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  1. OK Have got my DVD burner up & running, and have fitted a firewire card. I intend to capture DV to avi using Adobe Premiere for capture & editing. Then export the finished movie as DV avi with no sound, and seperate wav file for sound. Convert avi to m2v in TMPGenc, using best settings possible, and compile DVD in Maestro for final burning.

    I assume the above is the most straightforward and best way of creating DVD's from camcorder DV? Anyone with any experience have any comments?

    What is concerning me slightly is my first few test captures from camcorder result in noticeable quality loss when viewing the resultant avi file in Windows media player. I realise the IS some compression going on in the transfer, but am wondering - does the quality of the firewire card have any influence on capture quality? I'm using a fairly budget-end one.

    I also intend to use the same setup for transfer of old VHS to DVD using the ADVC-100 analogue to digital converter.
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  2. Member ZippyP.'s Avatar
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    Originally Posted by redlester
    I realise the IS some compression going on in the transfer, but am wondering - does the quality of the firewire card have any influence on capture quality?
    You realize incorrectly, there is NO compression going on in the transfer. That is, if you are doing it correctly. The transfer of DV footage from a DV camcorder to a computer via Firewire is just that, a transfer. It is not a "capture" in the proper sense. If your DV avi is poor quality then it is not the transfer, and your firewire card should make no diference. You are doing a straight DV-DV transfer?
    "Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." - Frank Zappa
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  3. Originally Posted by ZippyP.
    You realize incorrectly, there is NO compression going on in the transfer
    OK...thought I read on another thread that there was some compression, but anyway...

    I'm capturing from the camera DV output via firewire using the standard PAL DV settings on Premiere. Very straightforward, no other software/hardware in the process. But the captured avi is definately poorer quality than the original DV monitored off the camera. Less 'sharp' and looks more like film footage than video if you know what I mean. Or is this just because I'm looking at it on PC rather than television?
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    Depending on installed filters and programs on your PC your playback may be somewhat affected (quite many complain about fuzziness or stutter). Try players like PowerDVD or similar. Encode your DV footage to MPEG2 8k CBR and watch again in PowerDVD. You can compare and draw conclusions.
    As to encoding it is your choice to split streams or encode the whole thing at once (A+V). Maestro may not be the most user friendly DVD author. program but if you are comfortable with it it's OK. Other authoring options in Tools section.
    Lastly your FW quality has nothing to do with video. Transfer is digital just like any other data file from one location to another.
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  5. Thanks for the comments. Yes I would say "fuzziness" is the best description. Bear in mind though I'm looking at a capture from a video of a band in concert at a small venue - lots of dark areas around the bits brightly lit by stage lights. Probably the kind of footage most likely to cause problems? Have looked at it on PowerDVD and there is negligible difference to how it looks in media player.

    Think I need to experiment with other different types of footage before making conclusions. Also, the capture I refer to above is from a friend's Sony camcorder, which is in my opinion is not particularly great picture quality even on the original tape. Will do some experiments with my own JVC, which seems to give sharper picture quality, in the near future to check the difference.

    The reason for splitting out the audio stream is to allow the possibility of "tweaking" audio in Soudforge or similar at a later date if it needs any final volume or EQ adjustments etc. Also would allow conversion to AC3 if I could be bothered - is that worthwhile if it's only stereo or would I be wasting my time? (Possiblly the wrong forum to discuss that one?)
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    The fuzziness seen on played back DV footage has nothing to do with the transfer but the codec use to display it. DV is a compressed format but it is compressed in the camcorder before it is put on the tape as a data stream. When you have transferred that data stream to your hard drive, you then need a codec to allow you to view it. The default MS codec is pretty poor. Most people seem to think that the Panasonic DV codec does a much better job.

    I'm not sure if Soundforge can do it, but some audio editing software can tweak the audio of an avi file so you don't have to split the audio and video. I have a feeling that Cool Edit can, although I use the audio editor module in Mediastudio Pro. Can Premiere do it? Most features that Mediastudio Pro has, Premiere has too. The main advantage with that is as you are always leaving the two streams connected there is never any possibility of them getting out of sync.
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  7. Originally Posted by Richard_G
    Most people seem to think that the Panasonic DV codec does a much better job
    Aha thanks for that. Will investigate.

    Yes, Premiere has excellent audio funtions including effects, EQ etc. But I just like to retain as much control as possible as far down the encoding line as possible, so that I can alter at a later date if I decide I don't like the final product, without having to re-encode the video as well.

    The synch thing shouldn't be a problem if both streams are the exactly the same length and begin at exactly the same frame, which is fairly easy to ensure.
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  8. @redlester

    The fuziness or the loss of quality can appear to be due to the fact that monitor works on progressive scan where as our conventional TV systems use interlaced scanning.
    The video captured by the cam is interlaced.
    Before diong anything drastic i would recommend that u go ahead and burn a sample and watch on ur TV.
    This is exactly the same advice which was given to me, and i have not looked back since then.
    If u follow the instructions and do the correct settings, am sure u ll be happy with the results.

    Saurabh
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    But why take the RISK
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