Help - Mass Transcode of DV to ?????

[jmone]

I have a heap of older DV PAL Footage in 4:3 and 16:9 (anamorphic) both Type 1 and Type 2 that I am looking to transcode to a more netural format that will play on a variaty of platforms (including streaming to a PS/3). To date I've kept all my DV on my HTPC and play them as it using DV Filters straight to my AV Equipment but the HTPC has died.....

So any suggestion would be welcome for what Tools / Formats / Containers that:
1) Must maintain as close to the original quality as possible (so I don't want DVD "quality"). Ideally it would still be a 720x576 @ 25mbs without interframe compression but I don't know of anyother format apart from DV with the spec! EDIT: How about H.264 High Profile, if the table at wikipedia is correct I should get a similar format as listed in 3.1?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
2) A common Format / Container widly in use as I want to do this only once and minismse multi generational transcoding loss as much as possible (I'm thinking M2(TS) container as I can stream this to the PS/2 and I've already got an HDV camcorder)
3) A tool that can batch convert '00 of files AND can handle 4:3 / 16:9 Anamorphic both Type 1 and Type 2 DV correctly (without stuffing up the aspect ratio of the 16:9 Anamorphic Stuff!)

Thanks
Nathan

[redwudz]

I'm not clear what format the DV is presently in? Is it on your hard drive or are you going to use the tapes for the encoding input?

I would consider using MPEG-2 at a bitrate around 8500Kbps. That would give you about one hour of video on a DVD, if that's what you want to use for archiving. You could also use a DVD recorder if you want to speed up the process.

If you want to reduce your filesize, you will also reduce your quality. How much depends on the settings and format you use. You could try a representative clip and see how it looks with a few different formats and settings.

You didn't fill out your computer details, so I don't know what system, hardware or OS you are using, but H.264 takes a lot of CPU power (And a fair amount of time) to encode and play back, something to consider.

[jmone]

Sorry - updated my profile with the HTPC spec.
1) the DV files are all on the HDD and I currently play them with DirectShow Filters
2) I don't care about "saving" space - I have heaps and I want to retain as much quality over any space saving
3) I don't care aobut the processing O'Head - again I want to maintain quality
4) The new files will also be on the HDD - if I want to distribute I'll burn selected files to DVD at that point.

Thanks
Nathan

[redwudz]

You could try H.264. Your computer should be up to the task. But even then it may take a while to do the encoding. I use FairUse Wizard most times. You can select the profile you want and it's very easy to use. It has a trial version, so you could experiment to see if the quality is what you want.

There are other methods and encoder programs, like MeGUI. Some others here: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-encoders-h264-vc1

But if I had a lot of HDD space, I would probably just leave them in the DV-AVI format. You can try other low loss codecs like HuffyUV, but I doubt you would see any real advantages, though the filesize may be slightly smaller.

[jmone]

Thanks - I'll give FairUse a go. I would prefer to just them in DV-AVI but I've got problems streaming the files to the Kids PS3 as it will not play native DV-AVI and if I use on the fly transcoding with TVersity it gets the aspect ratio wrong on the Anamorphic stuff.

[edDV]

Thanks - I'll give FairUse a go. I would prefer to just them in DV-AVI but I've got problems streaming the files to the Kids PS3 as it will not play native DV-AVI and if I use on the fly transcoding with TVersity it gets the aspect ratio wrong on the Anamorphic stuff.

Why not stay with DV-AVI (max quality archive) but focus on finding a real time streaming transcoder that is compatible with the target PS3? Current solutions will most likely be non-realtime but hardware AVC transcoders will soon be available at reasonable prices. You are about a year early.

[jmone]

edDV you'r correct - it has always been my preference to always leave everything in it Native Format and get the player to play with it....it just seems that CE devices never support DV-AVI properly (or at all).

So my options are:
1) keep it in the native DV-AVI format and transcode on the fly (eg TVersity) when streaming to CE devices OR
2) pick a more supported format and transcode it all into that

I'm just invistigating what viable option 2) may be if I can not get the streaming to work properly.

Thanks
Nathan