[Marc Smith]

Eric,

I’m pretty suprised that I got it to that time, but the AVI conversion program (IMToo) creates an MPG file that DVD Architect likes. It doesn’t rerender the video, although it does recompress the audio.

There was discussion in the Sony forum as to the ‘lead out’ write time and a suggestion that DVD+r would write the lead out faster than DVD-r, but my tests showed no difference.

Still doing some tests to see if there is some step I’ve missed that effects the quality, but I’m happy with the workflow and having duplication ready DVDs in around 4 minutes.

[Marc Smith]

There is always an advantage to recording both nights audio.

A lot depends on what you want the finished product to be. If you record audio both nights, you could segue from one number on one night to one from the other night.

You’re right, the biggest issue is syncing. Unless the ensemble is playing to a ‘click track’, the possibility that one song is fast or slower from one night to the next, is very high. That said, if it is a pro ensemble, the chances are that the tempo are going to be very close. You will probably find that you can match and mix video from both nights.

I use a video or audio cue, such as the intro cout, a lighting cue or some other visual/audio ‘slate’ to sync the footage. I can then get to the end of the video segments and selectively time stretch the video that needs to line up.

Likewise, you can layer the close ups, audience shots, etc .

And there is no rule that says you can’t create cool slo-mo segments to put in to show the precision of the stick work being done.

– Marc

[Marc Smith]

Eli,

I’ve done similar work and I would choose one of the two nights as your ‘audio’ track.

My guess is that you are selling this perfomance to parents of the ensemble, so the close up shots are *paramount*. With a drum ensemble, face closeups shouldn’t be an issue with ‘synching’ the audio and video, as you won’t see the stick work.

I’ve done work where I used one audio bed and blended video from other parts of a show throughout the whole video, the idea being you want to HEAR the performance and see a good representation of the visuals.

If I had a choice, I would record (audio) the performance rather than the rehearsal, get the wide (establishing) shots at that same performance. Do the close up, b-roll (like stick work, pans, backstage and other stock) at the rehearsal.

Lay the audio and video from the performance shoot as the main track, use the rehearsal footage in edits.

That would be *my* preference, your mileage may vary.

– Marc

[Marc Smith]

Boris,

The only two things I can think of:

1. Perhaps there are too many items in the menu. I am pretty sure I ran into this issue once before. Did you say you have over 70 small clips?

2. Perhaps one of the clips itself is bad.

– Marc

[Marc Smith]

Well, the problem is more or less solved. With quite a bit of trial and error, I managed to get the process from 10+ minutes down to 4.5 minutes.

The steps:

Acquire direct from the Canon XL2 in AVI format.
Use a 3rd party program to ‘convert’ the AVI to MPEG2 (1 minute)
Create a Single Movie DVD in DVD Architect.
‘Author’ and burn the DVD in DVD Architect at 16x (3.5 minutes)

This yields a duplication ready DVD, in hand, in 4.5 minutes. More importantly, it has a work flow and timing that I can live with and work with at a live event where I am trying to deliver onsite DVDs.

The box the work is done on:

ASUS M4A78LT-M AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
ASUS EAH5450 Radeon HD 5450 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.1 x16 AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz (4th core enabled)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
4 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1Tb drives
ASUS 24X DVD Burner SATA Model DRW-24B3LT
LG Black 10X Blu-ray Burner WH10LS30

[Marc Smith]

The short answer is, yes.

The longer answer is, if you know how to make a menu based prject in DVD Architect, yes.

[Marc Smith]

The software provided by Canon which is on a laptop writes AVI.

The format the DVD recorder writes to before it finalizes is unknown.

The finalization on the4 DVD recorder is the gating factor right now. It takes 10 minutes to finalize, it produces a ready to duplicate DVD, but the timing is not acceptable.

I am going to test combinations of software/memory to see what I can come up with.

I refuse to believe that a 4 minute video MUST take 10 minutes to get on a DVD.

[Marc Smith]

Eric,

As noted in the original post –

–I’ve attempted using a live burn using a DVD recorder. The video is caputered fine, but it takes 10 minutes to finalize that DVD before I can pull it our and replicate on site.–

So, I’ve already tried that method, and 10 minutes to finalize the DVD is too long. If this method worked faster, I could dupicate this DVD directly, but it doesn’t, so I am looking for the best possible solution.

The content is a 4 minute video. I need to capture, encode and burn a DVD faster than 10 minutes.

So, maybe the question should be:

What effects encoding speed more, CPU or Memory?

[Marc Smith]

Eric,

Am I to understand you correctly? A set top box recorder? As in hard drive recorder? Or a direct to DVD recorder?

The Canon has a DV output, as well as component outputs, but the Canon program records and writes AVI only, it doesn’t encode on the fly.

I can’t have a device at the camera that isn’t hooked to the network, it has to travel across a wire to an authoring station.

Perhaps a CF recorder with Firewire inputs? Swap the card, pull the video off the card and then author?

The final product has to be a duplication ready DVD.

[Marc Smith]

You can save the effects as a ‘filter package’, then add that filter package to each clip on the timeline that you want to use it on.

So, pick one clip and click on the event FX icon. The Event FX windo will open.

Add the FX, change the settings for each FX until you get the desired results. You will need to click on the Event FX icon for that clip again to bring up the EVent FX window. When you do, you will see the FX chain at the top. Over to the right, click the “Save As” button and you can save the group as a fliter package.

Now go to your next clip and click the Event FX button and in the left hand pane, click the Filter Packages folder. You should now see the Filter Package you created. Choose it and the process can be repeated for all the other clips.