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DVD-RAM video editing
Lately I've been playing with DVD-RAM based video camcorders. These devices record MPEG right to a DVD-RAM disk.
At first glance I thought these disks were stupid, because they recorded to media. However, I've since changed my mind on the DVD-RAM based setup because they are easy to use, are digital (not tape based), and you can put the disk into any machine with a DVD-RAM drive (which is actually not very common, only one of my laptops reads them).
I'm going to assume you already have a camera that is DVD-RAM based, you've recorded your data to a disk, and now you want to use these recordings in part of your current video project.
Stick the disk into your computer and see if you can read the disk. If the computer hangs there, or if you can't get into the drive chances are you've got a drive that doesn't support DVD-RAM. If you put the disk into the drive and it shows up as a drive that you can explore then you are set.
Disk contents may vary from model to model of video camcorder. Each vendor may use different codecs and file structures so if your DVD-RAM disk isn't structured as mine don't freak out...the data is there somewhere. :)
Ok, so when I read my disk I get the following contents:
D:\
D:\DCIM
D:\DVD_RTAV
D:\RTR_EXTN
You should see the above folders. Copy the folder DVD_RTAV to your hard drive. In that folder you will see a file VR_MOVIE.VRO this is your video.
There are a number of programs that will read .vro files, vro files are actually mpeg files so you can use any mpeg editor.
I have yet to decide which MPEG editor is the best, but here are a few I know about:
$Womble MPEG Video Wizard$
$TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0$
Format types
Universal Disk Format (UDF 1.5)
Select â??Universal Disk Format (UDF 1.5)â? when you are going to use the
DVD-RAM disc to write PC data.
This format allows the transfer of the data between different operation systems, such as between
Windows and Mac OS 1.
â?¢ This is the standard format type for DVD-RAM. Data can be transferred
between different operating systems, for example Windows and Mac OS 1.
â?¢ DVD-RAM formatted with UDF1.5 cannot be used with DVD Video recorders
that use the DVD Forum's video recording standard or with the recording software
designed for personal computers that is based on the above standard.
Universal Disk Format (UDF 2.0)
Select â??Universal Disk Format (UDF 2.0)â? when you are going to use the
DVD-RAM disc to write audio-visual data.
Select this format only if the disc is to be played in a DVD Recorder that uses the DVD Forumâ??s video recording standard or with the recording software designed for personal computers that is
based on the above standard, or if an 8-cm DVD-RAM is to be used in a DVD video camera.
â?¢ This format is designed to be used with DVD Video recorders that use the
DVD Forum's video recording standard and with the recording software
designed for personal computers that is based on the above standard.
FAT32
â?¢ This is the additional format type on Windows 95 (OSR2 2) / Windows 98 /
Windows Me / Windows 2000 / Windows XP.
â?¢ FAT32 formatted discs cannot be used with Windows 95 (other than
OSR2 2) / Windows NT.
I've had issues with not being able to transfer movies from a DVD-RAM that has not been finalized, this usually happens if you record and don't tell the camcorder to finalize the disk. Then when you put the disk in the drive and try to copy the VR_MOVIE.VRO file, you get a message like "Cannot copy VR_MOVIE: Data error (cyclic redundancy check)."
Looks like someone is making a living on off fixing this problem for people "Handycam Camcorder mini DVD Video Disk Repair & Recovery Services"
Setting up MP4 thumbnails in windows XP and playing MP4 files
Right now I've been using apple's quicktime 7 for playing mp4 files. It not only plays it, but if you get the pro version, you can encode the mp4 files to whatever you like.
Mp4 Thumbnails in XP Explorer?
How to Make Your Own Custom Thumbnail images for Movies/Video Files using Adobe Photoshop 9 (created on 4/4/05)
Editing Panasonic Burner DVD-RAM VRO Video In Computer
Created: 2006-06-03 09:12:30
Modified: 2008-09-14 05:19:17
