Ive been using tmpg authoring programs for some time now and really like them. Problem is that I cant seem to find a video fade in/out function on any version and its really been bugging me for some time. Does it exist? Ive found the function on tmpg 4 express but not for the authoring programs. Any help appreciated. Thanks
No, because the authoring program is just for authoring. (chapter placement, menus, etc.) Video effects are part of the encoding program. (TmpgEnc)
TMPGEnc Author Works 4 comes with a "Transition Editor". After you've added a clip and clicked "OK" to return to the main "Source" panel, make sure your current clip is highlighted - yellow/orange. Then click on "Transition Editor" somewhere on the right row. This will bring up the "Transition Editor". Select "Transition type", "duration" and preview to your hearts content. There's "fade-out/in (white)", "fade-out/in (black)" somewhere in the middle of the drop-down list (I think abt 100 of 'transitions'). Or you can just click the "Selector" icon. After you've done this for 1 clip, if you have many other clips, you can click on "Edit menu" and "Apply the current settings to all clips". Havent really used it for real, just invoked and played with it so that I can describe how it works to you... sorry.
Their "Transition Editor" is just an extension of their "slideshow" module. Formerly only worked for still pics, now able to do the same for movie clips as well. I can see where they're going with this - home movies. Add say, 10 short clips/scenes from your camera, all to a single track, edit/trim each one to start and stop properly, then add transitions for/before each clip. Authoring DVDs/BDMVs becomes a dead simple process of just clicking here and there. Version 1 (TMPGEnc DVD Author) gave us bugs & horrendous A/V sync. Version 2 gave us some stability. Version 3 gave us Divx Ultra, MPEG-2 Encoding, Dolby 2.0 and slideshows. Version 4 gave us DD 5.1, BDMV & Transitions - and a name change. They gotta do something to continue to earn our $$$. LOL! Not sure what you meant by "simple" & "no frills". FYI, they've changed the name of their software from "DVD Author" to "Authoring Works" in version 4. They now added (half-baked) Blu-ray authoring, so had to drop the "DVD" from their name, I guess. LOL!
LOL! Here's an idea... Skip a few lunches and then go get them cheapo Divx/Xvid DVD player. Their prices have dropped so much that they might be selling them by weight now. LOL! Burn them AVIs directly to DVDRs and play. No re-encoding, no quality loss. That's what I do for those that I dont bother (read: too lazy) to re-encode. Upgraded mine last month to support playback of WMV9 & MP4 vids as well, but SD profiles only. 720p & 1080p upsampling too. Saves me a ton of work having to re-encode them critters. But dont spend too much $$$ tho, DLNA is just around the corner... Matroska, here we come!
