VCD from videos taken with digital camera

[rsg]

My Fujifilm S602 digital camera takes VGA videos that look good when played on the TV directly from the camera, and also when played on the PC in Videoimpression, WinMoviemaker, and QT. But I want to create movies on VCD with Pinnacle Studio 8, and I'm getting poor quality.

The camera has no firewire port; I transfer files from the camera or a card reader to a USB 1 port on the PC. Then I open the file in Pinnacle Edit (where it looks awful), save to VCD, and pop into my DVD player (which otherwise does fine with VCD)and the quality of playback on the TV is also poor. The files created by the camera are motion JPEG avi files, with res of 640 x 480 (i.e., VGA).

In my latest experiment I used Pinnacle to save the files as avi in DV (720 x 480), 29 fps). Even though the files were avi to start with, this step evidently changes at least the res. This solved one problem (the top portion of the scenes previously appeared as though they were the entire scenes). However, the quality is still poor.

I've read alot about file formats, codecs, etc. I've been all over this forum and Pinnacle's, even posted to Pinnacle's, and still I'm just guessing about the problem and what I need to do. I sure would appreciate some help. Is this a format or codec issue? If so, is there a conversion I can do? How can I get decent quality VCDs with Studio 8?

Thanks.

[VCD GURU]

Hi

Transfer the files from the DV camera to the pc via Forewire (you need a firewire card 1394 and cable) so that you have no loss there.

The files will get pretty big 1hour = 13gigabyte.

This is the best way you can do it i think.

If you have a good source then your vcd will be pretty good also.

Edit the video after transfering it in pinnacle studio 8 or whatever.

Save it as a DV avi (about same size as source) file or use the huffjuv lossless codec (about 9 gigabyte).

Never make a VCD with pinnacle or uleads programs!!!!!!

I would use TMPGenc, panasonic... (the good once).

Now you have captured ,edited and converted just burn the ******! 8)

This will give you a verry good VCD.

Remember to have good light when shooting for better pictures. VCD looks like shit if the film is too dark (indoor) ;P

Good Luck!

[rsg]

Thanks, VCD Guru. Only problem is I don't have a firewire port on the camera (I have a firewire card on the PC). I can only transfer files the same way I'd send stills - the PC treats the camera or card reader as a separate drive. Is the absence of a firewire port on the PC fatal? Any workarounds available?

Thanks again.

[Tommyknocker]

Start here.These Newbie guides start you out on the right track. One of the things I found interesting about your post is you use USB from your camera to your computer. You will do better with a capture card. So start reading, and you will have a better idea of what you would like to do next. Looking forward to your next post, so do not be shy, we were all beginners once.

[VCD GURU]

If you dont have a firewire (i-Link) port on your camera, Then you dont have a DV CAM m8

[Tommyknocker]

How can you know that? He may have a still digital camera. Last time I looked, they did not have firewire ports.

[VCD GURU]

Just a wild guess since this is a VIDEO SITE :=)

Who would try to make a video from a photo camera and expekt good results?

I have tried this myself and it sucked so get used to the quality i guess and buy a real video camera for better results

[rsg]

I know quality will not equal that of a camcorder, but it's much better than virtually any other digital camera, and very good when the camera is connected to the TV or when I play the videos on the PC with other software. So, when I'm out & about with family of at a sporting event, I can shoot stills and videos with one gadget.

But without a firewire port on the camera, I have this dilemma making home movies that can be played on the DVD player connected to the TV. I don't see why the quality deteriorates so much. VCD Guru says use TMPGenc, not Pinnacle or ULead for VCDs. Why not? And will TMPGenc require that I have a firewire port on the camera? Does TMPGenc have all the editing features, including the capability to create voice overs and soundtracks, etc., as Studio 8?

[MrKGB]

rsg,

Are you getting avi file from your camera?
If yes, you should try to use tmpgenc for encoding.
One other possible solution is to install some good mjpeg codec, like PicVideo MJPEG. I remeber that when I was trying to open mjpeg encoded avi file without PicVideo MJPEG installed, i.e. using the standard microsoft codec, the quality was very bad.

[VCD GURU]

Use the same cable as you use to view it on your tv for capture. I guess this is a rca connector or something like that?

If you dont have anything to put it into in the pc then you will need a analog capture card or a analog digital converter like the canopus advc 50.

Should be same quality on pc as tv

Forget about the usb shit. If you have a analog out on the camera that gives good picture on tv then it that one.

Good Luck!

[lechtin]

rsg,

Some guys here more familiar with digital video have not realized you are using a still camera with a movie mode. I have both a miniDV camera and an Olympus still camera with movie mode so I can relate to what your doing.

First, for the transfer of your movies to your PC: don't change a thing. Your camera actually saves computer files to its memory card and the transfer of those in digital form from your camera or a USB card reader ensures you maintain the original quality of your recording.

Next, if the movies play with good quality on your PC, you must have a decent codec. You may try different ones to see if anything gets better.

To convert: I agree with thge guys who recommend TMPGenc. I have tried Studio 8 and never got the quality I could get with TMPGenc. Run a few tests: just import your files and convert using the DVD, SVCD, and VCD templates. The 3 resulting files will give you an idea of the kind of quality you can expect with different methods.

One thing that seems to have been missed by most is that you original resolution is 640x480. VCD (NTSC) is 352x240. You will obviously lose quality there, which is why I suggest trying the 3 templates. SVCD (480x480) might be a better option if your DVD player can play them. The best would be DVD (720x480) but only if you have a DVD burner.

One thing that may affect your quality is the most still cameras, especially at their maximum resolution, only capture at half the frame rate (15fps for NTSC). Your encoding program will obviously try to re-standardize the frame rate to 29.97 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) and some interpolation to create the additional frames will create a loss in quality.

Finally, I have not touched on the editing subject yet. Do the above experiments first. After you have defined the best way to encode, start by importing your videos in your editing software. Make the changes you want (voice-overs, transition...) then save with the same codec, a lossless codec such as huffyuv, or with a DV codec. Your format (MJPEG) is a lossy codec, so I'm not sure what the effects on quality will be as you'll go through a few conversion steps (for example MJPEG->editing->huffyuv->MPEG2 SVCD). You'll have to experiment to really know. But if you follow the steps I suggest, at least you'll know which step affects your quality.

Good luck,

[EricB]

Looking at the specs, the S602 captures video at 640 x 480 at 30 fps. My daughter's Sony DSC-P72 does 640 x 480 at 15 fps. Hers looks very good, so yours should look even better!

Definitely use TMPGEnc to encode the video from AVI to mpeg. You can apply the filters to change color and contrast which helps a lot for indoor video. Might also try noise reduction.

VCDs from this should look pretty good. For best effect, we make mini-DVDs which are encoded at DVD frame size, but only play on the computer.

Bottom line, you should be able to get very good looking short sequences with this setup. Studio8 encoder should be avoided (IMO).

[coyote]

EricB is right.

I did this for a friend of mine with a digital camera. When I hooked his Sony Still Camera up to my pc it showed the video as an mpg.

I loaded that mpg into tmpgenc and encoded it for a vcd mpeg.

Then I used my burning software to make a vcd out of the mpeg that tmpgenc created.

[rsg]

I appreciate all the posts and the patience displayed. I've got some new ideas to try out, and my understanding is improved.

Thanks to you guys, I expect to get all this working before my kids are grown and I'm so old I've forgotten why I started.