video editing

[daved123]

This being, apparently, the season for catching up on all those tasks I've been putting off, and after successfully loading all my CD's on WMP, I am now faced with editing and saving to DVD ten VHS cassettes documenting the restoration of the ruin we bought and now live in.
Have a VHS->DVD burner and DVD read/writer on PC (3Ghz/1Gb ram).
Did some googling and also checked out the sticky started by (c)hris and it appears I need to :
1/ dub VHS to DVD/RW (I can recycle those after burn of final product to DVD/R)
2/ load DVD/RW into PC and find .vob files
3/ convert .vob files to .avi files
4/ edit .avi files
5/ burn edited .avi files to DVD/R
6/ play final disks on TV !

Any recommendations for the file conversion program and the .avi editing program (only simple editing required, cutting out the bits where somebody kept filming with the camera pointed at the floor, that sort of thing ! ), I noted zwei-stein for the editor but that was 2004.
Am I correct in assuming that DVD writer on PC will take care of writing .avi files to DVD format ?
Thanks.
DD

[Oilandgasman]

VHS to DVD

If you want to do this quickly there are a couple of good Video editing software systems on the market. I use Cyberlink Power Director which does all the work for you and burns the DVD in any format you require.(you can also edit out the sections you do not require and dub in music or commentary if you wish) Also works with HD Video. If you just want to copy the VHS tape to DVD Maplins do a box which does the job for you with one click of a button. (VHS tape in the left hand drawer and blank DVD in the rt hand drawer, then press go) The DVD will play on your DVD player to your TV.Best of luck You can of course do it as you have suggested but will take a while with ten VHS tapes. You might lose the will to live!!

[Bushfiva]

Simple video editing is part of Windows XP, from SP2 onwards.

Along the lines of Oilandgasman's recommendations, you might find it easier to get a USB-based video capture box with bundled software, capturing to hard drive rather than DVD (DVD small, HD big), using the bundled software to create your final DVDs. The capture box plus "lite" version of the software tends to be about the same price as the "full" version of the software.

Note, .vob is only mpeg2 in disguise: even software that doesn't recognise .vob may work OK if the .vob is renamed.

I use VideoReDo for messing with mpeg2 files, but it's not right for everyone. It's great for fixing up the mpeg2 disasters that I pull off a Humax box.

[daved123]

Thanks for the suggestions, I should have made it clearer that I already have a Toshiba VHS&DVD combo so it's easy to insert the tape and a blank disk and just hit 'dub VHS->DVD' and load the resulting DVD to the PC (XP Home SP3).
Required editing would just be deleting unwanted bits and copying the resulting files in 2hr blocks to final DVD so it would seem then that the inbuilt Win XP video editor should suffice, I'll look for that.
I have Nero7Prem, could that help with converting/writing the edited files to final DVD ?
It is the file format thing that is confusing.
Edited to say that CyberLink Power Director would appear to handle all my requirements from loading interim DVD into PC through to burning final DVD after editing. Thanks again.