how do i save video so i can edit later without source files

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Precious1

Newbie Joined: Sep 30, 2018 15:59 Messages: 1 Offline

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Sep 30, 2018 18:29

Hi, I've got ~30 DVDs ( in VOB format) that I have transferred from VHS. For the last 5 weeks, I have downloaded and uninstalled dozens of editors, converters and burners (free and paid versions) and spent hundreds of hours on-line looking for help to no avail. Now, I'm coming to you.

Currently, I'm trying PowerDirector 17. I'm importing the VOB files from disc to edit. I can merge and edit the fies on the disc without much trouble but I need some guidance on a few other things.

After I import and edit the first disc I want to add files from other discs to the timeline. How do I change discs without losing the data in the timeline from the first one?

2. Can I set the autosave feature to save to the same file instead of creating a new one each time. In editing one disc, It added 20 new files to the save folder.

3. Can I save the final projects to a USB so that I can burn them to dvd at another time or on another computer? If so, will a computer without PD be able to read and burn it?

4. Lastly, is there a way to convert a PDS file to a more common format that other burners can read? It took over an hour to burn a 40 minute video using ExpressBurn and then it keeps failing.

I'm so grateful for any help you can offer.

Warry

Senior Contributor Location: The Netherlands Joined: Oct 13, 2014 11:42 Messages: 853 Offline

Oct 01, 2018 16:19

About 30 DVDs is about 135 Gb (or 270 if the DVDs are double). I would suggest that you copy the DVD files to a hard disk first, maybe even into a folder per disk. It will work faster and you get what you want. (It requires that much disk space of course. If you have less, then copy and work on those DVDs that are applicable for your project.)
The alternative is saving the projects manually regularly (pressing the CRTL-S). The auto-save files can be deleted of course. Your question suggests that you have limited disk space?
The USB (disk? stick?),this again suggests that you have limited disk space? Yes you can save the project result to a USB, a hard disk may work faster and would be preferred. A project that spans over 30 DVD is a large project that requires large amount of disk space.
The PDS file is an internal to PD project file that contains all the PD parameters to create the project with the internal PD tools. The conversion you ask for would be a PowerDirector to an (any) other Video Editor migration with would not be a trivial migration, if not to say impossible. It is not the PDS file you are after, it is the RESULT of the project you want as source for your DVD. The PD DVD creator does the two steps: create the required output and using that to create/convert into a DVD. Depending on whether you want nice DVD menu's etc. either use PD to burn a new DVD or output the project results to a (DVD compatible, like MPEG2) video file, and then create the DVD with these MPEG2 files as source using another DVD creator like, AShampoo Burning Studio, PowerToGo (also Cyberlink), ConvertXtoDVD, and the like.