Mixing NTSC / PAL capture & settings?

[frappawotsit]

Hi, sorry if this is a dumb question but i'm quite new to DV capture (transfer)

I'm using an American Panasonic PV-GS500 camcorder (NTSC) but i'm actually British.

My Plasma will play NTSC and PAL.

I'm confused about how i get the best results onto DVD, as my cam is NTSC but British standard is PAL?

I'm assuming that for best quality results i should do the following:

1) Import from Camcorder using DV-AVI format NTSC (native to the camera)

2) Use my Power director 5 to edit the above captured video's

3) Convert the .avi file to mpeg2 for DVD playback?

QUESTIONS:

1) Should the mpeg2 for DVD playback be kept in NTSC or can i convert to PAL without loss of quality?

2) Is DV-AVI the best import format?

3) Is Mpeg2 the best output format for DVD?

thanks everyone for your advice.

-Frappawotsit.

[guns1inger]

There is a very high likelihood that your DVD player will play NTSC material. Assuming this is the case, the best quality will come form retaining NTSC throughout the process, including authoring an NTSC disc at the end.

If your camera is a DV camera then DV in certainly the best format to capture in. The process is essentially on of data transfer, and there is no generation loss. Other processes introduce a level of loss, however minimal it might be. DV is also very efficient storage for the quality, and is by far the easiest format to edit in. Look at WinDV as a simple, low overhead transfer tool.

See What is DVD (top left corner of this page) for details, however the short answer is Yes, mpeg-2 is the best format to encode to for DVD authoring. Mpeg-1 is acceptable within the spec, but only at low (VCD) resolution. NB : Leave your encoding to mpeg-2 until the end of your editing process. Mpeg-2 does not like being re-encoded, and drops quality quickly. It is should be the last thing you do to your video prior to authoring.

[frappawotsit]

There is a very high likelihood that your DVD player will play NTSC material. Assuming this is the case, the best quality will come form retaining NTSC throughout the process, including authoring an NTSC disc at the end.

If your camera is a DV camera then DV in certainly the best format to capture in. The process is essentially on of data transfer, and there is no generation loss. Other processes introduce a level of loss, however minimal it might be. DV is also very efficient storage for the quality, and is by far the easiest format to edit in. Look at WinDV as a simple, low overhead transfer tool.

See What is DVD (top left corner of this page) for details, however the short answer is Yes, mpeg-2 is the best format to encode to for DVD authoring. Mpeg-1 is acceptable within the spec, but only at low (VCD) resolution. NB : Leave your encoding to mpeg-2 until the end of your editing process. Mpeg-2 does not like being re-encoded, and drops quality quickly. It is should be the last thing you do to your video prior to authoring.

So if i've understood you correctly, i should get the best result by using my capture/editing software (currently PowerDirector 5) to import from my DV cam using the DV-AVI option. Then using my s/w above to do all the editing in the DV-AVI and once i've finished and am ready to render the final product, i then select the output as MPEG2. (the whole time keeping NTSC)

Is this correct?

You mentioned WinDV, would i be better to import from camera using WinDV then using my editing s/w to edit the clips imported by WinDV, would this give me better quality?

What is the best video editing s/w around at the moment?

Thanks for your quick response....

-Stu

[guns1inger]

If you have a firewire card or port in your PC, connect your camera and transfer the video as DV using WinDV. It is small, so the system resource use is very low, and it does just one thing, very well.

From there you can edit in whatever you want, be it powerdirector or even Windows Movie Maker.

The best - very subjective. And very open.

How much do you want to spend ?
How much editing will you be doing ?
How complex will it be ?

At the beginner to intermediate end you have the Ulead VideoStudio products, Premiere Elements, and Sony Vegas Movie Studio. There are others, such as pinnacle, but from what I read here I could not recommend them. Those that continue to use it seem to be in some form of masochistic relationship. They love it, but they fight with it every day.

If you like a challenge, there is also Avid Free DV.

At the Pro-sumer level you have Premiere Pro, Vegas and Edius.

After that it gets really expensive.

Personally, I use Vegas for editing, sound forge or Vegas for audio encoding, and DVD Lab Pro for authoring.

[frappawotsit]

Thanks, I do use firewire, so i'll get myself a copy of WinDV, hopefully that will help.

As for editing, i've often considered Adobe Premiere Pro, but don't know if it'd be too complicated for me!! Don't want to spend all that, and find it to difficult to use.

I tried premiere elements, and didn't get very good results, maybe i had my PAL/NTSC settings wrong, i'll maybe revisit that, as i still have the program.

I'm not too fussed about cost, i just want good quality results, i'm only making home movies, kids/holidays/occasions etc but still want the best quality i can get.

If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing properly etc....

I notice you use a different program for editing and authoring, I assume by authoring, you mean the same thing as rendering? Or by authoring, do you mean the phase where you burn to disc?

thanks you've been a great help....

[guns1inger]

I edit in Vegas, frameserve the video to ProCoder 2 for encoding, then author (create the DVD) in DVD Lab Pro. I then burn with Imgburn 2.

While using all-in-one tools might seem a time saver, quality can only be obtained by using the best tool for each stage in the process. Much of what I do comes from VHS source, so I also use avisynth and virtualdub quite a bit. Photoshop is invaluable for still menu design. So many programs.

[frappawotsit]

Thanks again for your reply...

To be honest, i'm not sure i'd have the combination of time and patience to do each individual piece with a different program! I fully take on board what you're saying about quality though, and thinking logically, it makes total sense.

I guess as my use is entirely home movies of the kids/birthdays/occasions etc, that I can't justify the time it would take to learn each individual piece of software, then the amount of time it would take to complete the cradle to grave process.

I think i'll have to be realistic about my requirements, and would hope that using your advice i can reach a comprimise, i'll try using WinDV to transfer from my camcorder to the pc, then an editing s/w for the creation, and i'm not sure if i should use something simple like Nero that I already have to do the authoring? Or would i be better to author from the editing s/w (probably will be either premiere pro, or powerdirector5)

I have learnt much from your advice and feel far more confident than i did. I guess i'll have to put it all to the test now and the proof is in the pudding as they say.

thanks again....

[guns1inger]

See my response to your other post re: software.