DMR-E80 and Panny VDR-M30 DVD-RAM/DVD-R Digital Camcorder

[scamp2032]

Here's an encoding question. Anyone please.

I got my hands on a Panasonic VDR-M30 DVD-RAM/DVD-R Digital Camcorder. Very cool. I can shoot video on the M30, take the RAM disk out and high speed dub right into my E-80. Slick slick slick. Made my edits on the E-80 and intended to high speed dub back out to a DVD-R.

Was suprised to see I couldn't high speed out since the M30's best quality setting isn't exactly the same as the E-80's settings. I have to dub out in Real time. How much quality do you think I will lose by re-encoding the MPG2 file the M30 already made?

Would have thought Panasonic could have made things a little more compatible.

[thoots]

scamp,

We're safe to presume you've got the E80 set up with the "DVD-R Compatibility Mode?" If not, by all means make that change and try, try again...

thoots

[scamp2032]

Yes, I do have that selected.

I have successfully high speed dubbed dvd-r disks in the past from the hard drive. As I said, I was quite surprised I couldn't high speed to a dvd-r when I could high speed from the dvd-ram onto the hard disk.

I just want to know how much quality I'm losing by having to go thru the encode process just to get the material to a dvd-r.

[donpedro]

Isn't there some small print in manual that says that it can't be done ? Try to look into manual again.

[scamp2032]

small print? who reads the small print??

My question is: How much loss am I occurring by re-encoding the MPEG2 file already generated by the Panny Camcorder.

[donpedro]

There is no formula to calculate that.

[scamp2032]

that's what I thought.

What I am in the process of doing is comparing the file size of the original vro file from the ram disk and the vob file from the re-encoded dvd-r disk.

i figure this should give me some idea of what might be happening.

Still wonder if it might be better to buy a minidv cam and just plug into the front of the dmr-e80 and let her record to a dvd-r disk for family stuff.
I'm worried that the dvd camera might be losing too much quality already on the original record since it records in mpeg2 to disk.

any thoughts??

[donpedro]

Tell me more about what are you trying to do exactly with you video camera. My is miniDV (=DV AVI file) and I create my own DVD's on PC.

[scamp2032]

I need to buy a new camcorder for family video recordings. I just bought a new E80 and thought it would be nice to have one of the new Panasonic DVD palmcorders. They record to mini DVD RAM and -Rs.

My intention was to high speed dub the stuff I shot on the new DVD camera into the E80, edit a little, then high speed back to a 4.7gig DVD-r for storage. Sounds like a perfect use of the E80. Only problem is I can't high speed dub back to DVD-r. Now, the reason I am so anal about high speed dubbing is because it is basically an exact duplicate of the original. No re-encoding.

The DVD Palmcorder already masters to disk in MPEG2, so the qaulity isn't quite as good as what Mini DVs record. In my opinion.

So, am I better off just buying a minidv camcorder and plugging in cables on the front of the E80 and let her rip?

[donpedro]

Do you concider editing on PC and borning DVD on PC DVD writer as an option ? For that MiniDV cam is better option. I guess. Again, that is what I do.

You should be able to rip DVD-RAM that was used in that kind of video camera and then edit it and remaster/reauthor to new DVD on PC too. Without additional loss.

[scamp2032]

I've done that using TMPGEnc DVD Author. Results looked good.

So, you are saying I won't notice any loss of quality when I edit / author on my PC. Why is that, because doesn't the software encode the MPEG2 again after the edits/authoring is done/added?

If that's the case, no loss, I might go with the DVD camera simply because it is so darn easy to transfer the video to my computer. Simple as drag and drop from my USB RAM player right onto my hard drive.

Guess I still feel a little funny about recording the original video in MPEG 2, but if that's what I am going to archive/master on, then what's the big deal.

[donpedro]

I am not best on this so try looking around in specialyzed sections of this forum.

Well... editing mpeg2 is kind off funny. It depends on software and on what kind of editing are you planing. Simple cut should keep rest of the mpeg2 intact and authoring does not do conversion. But, if you are going to try to use some transitions, titles and so on... it might re-encode. Some software will re-encode whole file and some might not. That is why it is better to use DV AVI and encode on PC if you edit material.

Don't take my word on this. You might be able to get better abswers in different subforum here.

[scamp2032]

That's good to know about editing MPEGs. That's all I want to do, just cut out a scene or two here and there. I don't want to add titles and all that.
If it doesn't recompress the file, I'm a happy camper.

Thanks for all your help donpedro.

[donpedro]

Not so fast... It is not that easy to find program that will do that... One of the reasons why I am not using my USB external mpeg2 capture device. Search or ask in "Editing, cutting and joining" or "DVD Authoring".

[scamp2032]

I'll look there...thanks.