Just bought Video Studio 11 and need help

[aggiegrad96]

Okay, please don't flame me for posting stupid questions or for not using the proper terminology. I am a student who is required to make a video for an class. I am an MBA student, not an IT student. Other than using MS Office, I am pretty technically challenged.

I purchased VS11 after wasting countless hours trying to get my free versions of Windows Movie Maker and some other software to work for me. Now, I am a week away from my deadline and getting nervous, because this is all much harder than I anticipated.

Here's my 1st question:
Is it possible to download the .VOB files to my hard drive, convert them to MPEG and use them with VS11? I ask, because I tried this and seem to be having trouble. Using the Movie Wizard, I used "insert video" and selected the .mpeg file from my hard drive. Next, I clicked on "extract video segments from the clip". When I do this and play the video, the video messes up. What I mean by that is it will show me the timeline of the video, and I try to mark the start and finish of a segment, but sometimes it will play what is on the .mpeg, but show a completely different segment on the timeline. So, when I try to mark the start and end, it doesn't mark in the correct place. In fact, sometimes it does not show the entire clip. I hope that makes sense.

Second question
Is it possible to take the disc in my camcorder, place it in my PC and then Capture it in Video Studio Editor using "Import from DVD/DVD-VR"? From what I've read here, using Video Studio Editor is the best way to create a video.

Or, should I be using the USB cable? I've only attempted the other methods because I don't have the cable. I will be happy to run out to best buy on my lunch break if that will make this whole process any easier!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums,

You basically answered your first question with your second..

Without knowing what make/model of camcorder, and if it may/may not be an HDV model, which records generally to a HDD and uses a different codec, not the VOB files you're asking about, here is what you should do.

VS10+ was the only version that allowed the direct insertion of VOB files, even though it does the same as the Insert DVD/DVD-VR, the program still must strip the MPEG2 file from within the VOB files.

So with VS11+ to insert/import video recorded on DVD you need to use the Insert DVD/DVD-VR. This is best done by placing the DVD into your PC DVD tray, choosing insert DVD/DVD-VR, the DVD drive should be visible in the drive selection. It seems that you know how to do this by your post.

Another way is to copy the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders from the DVD to your HDD. Then use Import DVD Folder. Navigate to where you copied the folders, and select the Video-TS folder. The Audio_TS folder is most likely empty.

Once the folder has been selected then it will parse, and provide a pane for choosing the Title(s) and Chapter(s). Place a check beside the Title(s) and/or Chapter(s) you want to import.

USB is not intended for transferring video from a camcorder. There are some that manage to use it, while others have numerous problems doing so. Firewire (IEEE1394 or what Sony calls iLink) is the preferred method to use. However this is generally restricted to the DV or MiniDV camcorders.

[Ken Berry]

It seems to me that your second question should have come first, because if you solve that, your first one becomes irrelevant.

I am assuming from what you said that you have a mini DVD camcorder. If that is the case, then your camera manual should tell you what you need to a disc before it can be read on a computer or other DVD player. Usually, the disc needs to be finalised. Some cameras take ages to do this, but it cannot be avoided.

After that, yes, you can just put the mini disc into your computer DVD drive and select 'Insert DVD/DVD-VR' in Video Studio. VS will probably then "parse" the disc, and you will get a directory tree of what it sees on the disc. There will (often) be a number of chapters, and you can preview them on the tree page in the little screen which is included. There are little boxes to the left of each of the chapters, and you tick the ones you want to import. Then press OK and the import process begins. The imported clips will appear in the VS timeline. And then you edit...

But if, for some reason, all that fails, then your first question becomes relevant. And yes, you can transfer the contents of your mini DVD to your computer hard drive, either by the computer recognising the camera connected via a USB cable, or else by finalising the disc and inserting it in a computer drive and using Windows commands to copy the contents to the hard drive.

You can try the 'Insert DVD/DVD-VR' command again at this point, because for some people it works when their disc in transferred to hard drive but not from the mini DVD itself.

But the final fall back, if that fails too, is to simply change the extension .vob to .mpg, because for those sorts of discs a .vob file is just an .mpg file in disguise. (However, it is not quite so simple for commercial DVDs where, apart from considerations of copyright, you have all sorts of other things embedded in a .vob... though essentially they are, at heart, also just mpeg files... )

EDIT: Ron -- great minds thinking alike once again!! Only you beat me to the punch by a few minutes. But nice to think we were both seeing the second question as having priority!!!

[aggiegrad96]

Thank you for both responses!

I have a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD105. (Sorry, I forgot to mention that!) When I tried to use the camcorder DVD into my PC and then Capture it in Video Studio Editor using "Import from DVD/DVD-VR", I received an error message. However, I had not finalized the disc, which might have been the problem. I'll try it again.

[Ken Berry]

Yes. A sony would definitely need finalising, and as I understand it, the process is, as I have already said, verrrrry slow, so be patient.

[aggiegrad96]

I just went to my local Sony store and it turns out that the Sony Handycam DVR-DVD 105 cannot be used with the USB cable. Looks like I will need to finalize the disk and go that route.

Thanks again for the help. I'll keep ya posted on what happens.

[aggiegrad96]

You are both geniuses! I finalized my disk and viola! I can now capture the video. But, I am on the "Import DVD" screen and I can't seem to get the video to play past chapter 20. Even when I try clicking on the other chapters, it seems to remain stuck on the same frame.

Any suggestions?