other peoples short movie attempts using videostudio.

thanks in advance.
g

[TDK1044]

Hi,

For the highest quality results, cature your footage as AVI files. Then if you are going to render individual sections of your project, select the 'same as project properties' option each time so that your rendered files are identical to your captured files. Once you are ready to complete your project, render your completed file using the MPEG2 DVD setting. Now you have one completed DVD MPEG2 file. Go to Create Disk and use the 'Add Media' option to select your DVD MPEG2 file to burn. Make sure that the settings for your burn are identical to your DVD MPEG2 file and then burn your file.

[Black Lab]

...cant i simply plug in the firwire and press capture?

Video editing, IMHO, is very complicated, both from a software and user standpoint. Think of it like driving a car, you wouldn't just put the key in the ignition and drive off without reading the manual and practicing first.

Have a look at the Recommended Procedures at the top of this forum. Give that a shot and come back if you have more questions.

[sjj1805]

Here is a sample of a video produced with VideoStudio 10.
It was created by Tobie Openshaw an employee of Ulead.

http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid ... ime=171301

To learn how to use VideoStudio please view:
From camcorder to DVD with VideoStudio

TIP:
Like everything else in life learn to walk before you run and start off with a small project, take your time and keep it simple.
Tackle longer projects when you feel more comfortable including doing the fancy stuff such as overlays, picture in picture effects and so on.

[Ken Berry]

When in doubt, read the top sticky post containing Recommended Procedures. Essentially, though, it advises you to

1) Capture in DV/AVI format where possible;

2) Do all of your editing as far as possible in the same format;

3) Once you are finished editing, go to Share > Create Video File > DVD to produce a DVD-compatible mpeg-2.

4) During this step, make sure you select appropriate project properties including Field Order (essentially, if you captured from a digital video source, use Lower Field First; but if you captured from an analogue source, use Upper Field First; and if you are doing a slideshow of still images, use Frame Based, though some people also use LFF here too with success).

5) The other important quality factor is bitrate: for highest quality DVDs, use 8000 kbps. This will allow you to burn about 1 hour of video to a single layer (4.3 GB) DVD. 6000 kbps will allow around 90 minutes of video in good quality; and 4000 kbps will allow 2 hours of reasonable quality video.

6) The final factor here is the audio codec you use. LPCM will give excellent quality but creates large files, so you will fit less video on a disc if you use this audio format. Dolby gives a very much smaller audio file, so you can fit up to 10 or 15 minutes more of video per disc if you use Dolby. Mpeg layer 2 audio gives similar small sizes to Dolby, but is not part of the NTSC DVD standard, so will not necessarily work on all NTSC DVD players.

7) Once you have produced this mpeg-2 file, close your project, and start a new one, but leave the timeline empty. Then, and ONLY then, go to Share > Create Disc > DVD, and in the burning module, insert the mpeg-2 file(s) you have just made, create your menus and burn. Make sure the burning properties are exactly the same as those in your mpeg-2. (Check in the second icon in the bottom left of screen; and/r make sure the 'Do not convert compliant MPEG files' box in that icon is checked.) Otherwise, the program will try to render the file again, as well as all the multiplexing of video and audio, creation of menus etc, all on the fly, which is a big ask for any computer. This is very likely to cause some loss in quality and also open the possibility of other problems such as the whole process coming to a screaming halt.

8.) When burning, only use a low speed (we generally recommend a maximum burn speed of 4x), regardless of the rated speeds of both your burner and the discs you are using.

[lakewud]

Thank you Ken and the rest for your prompt and informative replies.

I will definately be making use of the advice, and as you suggest reading 'recommended proc.' and other threads.

Cheers.

Enjoyed the dropshots flight video. That opening shot, of the glider flying against the various backdrops....easy to do?