Another Newbie question

[shiNer45]

Im sure u guys have answered this a hundred times before and i apologize first off. Ive been lookin through these posts and just need some furhter help.

First off i am looking at making DVD's from my digital camcorder and from my older 8mm tapes.

I have Ulead DVD movie factory which seems pretty good, Im just wondering the proper order of operations when i am transferring the video to my computer, for example am i to make AVI's or MPG's , is there a certain way to transfer the audio

Basically i just want some pointers, these DVD's are going to be of family movies and pictures so i want something that looks pretty good and where the audio is always in sync etc etc...

If anyone can offer any constructive help i would love to hear from you.

thanks in advance

shiNer

[Thommers]

The program will usually pick if its AVI or MPEG, and its usually AVI. The audio should come with the sound when capturing, if not, something's wrong.

[FulciLives]

Im sure u guys have answered this a hundred times before and i apologize first off. Ive been lookin through these posts and just need some furhter help.

First off i am looking at making DVD's from my digital camcorder and from my older 8mm tapes.

I have Ulead DVD movie factory which seems pretty good, Im just wondering the proper order of operations when i am transferring the video to my computer, for example am i to make AVI's or MPG's , is there a certain way to transfer the audio

Basically i just want some pointers, these DVD's are going to be of family movies and pictures so i want something that looks pretty good and where the audio is always in sync etc etc...

If anyone can offer any constructive help i would love to hear from you.

thanks in advance

shiNer

Sounds like you have not done enough homework. These are alot of questions mostly open-ended questions.

You really need to read up more on this stuff before posting blindly like this.

You say you have a digital cam ... so you need to transfer your video using FIREWIRE aka IEEE 1390 aka i.link

This will create a DV AVI file on your computer that is an exact copy of what is on your video tape (it's a digital copy from tape to computer basically).

As for the older analog tapes. Well you have several options.

But as to which option depends on you providing more info.

What kind of digital cam ... model would be nice too.

What kind of old analog tapes? You said 8mm meaning Video8 correct? Anything else? Want to do VHS as well etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Don't forget to post your computer specs too as that often times helps in giving advice.

[shiNer45]

Dont take this the wrong way but i have been doing a lot of research on this, im looking for pointers etc and things that others have found work better, or things that others have screwed up, software people have found useful, etc etc

Im not asking how to get the DV or 8mm tapes onto my computer that , i think that is the easy part, but when i tried using the software from the DV cam it was in mpg format and was not in sync,

anyhow, any HELP, constructive help would be appreciated

FulciLives wrote: "What kind of digital cam ... model would be nice too"

im not sure why you asked that question, can u clarify, why would the model make any difference???

also if you would be so kind as to tell me which questions of mine are open ended i would be more than happy to shed some light on these, im not sure what u meant by this

shiNer

[bugster]

Dont take this the wrong way but i have been doing a lot of research on this
shiNer

Obviously not enough.

Im not asking how to get the DV or 8mm tapes onto my computer that , i think that is the easy part, but when i tried using the software from the DV cam it was in mpg format and was not in sync

That shows a lack of research to me.
With a DV camera you should transfer (not capture in the traditional sense) the data from the DV tape to the PC using firewire. Store the data as DV-avi format. Anything else means it is being encoded 'on the fly' by the PC and this is not generally a good thing at this stage. Also, Dv-Avi can be type 1 or type 2. TYpe 2 is slightly larger in size but is accepted by more different pieces of SW than type 1. I would reccomend DVIO or Win-DV to 'capture'.

Once you have it on your PC as DV-Avi then you can start to process it. Next step should be editing. You can do simple cuts and splices with freeware like virtualdub or you can buy some very expensive NLE software. Whatever route you decide the output from the editor should remain as DV-Avi.

Next step is to encode to DVD compliant mpeg. For this you obviously need an mpeg encoder. Ones to choose from include TmpGenc, Mainconcept and CinemaCraft. Many editing programs come with bundled encoders. By all means try them out and see what the quality is like, they vary greatly.

Now Author and burn. Ulead DVD movie factory which you already have is popular and fine for many peoples requirements. If you want a bit more flexibility try DVD-Lab.

FulciLives wrote: "What kind of digital cam ... model would be nice too"

im not sure why you asked that question, can u clarify, why would the model make any difference???

If you tell us what make/model of DV cam you have it would allow us to determine if it supports analog input or passthrough. If it does then it becomes a viable method of capturing your 8mm tapes to PC. If you had researched sufficiently you would have realised this.

Anyway, hope some of this helps.

[FulciLives]

t take this the wrong way but i have been doing a lot of research on this, im looking for pointers etc and things that others have found work better, or things that others have screwed up, software people have found useful, etc etc

Im not asking how to get the DV or 8mm tapes onto my computer that , i think that is the easy part, but when i tried using the software from the DV cam it was in mpg format and was not in sync ...

Well that does not make any sense. You claim you don't need help with that but when you tried it you had MPEG format (when you probably really want or need DV AVI) and then you even say that it was not in sync. So it sure sounds like, by your own admission, that you haven't figured this out yet. And this is STEP ONE in the process.

FulciLives wrote: "What kind of digital cam ... model would be nice too"

im not sure why you asked that question, can u clarify, why would the model make any difference???

Well some digital cams have a special mode call analog pass through which allows you to hook up analog video to the cam ... the cam then converts this to digital ... then you can capture that to your computer via the FIREWIRE connection. I wanted to know if your cam had that or not ... this way I could help advise you as to which direction to go in capturing your analog tapes.

Why you refuse to answer and dodge this question is beyond me. How can I or anyone else help if you don't know your hardware specs?

also if you would be so kind as to tell me which questions of mine are open ended i would be more than happy to shed some light on these, im not sure what u meant by this

An open ended question is something like, "I need some pointers on how how to fish. I read a lot of stuff on how to do it and I bought one of those new fancy fishing rods but I am lost as to the process and need some pointers."

A specific question would be, "I'm about to go fishing and I bought the Digital SONY fishing rod (model ACME-1000) and I intend to use this with bait type A and bait type B but I would like to know if the casting method as taught by the famous Ulead is really the best method or is there another method and if so does a guide for that method exist"

The first one is very open ended. The second one has a point and shows you already know something.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[shiNer45]

bugster wrote:

If you tell us what make/model of DV cam you have it would allow us to determine if it supports analog input or passthrough. If it does then it becomes a viable method of capturing your 8mm tapes to PC. If you had researched sufficiently you would have realised this.

i dont need to tell u what kind of model i have, the reason i bought the camera was for this option

i know how to get transfer it using av input,

i think maybe some of you people here that try to help others should use a less demeaning tone in your messages, if u are getting like that maybe its time for u to move to a different forum , seeing as how frustrating newbie questions are, but what u are forgetting is that this is a newbie forum and u would think aome stupid questions would be more toelrated as say in a more advanced forum

from this point on i will look through the guides for the help i need ,

and for all the nosey nancy's that cant sleep until they know the model of my camcorder it is the JVC GR-D74U, just came out and yes it has pass through, when i first attempted my transfer i havent got my new computer with firewire so i used the USB port , that most likely ccounts for the out of sync and mpg format im assuming, i was just trying to make a few contacts on here and get maybe some advice on some things people have screwed up on and what to watch for,

so again im sorry my questions did not meet your standards, and perhaps i should have done some more research but that i thought that was what i was doing when i came to this newbie forum, i thought i would check here first, instead of pissing people off in a more advanced forum.

so be happy with yourselves for being more advanced in this group of newbies and once again pointing out that u know more than me in a newbie forum

it reminds me of the movie sixteen candles where the nerd hangs around the dipshits but hes not so bad because he is "king" of the dipshits

so adios smart guys

shiNer

[FulciLives]

I don't feel bad about this at all. Your original post in this thread sure sounded like someone that had done NO homework.

This stuff is complicated ... and there is a certain language at use here ... a certain basic understanding of concepts ... that you need to grasp before asking questions.


Don't blame other people for your lack of understanding.

The people that help here do it of their own free will. Most of us like helping. We also tend to learn along the way ... But the key word here is help. We don't want to baby sit you and spoon feed you stuff that would take pages to write in a single thread because you have no clue.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[bugster]

from this point on i will look through the guides for the help i need ,

shiNer

Fine. Its what you should have done in the 1st place!

[shiNer45]

yeah u guys are completely right, i am completely wrong, i apologize for wasting your time, but dont waste anymore time by replying or even continueing to read this,

sorry u had to baby me and spoon feed me, next all i was going to do was ask if u could come over and make my movies for me, thats it!! promise

maybe a ride on the old g/f for payment