Captaincalvert

Some of you may have seen my previous post on Cannon DVD camcorders . I still have not been able to solve the problem.
Speaking to an asisitant in a camera shop in town that sells DVD camcorders, he tells me that DVD camcoders are not really designed to make films that can be edited.
I may sell mine if this is the case.
What do we think, is this correct ?
Are tape ones better or is is better to get on that i can plug diretcly into the PC, take what scenes i want and then put them onto a DVD.
Your thoughts would be much appreciated , also if you know the answer to my DVD chapter porblem that would also be beneficial.
Thanks.

ChristineCB

I have no clue on this but "not being able to edit a digital file" which is produced by the CamCorder seems strange to me. I remember you wondered if anyone knew of software to edit the file-type - I am unaware of the file-type or its editors, but SURELY camcorders are born to edit!

I'd be more prone to believe the camcorder has some ultra-unique file-format for which they and only they sell some high-priced editing software.

I googled "camcorder editing" and found some sites, such as M. Slinn's below:

Mike Slinn’s Weblog » Blog Archive » Camcorder Editing Tips

among others. Anything close to your situation?

Tony Pendrey

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Ah Yes, the Soviet Union. All them wheatfields and ballet in the evenings

ChristineCB

It helps me, at least!

Tony Pendrey

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Ah Yes, the Soviet Union. All them wheatfields and ballet in the evenings

spinalman

This all sounds a bit convoluted to do a simple job - editing. DV tape is the best for me, and DVD holds no advantages over tape and comes with a load of disadvantages that are a pain. DVD camcorders were designed for convenience - shoot, eject, stick the disk in a player and watch. DV tape is still the de facto choice for professionals and amateurs alike...I would not bother with DVD at all. HDV is more of a choice. HDV is a quantum leap, DVD camcorders are a stumble backwards.

My advice? Sell it, replace with an HDV tape camera and maybe buy a cheap DVD recorder for copy archiving.

PS for editing -forget buying capture cards and flaky editing software etc. Buy a simple editing box that accepts firewire and has a very intuitive and rock stable editing software. It comes as a bundle ready to edit in a minute for £399 -

Apple Store - U.K. - Mac mini

Paul

MarkG

The main issue with DVD camcorders is that they record in MPEG-2, which isn't designed for editing. You can do it, but DV is much easier to edit.

Of course HDV is MPEG-2 as well, so it suffers from some of the same problems... but it's a low-end professional format so most editing programs support it.

spinalman

Yes I agree HDV has issues, but at least you have a choice to record in standard DV..which is supported be nearly everything. If quality is a big factor then HDV is the choice. If flexibility in the edit is the main driver -then shoot DV. DVD offers neither.

PS the editing bundle I mentioned will edit HDV as standard. (oh, and is virus free : )

Paul

Captaincalvert

Many thanks for all your replys. I was thinking of selling it.
Which one is the easiest and simplist to edit? The HDV that was mentioned?
Can you get them with some sort of memory card and then plug them directly into the PC for editing?
I am very suprised that these DVDS recorded on these camcorders are so difficult to edit. Does everyone have this problem , if so why do they still sell, surely once you find out that it is basically 1 disk per chapter if you want them separated then no one will touch them.

Once again thanks for the input , any advice on what to buy would be great.

Cheers

spinalman

I think a large majority never edit their videos - so DVDs are ideal for them. A memory card does have some advantages for some pros. but in reality has limits, and only saves a few hours in digitising, but will then need backing up, so you might as well use tape. HDV cameras are varied. I use a £3000 Z1, but I like the newer smaller domestic style too. I think it is the Sony HC3 IIRC that has top quality but cut down features for £800 or so...Sony are the best IMHO. Jessops are a good start for research.

Paul

joegib

As I understand it, your original question was, how do you edit the .VRO files produced by your existing camcorder. There are probably many video editing software packages that can import VRO files but 3 that I am familiar with are:

1. Ulead Video Studio (V.10) -- This is an entry/middle level editing package that also includes facilities to produce your final DVD (i.e you can design a simple DVD navigation menu and the package burns the project to the finished DVD). A demo can be downloaded here:

Video editing software: Ulead VideoStudio - Free Trial Download

2. Ulead MovieFactory (V.5) -- This is similar to the above except the capture/editing facilities are more basic but the DVD menu/navigation design facilites are more sophisticated. A demo can be downloaded here:

DVD authoring and burning software: Ulead DVD MovieFactory - Free Trial Download

3.Pegasus TMPGEnc DVD Author (V.3) -- This offers similar facilities to the above. It's not my favourite but it can certainly handle VRO files. A demo can be downloaded here:

TMPG Inc. ownload - TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX® Authoring

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I suggest you try one or all of the above packages and see whether they produce acceptable results for you. If you're happy with the general quality of the unedited video output produced by your existing camcorder, the above packages should be capable of producing a good end result. VRO files are simply a variant of MPEG files, the standard video file format used in PCs and other devices (another MPEG variant is the .VOB file you find on commercial DVDs). It's true that it used to be difficult to edit MPEG/VRO/VOB files because the data was organised in packets of film frames that made it awkward to make a cut just where you wanted it. That's no longer true with modern editing packages like the Ulead ones that are accurate to frame level. As I say, I only refer to the Ulead programs because they are the ones I have used successfully in handling VRO files but there may well be other programs that forum members would recommend.

I think this is worth trying rather than throwing money at your immediate problem by getting a new camera/video editing hardware. That'll put you at the bottom of a far steeper learning curve than simply finding a way to edit VRO files produced by your existing kit.

PS -- The above comments assume that your camcorder produces a "standard" VRO file set comprising a "DVD_RTAV" folder containing files named something like "VR_MANGR.BUP", "VR_MANGR.IFO" and "VR_MOVIE.VRO".