Panasonic - DV transfer with real time HuffyUV compression?

[AirGibson]

I have a Panasonic PV-GS250 that I'm doing some DV transfers with.

If anyone out there has successfully found a way to do that transfer with a Panasonic GS model while applying the HuffyUV codec in real-time, please give me a brief rundown on how you did it.


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Here's a list of my problems I've experienced in trying to find an application capable of this, if it is of interest:

- VirtualDub:
When doing a Firewire transfer, VirtualDub refuses to start the capture. It throws an error saying something along the lines of "the capture device cannot support that video format for an AVI". It says this regardless of what custom video format I specify. I've successfully transfered firewire video using WinDV, so I doubt it is a hardware issue.

When doing a USB transfer, VirtualDub transfers the uncompressed video just fine. However, if you try to appy the HuffyUV codec by going into the Compression menu, suddenly nothing is listed in the compression menu other than "No Compression: dvsb". I've tested this on multiple systems, and the result is the same.


- iuVCR:
When I tell the program to use the HuffyUV codec, the resulting transfered video (via USB) is *twice as large* in terms of disk size than the same video being transfered as an uncompressed AVI. Obviously, something is wrong. None of the HuffyUV settings I change seem to have a notable effect on this issue. I haven't had a chance to use Firewire, but I don't see how that would make a difference here.


- ULead VideoStudio 9:
This program won't even recognize my camera via USB. It gives the error "Unable to switch to capture mode. Check if your video capture driver is working properly." I haven't had a chance to test it via Firewire yet.


- WinDV:
Doesn't seem to support applying real-time compression.

- Sony Vegas Video:
Doesn't seem to support applying real-time compression.





Worst case scenario, I guess I can just take twice the time to transfer uncompressed AVIs, then apply HuffyUV, but I'd rather not.

[thecoalman]

Is there a reason you are not just transferring via firewire and leave it as DV? Even if you sucessfully convert to huffy it's still coming across the firewire as DV which means you would be doing a unecessary conversion unless you have a reason for converting it.

You do realize that if you capture with a DV codec over firwire that you are in fact transferring the footage "as is" to your comp. It's similar to copying a file. There's no quality loss whatsoever, it's an exact duplicate of what's on the tape.

As for USB I'm not familiar with that model but a vast majority of cams only use the USB for transferring still pictures or web quality video.

[AirGibson]

I would like to keep a decent bit of footage on my system. If I understand correctly, HuffyUV is a lossless compression which should help me store a larger amount.

And, yes, I realize I'm getting the DV footage "as is". I want to keep the best quality possible while using the smallest space, hence the desire to use a lossless compression. All of the quality is (usually) maintained, and less space used.

And yes, USB2 can be used for transfering DV.

[thecoalman]

And, yes, I realize I'm getting the DV footage "as is". I want to keep the best quality possible while using the smallest space, hence the desire to use a lossless compression.

Then DV is the way to go, you get 0 quality loss and it's compressed more than Huffy. It's been a while since I used the huffy codec but if I remember correctly it came out to about 25 gigs per hour. DV is about 14 gigs per hour.

Converting the DV to another format......any format.......has no benefit as far as quality goes. Any time video is converted there's a loss of quality, even if your converting it to less compressed format. The loss would probably be imperceptible going from DV to Huffy but there's really no reason to do so.

[AirGibson]

Meh...so I've been wasting time then. I assumed HuffyUV would result in a smaller file than a raw DV transfer.

[thecoalman]

Meh...so I've been wasting time then. I assumed HuffyUV would result in a smaller file than a raw DV transfer.

uh huh :P .... If you machine can handle it the best way to compress is directly to MPEG2.

[thecoalman]

BTW, VS9 is probably your best bet for doing direct mpeg2 captures.

[AirGibson]

Will do.

[wwjd]

I also have a PV GS250 and so far I really like it. That being said, I strongly encourage you to do as thecoalman suggested and that is to TRANSFER your DV avi directly to your hard drive. Do NOT encode directly to mpeg2. To do realtime direct conversion to mpeg2 requires that you know your stuff and that you have your system setup for it. It is not worth the effort. Transfer, not capture, your DV avi to hard drive, edit it and then convert to mpeg and then author it. One other point and that is that you should have a dedicated internal HDD to transfer to. If you do not have one, get one. There cheap and easy to install.

For DV transfer I recommend WinDV or DVio. They are free and you can not accidentaley re-encode your file.

[AirGibson]

Yeah, I'm already doing problem free normal transfers as mentioned above. My system has the horsepower to convert to MPEG2 in real time, but I'm not interested in that. I'm just looking for the best way to store the best quality video possible, and a straight DV transfer seems to be the way to go based on your replies.

[thewdawg]

Moved to new post... Sorry.

[edDV]

Yeah, I'm already doing problem free normal transfers as mentioned above. My system has the horsepower to convert to MPEG2 in real time, but I'm not interested in that. I'm just looking for the best way to store the best quality video possible, and a straight DV transfer seems to be the way to go based on your replies.

Are you sure the GS-250 can transfer DV format through the USB port? That is a new one for me.

I suggest you use the IEEE-1394 port in any case.