MPEG Editing would be nice

[Anonymous]

I have been amazed at just how good VRD is at doing what it claims. Excellent stuff.

But from this user's perspective, VRD is sadly lacking in a most basic function of an MPEG editor - the ability to edit together multiple mpeg streams on a timeline.

Sure, VRD handles VOB's but that's not the same flexibility as being able to directly import mpg, mpeg, m2v or mpv extension mpeg files.

I recently made alterations to a film I made and rather than re-encode the whole 123min file, I only encoded the altered parts as m2v files. The plan was to take the existing (version 1) m2v, the new m2v clips (from version 2) and with a little bit of mpeg cutting and pasting, create a new mpeg timeline and save it as a single, new file.

Alas VRD could not achieve this, relatively (relative to mpeg editing), basic task.

To achieve the end, I had to rely on the software from the family of Great Uncle Bulgaria - and I'd rather have not on account of VRD being such excellent value for money and having 5-star support; and the software from Wimbledon Common being far from reliable.

But use it I did and, luckily, the plan worked. I now have a new DVD version of my film safely authored and burned.

So I suppose the obvious question must then be, are there plans to elevate VRD to the next level of flexibility by way of inclusion of wider-ranging editing capabilites, finally shaking off the spectre of the furry competitor in the process?

Don't mind paying extra for this of course.

cheers.

 

[Anonymous]

Have just read another thread (http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=1108) which answers the question.

Brilliant stuff.

VRD just gets better.

 

[laserfan]

...But from this user's perspective, VRD is sadly lacking in a most basic function of an MPEG editor - the ability to edit together multiple mpeg streams on a timeline...

Ghest you "had me" with this statement, but then you gave it up in favor of (only) the ability to wor w/elementary streams?

I was initially impressed with NeroVision Express 3.0, which has a timeline and allows for all manner of audio/video manipulation especially special-effects & transitions. Only problem with NVE, it doesn't work!!! Or at least seemed buggy as heck when I tried it a few months ago.

Anyway I could get excited about a future VRD++ that has a timeline and includes transition effects.

 

[Anonymous]

...But from this user's perspective, VRD is sadly lacking in a most basic function of an MPEG editor - the ability to edit together multiple mpeg streams on a timeline...

Ghest you "had me" with this statement, but then you gave it up in favor of (only) the ability to wor w/elementary streams?

I was initially impressed with NeroVision Express 3.0, which has a timeline and allows for all manner of audio/video manipulation especially special-effects & transitions. Only problem with NVE, it doesn't work!!! Or at least seemed buggy as heck when I tried it a few months ago.

Anyway I could get excited about a future VRD++ that has a timeline and includes transition effects.

Personally, I have never had a requirement for transition effects hence not mentioning it in my initial post. As such a feature is more complicated an ask than simple joining, perhaps a timeline based elementary-stream joiner first with later refining to include transitions.

Here's hoping.

 

[laserfan]

Yeah, it seems these guys follow-through on their statements though so I think we can expect such enhancements in due time...

 

[Anole]

somewhat confused

I'm a little unclear on the original intent.
No, VRD doesn't have a timeline you can paste things onto...
But, as for the tasks you described, I think I could manage using only VRD.
The phrase "re-encode 123 minutes" of video doesn't make much sense, either.
If you meant to re-author, that I would have to do, but it would be done in 10 or 20 minutes, using DVD Labs.
Assuming all your pieces, including the modified segment, were in mpg format, VRD would happily join them.
That's one of its features.
(Well, they'd have to be the same format, but that's a given.)
Then if you wanted to output an mpg (or in my case mpa/mpv) files for authoring, that would be quick and easy.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: somewhat confused

...The phrase "re-encode 123 minutes" of video doesn't make much sense, either.

Take yourself out of the VRD domain and place yourself in the realm of a desktop video editor where one edits together one's own films (perhaps made of of camcorder footage).

When the editing is finished, the timeline is encoded as a dvd-compliant mpeg2 file for subsequent authoring in a dvd-authoring programme.

VRD is not involved in this process.

Several months later, a change to the film is required (an addition). The long-handed way to get this new version with extra footage onto DVD is to repeat the process of encoding the complete film as a dvd-compliant mpeg2 file - a process which, on my computer at least, takes at least 18 hours (CCE, 2-pass VBR with vaf pass).

However, there is a shortcut which utilises an MPEG editing package. The shortcut involves encoding only the new parts of the new version of the programme. It takes significantly less time to encode the three or four minutes of new segment(s) than re-encoding the entire two-hour timeline.

At the end of the shortcut encode, I have a single mpeg2 clip comprising only the new footage.

I then extract the original version video stream from the existing DVD.

These two mpeg2 files can now be married together, by way of simple cut & paste, in an MPEG editor that allows adding multiple elementary mpeg streams to its timeline.

Once the cutting & pasting of new segments into the existing version is complete, the new mpeg editor timeline is saved as a new combined mpg. This new mpeg can now be imported into a DVD-authoring package and a new DVD created.

The point I was making is that VRD does not allow the rudimentary timeline-based mpeg editing required to achieve the above outcome. For that, I have to use Womble MPEG Editor.

It seems to me that in order for VRD to be a flexible, fully-rounded MPEG editor, it needs to offer the type of editing mentioned above.

VRD does everything that it currently does flawlessly and I'm sure that if timeline-based editing of multiple streams were to be accommodated, VRD would perform just as flawlessly.

If you meant to re-author, that I would have to do, but it would be done in 10 or 20 minutes, using DVD Labs.
Assuming all your pieces, including the modified segment, were in mpg format, VRD would happily join them.
That's one of its features.

Just in case it wasn't made clear, joining of files is not the issue but cutting & pasting (i.e. re-arranging of segments) is.

Perhaps I'm missing a huge feature of VRD.

cheers.

 

[Anonymous]

Whoops, one thing I didn't make clear was that the editing involves inserting various new segments into different parts of the 'old' mpeg2 stream and not just tacking the stream containing the new footage onto the end of the old stream.

cheers.

 

[Anole]

yea, more power !

Let me first say that whatever feature you wish to see in VideoReDo, I would like to see, too.
It would become an even more outstanding tool!

I can imagine some third person reading our discussion, saying "those two guys are saying the same thing!".

Okay, here is how I would go about the task, as I understand it.
Likely, I do not understand it fully, or it wouldn't seem so simple to me.

Some pieces of the old video need to be removed, and some new pieces need to be inserted.
Prepare all the inserts as stand-alone .mpg files, rendered any way you like.
I'm assuming this would be a relatively trivial exercise.
Let's say we just have: insert Z to work with.
Whether there is lead-in and lead-out on insert Z or not is unimportant!

The existing DVD has several VOB files.
Those can be extracted (see the FAQ/help files) and made into one large .mpg file.
Only a few minutes are required, mostly determined by your drive speed.

Walk through the large mpg, looking for scenes to delete and delete them.
If there is just one cut and insert (simplistic case), the file might look like this:
|<-----file A----->|<---delete---->|<-----file B------->|
VideoReDo is capable of writing out file A and file B
Slop at the end of file A or at the beginning of file B are of no consequence!

Using the Join feature, reassemble as such:
|<-----file A----->||||<---insert Z---->||||<-----file B------->|
Now you can preview, review, and touch up your new video.

Let's say that the |||| above represents garbage between the required sections.
It's trivial to fine-edit at this point, deleting the extra video.
You would then have:
|<-----file A----->|<---insert Z---->|<-----file B------->|

Write it out in a format compatable with your authoring program.
For DVD Labs, I could write it as one .mpg file, but since DVDL likes to disassemble into .mpa and .mpv files, I would have VideoReDo write out the required .mpa and .mpv files.
Time required is hardly more than the time to copy the files, and fast drives are a must.
DVD Labs would put it all back together, including any menu/graphic/tricks I need, making my new DVD image.
I don't know the size of your movie, nor the speed of your computer or drives, but if the running time were around two hours, I could be through with authoring and ready to burn in probably 20 minutes.

Obviously, I've missed something, but... other than sheer ease of use by dropping videos onto a time line, what else did you want?
And I'm all for your drag 'n drop feature, yes, absolutely!
.