DVD editing problem

[MathsPar]

I've moved all my parents home videos onto dvd using the dvd recorder connected to the tv. However I didn't bother marking scenes at the time as there was over 60 hours of footage and I just let it record in the background while I was watching something else.

Now I have a new PC with a DVD writer, is there a way I can edit the DVD (it is rewritable) to make chapters in the DVD?

Would this require new software? I have Vista Home Premium so have Windows DVD Maker but from the looks of it that's for adding stuff from your PC onto DVD.

[kryyst]

If you want some pretty good dvd editing tools at a reasonable price I suggest you get the Current Nero Ultra Edition. It should run you around $80. Windows Movie maker, last I checked can't import a DVD it will only work with media viles (avi, mpg etc...) If you use another program to convert your dvd to an avi you could then edit it and burn it back to dvd. However you'd still need a proper DVD authoring program (simply putting an .avi file on a DVD won't work in most players) so again Nero will do that well.

In theory you could open up your DVD-R/W in Nero edit it to put the chapters, title screens and whatever else in and burn it back. The practicality of that working is almost zilch as the read/write speed of a DVD-R/W just won't cut it.

So what you would need to do is import it into Nero. Then before making any changes I would suggest you save it as a project on your harddrive. Close it and reopen the project. Make your changes, save it, then burn the project to a new DVD-R (not R/W). Reason being that Read disc's are dirt cheap and this way should something screw up in the mix you still have your original R/W disk if you have to start over again.

Oh and as far as putting chapters in Nero has a handy chapter adding tool that you can have it automatically put in a chapter at a certain point, you can manually put in chapters or you can automatically put them in then manually adjust them.

It's really a very useful program.

[MathsPar]

Thanks, downloaded the trial version as I only need it for this set of DVDs. I'll see how it goes.

[kryyst]

I'm not sure what the limitations of the trial version are, but it should give you a good idea at least.

[MathsPar]

The trial version was very easy to use and exactly what I needed, thanks again Kryyst.

[kryyst]

Glad to help