Combine small dv-captures into big files without reencoding?

[aardbij]

I have troubles with dropped frames when i capture my tapes using Adobe Premiere. So i end up with lots of smaller files.

I want to combine them again into a large file, so i have one scene in one file without re-encoding?

I could edit the clips into 1 file in Premiere, but what export settings would i then use so that i'm sure that no re-encoding takes places?

Thnx

edit: fixed typo in subject

[aardbij]

Okay, i suspect that virtualdub might do the trick. But can i perform that cut&paste actions in premiere as well? (I'm used to that interface)

grtz

[daamon]

Hi aardbij,

Welcome to the forums.

Try WinDV to transfer your DV to PC. It's free, reliable and stable. You can only transfer using firewire.

Set WinDV up like this...



...to get each seperate clip into its own file, or set the "Discontinuity threshold" to zero to get the entire tape into one DV AVI file.

If you still want to use Premiere, then export as DV AVI for no loss.

[aardbij]

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.
I checked out WinDV and it worked like a charm. For me, it works even better then Premiere because it adds the orginal date/time stamp to downloaded scenes. Strangely, my premiere 6.5 doesn't provide anyway to get that stamp (not even in the file properties).
A small improvement for DV should be the play/stop/ff/rew buttons. I had to use the buttons on my camera.

About your suggestion on using the DV AVI export format. I assume that as long as i dont use any image manipulation (like transitions) but only simple cuts, i wont reencode and just direct-stream the clips into on bigger file?

greetz
aardbij

[daamon]

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. I checked out WinDV and it worked like a charm.

No problem - glad you're happy with the result.

A small improvement for DV should be the play/stop/ff/rew buttons. I had to use the buttons on my camera.

A small price to pay... But, yes, a valid observation I'd say. It might not have been incorporated so as to keep WinDV small. Dunno...

About your suggestion on using the DV AVI export format. I assume that as long as i dont use any image manipulation (like transitions) but only simple cuts, i wont reencode and just direct-stream the clips into on bigger file?

When you transfer from a DV cam to PC via firewire, the resultant file(s) is in DV AVI, here's why: Your DV cam actually uses a DV codec to encode the footage and then writes it to tape. Using WinDV simply transfers that file from the tape to the PC - hence the resultant AVI is DV AVI.

So, if you do anything in Premiere - transitions, cuts, effects, picture enhancements, adding pictures (stills) or titles - when you export as DV AVI there'll be no quality loss in the original footage as the rendering for the tramsitions, effects etc. is done in DV AVI (that's a default for Premiere).

Hope that helps...

P.S. Some tools you might find useful if you're interested in the timestamp:

DVdate
DVE Dv date
DV_Datecode
Visual DV Time Stamp