NEWBIE questions about DV capturing

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

Alright, I have a few easy questions to ask that I hope will be answered. First off, My DV Camcorder came with a USB and has some kind of USB streaming capability. However, when I have captured before, I have used iLink (firewire). I liked using firewire but which is better to use?
and second, the cam also came with a disc of programs to capture/edit/etc the video. Do you think I should use these programs or recommend that I just get some different better ones? I have used Adobe Premiere before to edit and I liked that interface a lot. And I have heard Scenealyzer (or however you spell it) is very good for capturing video.
and last, If there are any recommended or preferred programs which I should use to edit/capture the video than please let me know. Thanks in advance!

[canadateck]

Use Windv , to capture/Transfer with the Firewire.

[State Of Mind]

WinDV

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

alright, I am going to get WinDV but first, I just got Adobe Premiere Pro and it has its own capture feature, should I just use that or go with WinDV?

[BJ_M]

doesnt mater - quality exactly the same

[vhelp]

If you go with a stand-alone capture ap (ie, dvio or winDV)
then you have (in a way) an advantage. No tainting of the source.
I read over and over in various forum topics/threads how users do
experience issues. Some of them could be due to the nature of these
suites. They may be doing some things in the back ground that you
are not aware of. It could be just a simple un-click of the defaults
setup. But, you have to find them. I'm not saying that its in your
given software, but it could be. Sometimes its a better idea to
just go with a smaller beast, unless the software you have or got,
was recommended, and you cant' just let it go. In that case, you
are better off finding out wether or not the suite is pre-configuring
certain profiles/settings behind your back. that is, if you are
having issues with quality of your DV, you might want to investigate
first, if there is something going on without your knoedge. That's
all.

The above is just something to think about, in your trial debugging.

-vhelp 3121

[thecoalman]

The USB cable is for using it as a web cam, still pictures, low quality video.

[State Of Mind]

The best advantage of using WinDV is that you will never get a dropped frame.

[edu]

The best advantage of using WinDV is that you will never get a dropped frame.

Is there a setting in WinDV that will let me capture in MPEG2? It will save me time in converting. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

The best advantage of using WinDV is that you will never get a dropped frame.

Is there a setting in WinDV that will let me capture in MPEG2? It will save me time in converting. Thanks.

Nope. But Mainconcept MPEG Encoder can "capture" DV and convert to mpeg2 in one step....or try an all-in-one solution like ulead dvd moviefactory.

[edDV]

Alright, I have a few easy questions to ask that I hope will be answered. First off, My DV Camcorder came with a USB and has some kind of USB streaming capability. However, when I have captured before, I have used iLink (firewire). I liked using firewire but which is better to use?

Use ilink for quality DV transfers
Use usb for stills and highly compressed webcam use (very low quality)

and second, the cam also came with a disc of programs to capture/edit/etc the video. Do you think I should use these programs or recommend that I just get some different better ones? I have used Adobe Premiere before to edit and I liked that interface a lot. And I have heard Scenealyzer (or however you spell it) is very good for capturing video.
and last, If there are any recommended or preferred programs which I should use to edit/capture the video than please let me know. Thanks in advance!

You said that you have Adobe Premiere Pro, I suggest you use that first. Scenealyzer has better scene detection modes if that is important to you.

WinDV is an alternative but both programs use the same calls on Windows XP (via DirectShow) to do the capture. Premier has a much more comprehensive user interface and complete transport control.

Use whichever you like.

[edDV]

The best advantage of using WinDV is that you will never get a dropped frame.

I don't see why WinDV would be in any way better than Premire on this unless "Additional code handles memory buffering" is in some way superior to what Premiere is doing.

They are both just making IEEE-1394 transfer and machine control calls on Direct Show. Direct Show is doing all the work.

[edDV]

The best advantage of using WinDV is that you will never get a dropped frame.

Is there a setting in WinDV that will let me capture in MPEG2? It will save me time in converting. Thanks.

Direct capture to MPeg2 will require a very fast computer >~ 3GHz. I've been able to just barely capture MPeg2 (8,000kbps, uncompressed audio only) with ULead's version of the Mainconcept encoder on a 2.4GHz CPU running ~90% ave. This is a minimum.

Premeire Pro is going to want to work in DV format. The process is import in DV format, edit-effects, then output to DV or MPeg2. The MPeg2 file will be used by a separate program for DVD authoring.

Mainconcept makes a plug-in for Premiere (~$250) that converts Premiere for native MPeg2 editing. Results will be better in DV mode unless you have no choice.

http://www.mainconcept.com/mpeg_pro.shtml#standard

[pippas]

I run Premiere 6.5, and use WinDV to capture from firewire -- for some reason I cannot use the Premiere preview window (if the fire wire is connected) with a Premiere capture -- an imported WinDV capture is fine!

Never had any problems with WinDV - great little program (IMHO)

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

thanks for the help it was useful. well first off, i captured in Premiere first but there was this one part where it DROPPED A FRAME and that really sucks. so then I went to WinDV and didn't have a problem with any frame dropping after that.

[lordsmurf]

Premiere is a bit too bloated on the CPU.

[ArtOfLosingMFZB]

Premiere is a bit too bloated on the CPU.

couldn't have said it better myself.

[edDV]

WinDV is as unbloated as you can get. A simple user interface over DirectShow (part of DirectX).

And nothing else other than XP needs to be running.