Which DV Codec is the Best?

[ropdoh]

I having been searhcing to try and find the answer to this question for some time now. Obviously there probably isn't such a clear cut answer, but some people out there must have a gut feel with some reasons for them. In particular the DV Codecs I have encountered include
* Adaptec DV Codec
* MainConcept DV Codec
* Panasonic DV Codec
* Canopus DV Dodec
* Sony DV Codec

I am sure there are loads more as well. I am using the codecs for offline movie creation in Windows (with VirtualDub), so speed of compression is not a particular worry. I am more interested in quality. So if anyone could let me know which ones they recon are particularly good, or terrible for that matter it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[ImaWeTodd]

Since DV is hardly compressed at all, how much difference can there be? (Across the major ones) How would you compare them? Color Bars? Resolution Charts?

I'm interested.

Have you noticed any difference ? Are we talking decompression only? I mean, you dvcam does the compression using it's own, right?

[PhilipL]

Withdrawn

[Cornucopia]

I'm kinda partial to the Canopus myself.

The codecs are USUALLY used just for decompression, but if you do any FX/titles/transitions/compositing in your editing of the stuff, the codec gets used for recompression during the rendering, so YES it does make some difference.

Just like with MPEG2, the stuff that taxes the codec is the fine detail, random moving, jumpcut (well that's more for just MPEG), and hard edged kind of stuff. This will include fancy titles, water splashes, swish pans, fluttering foliage, jumbles of people and, oh yeah, also recognizable moving smooth color gradients. These are great examples to try to test variations on. However, color bars & chip charts are also often used.

Scott