Capture home movies as MPEG but convert for editing?

[ar7499]

This is really a cature question, but that forum requests no DV questions, so here I am.

I have a lot of footage that I need to capture from an analog source and then do fairly extensive editing. (Nobody wants to see more than the highlight reel from the 20 hrs of baby footage I have, not even his mom and me.)

I already have a Hauppauge pvr250. I am wondering If it is ok to capture in the highest quality MPEG2, and then convert to DV for editing. It is my understanding that MPEG is not too good for doing more than rough cuts. I guess you can't really get frame accurate cuts.

My alternative would be to buy some sort of capture device like the ADVC-100. It would have to be external, because the Wintv card fills the only pci slot in my Shuttle.

I know that the converions can take a lot of time, but my machine is fairly fast. AMD XP3200+ w/ 1 gig ram.

Any advice will be appreciated. I know that starting with an s-video input means no better than s-video output, but I want the best quality possible, with the least atifacts introduced from editing and conversion. Also, not having to spend the extra money mould be nice.

[teegee420]

Personally, I wouldn't convert mpeg to DV. Seems like a waste of time. Then again I'm able to capture straight to avi. As for frame accurate mpeg cuts, give Womble MPEG2 VCR a whirl. Works great for me. It doesn't offer much in the way of effects and transitions and you can't add any audio tracks but it's excellent for simple cutting.

Edit: You might want to try Womble Video Wizard instead. It's a more fleshed out version of MPEG2 VCR. Get it here.

[qlizard]

First of all, good initial post. You have obviously done some research, and have included relevant information to get your questions answered. Unless you are thinking of adding transitions or other effects, I second the use of womble for editing your mpeg captures. I wouldn't convert to DV. Assuming you are going to encode it to mpeg again after editing to author a DVD or something, you are going to lose quality.
If you need to do precise editing, or add transitions, etc. you'll need to capture to AVI. As you probably know, the ADVC is highly endorsed. I would also suggest the alternative of DV camcorder pass through, if you have the option or need a new camcorder. I used to capture to mpeg but now do everything through my DV camcorder, edit and encode using procoder. I find the end results much better than going straight to mpeg.

[tekkieman]

@ar7499 - Just thought I'd give you a $0.02 worth here as I have done something similar. I have the Hauppauge Win TV Go card, and wanted to cap some 8mm video, edit, and create a DVD for the family.

Having limited funds to work with, I captured from Hi8 composite out to the Win TV Go in Movie Maker II (free with XP, so why not?). While I'm sure there are many other programs which can do a better job, this approach worked well with my budget.

MMII did a great job with editing, titles, transistions, and even credits. Yes, when converting to MPEG2 there is a bit of a hit in quality, but nothing I couldn't live with. When finished editing, output as high quality, then drop the finished product into EZCD or Sonic MyDVD for a simple menu ( both have menu templates) and burn.

Took 12 hours of footage to a 25 minute highlight movie and watched the finished DVD on the TV the same night.

Quick - Cheap - Acceptable.

Good luck.

Note - In MMII, create several projects if you want to use chapters in EZCD or Sonic. Easier than trying to split the finished movie later when setting chapter points.

[ar7499]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I DO plan on doing transitions, titles, etc. Nothing too fancy, I ve seen the mistakes of overusing the features just because they're available. I have a copy of Pinnacle Studio 8, which is supposed to be able to handle editing mpeg2 video, but I haven't heard good things about the results. I guess I still am not sure what route to go with, but it sounds like converting to DV might be more trouble than it's worth.

[TOMMO]

IMHO it is a mistake to capture as MPEG2. Capture as full field AVI , edit, then convert to MPEG2. MPEG video is not a format that likes being edited.

[Nolonemo]

Yeah, as I understand it, by capping to MPEG2 you're compressing, then you go back to AVI to edit and do your transitions and then you compress back to MPEG2. 2 rounds of compression has got to mean worse quality. I could be wrong about this (I'm analogizing to capping audio to mp3, editing as PCM and recompressing to mp3). But I know others in the forum will correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, using the DVcam to capture is soo simple, I love it.

[stk]

I second the use of womble for editing

qlizard
i used to like womble, but after i realized it corrupt my mpg... i dont use it anymore..

anyone have the same problem??


the problem is whenever i edit o do anyhting to my video, and then save it..

result

no working mpg

[teegee420]

I second the use of womble for editing

qlizard
i used to like womble, but after i realized it corrupt my mpg... i dont use it anymore..

anyone have the same problem??

Never. Best mpeg editor I have ever used.

[qlizard]

IMO you've answered the question. If you plan on doing more advanced editing than simple cutting, you have to capture AVI. You can do transitions on your mpeg with Pinnacle or Ulead VS7, but you will suffer a quality hit wherever you do an effect. And on the other parts you have to be careful to match the capture and project settings in order to not re-encode. I went that route for about 6 months, and was able to achieve relative success using VS7. I then purchased a DV camera because I needed one anyway. After going through the process one time (pass-through, edit, encode, author, burn) I found the ultimate process quicker and of higher quality than when I captured straight to mpeg. The key here is whether you edit the material.

Whether uncompressed AVI or DV is another question. I find DV very simple to work with, and the quality is excellent.

[ar7499]

Thanks all for the input. It sounds like it's time to invest in either a dv capture device, or a new video cam with pass through. Is there an index anywhere of cameras that have this feature? I see great deals on a small sharp camera ($250). It would be worth it to get that instead of the advc-100 for only a few dollars more. Also, is the quality of the conversion the same?

[Nolonemo]

Check out www.camcorderinfo.com, its a pretty good review site, tho I don't know if it has exactly what you are looking for. I don't know about the quality of conversion, I have the sense that it's about the same, but like I said, I don't know.

[bigeck]

I'm reasonably new to this but I use Womble Mpeg video wizard and it lets you edit mpeg2 to mpeg 2 frame accurate and use transitions.

I think it's fab and it does not re-encode the mpeg2, only the part that has the transitions - very fast and very good.

[Kolosus]

FWIW: I capture everything to mpeg2 with high quality settings, Edit and add transitions with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard, then use TDA to author.

Tried the Uncompressed AVI > Mpeg2 route several times with good results, but no better than I get right now with the aforementioned method.


Regards.