Editing video from a DVD source

[pojke]

How do you do it?

For example, you have a DVD of a wedding. Later, the bride wants to take her promise to "obey" out of the video. How do you go about getting the DVD in a form suitable for editing so that you can snip that scene out? I hope to use Premiere 6.5, but will consider anything. Note: I'm not looking for instructions on using Premiere, just on how to get it into the right form to be edited. As it is, I have 3 separate rips: an ISO, an IFO, and a File rip (all from DVD Decrypter). Also, I don't care about menus; it's OK if they're removed or not.

Once it's edited, can it be put back on a DVD without loss of quality? (size is less than 4gb)

I'm trying to learn as much as I can here and have spent a lot of time reading the guides and have successfully created an Xvid DivX from a DVD, but I haven't seen a guide or instructions about editing when the source is DVD.

BTW, I tried loading the DivX .avi into Premiere but it didn't seem to work. That's not the way I want to do it anyway since the avi has already been compressed.... with its resulting loss in quality.

[Dimmer]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Basic facts in your case:
- DVD video uses MPEG-2 format;
- You have to re-author the DVD to make this kind of changes.

You should try TMPGEnc DVD Author (http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html) - very reliable and easy to use. It allows you to import tracks from a DVD (actual disc or a file rip), cut out whatever you want, and burn a new disc. There is a choice to create new menus if needed, chapters, etc. It won't affect the original video quality.

[pojke]

Thanks for the info and the welcome.

I tried TMPGEnc DVD Author and it worked! :) I was able to use the Cut function to accomplish (mostly) what I wanted to do with this video. It seems to have created a lossless edited version of the DVD (though without the original chapters).

Some issues though: The transitions where the cuts were made weren't exactly smooth. The edit window doesn't allow you to listen to the audio, so making cuts based solely on video frames can leave you with abrupt audio changes that are not evident until you watch the remade DVD. Or did I miss something that would allow me to preview and undo?

Although TMPGEnc was sufficient for this particular video, I had hoped for something that would allow me to have a little more control over the editing. In order to have that, do I need to convert to another format first? That certainly seems to be the case for Premiere.

[Dimmer]

Originally posted by pojke
I tried TMPGEnc DVD Author and it worked! I was able to use the Cut function to accomplish (mostly) what I wanted to do with this video. It seems to have created a lossless edited version of the DVD (though without the original chapters).

Some issues though: The transitions where the cuts were made weren't exactly smooth. The edit window doesn't allow you to listen to the audio, so making cuts based solely on video frames can leave you with abrupt audio changes that are not evident until you watch the remade DVD. Or did I miss something that would allow me to preview and undo?

Although TMPGEnc was sufficient for this particular video, I had hoped for something that would allow me to have a little more control over the editing. In order to have that, do I need to convert to another format first? That certainly seems to be the case for Premiere. [/B]
When you import a DVD (Source Setup - Add DVD Video), it allows you to select a title, and then prompts if you want to keep the original chapters.

It would allow you to listen to PCM and MP2 sound. If the source DVD has AC-3 sound (Dolby Digital), you have to buy a plug-in, which comes without a trial period. Alternatively in case of AC-3 sound, you can demux it from the title with DVD Decrypter (IFO Mode - Stream Processing - select the stream - Demux), convert to .wav with BeSweet (see Download page), use it as a soundtrack while authoring, and then replace it back with the original AC-3 track before building the project.

If you want to have more control over editing in Premiere or other program, you have to demux the MPEG video stream, convert it to AVI, edit, and then re-encode to MPEG-2. Note that you will certainly lose video quality during re-encoding. In addition, it takes a lot of time (few times the length of the video on an average PC), and you won't know in advance the size of re-encoded video. There is also a whole lot of encoding options that you'll have to understand and set up properly.

[pojke]

Hmmm. I went through those steps and the chapter points are preserved, but the only menus that seem to be available are the ones you create yourself. Oh well. I'll experiment and maybe try it with another movie.

The sound is AC3, which means doing what I want will be more complicated than I'd like. Maybe the plugin is worth investigating.

For now I'm happy that I know about TMPGEnc and have gotten one issue solved. Thanks again.