Simple question involving shoot,capture,edit,output process

[kouchimk]

Guys, I was hoping you could answer a few simple questions for me. I've searched for this info and found bits and pieces through forums, but I know it's simple and can probably be answered much quicker by asking.

I'm very familiar with the editing process with premiere (6.5), but I just came upon a camera where I can actually shoot DV footage and capture. I understand how to use the capture in Premiere, but I was told Scenalyzer was the way to go. I've used this and like it. First question, does Scenalyzer capture to DV-AVI? I never saw this option in the settings. Secondly, DV-AVI is what I should be capturing to, correct? My goal with all of my video is shoot, capture, premiere, output, then Encore to a DVD.

Secondly, should I output from Premiere to DV-AVI? I can never see myself recording back to a tape, but I know Encore is going to encode it anyway. Basically my process is this....

Shoot -> Capture using Scenalyzer -> Edit in Premiere -> Output -> Burn using Encore. That's all I really need to do now. Does this process sound correct and does anyone have any opinion on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

- Kyle

[Snakebyte1]

If you are filming with a DV camera, then you don't have to "capture", just transfer via Firewire/IEEE1394. The AVI will be the same quality whether you transfer it from an expensive app like Premiere or use a Freeware one like DVIO or WinDV.. All you are doing is a data transfer from the camera.

[kouchimk]

Do you use scenalyzer at all?

[Snakebyte1]

No, have not used scenalyzer. I just use Premiere, set my In and Out points and batch capture all the footage I want. and that works just fine for me

If you find Scenalyzer makes your life easier then that is the way to go for you.

However, I guess my point was that if your camera is DV then you don't actually need to capture video (capturing is the process of taking analogue video and digitizing it). The camera has all ready converted the video into digital and therefore its simply a data transfer from tape to hard drive, so it doesn't really matter what app you use, be it Premiere, Scenalyzer or WinDV.

If you like the way Encore encodes over Premiere then yes, output from Premiere as AVI and let Encore do the transcoding.

[Cornucopia]

"Capture" doesn't necessarily have to mean either analog digitizing or DV file transfer, but for expediency, let's assume we're calling it capturing, even though it's a DV Firewire transfer.

Quality-wise, there shouldn't be any difference. There may be a few minor variations, depending on which DV codec you have loaded (Canopus vs. MS vs. Sony, etc)

If you are familiar with Premiere, then there is no reason to capture with another app like Scenalizer, unless Scenalizer has a particular capture feature that isn't available in Premiere (Time Lapse? Scene Detect-and-Cut? IIRC, I don't think so). With the Batch features of Premiere (which I regularly use), you can capture smoothly and efficiently; some other app might slow you down, 'cuz then you still have a step of importing into Premiere. Both would use DV-AVI.

You process should most likely look like this:

Shoot --> Capture (Premiere) -->Edit(Premiere)-->Export to DV-AVI file-->Encode to MPEG (Encore, TMPEGEnc, etc.)-->Author DVD (Encore)-->Burn disc (Encore, others).

If you have the recent versions of Premiere which include an MPEG Encoder as an output option, AND it gives you the quality that you need, you can save a step by Exporting via the MPEG Encoder-->MPEG file and open that directly in Encore.

Scott


>>>>>>>>>>>
Edit:
Well, Blow Me Down!
Scenalizer does have TimeLapse, AND SceneDetect. Not a bad combination. I should check more before commenting...
Of course, if you don't need these features, it's still additional steps you don't need.

[kouchimk]

That helps explain things. Thanks. I liked what I saw of Scenalyzer because it does have a scene detect option which breaks the tape into smaller avi's. So that's nice. I'll keep working on it. Thanks again.

[Richard_G]

I suppose the question has to be, do you actually want lots of small files? I use Ulead Mediastudio Pro, but I'm fairly sure Premiere has virtually the same features. In MSP once a file is placed on the timeline, you can then get it to scene detect. That way, you only have the one file to worry about but it can be cut into lots of scenes for editing.

[edDV]

...
First question, does Scenalyzer capture to DV-AVI? I never saw this option in the settings. Secondly, DV-AVI is what I should be capturing to, correct? My goal with all of my video is shoot, capture, premiere, output, then Encore to a DVD.

Secondly, should I output from Premiere to DV-AVI? I can never see myself recording back to a tape, but I know Encore is going to encode it anyway. Basically my process is this....

Yes to all. Premiere capture is fine. Scenalyzer adds "optical" scene detection if that is important to you. I don't have Encore. Assuming your project format is DV, it should import the Premiere 6.5 timeline without first saving to DV-AVI. At least I would expect so. Otherwise one must save 13.5GB per hour for no reason.

...
Shoot -> Capture using Scenalyzer -> Edit in Premiere -> Output -> Burn using Encore. That's all I really need to do now. Does this process sound correct and does anyone have any opinion on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
- Kyle

Looks good.

[daamon]

I understand how to use the capture in Premiere, but I was told Scenalyzer was the way to go. I've used this and like it.

I thought I'd mention that WinDV is free, stable and can either transfer to one continuous DV AVI (set "Discontinuity threshold" = 1) or do scene detection and transfer to separate DV AVI clips (set "Discontinuity threshold" = 0). I've never used Scenalyzer, so can't comment on pros vs cons and a comparision with WinDV. I use WinDV and never had any problems, and it's free.

First question, does Scenalyzer capture to DV-AVI? I never saw this option in the settings.

Don't know, but you can check the resultant file with GSpot or AVICodec. Look at the four letter codec code (called the "fourCC" code) - this will tell you what codec was used. An example would be "dvsd" for the Sony DV Codec, there are others. Also, DV AVI is approximately 13.5Gb per hour.

Secondly, DV-AVI is what I should be capturing to, correct? My goal with all of my video is shoot, capture, premiere, output, then Encore to a DVD.

Yes.

Secondly, should I output from Premiere to DV-AVI? I can never see myself recording back to a tape, but I know Encore is going to encode it anyway.

Another secondly? :P

Yes, to minimise or completely remove quality loss always output to the same format / codec as the source. Be aware, though, that some codecs aren't considered to be as good as others. Some say that the Microsoft DV codec isn't all that...

Basically my process is this....

Shoot -> Capture using Scenalyzer -> Edit in Premiere -> Output -> Burn using Encore. That's all I really need to do now. Does this process sound correct and does anyone have any opinion on this?

Sounds good to me. You could consider introducing an additional step bewteen outputting and burning. This would be encoding using a separate encoder that may do a better job than the encoder currently being used. I use TMPGEnc, but there are others.

Another advantage of using a separate encoder is that you can frameserve from Premiere to the encoder, avoiding saving a (potentially) big DV AVI file to disk and also thus avoiding re-encoding, albeit with a DV codec.

Frameserving, as a summary, is where an application (the external encoder in this case) requests frames as and when it needs them from the source application (Premiere). This is all done via memory and a small "signpost" file.

Hope that helps some. Good luck...