Video8 and DV to DVD

[nsr_sp6]

I'm newbie in video editing and want to buy Video editing or capture device, i want transfer my Video8 (analog) Sony CCD TRV50E PAL and my mini Dv (Digital) Sony DCR-PC101E PAL to DVD, so i can play it with regular dvd player.

I am expecting the final video quality on dvd is the same with original source or better and there is no av sync issue.
I don't have much time to work on it, so i want capturing device to get the job done as simple as possile, without abandoning the picture quality.

I used to think to go with pinnacle or snazzi, but after read user opinion, especially in this forum, I’ve changed my mind, go with you guys and forget the pinnacle.

How about Snazzi? Do you guys ever have any experience with snazzy?
I do search in snazzi website, and they came out with 4 types of snazzi card, which are:
- Snazzi V DV+DVDIO
- Snazzi DV.AVIO or Snazzi DV.AVIO pro
- Snazzi V DVD pro
what is the difference with Snazzi DV.AVIO or Snazzi DV.AVIO pro anyway?
From this forum, if transfering from vhs some people suggest to go with:
- DataVideo DAC-100
- Canopus ADVC-100 or the newer Canopus ADVC-110
- Hauppauge PVR 250
which type is the best card to fit my expectation?
can I use DataVideo an Canopus also to capture video8 and DV?
is it better usb 2.0 or pci internal card?

Or do you guys have any suggestions about what card i should buy ?

I’m running on :
Abit NF7-S with on board Sound card nVidia nForce2 MCP-T
AMD Barton 2600+
1 GB Dual DDR 400
80GB Maxtor SATA
Geforce 2MX 32MB
Win XP SP2

Please guys help me decide…. Any advice will be help…
Thanks..

[aedipuss]

well for the mini dv cam what you should be using is a firewire cable to a ieee1394 port in the computer. if you don't currently have one, add it. under $20 u.s.

as for the reg 8mm, you may already be in luck, the DCR-PC101E is a little old to look up the specs online but it's possible it has video in, and you'll be able to use it to digitize the 8mm and pass it though to the computer as dv. check your manual.

after the dv is on the computer, how you get it to a burned dvd is your choice. either a dedicated encoder like cce or tmpgenc and a dvd authoring program like dvd-lab or dvd author, or an all in one like cyberlink's powerdirector pro. it all depends on the budget and how much time and energy you want to spend learning and experimenting, and how much control you want over the final product.

[nsr_sp6]

Yes it has video in and able to use it to digitize the 8mm.

I’ve tried to capture 8mm through my dv with the DV’s supplied usb1. cable, and software pixela image mixer ver 1.(also supplied by DV), already download the newest driver n patch. But the picture not clear, it only capable to store with mpeg1 format.
I’ve also tried to convert the 8mm with pixelview play tv pro2 via composite rca to capture it with mpeg2 and avi format, the picture is rainy.
Or am I have to edit the captured avi format to make the rainy picture gone and became good picture? With what software?
Or should I recapture with another software? Any suggestions what software to capture it to make it noise free?

That’s why I decided to go for specific video capture device, with hopes the quality captured pictures from 8mm could be the same like 8mm or better.
Right know, my main consideration is to transfer the video from 8mm, beside that I want to transfer from myDV to DVD.
Because my Video8 (analog) Sony CCD TRV50E is start to work not properly anymore.

If I use firewire cable, the picture will be better than using video capture device?
My budget is $300 max.
I prefer buy video capture device which not needed to experimenting to make good dvd.
Do you have any suggestions for what card I shoul look into?
or I should still try various programs to make a good dvd even though I buy video capture card?
Because I really don’t have much time to do some experiment.

Thank u.

[FulciLives]

You need to use FIREWIRE also known as IEEE 1394 also known as i.link BUT you cannot use USB from the digital cam as the USB cannot transfer the video properly and will give you very low quality compared to what can be down with the FIREWIRE connection.

You don't need any additional hardware other than a FIREWIRE cable and maybe a FIREWIRE card unless your computer already has that type of connector (some do and some do not).

As far as doing the capture ... once you have the FIREWIRE cable ... all you need is WinDV which is freeware software.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[nsr_sp6]

Okay I’ll try to grab the firewire cable..

If I try with firewire cable, is there any av sync problem or drop frames?

Is there any specific setting, that I should stick on or I have to pay attention to have a good result on DVD from Video8 or DV?
Like brightness, contrast, frame rate, and so on..
How about interlace or deinterlace? should I use it? With what method of interlace?
Because I really new for this editing stuff…

Thanks for the advice, guys...

[Richard_G]

Transfer over Firewire is exactly that, a simple file transfer from one storage medium (tape) to another (hard drive) so you do not need to worry about frame sizes, etc. In fact, you won't be able to change them anyway, the standard is fixed. The transfer will result in a file in DV avi format, 720 x 576, 25 fps (as you are talking about E suffix Sony camcorders you are in a PAL country) which will take up around 13.5GB of hard drive space for every hour of footage. DV from a camcorder is interlaced (lower field first) and if you intend burning to DVD to watch on a TV then it should be left at that,

Although it can happen, unless you have a very sick pc or a silly device conflict, dropped frames and sync problems are very rare with DV transfer.

[ipdave]

Not sure what PAL DVD settop recorders cost, but in the US, a decent DVD recorder with Firewire and Analog (RCA) inputs goes for less than $100.

I use this to record directly to DVD-RW or R and then manipulate the 4gb or less of data on my PC (instead of 20gb for AVI raw DV data). There is no sound sync issue this way either.

May want to consider this...

[nsr_sp6]

what is PAL DVD settop recorders?

what brand n type did you use? how much is that?

[nsr_sp6]

I already tried to transfer it via firewire, with winDV, and already encode with tmpgenc.

But why the video looks darker compare with the source(video8)?
How can i edit it to get better result?
is there any way or should i use specific filter?

thank u.

[edDV]

I already tried to transfer it via firewire, with winDV, and already encode with tmpgenc.

But why the video looks darker compare with the source(video8)?
How can i edit it to get better result?
is there any way or should i use specific filter?

thank u.

computer monitors will look darker
do a test dvd and see what it looks like played back off a dvd player to the TV

[nsr_sp6]

Thank u man..

I'll try it..

[retiredjoker]

if i were you, i would just buy a stand alove DVD recorder. A settop one. Quality would be excellent and it would save you a lot of time and effort. You could always edit your vobs with mpeg wizard or video redo which people love to praise. Its definately the route i would go if i were you. My 2 Cents.

[nsr_sp6]

thanx retiredjoker for the advice..

but i dont understand A settop one stand alove DVD recorder..
what is that mean?
Do you mean the best stand alove DVD recorder?
Do you know what brand and what type? n how much it is cost?

thanks again

[FulciLives]

You do not need what is called a stand alone or set top DVD recorder. You are working with digital video so you might as well do it on the computer.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[nsr_sp6]

Thanx John..

Right now i'm trying to convert the video8 via dv via firewire to the pc.

Already tried capture with windv n with nero vision from nero7.

I think the result is better (i think, when play captured video with avi format) captured by nero vision, less rainy noise than capture by windv.

but had 12 drop frames with nero for 85minutes capture. is it normal?

the problem is when i want to encode the video captured by nero with tmpenc, the audio didn't show up (unsupported) by tmpgenc..
because if i'm not mistaken the video capture from nero have ac3 format for audio..

so do you guys have any idea how to solve it?
do i need virtualdub for resolving audio issue?

thank u..

[retiredjoker]

i realize he doesnt need a set top player but if he wants to transfer a lot of video it may be less of a headache for him, since he doesnt seem to have much experience.

By the way FulciLives your PAL to NTSC guide has helped me convert over 100 movies i bought overseas. Before i read that guide i could never get it right. Thanks!

[FulciLives]

Thanx John..

Right now i'm trying to convert the video8 via dv via firewire to the pc.

Already tried capture with windv n with nero vision from nero7.

I think the result is better (i think, when play captured video with avi format) captured by nero vision, less rainy noise than capture by windv.

but had 12 drop frames with nero for 85minutes capture. is it normal?

the problem is when i want to encode the video captured by nero with tmpenc, the audio didn't show up (unsupported) by tmpgenc..
because if i'm not mistaken the video capture from nero have ac3 format for audio..

so do you guys have any idea how to solve it?
do i need virtualdub for resolving audio issue?

thank u..

As long as you are truely doing a DV AVI transfer via FIREWIRE the resulting DV AVI file should look/sound the same regardless of the program used.

NERO is not normally used for this so I have no idea what NERO is doing. I never used it for that.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

By the way FulciLives your PAL to NTSC guide has helped me convert over 100 movies i bought overseas. Before i read that guide i could never get it right. Thanks!

Why thank you very much

It took me a long time to get it correct and it was/is the pioneering work of Xesdeeni that got me there.

These days though I mostly use the DGPulldown method so I don't have to "mess" with the audio at all.

My last conversion was the UK PAL DVD of PHANTASM II ... now I have to do parts III and IV but I've been busy trying to get episodes of THE SOPRANOS from ON DEMAND ... I got all of season 2 and 3 in under a week ... that's a lot of episodes at real time playback/record plus I re-author everything on the computer (I use a Pioneer stand alone DVD reocrder for cable TV stuff).

I should point out and perhaps you have discovered this yourself but even with a top notch quality DVD player that does PAL to NTSC I can still see some artifacts due to the PAL to NTSC conversion whereas when it is done on the computer the end result is not only a region free NTSC DVD-R but one that does not suffer from the realtime conversion artifacts of PAL to NTSC as done by the DVD player. The motion (fps conversion) seems smooth enough with the realtime conversion but it is the resizing that gets me ... sometimes you can see "ragged" edges due to the resizing and sometimes the image is not 100% stable (the image has a very slight almost up and down movement although it appears to be only by a couple of pixels or so and only noticeable on "still" shots especially when there are static non moving credits on the screen like how the credits are done during the opening of most movies).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[retiredjoker]

i have never tried the DGPulldown method, im so accustomed to using your guide it has become very easy. i might give it a try on my next pal to ntsc conversion though. thanks

[nsr_sp6]

I already tried capturing with windv, and edit it with tmpgenc, and make dvd with tmpgenc author.

convert with my video8 passthrough my dv, the result is good.
but when i tried convert my 1hour dv, i had another problems.
if i capture it to be 1 .avi file the audio only heard about 15 minutes at the front, and the rest i get no audio.
what is i go wrong?
already tried to capture dvio..
but if i use windv n separate it to multiple smaller sizes, the audio is good.
any suggestions guys?
because if i separate it with multiple files, the files become so much..

and i want to make the dvd is appearing time stamp, how is the easiet way to do it?

thanks u guys