DVD burning questions

[RJ Johnston]

Joe, What is the source of the DV-AVI?

If I take a DV-AVI that I captured in Premiere Elements 2 over firewire from my JVC MiniDV camcorder, would that suffice?

So far all I have done is capture a few minutes of VHS and create a DVD without a menu. I'll have to work with it some more, but so far I think I got a great deal.

[AVITRY]

Yes that would simulate exactly the problem I'm encountering. It doesn't seem to matter what the actual source dv-avi is. Just about any source dv-avi is handled without problem in DVDWrkshp.

Even if I capture a VHS using my Canopus 300 or my Mini-DV camcorder using the PE2 capture module, All is fine. Unless, that is, it is actually brought onto the PE2 timeline for any minor edit (even a trim) and then resave as a movie .. dv-avi. Then, that resulting dv-avi produces jitters when encoded to mpeg in DVDWS and burned to dvd.

If I take that jittery dv-avi product from the PE2 timeline save, and run it through say Windows Movie Maker and resave once again as a dv-avi, then DVDWorkshop handles the encoding without jitters. The jitters are all on TV playback.

[RJ Johnston]

Joe, I have bad news. No jitters on TV. Everything plays back perfectly. But I haven't given up trying to get jitters.

Do you have your Premiere Elements 2 installation disc handy. The last bit of information at the bottom of the disc label is a date in MM/YY format. You'll need your reading glasses. There were two discs produced by Adobe. One has 08/05 and the next one has 09/05. Which one do you have? On second thought I guess you can just go to Help > About to get the version number.

Which project preset are you starting with?

Do you have the Mainconcept MPEG Elements plug-in installed?

[AVITRY]

Robert, thanks for you help! Interestingly, the Disc with Photoshop elements is 9/05 but the Disc with Premiere Elements is 8/05.

I don't have an extra mpeg plugins installed for PE. My presets are ntsc dvd and pretty much the defaults as I recall. Never changed anything.

Also, Robert, quite a while back I purchased a DVD on how to use DVD Workshop. I've watched it many times and no longer have use for it. I would love if you would accept it from me as a gift for all your help.

Some of the instructional DVD is basic,( actually, it's very comprehensive ) there are some very interesting insights to the program that you would enjoy. If you would like this DVD, it's yours. Just let me know where to send it and it would be my pleasure.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Do you have the Mainconcept MPEG Elements plug-in installed?

Slightly off thread (sorry).

I donated my PrElv2 to a Muvipix user and had forgotten about that Mainconcept plug-in. Having seen your post, Robert, I looked up the Mainconcept site and learned that it went out of support in April 2008. So although I have an activation key for it it is no longer available.

[Ken Jarstad]

Joe, you mentioned in your last post on page 2 that you sometimes use CaptureFlux for capturing. Although the author makes some very fine apps I had problems with that capture program. Suggest sticking to tried and true such as WinDV.

[RJ Johnston]

Thanks, Joe. I sent you a PM.

[RJ Johnston]

Joe, the video training DVD was of great help in getting up to speed and for learning tips and tricks I would have not learned otherwise. Thank you for that valuable resource.

I really like this DVD Workshop 2 software. It is very well organized and has powerful features. Whoever designed it had a clear mind. Too bad Corel didn't continue to develop it for HD, or maybe it's a good thing they didn't.

Creating a DVD slideshow of over 800 stills in under 2 minutes (not including physical burning to disc) is really amazing. The quality is outstanding. With PhotoImpact X3 that I picked up for $20 USD, I can create just about any kind of menu element. PIX3 includes the DVD menu plug-in.

Corel still has a forum for DVDWS, and I was able to learn how to create a 16:9 menu.

[AVITRY]

Robert, I'm very happy you enjoyed the training video and equally happy you enjoy DVDWS. This is why I've loved this program for such a long time. Its powerful and at the same time so simple.

Hey.. get a load of this. The new DVDWS dvd from BH Photo .. I loaded it after cleaning out the other install. NO JITTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go figure.

Strange thing I don't recall a menu in the initial install offering me to load Windows Media Format. I did this time. Anyway, I'm knocking on wood till I run a few more trial burns before I fire for effect with a real project, but damn.. ITS GOOD and clear and no more jitters. I'm so happy this quest seems to have come to as unlikely and end as it did a beginning!

[RJ Johnston]

NO JITTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go figure.

Can you believe that?

[AVITRY]

Yep. two further test burns, one using PE2 and now, one using PP2 and no jitters at all. This is great, now I can use PP2 when I have occasion to take advantage of the sequence feature without worry. (since for some reason that zillion dollar program didn't come with an mpeg encoder and I was really unable to use it at all with DVDWS before this ).

Boy am I glad you found that program available for 50 bucks Robert, or I'da never taken the longshot.

[RJ Johnston]

I just discovered that DVDWS will transcode AVCHD (1440x1080i) files if you change file extensions from .m2ts to .MPG and you have Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 installed as well. Any Corel or ULEAD product that supports AVCHD would probably work.