AVI footage

[FinChase]

This is a real newbie question, but here goes...

I've been capturing some video as uncompressed AVI from old camcorder tapes, then I'm using a program to edit and convert them to MPEG for burning to DVD. What I want to know is, what do people do with the original AVI footage when you've compiled everything to MPEG? Even 45 minutes worth of AVI is huge, too big to put on even a DL DVD. It doesn't zip well. I've got a large external hard drive, but that's filling up now 'cause of a few of these files. Do you delete it and hope you never need the raw footage again?

[pijetro]

What is the .AVI compression codec that u use??
Many people tend to work with DV compressed footage..That's about 13.5 gigs an hour..
If the original footage that you captured is important, simply transfer back to MiniDV tape, via your camcorder..An excellent way for archiving old footage.

If the .AVI footage isn't gonna be seen again, simply dump it, and move on..

[daamon]

What is the .AVI compression codec that u use??

I've been capturing some video as uncompressed AVI from old camcorder tapes

Sorry pijetro, couldn't resist...

That aside, pijetro is right - DV AVI if you want to retain quality whilst reducing the filesize somewhat. You can either:

a) Use VirtualDub with the Panasonic DV Codec to convert the uncompressed AVI to DV AVI (13.5Gb per hour)

b) Or save to miniDV tape.

c) If you're not too fussed about retaining quality - i.e. you're not wanting to use the AVI for editing and / or DVD creation - then something like Divx, Xvid or a decent bitrate WMV.

[vhelp]

TGIF everyone

You didn't say how you were capturing.. ie..

** from a DV device (via passthrough) or,
** with an Analog Capture card.

When you stated as "uncompressed" I assume you *did* capture with an
Analog Capture card. (you computer details lacks capture device details)

As such, I'm going to assume that you are capturing with an Analog Capture
card.

Now, assuming this..

My suggestion would be to not capture "uncompressed" as you stated earlier.
Instead, capture more closer to the source's level, YUV. You could use
Huffy codec for this, and capture as YUV422. IMHO, capturing to 422 is
closest to the sources original form.

(if you capture "uncompressed", you will be inforcing your capture card
to do a YUV->RGB conversion, which would seem to be an uncessary step)

However, even with Huffy codec, [vs. "uncompressed"] is aprox 25g /hr.

-vhelp 3662

[FinChase]

What is the .AVI compression codec that u use??
Many people tend to work with DV compressed footage..That's about 13.5 gigs an hour..
If the original footage that you captured is important, simply transfer back to MiniDV tape, via your camcorder..An excellent way for archiving old footage.

If the .AVI footage isn't gonna be seen again, simply dump it, and move on..

Sorry, wasn't clear. I captured this from an old VHS camcorder tape. I don't have a digital camcorder (yet).

[edDV]

How did you encode your DVD?

MPeg2 at 720x480 and adequate bitrate (~6000-8500ave) should be more than sufficient for VHS backup. If it is SVHS you should max the DVD bitrate to 8000-8500 CBR for a camcorder source.

Alternatives would be DV format (@25 Mb/s+ audio). You would need to borrow a camcorder or put 20 min/DVDR. Huffyuv presents a storage problem ~30GB/hr.

Careful encoding can get VHS down to 352x480/576 for distribution but I wouldn't go that far for camcorder backup.

[rgs_uk]

Why do you recommend constant bitrate rather than variable? Just wondered, as I would have thought you were more likely to get pixelation on fast moving sections with constant bitrate?

Recently I have been archiving VHS, S-VHS and Hi8 material onto MPEG2 and I agree with what has been said about it being perfectly adequate. I stay under 9000 so the DVDs will play in a DVD player - which is handy.

I have loaded the original AVI capture and the MPEG into Vegas Video, switched between the two and can't see any difference. I also save a wav of the audio track. To edit later, I convert back to HUFFYUV and then re-encode to MPEG2 and, again, I can't see any quality loss. even on moving sections.

Sometime in the future I may go back and recapture all this stuff, maybe as DV, but currently the storage of such large files is too awkward (having to load 4 DVDs for one hour of video...).

Also have to think about which formats will be available ten years now. I'm sure I'll be able to play MPEG2, but what about codecs such as HUFFYUV?

[edDV]

Why do you recommend constant bitrate rather than variable? Just wondered, as I would have thought you were more likely to get pixelation on fast moving sections with constant bitrate?

First, camcorder material is shakey and doesn't benefit as much from variable bitrate. Unless a tripod is used (rare), motion detection for variable bit rate is likely to generate errors. Solution is a constant high bitrate in tradeoff for play time.

Second, VHS is noisy. This will also produce motion detection errors.

Recently I have been archiving VHS, S-VHS and Hi8 material onto MPEG2 and I agree with what has been said about it being perfectly adequate. I stay under 9000 so the DVDs will play in a DVD player - which is handy.

I have loaded the original AVI capture and the MPEG into Vegas Video, switched between the two and can't see any difference. I also save a wav of the audio track. To edit later, I convert back to HUFFYUV and then re-encode to MPEG2 and, again, I can't see any quality loss. even on moving sections.

Sometime in the future I may go back and recapture all this stuff, maybe as DV, but currently the storage of such large files is too awkward (having to load 4 DVDs for one hour of video...).

Also have to think about which formats will be available ten years now. I'm sure I'll be able to play MPEG2, but what about codecs such as HUFFYUV?

I agree MPeg2 and DV are here to stay. You can't say that about all the oddball MPeg4 variants. I still like DV for archiving camcorder Hi8 and SVHS. The tape quantity is managable and the value is high. I'm just saving these to MiniDV and Hi8 tapes as temporary storage until I can get writable Blu-Ray at 25GB per side.