Re: One disc or two
 

I've had a few go 2.5-3.5 hours, and I always split onto two discs. Tried squeezing it onto one and the quality was really bad. It's already bad enough having to use ancient Mpg2 as it is, let alone with a severely crippled bitrate.

Those custom engraved USB sticks look quite good!

Re: One disc or two
 

How do you get to put chapter markers ( menus ) on them USB sticks. I am looking into that for the year. I am presently giving BluRay discs. There are a few clients that actually want usb sticks so I have to figure out a way how. Thanks

Re: One disc or two
 

Have a look at the TakyBox from LA Color that has HTML5 menu system

LA Color Presents the TakyBox | L.A. Color Blog | Wedding Photography, Cinematography, Photobooth, and Event Lighting Service

Pete

Re: One disc or two
 

We also do it the simple way with a numerical header and an intelligent file name so the files appear in the correct order ..like 0001BridalPrep.mp4 then 0002Arrivals.mp4 and so on. Of course if you edit your wedding in one huge clip then it's not going to work! We have always done our weddings in "one clip per event" ..Much easier to skim over a time line that is only 4 minutes long compared to trying to handle a timeline of an hour! Also if you do encounter an error during render it's much easier to find the bug on a 4 minute clip than a 90 minute one!

Re: One disc or two
 

I'm not a fan of splitting anybody my videos up. Although I edit sections individually, I combine them together with the tail end of the music from 1 section leading into the next. It's been ages since I've had an encode error. Chapter points would be useful for USB videos but I suppose I could include a file with timecodes of each segment, so they could jump to that rather than make random leaps.

Re: One disc or two
 

I really cannot see any difference between having say, 20 individual clips encoded onto a DVD as opposed to one long clip with chapters. When the viewer clicks on a menu chapter it still jumps to a specific point in the video so for me there is no viewing difference ...Especially on a DVD the individual MPEG2 files are all compiled onto one VOB file that would, in my case, contain 10 clips and they play seamlessly as if they are one clip with a standard cut between events. I would rather render each section out on it's own and then instead of trying to locate chapter points I just point the menu to a start of a clip and I know it will be accurate. I guess we all work differently but I have always done it that way and never had a complaint from a bride either.

Having individual clips on the USB then makes an "automatic" menu on the TV or computer/media player so the bride can jump to something like "father of the bride" speech very easily. It's much the same as having a music album on a USB with 20 song tracks and you can choose what you listen to or let the player play them all.

Arthur, you can also get nice HTML video players online that you can copy to the USB and it can have thumbnail images of each section of the wedding with a description of the event but again you do need individual clips to do this.

Re: One disc or two
 

Well it depends how your video is structured. I use music in mine and this tends to run into the next section. Do you break up the Ceremony and Speeches. I suppose there are natural fade out and in points. However to me that implies something has been cut. Or do you not fade out at the end of each clip.

It's seems as if you tackle the filming and the editing as a selection of short clips to be either played together or separately. I see my finished video as one thing to be played. The video flows from each moment to the next. Music fading out as the speeches start for example. The old J and L cuts. Sure I give chapters to allow a section to be chosen, if needed. Most I think view the video as one. To be honest I hated it when layer changes use to pause the video before carrying on, although not much of an issue these days. I rarely use the fade to black transition in the middle of the video. Just my own personal preference.

Re: One disc or two
 

I tend to split my usb files at the same place that I put chapters on the DVD. It can vary on the type of wedding, but typically at the end of the preps, then arrivals of guests at the venue or church, arrival of bride and ceremony, photos at church or groups at venue, general reception shots, speeches, first dance etc, end credits and highlights.

The only difference with the USB being that I save each section as a separate file with a fade in and out. They are also numbered sequentially as Chris said, to allow continuous playback on USB and/or jumping to the required file depending on what the player is capable of.

Roger

Re: One disc or two
 

Aha Steve .. I see your point if you are using music throughout the wedding video. I do use music start to end on my highlight but the main wedding video will definitely have places where I only use ambient sound. Bridal prep usually has a music backtrack and I will also use the same song faded up and down into the arrival clip ..However our video guestbook, table sequences, speeches etc etc (so most of the reception before the dancing) will only have ambient background music that the DJ might be playing.

Surely you don't put music behind the speeches and such events?? or maybe I'm wrong?? We all work in different ways and produce a different result too in various parts of the world. Very interesting!!

Re: One disc or two
 

I just copy the MP4 files directly onto the USB sticks. So far no one has requested chapter markers. I actually stopped adding chapter markers to DVDs a couple of years ago and surprisingly nobody asked about them. I think it's one of those things that are great if they're included, but if they're not then it's unlikely the bride will think anything of it. Honestly, it's saved me SOOO much time to just export as MP4, copy to USB, and ship to the bride.

Re: One disc or two
 

Good grief no, Speeches, Ceremony, 1st Dance all have their audio without music overlaid. Music from the previous section often merges into the start, so say the last 10 seconds of a song will be heard as the toastmaster announces the Speeches. Other sections of the day are a mix of music only and music overlaying ambient audio, such as confetti throwing, Bride and Groom entrance to the Reception and throwing the bouquet. Occasionally I'll have a small section with ambient sound, though sometimes the Bride asks to replace it with music.

I could easily split up the video into sections, but I prefer my finished video to have each section flow into the next, using the J and L cuts. Purely my preference of course.

Re: One disc or two
 

On my discs I give them Ceremony, Speeches and First Dance as separate chapters with ambient audio, exactly as it happened, but for the highlights film (also a separate chapter) I use edited sequences from the ceremony (vows and ring exchange) and from the speeches I just use the personal bits. Over these I very faintly dub an instrumental audio track to keep the highlights film a little cinematic compared to the other chapters that are 'as it happened'

Pete

Re: One disc or two
 

On a side note: more discs will have them thinking they are getting more for their money. Sad yet true.

Andrew