Video Editing Help Desparately Needed

Patricks wrote on 6/21/2002, 8:19 PM

System:
Athlon 900
256 MB Ram
c: (Boot Drive)
K: 40 GB ATA100 (DVD Ripping, Video Editing, 30 GB Free)
Windows 2000 sp2 - NTFS

Question: What is the best procedure to accomplish a DVD to SVCD/VCD, allowing for me to edit the video (remove foul langauge) somewhere before burning and not lose quality by rendering multiple times. Also, what software will do that the best?

Goals:
1. To Rip a DVD to my hard drive.
1a. Currently using DVD2SVCD w/Tmpgenc (Tmpgenc MPEG2 just expired and I
do not have a registry key on my system that I can delete to allow
another 30 days (Read this on vcdhelp.com but my system doesn't have the
key they specified). I can not find any place to buy Tmpegenc.)
1b. Also tried DVD Decrypter, which works well, however, it leaves the files
as Vob's. What do I do with the files now?

2. Edit the video (I would like to remove the foul language)
2a. I purchased Video Factory 2.0c. I was able to edit one the output files
from the DVD2SVCD with VF20, however, I am unsure if the file I am
editing is the one that will eventually get burned as the SVCD/VSD. The
file is bbmpeg_muxed_fileXX.mpg.
(Regarding the MainConcept MPEG2 Plugin, is it now $99? I clicked
on the standard version and it still took me to professional
version which is $99. I have heard there is a $29 MPEG2 Plugin
available)

3. Convert to the necessary format to create the SVCD\VCD.

4. Burn to CD-Rom using Nero 5.5.7.8

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance...

Comments

discdude wrote on 6/21/2002, 9:03 PM

Hmmm. If foul language is your only problem, why don't you use TMPGEnc to extract a mp2 of the sound track (using TMPGEnc's "MPEG Tools"). Edit the sound track in Video Factory or equivalent by blanking the audio (in VF, just "cut" out the offending audio) - just make sure you don't change the length of the sound track to avoid sync problems. Then use TMPGEnc to remux the audio to the video. That way you don't ever recompress the video.

You could even use a low res "temp video" to help you edit in VF, just remember to render to wave in VF.

I don't know if this makes sense to you, just ask for clarification if I sound like I'm babbling.

***Edit*** Instead of cutting the audio, you could also use the rubber band volume control

Patricks wrote on 6/22/2002, 3:47 PM

Thanks for your reply!

I already have the mp2 from the rip I did with dvd2svcd. I am not sure how to remove the audio without cutting it, therefore, changing the length of the audio. Is there a way to simply overwrite/blank out the audio without cutting it in VF20?

Once this is accomplished (I have edited out the unwanted audio), Will I be able to join the audio and video together as an mpeg2? The tmpegenc 30 day trial expired. Someone said that I could delete the registry key and get another 30 days, however, the key they specified was not in the registry.

Eventually, I would like to be able to edit the audio & video (sex scenes) for other movies. Referring to my previous message, could you give me an idea how best to accomplish this.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions...

discdude wrote on 6/22/2002, 5:16 PM

From what I understood, the reason MPEG-2 encoding expires in TMPEnc is because of the royalty fees associated with MPEG-2. Because of the cost, you should't ever see any free MPEG-2 encoders. BTW, this is also why Microsoft doesn't include a MPEG-2 codec in Windows Media Player. However, the rejoining of audio and video shouldn't accure royalty penalties since nothing is re-encoded (in theory anyway). I would try to multiplex the A/V streams with your expired copy of TMPGEnc and see what happens.

If that doesn't work, TMPGEnc can be purchased from http://www.pegasys-inc.com/e_main.html for a hefty $48.

Cutting audio in VF is easy. I guess what makes it difficult for people new to VF is VF is so powerful that there is more than one to get what you want. In fact I can think 3 ways of blanking the audio. I'll just list what I think is the easiest way:

Just find the beginning of what you want to cut and press s (for split), go the end of what you want to cut and press s again. You have just isolated what you want to cut out. Click on it and press delete. More detail about this can be found in the VF 2 manual on page 44.

You can also use the method detailed on page 46 ("Delete Time Selection"), just make sure you turn OFF ripple edit (CTRL-L).

Furthermore, you could also use rubber band audio to mute the offending selection as well. This is harder to explain. In fact, I don't think it is in the manual. Search for "envelope" in the online help.

Unfortunately, because of interframe compression, editing with MPEG can never be lossless.

For now, play around with the method I described and see how you like it.

Kalvos wrote on 6/22/2002, 6:22 PM

What I don't understand -- and sorry for butting in -- is why, if I paid for the codec with VF, it doesn't work with my other apps and I have to buy it again (I've also got TMPGEnc). It doesn't show up in the multimedia control panel. What's up with that?

Dennis

discdude wrote on 6/22/2002, 6:47 PM

The only codecs that show up in the multimedia control panel are Video for Windows (VFW) codecs. Even though MPEG-1 files can be played back in the Windows Media Player, it is NOT a Video for Windows codec.

That is one reason why you can't use the MPEG plugin supplied with VF in other apps.

Most people would also be surprised to know that their machine has a MJPEG codec preloaded. You just can't see it in most apps because most apps use a VFW style interface while the MJPEG codec uses DirectShow. Bottom line is most video apps still use Video for Windows, so other (non-VFW) codecs can't be used with it.

p_l wrote on 6/22/2002, 7:49 PM

So this bring me to a couple of questions. I recently had a problem with all my MPEG1 files playing badly out of sync in WMP. Under Properties, it always said it was using Ligos MPEG Audio Decoder and Ligos MPEG Video Decoder. I looked under both Audio Codecs and Video codecs in Control Panel>(...)Multimedia, but there was no Ligos codec listed. I finally solved the problem by having to uninstal a program which uses Ligos, and WMP went back to using MPEG Video Decoder, and my files then played OK. Since the files had always played OK in Real or Quicktime, I suppose these players use and are limited to their own proprietary codecs, while WMP seems to use other codecs residing on the computer as well. This, in my opinion, is normally a good thing, since it allows for a variety of formats to be played on WMP. But if there is more than one potential codec for a given format (e.g., MPEG1), how does WMP go about determining which one to use? Is it the last one installed, or what? And, more importantly, is there any way for the user to select the preferred playback codec himself, for example choosing to play an MPEG1 file with "MPEG Video Decoder," which I'm guessing is WMP's default or preinstalled MPEG1 codec, rather than the Ligos MPEG Video Decoder my WMP decided to use? In other words, is there a way for me to pick the WMP playback codec myself when more than one resides on my machine for a given format?

discdude wrote on 6/22/2002, 10:26 PM

"...But if there is more than one potential codec for a given format (e.g., MPEG1), how does WMP go about determining which one to use?"

That is an excellent question to which I have no answer ;) There probably is some arcane registry entry which controls this.

However, in your particular case, if you want to use the default Microsoft MPEG-1 decoder, I can help you. Go to the Properties window in Windows Media Player that you mentioned in your post. Double click on the "Ligos MPEG Video Decoder" entry. There should be a "Play MPEG-2 Only" option. Make sure this option is checked. The next time you play a MPEG-1 file, it won't use Ligos. You are still screwed when it comes to MPEG-2 however.

It is possible to uninstall Ligos completely, but you won't be able to play back MPEG-2 files at all unless you have another MPEG-2 codec installed (usually a software DVD player like PowerDVD will include a codec).

p_l wrote on 6/22/2002, 11:03 PM

Wow, I think you're on to something, but I can't find the option you mention. Could you take me to it step-by-step?

discdude wrote on 6/23/2002, 12:58 PM

To adjust the Ligos MPEG decoder properties.

1) Load a MPEG file into Windows Media Player.
2) Play the movie and right click of the video window. Select "Properties" in the menu.
3) The properties window will have many tabs (Clip, Detail, Advanced). Click on "Advanced".
4) The will be 2 boxes, one labeled "Filters in Use", the other, "Codecs in Use". Look in the "Filters in Use" box for an entry named "Ligos MPEG Video Decoder." Double click on that entry.
5) This will load up a filter properties window. There should be 3 "Playback Options." Check the "Play MPEG-2 Only" check box. Press OK.
6) Restart the MPEG video.

Hope this helps.

p_l wrote on 6/24/2002, 3:08 AM

Oh, OK, I think I get it now. This doesn't work on the default XP WMP (version 8.0), but on the other version you get when you right-click on a video file and you choose Open with> Choose program and (the first time)> Other Programs. It's the WMP with the little movie take clapper icon, version 6.4, which I always thought was used mainly for WMP playing embedded in a web page. Anyway, you're right, the option does exist in that one to right-click on the video and get properties, etc. Thanks.

My Ligos video filter isn't listed anymore, though, because I solved my problem by uninstalling the program that supplied it, but I had been looking for a less radical way of eliminating it from being used by WMP MPEG1 playback, without having to uninstall the offending program. Now, do you know if I make the change you described, if it will also remove the Ligos filter from from being used on the "regular" XP WMP (version 8.0)?

discdude wrote on 6/24/2002, 6:23 AM

I must admit, I don't have much experience dealing with WMP 8. I always assumed it was about the same as 7. Unless MS did something major to 8 (which I doubt), it should work.