Newbie question...audio and video together?

[MERLIN2oo2]

Hi all!
I just have a quick question(I hope). I'm new to creating videos and have spent the weekend teaching myself how to get the audio and video clips using A&E's Technical Guide to All Things Audio and Video. It's much more difficult than I had anticipated. Anyway, I tried searching for an answer to this question, but can't seem to narrow down the results since I'm still learning all the technical jargon. Should an .AVI file created from VirtualDubMod contain audio? Can it? I can rip audio from a DVD to a .WAV file following the guide, and I can rip video from a DVD to an .AVI file following the guide, but then it seems like I have to try and synch the two back together again to get my clips(very frustrating). I want to make a video with "normal" audio/video clips(exactly how they're shown in the show) as well as with some video clips with different audio synched to them. I'm having synching issues as well-- Windows Movie Maker doesn't give you much control over timing, it seems, so I'm considering purchasing something better. Is Adobe Premiere Elements any good?

Many thanks! And if someone could point me towards some more guides or websites, that would be great, too. Then I can learn more on my own and not bother you guys.

[post-it]

.. Should an .AVI file created from VirtualDubMod contain audio? Can it?

.. oh wow .. you really are new to this!!! .. well OK then

.avi files and .mpg files were one of the first Containers Used in making Video/Audio.
.. there are other formats available, but for right now AVI & MPG are the subjects.

1) for Editing Purposes, the Audio will give you problems. [ remove the Audio ]
1a) Editing your Video Clips will work fairly quickly in the AVI format.
( Audio can be added after your Editing is done. )

Answer: Yes Audio can be added to Video Clips in AVI Containers.

.. I can rip audio from a DVD to a .WAV file following the guide, and I can rip video from a DVD to an .AVI file following the guide, but then it seems like I have to try and synch the two back together again to get my clips(very frustrating).

.. not a problem -- really .. we call it MERGING together Components.
( what these Guides fail to explain is that WE and those who wrote these Guides have
been doing this kinda stuff for Years -- sometimes we forget that "not everybody has
our backgrounds and Skill Levels in which a Guide can help us erase bad habbits!" )
.. to Reconstruct a Dis-assembled Video/Audio AVI is really quite simple and VirtualDub
does it with such ease that its almost a Dream Tool for AMV's

.. I'm having synching issues as well-- Windows Movie Maker doesn't give you much control over timing, it seems, so, I'm considering purchasing something better.

HITS-BREAKS!!!! Wwwooooh Horse!

Is Adobe Premiere Elements any good?

"flips-off-Horse" yeah; for Single Pictures themselves "Hits-Ground" <<Ooofta>>

.. Video Editing is a Labor of Love/Hate because we know what it should look like,
but most of the time -- it doesn't turn-out the way we want it to! Windows Movie Maker
is a perfect example of "Any" Video Editor made today. Sure, Magix Pro 12 can do
more than Windows Movie Maker and Vegas 6.0 can do more than Magix Pro 12!
.. What you mis-understanding here is that Windows Movie Maker is a great starting
place for Video Editing itself. Once you see what Windows Movie Maker can not do,
then you'll know which Editor can do what you think "you can do too" and buy the
correct Editor for what you do best ^__^

.. Web Sites like Vegas & Magix are out there to help you Do Your Best with their
Editors .. .. this Site is designed to help you with many-many Editors and we favor
no one company .. they can not Pay Us Money to Lie about a Products here; we Own
what we have and know how it works. If something works better in Primiere than it
does in Vegas; we'll say so. If Magix can do it better than Primiere, we say so. We
are fairly up-to-date on what's new and what works at this site; our Guides are here
to help everybody -- not just a select few ^^

Many thanks! And if someone could point me towards some more guides or websites, that would be great, too. Then I can learn more on my own and not bother you guys.

[MERLIN2oo2]

So...how do I merge/reconstruct a disassembled .AVI/.AC3/.VOB(or whatever other files are associated with it) in VirtualDub?

And yes, I am very new at this. I had this great idea for a video and I planned it all out on paper and thought "Okay, there's all kinds of powerful software out there now, this should be a piece of cake!" And then I started working on it through the A&E Guide and realized it wasn't so simple after all.
Darn you guys for making it look easy!

Although I'll admit, I'm very proud of myself for figuring out how to deinterlace the thing, lol.

Basically, I've got the video how I want it, and I've got the audio how I want it, but sometimes it matches and sometimes it doesn't and that's really where I'm getting frustrated right now. The parts that match are beautiful, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to speed up/slow down the audio and video to get it to match for the entire length of the video, without redoing all my clips over again(cries). That's why I mentioned Adobe Premiere Elements...if I could play around with transition times, speed up and slow down the video a tad bit here and there, and add a few paues into the audio, it should work. But so far I'm not seeing that option in WMM.

[Kionon]

In this thread, post-it is condescending.

|:

So...how do I merge/reconstruct a disassembled .AVI/.AC3/.VOB(or whatever other files are associated with it) in VirtualDub?

Find streams, add audio stream, disable the one already there if it exists. Voila. But that will only work for AVI. You can import VOBs directly into vdubmod, but it's not recommended. Instead, when you run DGINDEX to obtain a D2V file and an AVS file, it should produce an AC3 file. You can then add this AC3 file either by the method above after opeing the AVS file in vdubmod or you can add it directly into the AVS file via a call command, and when you open the AVS file, both audio and video should be present when you encode out a clip.

And yes, I am very new at this. I had this great idea for a video and I planned it all out on paper and thought "Okay, there's all kinds of powerful software out there now, this should be a piece of cake!" And then I started working on it through the A&E Guide and realized it wasn't so simple after all.
Darn you guys for making it look easy!

You should be careful sometimes who you take advice from. Look around and find out who is considered generally helpful before taking advice without a grain of salt.

The programs are very powerful, but they are NOT wizards. It's not a matter of just plugging stuff in when the right questions come up. Most of the programs used were, at least a few years ago, directed at professional editors. My software, Premiere, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, etc were not originally concieved to be within the grasp of most amateurs other than fullblown videophiles. They were intended for broadcast and movie production. The learning curve remains steep, and the price tag is only getting more ridiculous.

Although I'll admit, I'm very proud of myself for figuring out how to deinterlace the thing, lol.

As well you should. Nothing can earn the ire of this crowd faster than making a decent video where "basics" are ignored.

I've got the video how I want it, and I've got the audio how I want it, but sometimes it matches and sometimes it doesn't and that's really where I'm getting frustrated right now. The parts that match are beautiful, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to speed up/slow down the audio and video to get it to match for the entire length of the video, without redoing all my clips over again(cries). That's why I mentioned Adobe Premiere Elements...if I could play around with transition times, speed up and slow down the video a tad bit here and there, and add a few paues into the audio, it should work. But so far I'm not seeing that option in WMM.

And likely you won't. Time alteration, especially for effects is unlikely to be found in WMM, although having never used it, I can't say. You shouldn't need to edit the audio unless there's a specific reason to do so. If you're having flow issues, you probably need to change how your cuts are arranged. If the issue is that you have certain internal elements that need to be synced, time alteration may be what you want for the video, and in that case, you will need an editor capable of it. Premiere Elements should be capable of that. 6.x definitely is.

[post-it]

[MERLIN2oo2]

Many thanks! Is there any difference between Direct Stream Copy and Full Processing Mode?

[post-it]

.. the names are "literal" ..

Direct Copy = whatever it was before, it is once again.

Full Process = Convert it to what I tell you to do with it.
WAV2MP3 means take a .wav and make it an MP3 Audio track.

.. Many people like VirtualDub because the Names of "what to do" are literal - no guessing.

if it were the Video in Direct Copy, then we know that its the Audio we are changing