Novice Seeking DVD Creation Advice
 

I am new to the subject of video editing and have been reading several of the guides on the digitalFAQ website, but I'm afraid I'm just getting more confused.
Let me start by defining what I am trying to accomplish and the tools I've used so far. My first objective is to be able to create good looking slideshow DVD's using still images (.JPG). I have had good success using the mediocre Roxio NXT. I like the Videowave interface for adding images, adding transitions, adding audio and creating text with special effects. I can create an MPEG file which I can use to author a DVD. That's where I run into problems because I use the Roxio MyDVD to author and burn the DVD. The attraction is it has many menu templates and they are easily customized. However, it re-encodes the project and has limited choices. This isn't a big problem with slideshows because I can match the burn settings with the settings I used to create the MPEG file in Videowave.
Now let's get to my real issue and that is some workflow and software advice when it comes to creating a video DVD where the source is an existing DVD. The existing DVDs were created by recording off TV or VCR tapes with a DVD recorder. Now I would like to extract the original video/audio, do some minor editing by removing commercials, etc. and hopefully improving the quality of the video. As I said, I am a novice and just started experimenting. I have used WinXDVD Ripper to extract the original material to a MPEG file, but I don't really understand what I am (or should) be doing.
What I would like is some advice on the best approach and tools to create some improved DVDs. I have seen references to DVD Decrypter for extracting the source to an MPEG file, but I have no idea if that is the best choice. Any opinions? Then comes the question about what is the best (reasonably priced) product to edit and encode the production to an MPEG file. Of course, then comes the question on the best product to use for authoring and burning the project.
Obviously, I have asked a lot of questions here and I am not expecting a cookbook, but if you could share some of your thoughts with me I'd be grateful.

Regards,
Jerry

Well, let's see if we can fix that/ :congrats:

Yeah, slideshows is mostly a preference issue. Proshow Gold is what we've been using here for years now. It has lots of editing options and output options. It's been at least a year since I've made any slideshows, but last time I used it to author discs and output to MP4, from what I recall. I want to make some more next year.

Ulead DVD Workshop 2 has better templates. And then TMPGEnc Authoring Works is pretty customizable these days. Not as good as DVDWS2, but it's what I often use for Blu-ray menus (MPEG-2 BD-R).

Extract the videos with DVD Decrypter in IFO mode.
Edit (cut/splice footage) in Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD.

Not without expanding to lossless AVI, then filtering in Avisynth and/or VirtualDub, and then re-encoding to MPEG. This is not easy. It's certainly doable, and I do it almost daily, but it's not easy. You'll need to submit samples of clips with errors, to see what's required to correct it. Assuming it can even be corrected, as some errors can only be fixed with in the analog domain. Once digital, some errors are uncorrectable.

Something like that is made to just copy DVDs -- not extract. It's not a full-fledged tool like DVD Decrypter was.

I think this was already answered above.

Thanks for the much needed advice. I just downloaded the trial version of TMPGEnc Authoring Works, so I will be giving that a good look. I will also spend some more time with DVD Decrypter to see if I can get some good files to start with.

Thanks again,
Jerry