[Fudgie]

Hi,

I've just picked up a Sony DCR-DVD92 Camcorder for £150 on e-bay and have a query about PC video editing.

I understand that I record onto the mini DVD's then pop it into my PC and can then use Sony Vegas Movie Studio to put the footage onto my PC for editing.

Is this correct and is this the best/easiest way of getting the files onto PC?

Would the trial version be worth downloading to try it out, or is it worth buying as Amazon currently do it for £48. Essentially does the trial have a limited time use, or limited features?

Thanks for your help

[redsox_mark]

Yes - you pop the disc in your PC, and in Vegas do "import, DVD camcorder disc".

The trial is full functionality except "except certain 3rd-party plug-ins". Now the mpeg2 and ac3 encoders are 3rd party plugins, so I'm not sure... I think you'll be able to open the disc and edit, but not render back out... you could try it and see.

[senu]

Mpeg2 encoders are 3rd party plug ins (Main Concept) and unless they have changed policy, you are unlikely to be able to encode to mpeg2 ( ie back to DVD).

In the full Vegas I seem to remember not being able to import mpeg2 files until the software was activated although I'm pretty sure youll be able to import them on the trial version due to its output restrictions

Vegas Movie studio ( even Platinum +DVD) does not output ac3 even in the full version

This restriction applies to all software which use these 3rd party plug ins as they pay a small fee for each one used and cannot pay for " free" usage even on a trial basis

Try the demo to see how you get on with it .. you have nothing to lose. The £48 Amazon offer is probably for ver 6. Ver 7 is much better ( and faster) with mpeg editing ( which is what DVD footage is) so the Ver 7 trial may perform better than the ver 6 you seek to get from amazon even though the latter is fully featured.

As I stated earlier... you have nothing to lose by trying out the demo

[redsox_mark]

Originally Posted by senu

Vegas Movie studio ( even Platinum +DVD) does not output ac3 even in the full version

The Platinum version does have ac3 encoding
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/pro...=408&PageID=17

[senu]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

The Platinum version does have ac3 encoding
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/pro...=408&PageID=17

.....In Platinum version 7,( it is a newly added feature)

The £48 offer from Amazon is likely to be ver 6.

The MS version I have is 6 , although I have since upgraded to Ver 7 of the Full Vegas:

The Full ver 6 was quite fully featured anyway & 7 is perhaps a very nice evolution but not a "must have " if you don't do much HDV editing.
Interestingly I had both versions (6 and 7) on my machine till recently when i removed ver 6 to keep the PC "tidy"
Ver 7 had overwritten the media manager and made it incompatible with 6 otherwise they were living side by side in peace

Similarly, if ac3 is not high on the agenda MS ver 6 is real value for money at £48.

I didnt miss ac3 in ver 6 because I mostly authored DVDs in Ulead Movie Factory 5 ( which does have ac3) and Movie Workshop2 instead of DVDA Studio 3

Just make sure if you do get ver6 it is the platinum +DVD version.

The options of varying mpeg bitrate which are absent in the main program are provided in DVDA Studio.