Capturing DV video from camcorder: Keep it DV or is MPEG2 OK

[WesleyHester]

I plan to only make DVDs from my videos and never "write" them back to DV tape.

Would it be better to capture my videos off DV tape as MPEG2 on my computer?

Is there a reason not to prefer MPEG2 over DV?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

[wwjd]

Transfer, not capture, the DV avi file from your camera to your hard drive. Once the DV avi file is on your computer's hard drive you will need to convert the DV avi to mpeg2 in order to put it on a DVD to viewed in a DVD player.

To do the transfer of the DV avi to your computer you can use WINDV a free software app.

This site should be able to help you find software that you can then cut, trim, author and then burn to DVD.

[WesleyHester]

I'm currently using Ulead VideoStudio 9 and the manual claims it supports "Direct video capturing to MPEG format" and that is supports "real-time capturing from DV ... to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats. And it also states "Capturing straight to MPEG saves hard drive space as its file is smaller compared with DV AVI".

My real question: is that the best option since I'm going to be burning my video creations to DVD in the end?

Is MPEG2 just as easy and fast to edit as DV AVI?

The fact that I can capture straight from my DV camcorder into MPEG2 should save time when putting a project together for DVD correct?

[Baldrick]

if you want to do lots of editing copy to dv avi.
and read https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=395&howtoselect=9;53#395

[wwjd]

When converting DV to mpeg2 on the fly you run a much higher risk of dropping frames than if you download the DV avi to your hard drive and then convert to mpeg2. You can use VS9 to transfer the DV avi to your hard drive and then you can load the file into VS9 as an avi.

When it comes to cutting and trimming I very much prefer doing it on DV avi than on mpeg2. VS9 does NOT do mpeg frame accurate cuts which means that you will probably have audio sync issues if you do the cutting and trimming after the file is mpeg2.

Yes the DV avi file will be large but your profile indicates that you have enough HD. Editing DV avi is much better than editing mpeg2, especially if you are using VS9.

Do your cuts, add transitions, menus in DV avi and thenlet VS9 convert to mpeg2 when you tell it to author.

I still recommend using WINDV to transfer the DV avi to your HD. I do so because it is simple and will NOT re-encode it. If you do not know what you are doing with VS9 you may think you doing a straight transfer but it may in fact be re-encoding, which you definetly do not want to do!

[edDV]

I use the Video Studio's realtime DV to MPeg2 for TV captures (from cable box) but I capture DV format for camcorder work, then edit in detail, and then non-realtime encode to MPeg2 and author the DVD.

The technique you use depends on your standards for image quality and editing.

Realtime mode will take at least a 2.4GHz P4 or Celeron to keep up. Use the DVD preset that is something like 7,000 vbr 8,000 Max with 224Kbps MP2 audio.

This will get you 70-90 min/DVD. If you want to compress more, it will take a faster CPU.

Try it both ways.

[justinluck]

wwjd, you mention that VS9 does not do mpeg frame accurate cuts. Do you know if PowerDirector 4 does? Or what programs do offer mpeg frame accurate cuts, if this is possible? Thanks!

[tecstar]

If you are burning straight to dvd, and your pc can handle mpeg2 conversion on the fly (ie: without dropping frames etc) then i suppose there is nothing wrong in theory, but for editing, you need to use the avi file created from the dv transfer for the best results. once youve edited the video, then you can use different settings to fit you footage on a dvd.

If disk space is an issue, then you probably need to get a new/second hard drive.

It depends how much you are happy to cut corners, and what end result you will be happy with.
I use VS8, and transferring dv to dv is a no brainer. I then always output my footage to an mpeg file and use dvd workshop to create the final dvd. Its not as obvious to tweak your settings for the output mpeg file, but if you are familiar with the teminology, you can work it out. i have always achieved good results.

[jcheco]

if you are going to edit before doing the dvd, then it will be better yo use DV because it will be faster rendering, on MPG it wiil decompress and then compress it again and it is a heavy los por the CPU.

[wwjd]

justinluck,

Sorry but I am not familiar with PowerDirector 4. I use Videoredo for doing frame accurate mpeg2 cuts and trims. Unfortunately Videoredo is not an all in one video software app. Its sole purpose is for accurate cutting and trimming of mpeg video.

I also use TMPGEnc DVD Author, but it is not truely frame accurate. However, it only lets you cut on 'I' frames, which usually is sufficient to insure audio sync. TDA is also a very fast and solid authoring app.

[justinluck]

Thanks for the info wwjd. I will look at those programs. If you want to try out PowerDirector 4, you can download a fully functional 30-day trial version at Cyberlink's website. I am curious what others think of this program.

[WesleyHester]

I appreciate all of the information. I believe I'll keep on with DV AVI then because I will be editing first before burning to DVD and not just straight to DVD.