NTSC Help

[Questor569]

I just bought a Sharp VL-WD255U DV Camcorder, VideoWave 4.0 editing software, a 1394 FireWire PCI Card. I have a Sony CD-RW 8X4X32 Writer with CD Extreme software that says that I can make a VCD from a Mpeg-1 file if the file has been "formated" to the following standards. NTSC 352 x 240 @30hz. My VideoWave program says it will convert DV to a Mpeg-1 with 320 x 240, Hz is not mentioned. I'm completely new to this so excuse me if this sounds dumb but is there a step between where VideoWave makes me a Mpeg-1 file and getting my CD-RW software to have it's "Formated for Video CD standard". Is "converting" to Video CD form the same as "encoding" with TMPGENC Beta 12 f+.

[Darkbird]

Terminology is always a big problem with learning something new )

"Formatting to xxxx standard", "Convert", and "Encode" all mean the same in the context you've presented.

I'd be surprised if VideoWave can't do both 352x240 and 320x240. Use 352x240 with an aspect ratio of 4:3 for VCD. 320x240 is more for display on a computer screen with an aspect ratio of 1:1.

The NTSC video rate is actually 29.97 fps (frames per second) rather than 30. Some people use both numbers interchangeably.

[Questor569]

Thanks for clearing up the question about "encode& convert" Darkbird. That gets me back to the second part of my problem. Can I still use my VideoWave editing software to construct the way that I'd want my VCD to look and save it to a file, then use another encoding program like TMPGENC to get it to the NTSC standard. If so what would be the best form (file format) to save it to file as, Mpeg 1, DV, and so on. I have read at this site about the TMPGENC and the link that has instructions for converting some file types with it, just wondering if there is a "prefered" way among TMPGENC users. One last thing, would ver.2.0 be the best choice to use? Questor569@aol.com

After looking over my VideoWave manual, they suggest using Mpeg 2 720x480 @7.2MB per min. to meet the NTSC standard. Even if this multipal of 352x240 is any good, my CD Extreme burning software requires a Mpeg 1 format and doesn't support Mpeg 2. VideoWave offers 11 different formats to save the file in but most are at a very high MB per min. rate.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Questor569 on 2001-10-05 09:30:20 ]</font>

[Darkbird]

Yes, you should be able to use VideoWave to edit your creations, and then save to a file for encoding to mpeg-1 by tmpgenc.

If you have enough disk space, save as AVI with DV compression. You will lose very little quality with DV. (DV is 25 mega bits per second, which gives about 200 mega bytes per minute)

If you are cramped for disk space and have mpeg-2 encoding capability with VideoWave, then saving as mpeg-2 at a high bitrate would be a good second choice. A bit rate around 5 mega bits per second (Mbps) should still leave enough quality for re-encoding as mpeg-1. That would be about 37.5 mega bytes (MB) per minute. Capital 'B' after 'M' means bytes, small 'b' after 'M' means bits.

Saving as a DV AVI is probably faster than saving as mpeg-2, since mpeg-2 is much more highly compressed than DV. Of course saving and encoding as mpeg-1 directly in VideoWave would probably be faster than saving in another format and then re-encoding to mpeg-1 with tmpgenc. But tmpgenc can probably give you better encoded output, which is part of why you're asking all this in the first place )

You should try the latest version of tmpgenc, as it's likely to have the fewest overall bugs and problems.

[gNOMEintheRedHat]

Questor569,

I just got a Panasonic MiniDV plamcorder and VideoWave4...

DO NOT use VideoWave to convert to MPEG2. It TOTALY destroyed ENTERPRISE for me. Save your project as a DV format AVI file then encode it with ANYTHING else.

I tried at the HIGHEST settings, and it came out as a BLOCKY, jerky, video with LOTS of sound drop outs.

[Questor569]

If any of you guys that has offered me help in here come back to check up on me please see my post in "Authoring & Burning" titled Too Good To Be True. Thanks

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Questor569 on 2001-10-05 19:37:57 ]</font>