what's the best capture software for dv

[johnjohn]

Hi.. Just got a digital camcorder and would like to know from all you experts out there that what is the best software for capturing from dv using ilink firewirecard to pc with highest audio video quality possible. ? I'll be later burning them on to dvd so hoping a minimal quality loss.
Thanks all

[MpegEncoder]

Hi.. Just got a digital camcorder and would like to know from all you experts out there that what is the best software for capturing from dv using ilink firewirecard to pc with highest audio video quality possible. ? I'll be later burning them on to dvd so hoping a minimal quality loss.
Thanks all

First, DV capture is not really capture at all. It's really DV transfer and the easiest is DVIO. It works just fine.

[Solarjetman]

Yep, The "captured" file is going to look the same with pretty much any program you use. Since it is only a file transfer, the main thing you should consider is the user interface and other features. If you want nothing more than a super simple capture program, DVIO is ideal.

[johnjohn]

Thanks solarjetman and mpegEncoder for dvio info.. that brings me to my next question.. after capturing/transferring to DV to HD what is best software for coverting video to dvd format for burning .. Is tmpgenc good enough for mpeg2 coversion or are there any other higher end programs that does a decent job. Are there any programs that does real time capturing/converting to dvd format ?

[Solarjetman]

Pretty much the two major competitors for the low cost market are TMPGEnc and Cinema Craft Encoder.

A mid-range solution is Mainconcept MPEG Encoder.

If you want a little more high end and expensive option, there is Canopus Procoder.

I am a TMPGEnc person myself. It gives great results, and has a huge array of settings you can tweak. Its good enough for pretty much any job. It however is slow compared to most other programs.