It is a feature common in low-end applications, but not in "professional" applications (like DVDA). The reason is that no professional would want to make the compromises involved, not only in the quality of the real-time encode, but also in the simple-minded automatic menus that are usually attached.

Having said that, I have watched lots of DVDs made on DVD recorders or with direct to DVD technology available in these other low-end DVD authoring applications, and they are quite watchable, and the menus are certainly adequate to the task.

If I were queen for a day (really old game show reference, for those under 50 -- just so you don't get confused by what I really mean), I'd have Sony put this feature into DVDA, even though it is a "consumer" feature because, by gosh, by golly, it is pretty darned useful in some situations. It could save a lot of time, and would be extremely useful for simple projects. Also, it would lead them quickly to another feature that could be useful, namely the ability to put a different menu onto the existing navigation. Wouldn't it be great to be able to take an existing DVD that you did six months ago, and for which you no longer have the DAR file, and then attach a different menu with different buttons so you could customize it for a different client? The underlying program material (the VOB files) would be identical, as would the navigation. All that would change would be the menu graphics.

But, no one is going to make me queen, even for a day.

Thanks guys!

I've got a musician that wants to pick cuts from a 2 hour show. it was a 3 camera shoot and obviously I don't want to edit the 3 cameras now which would be about 15 different songs.

So I just thought I could give him the wide angle shot and have him pick from that.

With DVD a what is my quickest path to get this simple task done?

If this is a low end feature then it should be simple for DVD a to implement.

For the quickest way to get it done now, I'd suggest checking out the trial of the latest Nero Pkg. The downside is you *might* wind up playing with the encoded audio & video if you have no control over the player used.

Capturing direct to DVD often involves a special format &/or structure. Nero 6.6 uses DVD VR, as do many DVDRs - often depending on the type of blank used. Some DVDRs record straight into a std. DVD format, again sometimes depending on the type of blank used. Either way compatibility is normally less than stellar -- why I suggested you may need to grab the encoded content to your hdd & create a regular DVD from it if you couldn't guarantee playback by providing the player.

TImewise there are advantages to a stand-a-lone DVDR not tying up a PC. Otherwise if you have to grab the content, create a DVD layout, then burn, don't really see you saving anything over traditional import into Vegas & encode. Remember that most PC DVD drives are speed locked to discourage copying, so grabbing encoded video can take a while.

Another alternative that you might be able to use if you have a capture card is to just capture to MPEG2 and then author that in DVDA. It's not quite a direct to DVD option, but it skips the lengthy encoding process. I do this all the time with TV programs. I cut the resulting MPEG2 in Vegas 7, export the EDL to Womble (there is a neat utility that does this). Womble cuts the MPEG without loss (and does it in a matter of 2-3 minutes). The resulting MPEG2 goes into DVDA and I the press a button and author and burn in one step.

John, MPM thank you for your advice!

Much appreciated!

JW

I cut the resulting MPEG2 in Vegas 7, export the EDL to Womble (there is a neat utility that does this).

I downloaded that tool, also, and tried it out. It's neat, but I wonder -- what is the advantage in doing the editing in Vegas, given that (as far as I can tell), you're pretty much limited to one timeline for this method, and you can really only do cuts. What's the advantage over just doing your editing in Womble? (I'm sure there is one or more, I just haven't figured it out yet.)

Probably should've asked this sooner, given that I just edited about half a dozen files in Womble.

Rob

What's the advantage over just doing your editing in Womble?

1. Vegas has much more sophisticated editing tools, even for cuts only. Now that MPEG editing in Vegas 7 is faster, you can do cuts-only faster in Vegas than Womble. This is especially important if you are rearranging the order of the clips, something that is harder to do in Womble.

2. You can put markers on the Vegas timeline and export them to DVDA (using a script) so that you can easily get chapter markers for your final DVD.

3. You can edit the audio in DVDA (levels, and other cleanup), render that to a new file, and then export to Womble. Thus, you can have all of Vegas' audio editing features available.

If you can get away with cutting on I frames, Project X is a quick & free alternative to the Womble products that will also handle ac3. Cuttermaran is another free alternative that, like Womble, will encode the nec frames surrounding a non-I frame cut.

*If* you've got the time, capturing mpg2 at higher than DVD bit rates works well too... DGIndex & VFAPI to Vegas for edit and re-encode to DVD spec. One advantage is you can tailor your bit rate to fill the DVD. Another is that the result *may* be more compatible in DVD players.