Affordable software for editing DVD files?
 

What inexpensive and easy-to-use software would people recommend for a client who wants to be able to edit video files from a DVD? I'm copying a customer's Hi-8 movies to DVD and he wants to be able to edit from those.

If you're talking about ripping the .VOB files found on a (non-commercial - you're own private library - gotta do the legal'ese here) DVD, this is a handy little utility to convert them to .AVI's, etc. and it's fairly inexpensive:

http://www.magicdvdripper.com/

As for an inexpensive editor? I think either Pinnacle or ULead are the lowest (pricewise) on the chain and are easy to use.

Kevin,
If the client specifically state that he/she wants the Hi-8 to DVD content in order to edit it later, I think that only leaves you one option: avi format.

Convert the Hi-8 to DV-avi and then just put it on the timeline and split it into segments that will fit avi onto a DVD. Normally DV-avi is 13Gb per hour, so a one-hour Hi-8 tape would require 3 DVDs. And when you place the avi on the DVD you will create a computer readable DVD with the only file on it the avi (e.g. Hi8convert#1.avi). This will not be a file to play on a set-top DVD player.

If you reduce the Hi-8 converted video to a set-top playable format (MPEG2) the client will be able to edit, but editing MPEG2 is ugly and some data will have been lost in the recompression.

mpeg video wizard from www.womble.com is the way to go... it'll rip the mpeg files off of a dvd, put 'em on the hard drive as a direct copy with zero re-encoding, then allow you to edit everything on a timeline.

it's not a real purty interface, but the only thing that gets re-encoded is titles and transitions.

Thanks guys. It's over 20 hours of material which would have been impractical to capture and burn as DV-AVI files, plus it was marginal Hi-8 stuff to start with so it looks okay (compared to the original) in MPEG2 format. I'll check out Womble and the latest inexpensive editing programs to see which ones can do MPEG2 editing.

FYI, I checked out Ulead VideoStudio and the literature for that specifies that it can handle MPEG2 file input. I'm pretty sure Vegas Movie Studio can also, and I found a note for Pinnacle Studio saying it can too. So I ended up recommending Pinnacle Studio because that's a program I've used and can help the customer with if necessary, plus it's pretty easy to learn for beginners.

Kevin:

Studio 9 has been pretty stable for me, but I haven't used 10 a lot, except for messing with the HDV. I've seen the normal new addition bashing that Pinnacle seems to get. I have used the Beta update, but you might find some issues with 10 because it is first to incorporate the Liquid engine.

Kevin,

The Vegas products do edit MPEG2, though from what I've heard of Womble, it will do it faster.

What I was saying was, if the client specifically said he wanted the Hi-8 converted so it could be edited, that means avi and only avi. I would fire someone that gave me any footage in MPEG2 format when I specifically stated I wanted to further edit the footage. MPEG2 is a delivery format only. You can edit MPEG2, but then you can ride a skateboard on the freeway, its just not recommended.

Until you've edited MPEG2 a bit, you can't know how many little ankle-biting problems it can present. YMMV, mine certainly did every time I edited MPEG2. And besides, if its 3 DVDs per Hi-8 tape, you just pass the cost through directly to the customer. I'd pay three times as much for DVDs full of avi format video as I would for MPEG format video. Sorry to harp, I'm hopeful you are getting the impression that I'm not in favor of editing MPEG.

define "handle".

does it mean totally re-encoding everything that's put on the timeline? almost certainly yes, which means that you'll take a major hit in picture quality when converting mpeg2 to avi... and you haven't even started editing it!

premiere is one of the few editing programs that has a plugin for editing native mpeg2.