A newbie question >_<

[the_pixel_pixie]

Yes a horrid newbie has arrived! hahahhaa....ha...ha...erm...ok down to buisness. I am just now getting started trying to make AMV's, I've just been getting my feet wet by using Windows Movie Maker (yes I know horrid evil radioactive stuff) though now I am finding out I need all of this stuff to even begin to make a real AMV. My question is...what exactly do I need to get. I dont know if I need a DVD burner? How do I transfer my DVD footage to my computer?? What software is the best? I tried Dazzle movie star 5 but that didn't do any good, it kept getting an error in the DVD section. My comp is like 3 years old! a dinosaur before the age of DVD. I know I am probably just making a mountian out of a molehill...but I am clueless....HELP! PLEASE!

Thanks

The Evil Pixie of the Pixels!

[Fungie½]

Hi hi. Lemme try to answer your questions ^^

Things you need to get....well, you need to get an editing program. The most popular is Adobe Premiere 6.0, but it costs big bucks ($600). Windows Movie Maker is crappy but free. I'd suggest VideoWave 4. It's about $100 and is good for people new to AMV making ^^

You will also need something for getting footage. If you want to get DVD clips, you'll want to get a DVD-ROM drive. They're cheap lately. Then to get footage there is a guide on the site in the guides section called "ErMaC and AbsoluteDestiny's Guide to All Things" or something like that. That is the most popular guide for getting footage off of DVD's. However, I believe that only works with Premiere. There are other alternatives. One of these is getting a capture card. A good one to use is the Pinnacle DV500 DVD. It gives good capture. If you have a stand alone DVD player, you can get good results with captures.

You may want to check the hardware and software sections of the home page. They have alot of different things you can use. Here are some links:

Adobe Website
VideoWave Website
AbsoluteDestiny & ErMaC's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video
Pinnacle DV500 DVD Website

Hope this helps ^^
--Daniel

[burntoast]

hiya.

my opinions are at best useless, so don't mind me. *(*


if ur using Windows Movie Maker, then u might not be able to use the best quality from dvds. this is cuz WMM can't import avs files, which is what most of us here at the forum use for editing dvd footage. but u have a very good alternative, to use a codec called Huffyuv, which is lossless (means that u won't lose any data). the only downside is that it takes up a lotta disc space, so you'll need a couple of gigs to store it all on..

if u decide that u wanna utilize the best quality from dvds, yes, you'll need a dvd drive. if u already don't have one, it'll be kinda tough to get one installed. ur computer case might not have a slot for another drive, so chances are that you'll have to buy a whole different case and customize it.

dvd footage is transferred thru the use of a dvd drive and a dvd ripping program such as SmartRipper and DVD Decrypter. they're both available at www.doom9.org, and guides for using them are also available there. the AD & ErMaC's Guides that Fungie1/2 posted have great instructions on ripping, which is specifically here.

if all fails, then u must capture footage using a capture card and a vcr.. or u can use crappy-as-anything downloaded footage.

(downloaded footage should be ur last resort, hahah.)

and click here for my Temporary Guide to WMM.

[burntoast]

I dont know if I need a DVD burner?

oh i forgot, u don't need a dvd burner at all, just a dvd drive.

SmartRipper or DVD Decrypter should "transfer" ur dvds for u just fine, both available for d/l in the Download section of Doom9.

[the_pixel_pixie]

Thanks alot for all the good info everyone! Its really helping me. I'm open to all suggestions so if anyone feels the need to add more please do! The clueless pixie is greatful to all! ^_^


Thanks again!!

The Clueless Pixie of the Pixels

[FurryCurry]

Hi, and welcome to the org.

Besides a DVD drive (no need for a burner), I'd say go ahead and download the AMV.app you can find down in the video section, because all the tools it contains other than the premiere plugin are useful tools for all sorts of video editing programs.

What I would do to ge the most out of an older, slower computer is follow all the steps in this guide, as far as getting an avs file, but then load the avs into virtual dub (part of the amv.app pack), and convert the clips you want to use to high quality mjpeg, then edit using those clips.

mjpeg is fast, which is good for slower processors, and the clip files will be only about half the size of YUV format huffyuv, using quality setting 19 in the picvideo mjpeg codec.

You can download the picvideo mjpeg codec for free from www.jpg.com, but it will put one of those watermarks on your video until you pay the $18 to register it. You can still use it for free to get a feel for the editing process, though.

There are definitely cheaper alternatives to Premiere out there, and some (many?) have downloadable trial versions that expire after awhile. (even premiere has a 30 day demo you can download.

I've heard of Majix music maker, vegas video, goldwave, and there are probably others.

[OmniStrata]

Majix Music Maker allows you to do some psychotic things...

^_^