Insert footage in already-rendered movie

[Dv Memories video]

If your raw files that are completed are still dv or .avi format, re-rendering with the new material added to a completely new .avi file will not diminish quality.

DV Memories Video, Inc.
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[George Wing]

What format is your completed 30-minute video? Is it a 30-min video that you then converted to mpeg2, or did you convert directly to mpeg2 from the timeline?

When you say “rendering will take a long time”, how long did it take for your 30-minute original? And do you mean rendering to mpeg2, or some other format? I’m thinking “Magic Bullet” long time (in which case it can be painfully long depending on your computer horsepower).

If you are lucky, the “couple of minutes” needed to be added is all in one section, and it starts/ends with a fade from/to black (if unlucky, there might be 30-seconds here, 45-seconds there, etc…). If you do have a fade from/to black section to replace, then you could try creating a playlist where the dvd plays the first 17-minutes, then the 2-minute replacement video, then the final 11 minutes (just made those times up).

If a “long time” is manageable, then your best bet might be to bite the bullet and make the edit to the original and re-render…

Regards,
George

[Jerry Waters]

Go to http://www.womble.com and download a trial of their bigger program. Womble will cut, edit, join mpg2 files WITHOUT reencoding (and, consequently, degrading them). Render just the new material to mpg2 (like your original) and then insert it where you want. Womble will also write it all to a DVD file which you can then burn with Nero.

Their program is often used to quickly edit TV shows captured by a computer to remove commercials, etc.

[John Gregoriades]

Thank you all.
I appreciate your quick and helpful replies, and I’m learning all the time.
The “original” material was in the form of a DVD disk, from which I extracted .VOB files, and placed on Vegas’ timeline. (I was pleasantly surprised that Vegas would accept .VOB files!) From that timeline I did the editing, and then I rendered MPG2; and from that I created a DVD.
What is now proposed is to take some shots from another DVD (which I will have to extract their .VOB files) and then insert these scene(s) somewhere in the middle of the original.
Looks like I may have to bite the bullet, and use the original .VOB files (using the original .veg) and do the insert-editing, plus cut and remove, then re-render the new assembly into MPG2 so as not to degrade the original portion.
But Jerry’s Womble idea is worth a try, if for no other reason than to be aware of its existence.
(Incidentally, this is an assembly of war-footage of some significant historical value, much from dusty film archives, and the resulting DVD will likely have wide circulation among amateur historians. Took a lot of work, breaking down the scenes, in some cases flipping them mirror-like, with the advice of folks in this forum, and adjusting brightness contrast sharpening, titles, etc. etc. differently on each scene. Whew! The initial edition has been well received, and now the requests are coming in to add more to it.) A rewarding, although time consuming, hobby! Vegas continues to impress me with its ability, and stability.
Again,
Thanks!
John

[Jerry Waters]

Womble can save you a lot of work and it doesn’t degrade your footage. A lot of times I render mpg2 out of Vegas in several chunks and combine them to burn a DVD — like the 1:40 movie I’m doing is in 6 vegs. It does a great job of joining them and then writing the DVD files. I burn them with Nero. The controls are a little different. Download the manual with it.