a newbie's view and questions (finally i can post) !!!

[shalow]

Ok. I read everything i could about analogue to dvd conversion subjects, faq's and forum posts (thanks to this 5 days to post feature).

Now, here are some of the questions i had in mind :

-All color space outputs from (vhs recorders, camcorders, dvd recorders, readers, etc) they are all in YCBCr format ? (i.e YUY2, YV2 ?)

-If capturing from dvd reader, why can't we capture in YV2 and stay with it throu the chain ? (I have yet to see a software that accepts YV2 as input).

-When I have to split the audio/video streams and encode them seperately. How do i keep them synced ? (the video has to be cut, effects, added, etc...etc...) the audio has to be cut the same way ? Or can we demux them after the CCE encoding of the video and then remux then after encoding the wav ?

-I had a question about the authoring... A lot of DVD authoring tools offer you to add transitions, effects... I see no other way of doing this then having to reencode the already perfectly coded CCE stream. Does this mean that if a person wants to add all these things, he should not encode with CCE but do it with the authoring tool ? And if so, is there an authoring tool WITH a CCE encoder ? (I heard it's the best).

-One last question, there are some authoring tools that do ALL of these steps seen in the guide... Capturing with huffy, then encoding, then authoring (like adobe premiere pro), then writing to a DVD. What do you guys think of such an alternative ? Are the codecs used the same ? And is it a good choice (beside the price of course) ?

Thank you all for your responses, I'm waiting for them patiently. :)

[Mac Sidewinder]

Hi Shalow and welcome to the forum!

-When I have to split the audio/video streams and encode them seperately. How do i keep them synced ? (the video has to be cut, effects, added, etc...etc...) the audio has to be cut the same way ? Or can we demux them after the CCE encoding of the video and then remux then after encoding the wav ?

If you perform all your editing THEN seperate your audio and video for encoding, your capture will stay in sync. For example, using vdub you edit your capture. Then save the audio as a wave file and save your video (with no audio) as a avi. Now you have both video and audio of the same length and are able to encode each seperately.

Mac

[shalow]

Originally posted by Mac Sidewinder
Hi Shalow and welcome to the forum!



If you perform all your editing THEN seperate your audio and video for encoding, your capture will stay in sync. For example, using vdub you edit your capture. Then save the audio as a wave file and save your video (with no audio) as a avi. Now you have both video and audio of the same length and are able to encode each seperately.

Mac

I thought I edited the movie with AVISYNTH witch feeded the edited frames directly to the CCE encoder...

I'm confused.

[Mac Sidewinder]

There are many ways to do what you want to do. What you are talking about is using avisynth to frame serv the video to cce for encoding. This is the normal way to encode video BUT you can use Virtualdub to edit the video (not encode, but to take out the unwanted parts and seperate the audio for encoding) THEN use avisynth to frame serve the video to cce for encoding. Encode the audio then mux both parts together with your favorite authoring tool. Have you taken a look at the Capture and Encoding guide (the sticky at the top of the page in this forum?) It is an excellent source.

Mac

[shalow]

will the edit in virtualdub be lossless ?

what about the other questions ?

[Mac Sidewinder]

If you edit in vdub and select the option "Direct Stream Copy" it will be lossless.

Mac

[trevlac]

Here are my opinions... freely given and worth every penny. :)


Originally posted by shalow

-All color space outputs from (vhs recorders, camcorders, dvd recorders, readers, etc) they are all in YCBCr format ? (i.e YUY2, YV2 ?)
Yes ... unless you have pro equipment. BTW: Technically, YCbCr, YUY2, YUV, YIQ ... are different things. But they are all Luma and chroma flavors.


-If capturing from dvd reader, why can't we capture in YV2 and stay with it throu the chain ? (I have yet to see a software that accepts YV2 as input).
Some SW does. But to see video, it has to be RGB. YUV is a transport colorspace (it trys to reduce the size). RGB is better for processing. YUV is faster. RGB is better Quality for lots of processing. {A bunch of people would not agree on the last point :) )


-When I have to split the audio/video streams and encode them seperately. How do i keep them synced ? (the video has to be cut, effects, added, etc...etc...) the audio has to be cut the same way ? Or can we demux them after the CCE encoding of the video and then remux then after encoding the wav ?
If they are in sync (no drift) .... you can re-sync them using most editors by eye. {nudge preview nudge preview }



-I had a question about the authoring... A lot of DVD authoring tools offer you to add transitions, effects... I see no other way of doing this then having to reencode the already perfectly coded CCE stream. Does this mean that if a person wants to add all these things, he should not encode with CCE but do it with the authoring tool ? And if so, is there an authoring tool WITH a CCE encoder ? (I heard it's the best).

Scene transitions should be done in an editor. Things like menu transitions would be nice to do in an authoring program.


-One last question, there are some authoring tools that do ALL of these steps seen in the guide... Capturing with huffy, then encoding, then authoring (like adobe premiere pro), then writing to a DVD. What do you guys think of such an alternative ? Are the codecs used the same ? And is it a good choice (beside the price of course) ?

I don't like all in ones because they limit you in some way.