Hiya, I am a true newbie when it comes to video editing and DVD converting/ripping/authoring/copying stuff. For the past two days been trying to find my way through the enormous labyrinth of available software, but find it impossible to decide. Any of you who dares to come up with an advice for some good and solid software that can help me with... 1) video editing 2) DVD - CD converting/ripping/decoding/auhtoring/copying For 1) I have Ulead VideoStudio in mind or Pinnacle, what do you think? And for 2) I already have DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter installed. I am thinking that perhaps Nero 7 Premium will make the whole bunch complete, but I've read mixed reviews. Is there any freeware that will do the trick or other commercial all-in-one packages? How about DVD Santa or DVD Wizard Pro? Any help or advice is welcome and useful, since I am utterly lost. Cheers!
Hello Arjen, For video editing there is a very wide selection of available software. It pretty much depends on how sophisticated you want to work. Ulead VideoStudio is a midrange that can be a good choice if you don't want to do any kind of compositing. Pinncalce has a couple of products: Studio (latest version is 10) and Liquid Edition. Studio is a great tool, easy to use and with sufficient possibilities for many, Liquid Edition is cooler and also includes DVD authoring. Top of the bill is Adobe Premiere. It has a hefty price tag, but there is almost nothing that you cannot do with it. They have now also Premiere Elements which is a little less sophisticated, but much cheaper and it also has DVD authoring in it. Here's a list of the most well known players in the field: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/siteinfo/suppliers.php On the site theres is also a comparison between a couple of programs. Looks for DVD ripping you already have what you need. DVDShrink is one of the greatest tools around. Nero will not bring you much further. By the way, not many people will no that, but DVDrecode (part of the Nero package) was designed by the same developer as DVDshrink... Actually, the core of the two programs are identical, jus Nero will not DeCSS because of legal issues.
Hiya, Cheers! That's been a great help already... Just wondering about one bit. What about burning my DVD's? And conversion of other movie formats? Neither Ulead nor DVDShrink provides for that as far as I understand, and you say that I won't need Nero for it? So I still feel I need an additional piece of software that enables me to convert other file formats (perhaps DVD Santa?) or will the video editing software allow me to do so? And then something for burning the actual DVD, and copying: this is where I thought Nero comes in, or maybe DVD Cloner III (gets good reviews as well). Apologies for being such a confused nitwit on the matter... Cheerio, Arjen.
I don't know what your starting point is. If it is miniDV here's a description of all the processes involved from tape to DVD: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/tapetodvd.php In the article you will note a conversion to MPEG-2 which is the format used in DVD. Burning the DVD can either be done with any modern burning program, but most DVD authoring progrmas also have a burning engine built inside. If you want to change to other formats like DivX etc. you can do that very easily with VirtualDUB which is free. To go to wmv you can use the Microsoft wmv encoder which is also free. DVDShrink, DVD decrypter, DVD Santa etc. are aimed at DVD copying and not at video editing.
Can't really help with video editing, but i have a bit of experience with DVD backups. DVD Decrypter will still carck most of the protections that are on DVD's, but lately i have found that it wont get round them all (no longer being developed). DVDFAB Decrypter (which is free) is another one to try. Another method is to have ANYDVD running in the background, and use CLoneDVD to backup your DVD. They are available on a trial basis andthere is no loss in functionality while in the trial period. For converting other types of files, you can use DivxtoDVD (VSO software). I have used this wuite a bit from its development days, and am now using their latest version (not free though). It can convert most video formats (e.g. avi, divx, mpeg, etc.) to proper DVD files. What i do is then run the files through DVDShrink to create an ISO then burn to dvd using either DVDDecrypter, IMGBurn (by the same author), Alcohol, Nero etc. I have found that if you use Shrink to create the ISO then there is major compatibility with all DVD players (they can be a bit funny). Bit of a rambly reply, but all the software mentioned is avaiable from here (or filepedia), and there are excellent guides on this site for them all.
Wow guys, this is excellent and very helpful! I am all clear now on video editing software (Ulead VideoStudio 9$64,99) that I'll need and probably Ulead MovieFactory Disc Creator for authoring and creating menu's and stuff (another $ 64,99). I've already got my ripping and decryption software (freeware). Just need to sort the burning and copying now...Am I correct to understand that MovieFactory Disc Creator can take care of this or would I need even an additional piece of software for that? Once more, and for the last time I think: thank you! Arjen.
Shrink can do that but you need to have Nero installed as far as i remember. I have always set shrink to use decrypter for burning, no real reason except I didn't have Nero when i first built my PC and it was the quickest way to get up and running. CloneDVD will also do the burning for you, and I have yet to have any compatibility problems with the way it burns. (I have had other issues with DVDauthor I think it was but i don't use that very much any more). Hope this all helps you get underway. I used this site very much when i first started backing up DVD's, and there is a lot of reading on it, and i am still learning a thing or 2.
For DVD authoring (if you want menu's etc.) I have found that Sony's "DVD Architect" works quite well. They also have a Video Editing Package, "Vegas", but I've yet to really sink my teeth into it. Adobe Premiere is by far the best video editing software I've used. I went from literally no video editing experience to being able to edit quite well and do some really neat tricks in a matter of days, just by using some online tutorials (best way to learn any new software package imo). Google "Adobe Premiere Tutorials" and start messing around Have fun!
