Importing DVD

[ccoty]

I have four questions regarding importing DVD video:

1. When importing (from home movie) I want to know if the quality is the same as the original DVD or is there some compression?

2. If the quality is the same as the original, will the new video be degraded when using those clips to create that video (if I have the box checked not to change mpeg compliant video)?

3. When the video is imported it seems to be mpeg sound at 224 and not LCPM. Is that funciton if the way the video was created; does it automatically import at mpeg audio; or is there a setting I have missed?

4. If for whatever reason I do have mpeg audio, what impact does it have on the final DVD if I choose to "ignore mpeg audio".

Thanks for the help. Basically I'm hoping to be able to bring in video/audio that I have created in the past, use it again in a new flick and not lose quality.

Chuck

[mzanchi]

hi Chuck,

Yesterday i have imported 3 track from my previous DVD

Well, i hope to give you all information needed

1. Quality is the same of the original DVD, but VS9 can ask you to modify project setting to align with DVD clip imported, so NO COMPRESSION at this step

2. Audio like video, is the same of original DVD, so if on DVD you have MPEG , you imported an MPEG audio, if you have LCPM you have LCPM, and so on until AC3 coding

for point 4 i think that you have a mute clip video

I hope to help you in all you need

Thanks
Marco

[ccoty]

Thanks, Marco. So glad to hear that existing DVD video is not recompressed.

On question #4 I could not remember the dialogue box so I caused some confusion in the way the question was written. I will restate.

What impact does the following have in the Project Settings properties if it is checked: "Treat mpeg Audio as non-DVD Compliant"

Does this mean that if I bring in Mpeg audio that it will be recompressed and therefore degraded.

Also, does when it says that it is "rendering" does that have anything to do with compression of the video?

Thanks,
Chuck Coty

[GeorgeW]

What impact does the following have in the Project Settings properties if it is checked: "Treat mpeg Audio as non-DVD Compliant"

Does this mean that if I bring in Mpeg audio that it will be recompressed and therefore degraded.

That's correct -- if your source has mpeg audio, it will be compressed to your project's audio setting (either LPCM or Dolby Digital).

The effects of the re-compression will depend on the original mpeg audio quality, and if you are going to DD audio, the bitrate you select for the new audio (LPCM will be 1536kbps, so it will increase the audio size without losing too much detail -- in general).

[ccoty]

Thanks, George.

This may be an question with an obvious answer but I want to cover all the bases.

If I don't check the non-DVd complant box what effect will that have on the outcome?

Thanks again.
Chuck Coty

[GeorgeW]

depends on what you have in the "Do not convert compliant mpeg files" check box

If it is checked, then your source will be used the way it is (as long as the video and audio meet dvd specs).

If you don't have a check in the "do not convert..." box, then the video and audio will be converted based on your project settings.

[madhaus]

Let me jump in on this question.

I created a big project: my daughter's class play. I had 40 minutes of play video, video of the kidsin the lobby getting congratulated, some photos I turned into a slideshow to use credits, lots of clips of the kids being interviewed about their play, and clips of bloopers.

For the lobby video and some of the bloopers, I pulled things off material another parent made for me using his video camera and computer. He gave me 2 formats; data file on a CD and a DVD. The CD data file was .wmv format. I didn't want to save those huge files on my hard drive, so I did multitrim and saved his clips. There were no options to select when doing this (that I could find).

My clips play and rendered very crisply (the stuff from my Sony D8 camera). I made .AVIs, type 1.

The saved clips from his material, which were made as .wmf as well, is incredibly pixelly, looks like 80X60 or something like that; it goes back and forth between detailed and blocky; backgrounds with little detail are the worst. The original files don't look that way on the computer when I play them, or on the TV (DVD) but the rendered and saved clips were pixelly as heck when played on the computer (in the timeline). And the final DVD I made last night also had those scenes very pixelly.

I have to redo the DVD now, as some parents asked me to not include their kids in the bloopers. So I want to address the pixelly clips. Do I pull off the DVD and multitrim instead? (I pulled off the CD .wmf data file because it was easier) Are there settings I need for this, and if so, where are they? My project settings don't seem to address how to render a saved clip (or if they do, I can't find them).

I'm using VS9, with a P4 system, 256M, Windows 2000. I used the default setting for NTSC, 4:3 aspect ratio, lower field first, most everything else was default. I did set playback to best when producing the final copy.

Despite the advice for new users, I did successfully render and burn in one step even though it was more than 4.0 GB of material (but it took about 8 hours).

Many thanks for any advice on this topic.