Capture probs: stutter and loss of audio sync

[Cam1]

I've just bought a DVD burner (Pioneer DL). I made my first DVD fine (using Nero). I'm trying to create another, significantly longer) DVD (about 1 hour) from my Sony HandyCam. My problem is with the capture - it starts fine but by the end it is stuttering, has gaps and the audio goes out of sync. I tried using uLead Moviemaker to do the capture - it was better but still the same problems. Can anyone please help?

[redwudz]

Are you using DV video? If your computer specs are up to date and you have a 20G HD, I'd say you were running out of space. DV is about 13G per hour. If DV, you could also use WinDV.

Stuttering and audio sync problems may also be something running in the background on your computer. You could try shorter captures, but then you would have to combine the video files.

[thecoalman]

Are you using DV video? If your computer specs are up to date and you have a 20G HD, I'd say you were running out of space. DV is about 13G per hour. If DV, you could also use WinDV.

I think Redwudz nailed it right on the head. You might want to try defragging, but your going to run into other problems. As he stated 1 hour of DV is about 13 gigs plus a basic woindows installation and a few apps and your hard drive is going to be full. Your going to require additional temporary space to convert files, burn etc. 20 gigs simply is not enough for doing video of a longer length. You might be able to get away with it if you captured directly to mpg.

I'd suggest you get an additional drive dedicated for video capture. At least a 40 gig model.

[Cam1]

Firstly, how good is this forum! A reply from across the world (I'm in Perth. Western Australia) in record time that I reckon is on the mark.
Secondly, please explain for a beginner, what you mean when you say "Are you using DV video?". What is DV video? I simply plug the HandyCam in via he Firewaire and select DVD when asked what sort of disc I want to burn.
Thirdly (and I think this is related) what does thecoalman mean when he says " You might be able to get away with it if you captured directly to mpg". How do I do this?
Again, great help in record time. This is a great forum. Thanks muchly!

[vocalmind]

I also don't know what people are talking the first time I read thru this forum.

Check here https://www.videohelp.com/glossary

Then you can interact with them smooth, fast and clear.

Im a N00B too.

[thecoalman]

Secondly, please explain for a beginner, what you mean when you say "Are you using DV video?". What is DV video? I simply plug the HandyCam in via he Firewaire and select DVD when asked what sort of disc I want to burn.

DV video is a common term for what's on your cam. when you tranfer it to your comp it's DV in a AVi wrapper or file format. It's an exact copy of what's on your cam. If your doing it this way your file should have an AVI extension and be about 3.5 gigs per hour.

Thirdly (and I think this is related) what does thecoalman mean when he says " You might be able to get away with it if you captured directly to mpg". How do I do this?

Again, great help in record time. This is a great forum. Thanks muchly!

If you system is fast enough or your using a hardware encoder you can convert it directly to DVD compliant mpg on the fly as your transferring it which can the be directly authored to disc. MPG has a much smaller file size but is lower quality than the DV. It also is not well suited for editing. Also using good software with two pass encoding you can get better final results converting the AVI that doing it on the fly. The AVI way tsakes longer though.

Whichever method you choose I still suggest getting another drive.

[Cam1]

Thanks again. Using either uLead or Nero the capture output is mpeg (mpeg2 I assume), NOT AVi. Soooo, I should try capturing to AVi, author my DVD and then burn it.
BTW capturing about 1 hour of DV direct to mpg is about 3.5 Gb. Does this sound correct? From what you say capturing to AVI will result in the same file size?
BTW2 - yes more storage on the way. I should just buy a new computer!

[redwudz]

You can probably find a lot of posts here on DV >> DVD with a forum search.

The method I use is to transfer the DV to the computer with WinDV (I like to monitor the transfer), then edit in VirtualdubMod (Filters and editing), with the Panasonic DV Codec installed.

Then I frameserve to TMPGEnc encoder. (Look at frameserving in the Guides section.) After encoding, I use TMPGEnc DVD Author to author and usually burn. Frameserving keeps from using up extra drive space with an intermediate edited file.

There are plenty of variations on this, different programs and different methods.

Definitely go for more HD space. As far as encoding speed, with my older computers I just set up the encoding when I went to bed and didn't really care how long it took. The computer would shut off when it's done.

[thecoalman]

BTW capturing about 1 hour of DV direct to mpg is about 3.5 Gb. Does this sound correct? From what you say capturing to AVI will result in the same file size?

MPEG is a highly compressed format. Compression degrades the video. That sounds about right for a high bitrate mpeg. You can adjust the bitrate for mpeg. The example you give is probably around 8000 kbps CBR. Which will give you about 1 hour per disc. You can drop that to say 6000 kbps VBR and still maintain the quality of the video and put more video on a single disc. Which bitrate to use is entirely up to your preferences. The lower the bitrate the lower the quality. Get a RW to make some test discs.

DV AVI is also a compressed format but not quite as much as mpeg, it has a higher bitrate. It will not be the same file size. For 1 hour its about 13-14 gigs about triple the size of your file.

As I said there is nothing wrong with capturing to mpeg but for the best quality particularly if your going to edit capture to AVI, edit them to create your mpeg.