Combining separate captured video files

[virg2673]

1. Is it possible to combine portions of multiple captured video files into a single VS project, so that they can then be edited and burned on to a single DVD?

2. If so, how does one clear the timeline of the first captured video file, in order to add the second video file, without losing that which has already been selected and edited from video file number one?

[Black Lab]

If you have two separate VSPs (projects) you can just "insert" them in the burn phase.

You can also use the Insert Media command to insert one VSP into the current project you have open.

[Ken Berry]

Virg -- I am also not sure what you mean... And I suspect we might be in another of those 'when is it a file, when is it a project' things...

If you mean you have an edited Project01.vsp and have produced a DVD compatible mpeg-2 from it -- call it FileA.mpg; and similarly with Project02.vsp you have produced FileB.mpg.

Now you have FileA in the timeline, and have edited out the parts you don't want. But now you want to do the same with File B, and then produce a new single video file of the two parts?

Is that what you are wanting to do?

Or do you have Project01 in the timelines, and now want to open Project02 in the same timeline?

Can you provide some more details please...

[heinz-oz]

1. Is it possible to combine portions of multiple captured video files into a single VS project, so that they can then be edited and burned on to a single DVD?

2. If so, how does one clear the timeline of the first captured video file, in order to add the second video file, without losing that which has already been selected and edited from video file number one?

What exactly is your question? Of course you can add files from different captures to any project. It's called editing and creating a montage. That's what editing is all about. Just find your captured files on your hard disk, click on add media file and select the file you want.

[virg2673]

Thanks for the replies and forgive me for not having explained my objective and question in better detail. I have captured three separate video files from VHS tape and they are now listed in my folder by their assigned name, but the names now have ".mpg" at the end of them. And with regard to Ken's question, no, I have not yet started a project with these captured video files. The three captured file names are not followed by ".vsp"

My objective is to edit each of them, divide them into six chapters total, add transitions, produce a Chapter Menu page with individual chapter titles, and then burn the end result to a DVD.

Thanks to the assistance obtained from this forum, and only because of that assistance, I have finally developed and documented very detailed and specific Capture, Edit, and Share/Create DVD workflows. Following those workflows has enabled me to capture a single VHS tape, edit it , divide it into six chapters, add transitions in between the chapters, create a Chapter Menu page with titles, and then burn the end result to a DVD, with pretty fair video quality. Trust me, there were many times when I thought that was just a pipe dream.

My objective now is to be able to achieve the same end result, except that in this new case, my source video is coming from three separate captured VHS tapes instead of a single captured VHS tape. I just don't understand what changes or additions must be made to my workflows.

[BrianCee]

You do seem to be making very heavy weather of a very simple task - just put the three .mpg files into your timeline one after another and edit the whole thing just as if it was only one file - don't do anything different to anything you have done previously. I feel I have to re-iterate what Heinz said - "thats what editing is all about" - it doesn't matter how many source files you have.

Even if you don't want every part of each video in the same order as they are when captured you can drag and drop parts from any of the videos into the other two at any position you want.

As soon as the three clips are in the timeline just go "File >> Save" and create a project file which you keep saving and opening until all editing is complete - then create your video file - then burn your DVD.

[Ken Berry]

Brian is absolutely right. What you are wanting to do is perhaps the most basic of editing tasks: joining video from different sources, and editing them, then producing them in one project. It's video editing 101!!

For example, I currently have a project with 167 different (short) DV format video files in them. I put them all in the timeline (yes, they're all there at the same time!!) Then I move them around into the order I want, clip small pieces off some, delete others, add transitions, titles, overlays, background music and voiceovers.

I have already assigned the whole thing a project name, which I regularly save.

Then when I am satisfied with the editing, I simply go to Share > Create Video File > DVD to produce my single, DVD compliant mpeg-2 of the the whole thing. Then I open the burning module, make my menu, including dividing it all up into the number of chapters I want. Then burn.

[virg2673]

Sorry about the delay in responding but the arrival of another grandchild captured 100% of my time and attentions, as I'm sure you would understand.

But getting back to it, and after studying your responses above, I tried a test run of three separate captured portions or video files, taken from one VHS tape. Started my Edit workflow and placed each of these mpeg files by name on to my Edit time line. Selected >Multi-trim Video, and then clicked on each of them in sequence to edit them into seven separate chapters. Then added transition effects before >File, >Save, to sve my work and name my project. "Untitled" was replaced by my project name, "Test ABC" and was followed by .VSP

Then >Share, >Create Video File, >Same as Project Settings, >Save, and rendering began. When completed, I cleared my time line and selected >Share, >Create Disc, insured "Do not convert compliant mpeg files" was ticked, Add Video, to add my saved DVD-compliant mpeg-2 by its' name, "Test ABC.mpg" to the empty timeline. Then >Add/Edit Chapters, >Auto, highlighted near the top right of the "Add/Edit Chapters" screen, >Insert Scenes as Chapters, >OK, but there was only one chapter, not six. Any thoughts as to why?

Secondly, since this was a test, I proceeded with my Share workflow and under "Disc burner" I attempted to reduce my burn speed to 4x, but the options were much higher. Since I had encountered this issue much earlier in my learning process and Ken had explained what had caused it, I tried to research my prior topics on the forum, but couldn't find it. Therefore, I selected the lowest burn speed option, which I think was 12x and then >Output.

After a significant amount of time, VS informed me that "Failed to record data to disc. Error 00-02-03-0C-00."

I really thought that I had followed my documented work flow that I have revised multiple times, as a result of learning more from the superb coaching provided by this forum. I don't know where I dropped the ball, but I fear that it must be in two or perhaps more areas this time. Any suggestions?

[Ken Berry]

Your earlier post about the burn speed is found in this thread: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 733#114733
To find your earlier posts, just use the Search function (as I just did), and search for your name virg2637.

Now, as to the substance, your work flow, as far as I can see, is fine, with one exception. And that is based on yet another fundamental misconception on your part relating to what chapters are all about.

In video editing #101 parlance, a single, completed video (i.e. the one you produce from Share > Create Video File > DVD) is called a "title". And a "chapter" is a sub-set of a single title. A chapter is not a separate video as you seem to think ... or at least, as I think you think ... well, you know what I mean!

Now, if I recall correctly, you are using VS8, and with that, the only way of inserting chapters in a DVD is in the burning phase, and not in the editing phase. (VS10 first introduced a way of inserting chapter points in the editing phase, and VS11 has continued, and improved it).

So in your project as you described it, you might have chopped the videos effectively into seven separate bits in the editing timeline, but to VS8, they were just all pieces of one project which would be converted into one 'title'. And when you did go to Share > Create Video file > DVD, VS8, as it is trained to do, happily combined all those 7 separate bits into one video...

Now, to get what you are after, once you have opened the burning module and inserted Test ABC.mpg in the burning timeline, and go through all the rigamarole of the Add/Edit Chapters screen, it is you who has to actually begin the process of 'Insert Scenes as Chapters', because as far as VS8 is concerned at that point, as you rightly described, there were no chapters at all. All it was seeing was a chapterless 'title' and the single image image in the right hand column of the Chapter screen was notionally Chapter 1 of 1.

Now, I have just fired up my ancient version of VS8 on another computer, to make sure I get this right... You are now at the point where the Add/Edit chapters screen is showing, with your video in the preview screen of that page, right? And over on the right of that page is the one 'chapter' showing as a small image... And between them are four buttons, of which probably only 'Auto' is shown as active. If you press that button, you will have a small dialogue box appear, saying your can divide up your video ('title') into chapters by setting them at a fixed time -- you can choose, say, every minute.

But I guess you are interested in having your chapters actually starting at a change of scene (where you made the cuts in the editing phase). To do this, simply drag the jog slider below the blue bar under the preview screen to the right. You will see that the 'Add' button has now become active. Keep dragging the jog slider till you get to the point where there is the first change of scene you are after. When you have got to it exactly, press the Add button, and a second image will appear below the first one over on the right hand side of screen. Those two images now represent Chapters 1 and 2 of your single title.

Keep doing the above till you have all your seven chapters. And if you don't like one or more of them, you simply highlight that chapter in the right hand column, and click the Remove button, which has now also become active.

When you are satisfied, click OK and you will go back to the main burning screen. Click Next, and you will be taken to the page where you select the template for your menu background. You will have again just one single 'title' in the screen as you have inserted just one video. Anyway, that is the main menu which shows only 'titles'. Arrange the screen the way you want it.

Then you have to do the same for your Chapter menu. To get to that, in the top centre of the Main Menu screen is a little window which says 'Main Menu'. Click on the arrow and you should see another line which will probably say 'Test ABC'. Select that, and a new menu screen will appear, hopefully showing some of your chapter icons. (I say 'some' because the templates available to you will probably not allow 7 icons on the one page... only a maximum of 6.) Anyway, you have to set up the two Chapter Menu pages separately -- unfortunately, doing only the first doesn't mean that the second one will follow suit.

But there you are! Have fun!!!

[virg2673]

Thanks for the tip on using the forum search function Ken. The old adage that, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," may not be entirely correct, but as we are seeing here, it sure as heck can be a slow process, even with skilled and patient instructors. I thank you again, but then I repeat myself.

1. You are correct that I had a fundamental misconception regarding the use of the VS concept of "title." I had indeed been using the term "title" simply as a name that I could create for the opening frame of my finished DVD, the top of my chapter menu page, and for each of the six segments or chapters listed on my chapter menu page. I have been using the word "title" as one would use for the name of a book and for its' individual chapters.

On the other hand, I have not meant to use the term "chapter" to refer to a separate video, but understood it to be the term used to describe an individual segment of my completed video or as VS would say, an individual segment of my "title." Right?

As an example, on those very few occasions when I have been successful, I have divided a captured two hour long VHS video tape of old Super 8 home movies, into two separate one hour long DVD's. Prior to burning each of those DVD's I had edited them into six chapters, and insert transition effects, but this was accomplished in my edit workflow.

2. And yes, you are correct that I am using VS8. Do I understand that perhaps I should discard VS8 and replace it with VS10 or VS11?

3. What concerns me is that on those few occasions when I have been successful, it was during the edit phase of my workflow that I, "chopped the video effectively into six separate bits on the editing timeline." i.e., >Edit, >Yes, to the question, "Do you want to change the project settings to match the, etc., etc." >Multi-trim Video, and I could then select specific "Start" and "End" frames for each chapter segment. I then selected >OK, when all six chapters were marked accordingly and their opening frames were displayed in sequence on my timeline.

Then >Effect, and drag & drop my desired transition effect in between the six chapters. Then >File, >Save, to name and save my .vsp before >Share, >Create Video File, >OK, to "Same as Project Settings," >Save, and the rendering process of my DVD-compliant mpeg-2 video file began. When rendering was complete, >File, >New Project, to get an empty time line before starting my Share/Create DVD workdlow. This workflow had worked for me as I had just stated, "on those few occasions when I had been successful" and I truly thought that I was following the recommended VS workflow. It now sounds as though I need to make some major, and I do mean major, modifications to my workflow. I would of course like to resolve the VS8 vs. VS10 issue before taking on that potential task and additional learning curve. Wouldn't you agree?

4. Could it be that I had been successful before with my existing workflow simply because I was working with only a single captured video instead of three separate captured videos?

BTW, you are also correct in understanding that I want to have my "chapters actually starting at a change of scene."

[Ken Berry]

Well, at least we are singing from the same song sheet about what Chapters are! And before anything else, there is nothing at all wrong with your workflow as you describe it. (I have to say that, of course, since it is also my workflow!!! )

But there is something still troubling me about your understanding of Chapters. Chapters on a DVD only serve a purpose if you have some way of automatically jumping to them -- either by embedding chapter marks which accept your remote control's command to go to the next chapter without reference to a menu; or else by having a menu at the start which includes a chapter menu -- with an icon for each chapter so you can choose at the very start to jump to a particular chapter; or during the playing of the DVD, to go back to the menu and choose another chapter.

So I guess I am asking whether in the few cases in which you believe you were successful (I assume in burning a DVD which actually played!!! ), and you had divided the project into 6 parts within the single video, how did you actually manage to navigate to those separate parts when you were playing the DVD back in a stand alone DVD player with a remote control???

As for the VS8 vs VS10 (or 11) upgrade (and that's a lot of VS ), the only reason I pointed to the later versions in my last post was because you can now actually embed those chapter points during the editing phase, and have them recognised in the menu creation/burning phase. This has the advantage of being able to be frame-perfect in exactly where you place each chapter mark. In pre-VS10 versions, it was a bit more hit and miss where you chose to place the start of each new chapter in the burning phase. And I mean that only in the sense that since you have to drag a jog bar, it is difficult to be frame perfect in doing that when you can't expand the preview screen into a frame by frame view of your video to make sure you have the exact frame you want.

At the end of the day, though, I would have to say that you should probably stick with what you know for the moment i.e. VS8. But when you (finally ) get comfortable with your workflow and begin to produce masterpieces in ever-increasing numbers , you should certainly at that point start thinking of upgrading to the greater variety of bells and whistles in the later versions.

As the old saying goes, don't run before you can crawl...

[virg2673]

Thanks Ken for the good news that I haven’t been using a poorly developed workflow. That’s important since I was relatively sure that it was developed based primarily on the advice and coaching obtained from experts on this forum, including a most knowledgeable gentleman who resides in Canberra, Australia. Thank you very much.

With regard to your question about my use of chapters and, “did I actually manage to navigate to those separate parts (chapters) when I was playing the DVD in a stand alone DVD player with a remote control?” Yes. My Chapter Menu with the opening frame of each of my six chapters appears at the beginning of my completed DVD. One can then navigate to a specific chapter image and select “Play” to go directly to that chapter. This worked perfectly on at least the three DVD players where I have demonstrated my limited success to date.

Thirdly, my version of VS8 has the capability to “actually embed chapter points during the editing phase and have them recognized in the menu creation/burning phase.” I even opened VS again to make sure that it said VS8, and it does. After selecting >Edit, and adding a captured video to my timeline, I select >Multi-trim Video, and its’ drop down screen appears. Within that drop down window, the opening frame of my video is displayed and there are several options to advance or reverse my video.
1) Drag a jog bar forward or back (can’t master it, and don’t use it).
2) “Go back/forward” by an adjustable number of seconds, as in 1 up to more than 45.
3) Advance or reverse frame by frame (as you said, very precise).
After getting to the precise frame, I select either “Start” or “End” by ticking the start or end indicator. As soon as I have determined the last frame of chapter segment and tick the “End,” indicator, the frame for that chapter appears on my Multi-trim Video timeline.

Then during my Share workflow, I had used >Add/Edit Chapters, >Auto, >Insert Scenes as Chapters, >OK, >Next, >Title, to produce a video name and number on the opening frame of my video. I then changed “Main Menu” up at the top, to my project name so that I can add a Chapter Menu name, and individual Chapter numbers and date identifiers.

When finished, >Next, >Next, and under “Disc burner” I reduced the recording speed to 4x and I was ready to select >Output, to burn my DVD. Unfortunately, this brief success ended when I tried to portions from three separately captured video segments from a VHS tape.

And that’s where I’m still hung up, so I’m hoping that this explanation will provide you with an idea as to where I’ve gone astray. Obviously, I'm still "crawling."

[Ken Berry]

Well, I confess I am totally and completely lost! And I begin to suspect that we have, yet again, been talking at cross purposes.

In the editing phase, did you -- or did you not -- divide your project into six parts, and then Share > Create Video file > DVD for each of those six parts? Or did you leave it all as one single video 'title'?

You see, regardless of what you say, VS8 most definitely did NOT allow you to embed chapter points during the editing phase. In VS 10, where it was introduced very much for the first time, and VS11, you actually insert a little marker up near the ruler above the timeline.

I think, on reflection, what you might means about inserting chapter points is that you make cuts in your original video where you want a chapter -- a yet to be created chapter -- to start when you do your menu.

Which brings us to my next point of confusion. If you had divided your project into six individual parts, and rendered each into a DVD compatible mpeg-2, and then inserted them into the burning module timeline, then clearly your menu would show separate icons for each of those six parts.

If, on the other hand, you only rendered one single 'title' of your whole project, then in the menu building phase, you would have gone into the Add/Edit Chapter phase, which I now think you did -- at least in the past -- to create the six separate chapters. But how did you do it? Manually, by dragging the jog slider to each scene change, or as you say, by allowing the program to look for scene changes and inserting each as a chapter point?

If they latter, then what is the problem now?

[GeorgeW]

After using the "Multi-Trim" to cut out the scenes/chapters, and rendering to mpeg, the auto chapter (Insert Scenes as Chapters) will, in some cases, recognize those "cuts" performed on the timeline. So that must be how the chapter points are being set...

Regards,
George

[virg2673]

In answer to your question, during the Editing phase, I'm sure that I did divide my project into six parts and was then certainly able to insert Transitions in between those six parts. But I left it as one single video title and went to Share >Create Video file, >Save and it rendered one time for a single 'title,' not six. It produced only one video file. Therefore, I'm sure that I did not render each into a separate DVD compatible mpeg-2's. And it was not my intent to do so.

Perhaps you have hit on the right point when you suggested that I only "made cuts in my original video where I want a chapter." But keep in mind though, that on those occassions when I was successful, when I got into my Share/Create DVD workflow, VS did show my chapter breaks as well as the transitions that I had inserted during the Edit phase.

During my Share/Create DVD workflow, I used Add/Edit Chapters, >Auto, >Insert Scenes as Chapters, >OK, >Title, and inserted a title (DVD name) on the opening frame of my project and added a title or name for my Menu page that displayed my six chapters.

I may not understand the question when you ask if I created the six chapters manually. I did not use the jog slider to each scene change and I did not use the program to look for scene changes and insert each as a chapter point. My process was as follows.

After selecting >Edit, and adding a captured video to my timeline, I selected >Multi-trim Video, and its’ drop down screen appears. Within that drop down window, the opening frame of my video was displayed and there are several options to advance or reverse my video.
1) Drag a jog bar forward or back (can’t master it, and don’t use it).
2) “Go back/forward” by an adjustable number of seconds, as in 1 up to more than 45 seconds at a time.
3) Advance or reverse frame by frame (as you said, very precise).
After getting to the precise frame, I selected either “Start” or “End” by ticking the start or end indicator. As soon as I have determined the last frame of a chapter segment and tick the “End,” indicator, the frame for that chapter appears on my Multi-trim Video timeline.

I'm probably not explaining this correctly, but the only change that I can determine in my process when it failed, is that I was working with three separate video files that were captured separately from the same VHS tape. Prior to that I was working with only one video file captured from one VHS tape.