Questions

[killian2]

Hi, I've never done anything with video editing before and I had a few questions. I've have episodes of a tv show coming in the mail on CD-ROM and it can only be played with RealPlayer. I've heard of ripping DVD's etc., is this something I can do with this CD-ROM and transfer it to DVD so I can watch on my big screen instead of my computer? If so what kind of software will I need? Is there shareware or will I have to buy it? Any other input about things I haven't considered here are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.

 

[lakedude]

You have a number of options available to you covering an entire range of costs. The easiest thing to do would be to get a video card with composite or s-vid out and hook your puter up to your TV and/or stereo. This method involves no conversion or software of any kind. The All In Wonder cards from ATI are great but any card with VO will do.

You have not mentioned what format the disks you have comming are recorded in so I really can't help with any conversions to other formats since I don't know what the source format is.

"and transfer it to DVD"

What do you mean by this? Do you mean: I have a DVD burner and I want to encode to MPEG2 which is the standard DVD format? Or do you mean: I have a cdrw and want to make cd-r disks that will play in a standalone DVD player. Or something else?

Go to <A HREF="http/www.vcdhelp.com" target="_new">http/www.vcdhelp.com</A> for help making cds that may be able to play on a standalone DVD player. While you are there check the compatability list for your DVD player against VDC,SVCD and cdr compatability lists.

Check out <A HREF="http/www.doom9.org" target="_new">http/www.doom9.org</A> for general format conversion info and free downloads.

Primere is highly reguarded but is also highly expensive. There is free stuff to do almost anything you want to do. Your job is to figure out what that is and then I can help you better.



Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.

 

[killian2]

Lakedude, thanks for the reply.

Let me clear a few things up so you might be able to give more specific suggestions. I am aware of the TV out options on video cards. I think in my first post I said that the CD-ROMs I've ordered can only be viewed with Realplayer. I don't know if this specifies the format of the CD's or not. As I said I've never done anything with video editing, etc.. When I said "transfer it to DVD" I was talking in general as I do not know all the options. I can buy a DVD burner if necessary. I do have a CDRW and you mentioned making cd-r disks that will play in a standalone DVD player, which I do have. If the last options is possible it sounds like the easiest solution. I will check out your links and try to educate myself but I would appreciate any other thoughts you might have and hope the additional information I just provided will assist you and others. Thanks again for your response.

 

[lakedude]

Go to VCDhelp and start reading. There is a bit of a learning curve but in a few months you will be wondering what was so hard and why are these people asking such easy questions.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.

 

[NurseMSIC]

I agree with going to VCDhelp, it is very good for anything related to getting moving images off shiny little discs.

What i would say though is that in order to play your video footage on TV, assuming that you dont want to just play direct as mentioned, it is not so easy.
I'm not familiar with any program off the top of my head that will allow import of Real Player files, to then convert to another format (which would be necessary, specifically MPEG1 or MPEG2 for VCD or SVCD respectively).

As for "putting on to DVD" i make an assumption about what you mean here, but remember that DVD itself is nothing more than a shiny disc in exactly the same way CD is. It's the MPEG2 video footage that is put on a DVD in a very particular format that is what most people call 'DVD'.
And making DVD's is far from an easy task!
Get learning the 'VideoCD' format before anything else - it'll give you a good grounding.


<A HREF="http/www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">http/www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108</A>

 

[lakedude]

When he says that RealPlayer is the only thing that will play his files I assumed he was lying (not on purpose). When you install RealPlayer it "steals" the registration of all the files with extensions that it can play. Many of these could be played with another player but once Real Player is installed you would either need to reregister with the other player or open the other player first and find the file from within the player.

Since we don't know for sure what the file type is yet it is hard to advise but check this out from vcdhelp: <A HREF="http/www.vcdhelp.com/rmto3.htm" target="_new">http/www.vcdhelp.com/rmto3.htm</A>. There are a couple programs listed to convert from Real Media to vcd (eo video and tinra). I've not used either so you are on you own if RM is your video format.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.