New User (VS11plus) needs help with basics

[deejay]

I won't waste anyone's time apologizing for being a dunce. This is my first experience with VideoStudio (I¡¦ve got version 11 plus) and I've never been so confused with any product before. I've been scouring these forums for the last 4 days and am extremely impressed by the vast knowledge of most of the contributors. However, it is also that same knowledge that I believe leads many to write in a manner that is not very easily understood by a (slow) beginner like me. (Slow as in really slow) The tutorials are loaded with links to other pages and threads and before I know it, I have 10+ windows open and have no idea where I am. If anyone would be willing to help lead (Ulead) me through this first project I am trying to do or direct me to a simple tutorial which could, I would be eternally grateful.

I have 2 MiniDV tapes worth of video. I've successfully performed the capture and am now at the editing stage. I don¡¦t need any trimming. No need for special effects. No audio adds. I will be using all of the footage on the tapes. There is no scene detection as the camera ran continuously for both tapes. I simply need to break (clip?) it up into or create 10 chapters and have a menu which allows the selection of playing the whole DVD or individual scenes (chapters). That's all.

I tried using the "Create a Ulead VideoStudio 9 Training Video" that sjj1805 recommends but that comes with each chapter already in its own individual file. That¡¦s where I lose it. How do I get to my continuous video divvied into 10 chapters and then create the individual files?

I realize this may sound simple to many of you and probably is. But my frustration has gotten to the point that the more I read, the more confused I get. I believe that once I get past this first project, I will be better able to process some of the other instructions.

Please let me know if I need to provide any additional information

Thanks much

[Black Lab]

Check out the Video Product Tutorials (link below my signature). There you will also find takeoneflix.com tutorials, particularly this one: http://www.takeoneflix.com/wp-content/U ... pters.html

[2Dogs]

I¡¦ve got version 11 plus

First of all, apply all updates and patches.

Updates and Power Pack

Also install the latest DirectX if you have't already.

Latest DirectX

I have 10+ windows open and have no idea where I am.

Unless you have a Quad Core pc, try to limit the number of windows when video editing!

I have 2 MiniDV tapes worth of video. I've successfully performed the capture and am now at the editing stage.

I presume that amounts to about two hours of video. Do you want to use these to make a single DVD?

When you captured the video, did you do so by means of a firewire cable hooked up to your pc? Is the captured footage in DV avi type 1 format?

(in Video Studio, right click on one of the clips in the library window or on the timeline and check the properties - and report them back here.)

I don¡¦t need any trimming. No need for special effects. No audio adds. I will be using all of the footage on the tapes.

It should all be pretty straightforward then.

There is no scene detection as the camera ran continuously for both tapes. I simply need to break (clip?) it up into or create 10 chapters and have a menu which allows the selection of playing the whole DVD or individual scenes (chapters). That's all.

This may be your first bit of confusion. You don't need to break the clips up into separate pieces in order to make chapters.

I tried using the "Create a Ulead VideoStudio 9 Training Video" that sjj1805 recommends but that comes with each chapter already in its own individual file. That¡¦s where I lose it. How do I get to my continuous video divvied into 10 chapters and then create the individual files?

I haven't read that tutorial. There are differences in the way that a DVD menu will run if you have a separate video file for each chapter - and some people may wish to do that - but for most people, you create chapters for a single large video file, and I'll assume that is suitable for your needs.

First of all, with all the video clips on your timeline - and in your case it sounds like it will be two huge DV avi files, each approximately 13GB - you need to produce a single DVD compliant mpeg2 file.

I have to make some assumptions based on the information you've given. First of all, I am assuming your project is two hours in length. Secondly, I am assuming that you will be burning it to a single layer DVD.

With your video clips on your timeline, you need to click on "Share > Create Video File > Custom".
In the "Save as type:" box it should show "MPEG files (*.mpg;*.m2t)"
Then click on the "Options..." button.
I normally uncheck "Play file after creating it".
Then click on the "general" tab and make sure that "Lower field first" is selected.
The "Frame size" should show as 720x480 in NTSC land, 720x576 if you're in a country that uses PAL, e.g. the UK.
The aspect ratio will be "4:3" for normal video, as opposed to widescreen video.

Then click on the "Compression" tab.

The "Media Type" should show as NTSC DVD or PAL DVD depending on where you are as mentioned above.

I generally drag the "Quality" slider over to 100%, i.e. all the way to the right.

Below the quality slider the "Video format:" should be grayed out and show "MPEG-2".

You can check the "DVD-VR Compliant" box.

You have a choice of what kind of video compression you can use. to squeeze the maximum quality out of your long project, if you are indeed intending to burn it to a single layer DVD, I would choose "Variable" and "4500" in the "Video Bitrate:" boxes.

Having selected "Variable" you are also presented with the option to tick a checkbox for "Two-pass encode". Checking this can improve the picture quality of the final video, especially if there are long, relatively static scenes in the video, but the downside is that encoding time will be roughly DOUBLED. It's your choice.

Next, you need to specify the audio properties. For such a long project, you really need to use compressed audio - I would suggest you select "Dolby Digital" audio or "MPEG audio" in the "Audio format:" box. In the "Audio type:" box below this, the corresponding settings would be "2/0(L,R)" or "Stereo", assuming you don't need surround sound.

Finally set the "Audio bitrate:" to 224 kbps or maybe 256 kbps.

Having done all this, click on the "OK" button, and then type in a suitable filename in the box, and make sure the file is to be saved to a suitable folder - it will default to your Video Studio working folder. Just be sure that there is enough free space in that folder - it will need about 4.3GB. Then click "Save".

Your project will now be "rendered" to a single large mpeg2 file. This will take some time. How long it takes will depend on how fast your pc is. Not using two-pass encoding it would maybe take a little over three hours on my 2.8Ghz Pentium 4c pc, Two hours on my 1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo laptop, and approximately double those figures with two-pass encoding enabled.

I think that's enough to be getting on with, so perhaps you might come back after creating the video file.

(if your captured video is already in MPEG-2 format, we're talking a whole different ball game!)

[deejay]

Thanks for throwing a drowning man a life preserver! I used the video instruction that Jeff recommended, the very detailed instruction from 2Dogs and some invaluable guidance from Vidoman and voila! I've got a beautiful product for my 1st project. You folks are absolutely the best! I'm off to project #2