Help with keeping quality for archiving my video files. Interlace source

[drewzor]

Hello, I'm trying to backup my footage from a trip to Tazmania
The video was taken off the sony HC90, here is the file details;

My computer will not let me move the file because of its size so I've been trying to archive to less then 4.7Gb
I'm using the midvid codec which is perfect imo but here are a few things I need sorted out.

When encoding should I re-encode 16:9 or keep the anamorphic 5:3
When encoding it doesnt encode interlace detail - should i interlace it (virtual dub filter) or de-interlace it.

[aedipuss]

since it's normal DVavi, it would probably be better to encode to pal dvd spec mpeg-2. it would play on almost anything, carry the widescreen flag, and stay interlaced. most other codec would need to have the video resized to 1024x576 and use square pixels, also possibly requiring de-interlacing.

the other options would be to buy an external hard drive to keep the original DVavi, or just store the tapes for later re-use.

[drewzor]

Thanks for the reply, what software (preferably freeware) do you recommend to encode pal dvd spec mpeg-2 ?

[edDV]

It sounds like these files are important to you. I'd encourrage you to keep the tapes, buy a hard drive for backup and only then encode a DVD MPeg2 720x576i (16:9 "wide") with adequate bit rate (>8000 kbps average). The DVD should be considered your viewable copy, not a backup or archive.

Do you currently have any editing software?

Free takes tech experience. You can capture to a DV-AVI file with WinDV. Simple cut editing can be done Virtualdub but why convert to MJPEG? You can use the Cedocida DV codec (YCbCr mode) for monitoring and losslessly cut DV. Then use one of the "free" MPeg2 encoders then author a DVD.

Doing all this with "free" software will cost you some learning curve.

[drewzor]

I will check out cedocida for editing
its only 52 minutes of video and should easily fit at high quality onto a single dvd surely?
as it says there is 5gb+ of un-needed bytes at end of file?
I have captured with WinDV and ended up with this giant file,
I will try to use D2MP to convert to mpeg-2 Pal and see of it retains quality with the other details like anamorphic blah blah.

worst comes to worst i will pay for one of those VRD-MC recorders..

[edDV]

DV format is known as a acquisition format. It has low compression and is intended for editing and archive. After editing you can encode to various MPeg formats for distribuution (e.g. MPeg2, h.264, xvid, divx). These are compressed for distribution media but have less quality and are more difficult to edit later without losing more quality. They are not high enough quality to be considered a "backup" or "archive".

So, if the files are important to you, you will keep the DV original for future editing and future distribution format encoding.

Second, you will get a much higher quality result if you refrain from encoding while capturing. You capture the full quality DV file, then edit and/or filter, then encode to MPeg non-realtime. After that, you author and burn a DVD.

[aedipuss]

you could try the free HCbatchGUI with Henc encoder to create mpeg-2s. there are also free programs in the tools section here to take your DVavi source and create dvds if you wish. avstodvd and the film machine are a couple.

[drewzor]

Is there such a program that can split DV files. so I can archive this file split into 4.3bg segments..

[edDV]

Any DV editor can do that. I'd have to search for a utility.

Hard drives are more practiacal.

[drewzor]

Ok, so I'm using virtual dub save as segmented feature and setting it to 4300mb
at first I tried to direct stream copy but the first segment will not play and the file shows no duration time.
I then tried fast processing and set the compression codec to the suggested cedocida but it has done the same thing
..I will try full processing next - am i missing something here?

additional- full processing seems to work but it has lost anamorphic details displaying 5:4 instead of 16:9 and there is no-where in the cedocida codec that seems to manage this?

[drewzor]

Well for the life of me I can't split this file and retain its original !!shit!!
Original file details
Video
ID : 0
Format : Digital Video
Codec ID : dvsd
Codec ID/Hint : Sony
Duration : 25mn 23s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 24.4 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 5:4
Original display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.357
Stream size : 5.11 GiB (97%)
Encoding settings : ae mode=full automatic / wb mode=automatic / white balance= / fcm=manual focus

PanasonicDV Codec (short sample)
Video
ID : 0
Format : Digital Video
Codec ID : dvsd
Codec ID/Hint : Sony
Duration : 16s 840ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 24.4 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 5:4
Original display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.357
Stream size : 57.8 MiB (97%)

Cedocida Codec (small sample)
Video
ID : 0
Format : Digital Video
Codec ID : dvsd
Codec ID/Hint : Sony
Duration : 16s 840ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 24.4 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 5:4
Original display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.357
Stream size : 57.8 MiB (96%)

[drewzor]

Seems I have achieved success by reducing the segment sizes.
>2gb per segment* it will direct stream cut while maintaining the original display aspect ratio 16:9.
so no need to full process with cedocida and lose that detail