How does one edit a pre-existing video?

[ptoye]

As a 100% total noob who's just trialling Nero 9, I've fallen down at the first hurdle. I've got some video tracks from a DVD (not copy- protected) which have got some extraneous stuff at the beginning and the end, and I want to edit them out. But Nero VIsion (which I assume is the right software) doesn't seem to want to let me. I can add a VOB file to the project, but then what? The scissors icon is greyed out.

The help file doesn't help at all. It says "This item is only displayed if an executable action has been assigned to the marked media file". What's that in plain English. Or even German?

This post has been edited by ptoye: Nov 7 2009, 12:52 AM

[wither]

Have you actually added the file to the project by pressing the + button or just displayed it in my media files?

[ptoye]

i used "import" to get hold of the VOB file. Then "Edit" to edit it.

[wither]

Go to Make Movie. Add the vob file in the right side of the screen by browsing for your vob. click the + symbol at the bottom right. You are now in editing mode. Go to "more" for more tools than those shown.

does that work?

[ptoye]

Well, I now seem to be able to edit.

But I'm more than a bit puzzled - when I added the VOB file it made a number of "segments". I certainly didn't ask it to (unless this is some sort of default). What are these? Again, there's no definition in the help files. Or are they "chapters"?

Anyway, I cut out the start of segment 1. And then the end of the last segment. And the first cut disappeared. Even saving the project between cuts doesn't seem to save them.

I've no idea what I'm meant to be doing. The user interface is not intuitive and the help files don't.

[wither]

The VOB is a "container" of files. So when you added it, Vision broke the file down into it's component parts. I'm no expert but that's the way I understand it.

If you cut a segment, then why are you surprised that it's no longer there?

Specifically, what type of material are you trying to edit out- advertisement, music ?

[ptoye]

The VOB file is a single film, but the person who copied it from the video tape left a load of unwanted stuff at the beginning and the end. That's what I want to remove.

I obviously don't make myself clear - it's the cuts that have disappeared, not the segments. I didn't remove a segment, just the unwanted bits from the beginning of the 1st and the end of the last segment.

And why should it matter what I'm trying to remove?

At a later stage I want to add more tracks to make a single DVD from several short ones, but that's another story.

[wither]

I phrased my sentence incorrectly. Sorry. What I meant to say is, if you cut some things from the segment, why are you surprised that the things you cut from the segment are no longer there.

I asked what you are trying to cut because Nero has some neat features for removing advertisement and a music grabber. Thought they might be useful to you. Just trying to help.

[ptoye]

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. It's the cuts that have disappeared - the unwanted bits are still there! Too many implied double negatives in my post - sorry.

I'd have expected that saving a project after you cut bits out would restore with the cuts still operative. But that doesn't seem to happen which I find strange. And it raises the question - how do I save a project with cuts?

[wither]

It sounds like the problem is procedural. In the Vision help, go to Video Editing\Make Movie\Cutting Video Titles for step by step procedures for cutting a Video title.

does this help?

[ptoye]

I've an nasty feeling we're going round in circles here! Of course it's a procedural problem - my problem was not how to cut out the unwanted bits - I managed to solve this one. But when I save the project the cuts aren't preserved, which means that I have to do all the editing, menu creation and burning all in one session, and there isn't always time.

I'm beginning to run out of time for the evaluation, and Nero isn't going to make a sale if it doesn't do what I want. Is there anyone from Nero sales on this forum?

[wither]

No one from sales frequents the forum. Even the Nero technical employees won't be back until Monday.

When you save the project, do you use Export Video to File?

[ptoye]

No, I use "Save". Seems like the logical thing. Are you saying that "Save" doesn't save?

[ptoye]

A further question on this topic. I've also found that in theory I can top-and-tail a video direct from the Content screen. But it doesn't seem to work. The little triangles are greyed out. The manual says that they're available when the position marker is on the scroll bar - which it is. Again, what am I doing wrong?

I'm attaching an extract from the manual and a screenshot.

Attached File(s)

 Vision.zip ( 110.11K ) Number of downloads: 3

 

[wither]

Since the initial issue was that it wouldn't include the segment after saving, I would try the Export Video to File option and see if that works.

I think the triangles are greyed out because you don't have the item you working with showing in the left side of the screen.

[ptoye]

I'll try that, as well as other ideas that I'm getting.

What makes you think that the item isn't on the screen? On my machine the screenshot shows part of the movie. Now I'm really confused!

[wither]

On the screen shot you provided, the preview area on the left is just black. One of the titles on the right is highlighted. It's probably just the snapshot causing me not to see the video. If you click on edit, the selection will be added to the video track below the preview area and you'll be able to use scissors to cut and other editing options. I tried it in Make DVD, DVD-Video.

Give it a try.

This post has been edited by wither: Nov 16 2009, 05:07 AM

[ptoye]

It was blank because the first frame of the video is black! That's the bit I want to cut out.

Anyway, I decided to cut my losses and start again from scratch - reimported everything from the originals. And it now works OK. Saves and restores OK. Also edits OK.

So it seems that there's something in my original import that I did wrong. Unfortunately I wasn't taking detailed notes of exactly what I did, so I don't think there's any point in continuing this discussion. Thanks for your help.

I must say that I'm very unimpressed with Nero, though. The user interface is most unfriendly and the help files don't. And when you do something wrong (which I must have done) it doesn't warn you. Best left for enthusiasts rather than ordinary people, IMHO.