Capturing DV for editing

[anabelle]

Hi, i am helping a friend who doesn't have a firewire port to capture 2 MiniDV Tapes so he can make a DVD, but he will do the editing in his computer. And the captue in mine.


I thought the best idea (since he is making a DVD as the final work) was to give him the captured files in mpeg-2 but he is having trouble in the editing with .mpg files.

what would you recomend me to do, of course i can't give him the .AVI files, because they are too big and don't want to throw away to many DVDs

[edDV]

DV is best to edit but is 13.5 GB / hr.

Best approach would be to buy a new hard drive and load the 27GB for him to edit. Or, network the 27GB.

You could copy to DVDR but that would be 20Min/DVDR as data or 6 DVDR.

[anabelle]

yes, i know its 13.5 GB/hour but he needs the video to author a DVD.

So, wich compression can i use to fit the files in 1 or 2 DVDs and let him do the editing in the compressed format?

[Richard_G]

You don't compress. edDV has given you the answer, either network the two computers and transfer the DV files over the network or copy the files to an external hard drive and transfer to his machine.

[anabelle]

ok, but what's wrong about compressing?

[Richard_G]

You don't compress until after you have edited (that's why he had trouble with mpegs). Once you have finished editing and are satisfied with your final output, that's when you compress.

All compression methods work by sending a full frame followed by instructions that say that the next frame is the same as the previous one except for this this and this. This continues for a few frames before the next full frame is sent. For this reason, if you edit just after a full frame there is nothing to reference the following frames to. Very simplified, but that's why you don't compress until after you've finished editing.

[daamon]

@ anabelle: The quickest, simplest and cheapest way is for your friend to buy a firewire card. They're very inexpensive and it'll save a lot of faffing around, time and expense for both of you.

[edDV]

As said, the compresion should be done by your friend after editing, not by you. You need to figure out how to send your friend the 27GB of video transferred from the tapes.

daamon's approach is to add the Firewire port to your friend's computer. If they are using XP, this will cost about $11.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815102009

[wan2no]

so tell me something. if dv is 13.5gb per hour and i have 2 hours of video then can i edit the first hour, compress it then edit the other hour.

[daamon]

so tell me something. if dv is 13.5gb per hour and i have 2 hours of video then can i edit the first hour, compress it then edit the other hour.

If you've got two seperate files - yes. you may have multiple files (read as "many") - each can be edited and individually compressed, if you so wish.

P.S. ur engrish is gr8...

[wan2no]

P.S. ur engrish is gr8...

was just curious

okay. so in the case that i did the 2 hour movie, when i'm about to capture the video, i can specify how much of the 2 hour movie i want.[/quote]

[daamon]

okay. so in the case that i did the 2 hour movie, when i'm about to capture the video, i can specify how much of the 2 hour movie i want.

You're probably best starting a new thread, as this is straying well away from the OP's original topic... Feel free to PM me with the URL for the new thread.

Also, in the new thread, provide more detail...

[julitomg]

If you really don´t mind compression, you could also capture in DV, convert to.avi but with a MJPEG codec such as PICVideo, wich your friend should be able to edit with, then compress to.mpg and author...(but a firewire is still cheaper)
(por cierto, padres fotos... )