Can someone explain the Tsunami product line?

[HappyFunBoater]

I'm feeling overwhelmed. I've been reading this forum and other for several months and trying various free encoders, transoders, editors, etc. Just when I think I'm starting to catch on I come across new terms, programs and methods for doing these functions. And everyone has a strong opinion on the right way to do things. And I'm tired of using 10 different programs to just accomplish one task. And I'm tired of hunting down versions of those 10 programs that will play together. Like I said, I'm feeling overwhelmed.

So after reading some of the comments for or against, I decided that I will purchase some of the Tsunami products. Egads. All of their programs overlap with various functionality. And they list both new and old programs. And there seems to be two difference companies - Pegasus and Tsunami. I just want to give someone money. It shouldn't be this hard.

So I'm hoping that I can explain what I want to do, and someone here can give me some guidance. Maybe Tsunami is a bad choice.

I want to convert AVIs to MPG1 and MPG2, output to VCD, SVCD or DVD. I want to combine multiple AVIs or MPGs into one disk with menus. I want to edit MPGs. I want to clean up poor videos I'm importing from VHS. I want the quality to be as high as reasonable without spending too much. I want to be able to use the software from Day One without taking a video class, but I still want it to be advanced enough to do things I haven't even thought of. Mostly I just want it all to work.

Given all that, I have questions about the Tsunami products.

Are Xpress and DVD Source Creator just two GUIs that execute TMPGEnc Plus? Or do they have additional functionality that you can't get with TMPGEnc? Do they all use the same encoder? The Tsunami website implies that Xpress has a better encoder.

Is DVD Author Pro just DVD Author with dual-level support? It seems that these apps only prepare MPGs for writing to the disk and there is no encoding, just transcoding. Does DVD Source Creator also write to the disk?

DVD Author Pro has MPG editting capability, so do I not need MPG Editor?

It seems that DVD Author Pro and Xpress are the only two apps that I need. Editor and AC3 support are built into DVD Author Pro. And Xpress contains TMPGEnc.

I've downloaded all the trial versions and have started using some of them, but being such a newb I'm not sure I'm seeing the big picture.

Thanks.

[CWR03]

There are a few all-in-one products out there - I use AIMOne Video Converter a lot, which will do most of what you listed, but I don't believe there is one all-inclusive product that can do them all in the best possible quality. I use several different programs for various tasks after trying many and deciding which gives the best output for the given project, whether it's TV capturing, DVD ripping or even just reducing the file size of a funny e-mail video clip. The "big picture" I'm getting at is how much effort you're willing to put into your project and what outcome you'd expect from the work. The overwhelming stuff can be learned, and the results can be worth the effort. I've found that the easier a program is, the less I can expect from it.

[HappyFunBoater]

I haven't heard of AIMOne so I went to their website. It looks like they convert between the various formats, so I guess it's similar to Tsunami Xpress Converter. But I don't see about editing or creating DVDs. What software do you use for those functions?

[feedback]

You may want to give Ulead VideoStudio 9 located Here (http://www.ulead.com/runme_ns.htm) a look. They have a shareware version so you can try before you buy.

Regards,:)

[Video Dude]

Are Xpress and DVD Source Creator just two GUIs that execute TMPGEnc Plus? Or do they have additional functionality that you can't get with TMPGEnc? Do they all use the same encoder? The Tsunami website implies that Xpress has a better encoder.Xpress is version 3 of the encoder. TMPGEnc Plus is version 2.5. DVD Source Creator is in the middle.



DVD Author Pro has MPG editting capability, so do I not need MPG Editor?Only if you want to output edited MPEGs.

[HappyFunBoater]

Regarding MPG editing, yes, I see what you mean now, Video Dude. I was excited to see that I could edit MPGs in DVD Author Pro, but then I spent several minutes trying to figure out how to save them. I guess you can't.

BTW, I was only able cut pieces out of an MPG or combine multiple MPGs. I didn't see a way to divide an MPG. For example, if I wanted to split a big MPG into 10 pieces, I apparently have to make 10 copies of the file and them cut out 90% of each file. Yuck. Is there a better way?