Importing video from multiple DVDs

dfred wrote on 2/17/2008, 8:09 PM
My goal is to take video from several DVDs, edit that into a combined video. Here's what I've done thus far:

I loaded video from what we'll call DVD 1. Saved it, edited, then inserted DVD 2. The video from DVD 1 disappeared.

Went to Plan B - I loaded video from DVD1, saved, edited, then rendered it to my hard drive.

I loaded the video from the hard drive, inserted DVD 2 and drag/dropped video from DVD 2 into the timeline. I edited and saved that video, too. I started to render; however, the time became so long (nearly 2 hours for a 6 minute video) that I shut down the program because it seemed like an extreme amount of time, given how quickly I can render an hour loaded from my DV Camcorder.

Started all over again - opened the file and all the video from DVD 1 is now listed as "Media Offline." But my edited video from DVD 2 is still preserved.

I have two questions: First, can someone tell me if what I am attempting to do can be done in Vegas Movie Studio 6.0?

Second, if it can be done with Movie Studio 6.0, is there a more efficient way of doing this? I read somewhere in the help that nesting can only be done with the full version. Should I be nesting?

I realize that if this project is doable in this program, that it will take me weeks, if not months, to complete. I am certainly willing to put in the time but need to know before I time loading & reloading video, only to have it keep disappearing.

Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 2/17/2008, 8:33 PM
"Loaded video from the DVD" ... how did you do that? Did you use the File / Import / DVD camcorder disc function? If so, Vegas stored the files on your hard drive while doing that. It would have prompted you for the location to store them. They're still there. You can do this with as many DVDs as you wish. Then start a new project and add those imported files to the timeline from the explorer window.

Most any other method you use will be similar as part of the process will be moving the files from the DVD to the hard drive in some fashion.

Working with MPEG files is very slow in Vegas. I would suggest that the first step after importing is to render the sections you want to new DV .avi files, then create your project using those DV files instead of the imported MPEG files.
dfred wrote on 2/18/2008, 6:33 AM
Thank you very much for the help/feedback. I think I've got it but will give an update just in case I'm missing something else.

About half of my DVDs were made with Sony's Click to DVD program on an older computer I had. They were created from VHS tapes. The other half was loaded directly from the DV camera into Sony Vegas.

After reading more forums, someone said save the files to the hard drive first. I believe this is the step I was missing. I put a DVD in the drive, opened Sony Vegas and selected the video directly from the DVD. By not saving it to my hard drive, once I removed the DVD from the computer, the source file was also removed.

As for my other question about the files on each DVD having the same name, I think I fixed that, too. Since I am making a movie that I want in chronological order (it's for a party), I create a folder that corresponds to each DVD. First one might be "1990, Summer Vacation." Then I copy the VOB files from the DVD to that folder on my hard drive.

After copying several DVDs in this manner, I opened Sony Vegas and imported a clip from one DVD, edited, saved. Then I moved on to another folder, imported the clip from that and so on.

To be sure it's saving (and my source video is not disapearing as it did when I took the DVD out of the computer), I saved the file, closed Vegas and all other windows, removed the DVD from the drive, reopened the program and my edited movie was there.

This is making more sense. But I still need some assistance.

I do not have enough room on my hard drive to copy VOB files from all of my DVDs (about 100 of them). I'm trying to find the most efficient way to save the video to the hard drive before I create the project. Would I:
1 - save all video to the hard drive then import it into the project media? or...
2 - import it all directly into the project media? I believe it needs to be saved to the hard drive first, or it might not appear once the DVD is removed. Is this correct?

Next, should I split my project into two DVDs or would it make more sense to edit each individual VOB file to eliminate the video I won't need/use in this project? Would I import and edit each individual clip and save with another name then delete the original source file (which is stored on my hard drive)?

I hope this is making sense. What I'd like to do is copy video from all of my DVDs onto the hard drive then create the project. I have an external hard drive, which will allow a lot more storage; however, I'm just not sure the best way to do this. I have approximately 100 DVDs, all from home movies so no copyright concerns. As best as i can figure, I can load about 50 onto the main hard drive. I'm afraid that if I load the remainder onto the external hard drive that they won't show up in the project, which is what happened when I tried working directly from the DVD.

I do have one more question. I notice you suggest to import to the hard drive then render the sections I want to new DV .avi files. Let me see if I am understanding this correctly - move file from DVD to hard drive, import into Sony Vegas, then render. But do I execute a "render as" and save it as a specific file type? Would this mean I would open, say, a file called VTS 01, and render that file then move on to VTS 02, and so forth, rendering each file as soon as it is imported?

I just loaded my project, which is thus far about 4 minutes. I click on "render as" and see that I can select "Video for Windows (*.avi) . I guess what I'm asking is whether I need to render each individual VOB file into Vegas separately or whether I should render the entire project periodically as I'm creating it.

Thanks again for the help. I'm still a beginner when it comes to all this stuff yet I know there is a way to do the project - and have it turn out halfway decent. Again, any guidance or feedback would be greatly appreciated.