DV capture data size ?

[lahirip]

Hi,
what is the expected data size for capture from miniDv to pc ? I am getting 200 MB approx for 1 minute which seems too large. Someone told me that it should be around 10-20 mb per min. this is 1/10th of what i'm getting.
I have a mini DV camcorder and am trying to capture video through a firewire port using ulead videostudio 4/5.
I want to burn svcd through my cd-rw.
Thanks

[lahirip]

Hi,
forgot to add that the driver being used is MS 1394 device control
Thanks

[whodges]

DV is a fixed rate format of 3.6 MB/sec.

10 sec = 36 MB
1 min = 216MB
1 hour = 12.960GB

[lahirip]

Thanks for the info. Can you suggest some alternative method to reduce the size. I am unable to work on home videos due to this large volume. Will it help to have it recorded on vcr and then downloaded to pc ?
Thanks

[jtor]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-20 12:50:13, lahirip wrote:
Thanks for the info. Can you suggest some alternative method to reduce the size. I am unable to work on home videos due to this large volume. Will it help to have it recorded on vcr and then downloaded to pc ?
Thanks
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

like what whodges said, DV transfer is 'fixed' at 3.6MB/sec. Your alternative (recording to vcr and then download to PC) will allow you to define compression etc, thereby yielding smaller file (size wise) but you'll be sacrificing quality. DV transfer is probably the cleanest approach.

I would recommend that you stay doing firewire transfer, and go buy a second harddrive as needed.

my 2cents.

[TheInformer]

NO!!
Do not record to your VCR first, as VHS quality to significantly less than what your MiniDV has:

MiniDV = 704x480 or thereabouts
VHS = 352x240 or thereabouts

If you want to keep the quality, you'll have to (1) invest in a larger hard drive + Win NT/2K/XP to handle the large files, or (2) break up the video into more manageable files ( <4 gig ), if you are running Win9X/ME.

Quality and file size are directly proportional to each other - as quality increases, file size increases.

[Tommy]

Sort of a suggestion, but I perfer the get another harddrive approch. If you capturing program has a preview mode you might use it. studio dv will capture in preview mode and let you edit, once finished editing it will go back and recapture at full dv and assemble your film. If the finished project is under 4gb (and if your using win9 it may be an option. I do not know what happens if your end project is over 4gb and your in win 98.

Just my 2 cents.......

[lahirip]

Folks,
thanks a lot for all your suggestions. As you can see, I am a newbie here so please help me out.
My ultimate aim is to fit 1 hr or so of video onto a disc with vcd/svcd/dvd encoding. given that the DV download is of such large size how will all fit ?
Thanks

[jtor]

lahirip,

...the DV file that you download to your PC is the 'raw' material in this process. This DV AVI file needs to be encoded to MPEG1 for VCD (or MPEG2 for SVCD). Encoding will 'shrink' the files significantly. From there, you use these MPEG files (burn them) as VCD/SVCD.

I got a DV Camcorder, 60 gig hdd and firewire card. I can fit about 4 hours (4 hi-8 tapes in digital 8 format) on the hdd in raw dv format.

Once on the hdd, i do any editing i want on them before converting to mpg since i have had audio sync problems cutting and pasting the mpg files together and dont feel like messing with it.

Then i run the dv file thru tmpgenc. I used to capture off of my tv or vcr using a bt878 based card and encode to vcd and was not really happy with the quality, but the quality of vcd using the dv file as a source is really quite good (better than VCR). I get 1 hour on a vcd at like 1250kbps with 128kbps audio (44100) (non standard). I am going to try svcd soon since I picked up an apex player at walmart for $88.00 the other day.

Ultimate goal is dv straight to dvd. I have made a mini-dvd and tested in pc and quality is as good as the original dv tape. Burners down to $380 now, but I know that technology will improve and prices will drop after Christmas.

ds

[lahirip]

folks,
thanks a lot again for your invaluable advice. This is an incredible source of information. I have a fair idea now what to do. I will try out all the stuff and am sure I will have more questions after I start the process.
One quick question:
What is the best ( cheapest as well) encoder that would help convert the raw DV files to vcd/svcd ?
Thanks again

[jtor]

================================================== ========
One quick question:
What is the best ( cheapest as well) encoder that would help convert the raw DV files to vcd/svcd ?
Thanks again
================================================== ========

you definitely need to get your hands on TMPGENC. Some would say it's not the best, but for me, and probably most of the users here, it does one hell of a job in encoding to MPEG. It's FREE, and you can find the link in the TOOLS section on the left.