[WillieKay12]

Windows XP...I'm a high school football coach having trouble editing DVDs. I get DVDs of games sent to us from other schools shot by them on Mini DV. I then download them onto my PC. The quality is excellent on the original DVD. After downloading, I edit them and burn the edited version back on to DVD. However, the viewing quality i'm getting back on the burned disc is very poor. I use "Easy DVD to DivX Converter" to download my DVDs onto my PC. The output format options it gives me are: video CD(MPEG 1), super video cd (MPEG 2), and DivX,AVI,etc. (MPEG 4). But it only lets me chose the output format to be DivX,AVI, etc. (MPEG 4). Once, downloaded, I use Pinnacle Studio 11 to edit and burn back on to DVD. What can i do to improve the quality?

[fairnooks]

Too many transcodings going on for one thing, during any one of which, some to a lot of quality may be lost.

I would try just copying the .vob files from the DVDs and then change the extension from .vob to .mpg and open them directly into Pinnacle Studio 11 for editing. I use Studio 11 and that works well for me.

Then depending on the length of the video to be made; Pinnacle goes by time cutoff I think so you can choose 60 minutes (full quality), 90 minutes, 120 minues and 150 right? Well if you can get just under any of those time breaks that will make for the highest possble bitrate and therefore highest quality.

There are a few other tweaks and options possible but not converting to an intermeadiate format before importing into Studio 11 should help the most.

[WillieKay12]

Thanks for the response...I inserted the DVD and the file that came up was labeled VIDEO_TS. I opened it up and there were 8 separate files. 1) VIDEO_TS.BUP 2) MPEG File 3) VIDEO_TS.VOB 4) BUP File 5) MPEG File 6) VTS_01_1.VOB 7) VTS_01_2.VOB 8) VTS_01_3.VOB. When i tried to rename one of the .vob files to .mpg, an error message popped up that read: Cannot rename VTS_01_3: Files on this CD are read-only. You can still copy new files to this writable CD, which will replace files already on the disc.

[fairnooks]

You missed the copy the .vob files from the DVD part. You can't rename files on a CD or DVD but you can after they are copied onto a hard drive.

Chage the view on those 8 files to details and see what the size is of each (larger ones are your main video files). The .vob files are the video files and I'm not sure about the mpeg file, if that is the raw footage taken before conversion to .vob structure, use those, otherwise change the extension of the .vob files as mentioned earlier and use them.

[WillieKay12]

i copied one dvd disc that way and it workded perfectly. the whole file came over and the quality was excellent just as you said it would be. but the next 2 didn't work out so well. i copied the files over to the hard drive from the dvd. changed the .vob to .mpg. the size of the copied files matched the original sizes...about 1,500,000 kb, but when i opened them up in pinnacle, the entire 3 mpeg video video files amounted to about 2 little 3 second clips. i tried it on a second dvd and the same thing happened. i did copy the little clips just to see if the quality was good. it was excellent. but i still don't know why the files aren't able to be opened in pinnacle in their entire size. i also opened up the mpeg files with windows media player just to see and those files didn't work right either.

[fairnooks]

Hmmm, are you fully updated to version 11.1.0.5219 or later? Try deleting any old Auxiliary files or project files (File>Delete Project files.... and File>Delete Auxiliary files...) and close and reopen (maybe even reboot the system) Studio between importing to Studio 11. If you still get the blue exclamation mark (or is it question mark?) where the thumbnail image of the video should be then there's something about the .vob files that Studio can't interpret correctly. You also might need a MPEG-2 decoder to properly view the files in Media player but I was under the impression that you didn't need it in Studio (just for the divx-avi and MPEG4 you do). Studio also like to have a lot of ram and lots of disc space and a well above average video card to use when it works so if your's is a little small or "crowded" or average or below, that might also be causing some of these problems.

Anyway, if cleaning out Pinnacles Caches and restarting fresh projects doesn't work then you probably will have to convert the files before opening in Studio. Look for an export option of DV-AVI as this will retain as much quality as possible and should work fine loading into Studio.

The renaming trick almost always works (can't remember the last time it didn't) for me, I wouldn't imaine there is any kind of copy protection put on the discs you are using. Good luck, hopefully the "rejuv" methods will work.

[WillieKay12]

i just got to say thank you for taking the time to hook me up. unfortunately i haven't quite got over that last hurdle just yet. i downlowded the 11.1.2, deleted all the project and auxillary files, re-booted the system and unfortunately, i got the same outcome. And yes, it was a blue exclamation mark.

i've heard as well, that an mpeg decoder is what might be needed .

the ram space shouldn't be a problem. i have 750 GB with only about 100 GB used up.

So as far as what you mentioned about converting the files before re-opening in Studio...i've been copying the DVD files and placing them in a My Documents folder. i then rename the .vob files to .mpg. i then open up Studio to open them. and it's during that scene detection where the blue exclamation mark comes up or the open files has maybe a couple of 2 or 3 second clips.

also, What do you mean when you say that the files have to be converted before opening Pinnacle. i thought that was what i was doing...converting them from .vob to .mpg. do they need to be converted to something else? Sorry, but i have just enough knowledge on this stuff to look like an idiot...and not be able to do anything about it.

where would the export option be?

i also tried to import the files after copying them into a my docs folder by going through studio...but an error message popped up saying: Copy protected, locked or cannot be read by Studio. the paritcular dvd's i'm working with are actually NFL team game video. Though i wouldn't think it has copy protection on it, but i'll find out.


Thank you again for taking the time,

[fairnooks]

My use of the word export would be the same as your use of output, meaning the in-between format you were making from the original DVD and then opening in Studio. Convert means the same thing...going from the DVD files to DV-Avi format which Studio can readily understand and edit. If you try to open the same renamed vob file in Windows Movie Maker does it fail as well? If not you might be able to convert to DV-Avi using that program.

I looked up the converter you said you were using and I think I found it. You don't want Mpeg-1 or SVCD as your in-between format because you loose too much quality. For Divx it would depend on the quality you can choose to output from the converter program and the divx-avi format may not be fully compatible with Studio.

I still wonder if there's something non-standard about the original files because the rename trick works fine for me in both WMM and Studio. Either that or not enough RAM or an underpowered video card...??

[WillieKay12]

all that in between formatting...going from .vob to dv-avi is i think where i was losing all that quality that you pointed out. but you're right, Studio has no problem recognizing that format (divix-avi). it's just that the picture quality is poor when it finally gets burned back on to a disc.

and yes...opening the renamed vob file in Windows Media Player (i don't know about Windows Movie Maker) still fails. but interestingly, i just opened all three files in Power DVD and they played perfectly. so does that mean that there at least isn't a lock or copy protection on the dvd?

i also just tried to open the mpg files back up in Studio, thinking that being able to open them up in Power DVD might have unlocked them somehow, but all it did was freeze the computer.

and the Easy DVD to Divx converter you said you were able to locate only lets me convert the vob files to dv-avi, which was the in between formatting where i thought i might be losing the picture quality origninally. That was my original thought was that one of the other "output formats" other than DV-AVI (that's what it's called in the program) might produce a better quality DVD.

so do you think i need a separate decoder (if that's the right term??) that would help make the format fully compatible with Studio?

Which brings me to another couple of points...you would think that Studio could perform this job of taking vob files and converting them directly into whatever format it would need to produce a quality exported DVD. but i haven't figured out a way to do it.

Also, i am not able to directly burn my edited AVI files to disc through Studio. so i have been burning my Studio AVI projects to disc with Nero Vision Essentials. do you know why Studio would be having that problem? or do you think the three of these issues are all related?

with the ram i said that was available (about 650 gb) do you think that could still be the issue? and i don't exactly know the video card specs...although i had this computer made for editing and storing video. that's why so much ram. how would i know what the video card is?

[fairnooks]

So you can't burn a working DVD with just Studio if I'm understanding correctly, no matter what the project is (yet another conversion/handoff to Nero). That would seem to indicate there is something corrupted or missing from Studio, possibly centered around the MPEG-2 codec.

Going from Edit mode to Make Movie mode, can you choose MPEG-2 DVD compatible as the output file type instead of AVI and does it work if you can? If not that's at least the main problem in Studio, if you can then I still think there must be problem with Studio because it should produce finished DVDs without too much trouble but the program might need to be reinstalled or possibly contact Pinnacle support.

In the meantime or barring resolution, instead of using the Easy DVD to Divx converter, you should give AutoGK (http://www.autogk.me.uk/) a try, which is actually a little suite of programs that do an excellent job of converting vob files to either Divx or Xvid avi. In your case since you want the highest quality possible to open and edit in Studio you'd set it to 100% and you should see no drop in quality at all. Still each render, from .vob to divx or xvid-avi to DV-avi and finally to MPEG-2 DVD with Nero is going to take just a little nick out of the quality. If you can output from Studio in MGEG-2 DVD compatible that should save one render cycle as Nero can just copy the files into the DVD structure instead of conveting them from avi. There might be a setting in Nero though that tells it not to re-render DVD compatible files but that also only works for DVDs under 90 minutes or some such if its going on one single layer DVD (otherwise the files have to be rendered again to fit on the DVD).

Good luck, sounds like Studio isn't performing the way it should but from a distance with no hands on its dificult to be sure so take the advice with that grain of salt. AutoGK is more than solid though

[WillieKay12]

turns out...all this was due to pilot error. i'm such a rookie. i apologize for wasting your time. as it turns out, i could have been importing dvds all along through Studio. i had origninally had someone help me out who didn't really know studio and determined that i needed another import vehicle. in any event, it now works fine.

in addition, the reason it wasn't exporting to dvd was because in "make movie" mode i must have had it in file mode not disc...that's why the "burn to disc" option was always dormant.

Sorry about all this. it must drive you crazy to have to deal with beginners...

anyway, thanks again for your efforts.

[fairnooks]

No worries. Studio 11 is a very powerful, all in one video manipulation software program BUT, it can also be a bit more buggy than other video editing programs I've used so it can be a little hard to determine if the user just isn't taking advantage of everything availible or if the program isn't behaving quite as it should.

So its Pinnacle that should have a more stable product, and to thier credit 11 is better than 10 which was WAY better than 9 and 8, but it still has a ways to go before its as stable as Premiere Elements for example.

You'll notice that Studio imports the DVD title as a .mpg file too so it doesn't take long to figure out where I came up with my change the extension trick.

You should be able to maintain much better quality now and be very streamlined as well instead of the rendering/trancoding pain you were putting up with.