Dumbass Newbie Question: MPEG or AVI?

[grahamh]

Hi all,
Please bear with me here, as I don't know that much technical stuff.

I have a DV camera that records in 16:9, which I want to preserve.

I am using VideoStudio 9 to capture the footage, but have to choose between MPEG2 in 16:9 or AVI which seems not to be able to take 16:9.

I'd prefer AVI to maintain the quality better, as I want the best possible quality (within my budget).

Is this something I'm doing, can AVI not take widescreen,or is it a limitation of VidStudio?
If someone can recommend a better, not too expensive, bit of software to use please do as I really want my output to be as high quality as possible.

Thanks in advance,

Graham

[mats.hogberg]

Just transfer (or capture, if you like) the DV with WinDV to your computer, and you'll get an exact copy (as DV AVI) of what's on tape in your computer.
If you save out as mpg, you'll lose lots of quality (and a version that wont be good for further edits).

/Mats

[lordsmurf]

For this software package, AVI. Pinnacle is pretty crappy anyway.

Mats gives good advice too, and is what I'd do, the WinDV method for DV transfer.

[grahamh]

Thanks for the help so far- I tried the Win DV software, but it comes up with the message 'Error: can't find DV output pin'. I am connecting the camera with the USB port, I don't know if that's relevant.

Thanks again

[mats.hogberg]

I am connecting the camera with the USB port, I don't know if that's relevant.

Sure is! Very few cameras output other than low quality video out the USB port. For true DV, you have to use FireWire (even if there like I said are some cameras that can output DV over USB). How big files do you get? DV is ~13 GB/hour.

/Mats

[grahamh]

I got a crazy huge file when I tried AVi through VidStudio- like 10GB for around 20mins.

Is firewire standard so that all DV cameras can use it?

EDIT: I have just noticed a port on the back of my pc with 1394 next to it. Would that be for the firewire cable?

[mats.hogberg]

Is firewire standard so that all DV cameras can use it?

Yes.

I have just noticed a port on the back of my pc with 1394 next to it. Would that be for the firewire cable?

Yes again.

/Mats

[grahamh]

Thanks so much for all of your help. I've ordered the cable and when it arrives I will finally be able to get these tapes transferred!!

[thecoalman]

I got a crazy huge file when I tried AVi through VidStudio- like 10GB for around 20mins.

DV-AVI is over 13 gigs per hour so if you want to store them on HD yoo're going to need a lot of hard drive space. Keep the tapes, what I do is transfer to a external hardrive so I can access them easily and take the tapes to a relatives house for backup.

Be aware you can only view this footage played from HD on your computer, you need to convert to MPEG and author a DVD if you want to watch on TV. DVD players do not support DV-AVI playback and I'm pretty sure they don't make computer DVd player that can sustain the required data transfer speeds need to play directly from disc. Besides that you can only get around 17-18 minutes on a 4.7GB disc.

Is this something I'm doing, can AVI not take widescreen,or is it a limitation of VidStudio?

Possibly for authoring, which version are using?

As mentioned by Mats this is direct copy of whats on tape, the only difference between 16:9 and 4:3 is a flag in the file header. Both use the same resolution of 720x480(or PAL equivalent). If the software doesn't support 16:9 for transfer its really irrelevant as it will only set the wrong flag which can be changed, be a lot easier to get it set correctly to begin with though.

[Simster]

will there be massive differences between avi and mpeg quality? the space sure is a lot more difrent. i had over 100GB when i used avi files, was A LOT of tapes, but smart me has overwritten the tapes so i only have avi files on a external drive left

[mats.hogberg]

Yes there will be a significant difference.
But even more important, DV is a format created to be easily editable.
mpg is an end format, and hard to do anything with, at least without losing even more of the picture quality.

/Mats

[Simster]

ok, so if i have like 5 tapes it will take a lot of space right?

[mats.hogberg]

IIRC, it's 12-13 GB/hour, so 5 tapes would be 60-65 GB. If I was you, I'd order a 500 GB external HDD for storage...

/Mats

[Simster]

alredy got 500 gb on computer and 300 gb external