whats in a file name!

[devdev]

quickie hopefully

when i capture video using premiere on my pc, it captures as a .avi file which is great. but when i repeat smae process on my new laptop , it calls the files video clips (and has microsoft logo) this having been said, the file sizes are similarly large.

essentially, i just wannna capture decent dv in first case.

any one out there that can advise me?

thanks!

[redwudz]

Are you transferring DV from a DV camcorder or similar? That's not capturing.

But MS may be renaming the file or more likely just associating it with one of their players, hence the MS icon. If you go to any folder, do you have 'Tools>Folder Options>View>Hide extensions for known file types' unchecked? Then you should see the extension. Other than the different icon, should be the same files.

[Nelson37]

You say potatoe....

You do not mention what capture software you are using on the laptop. This would be the most significant factor in what type of file you end up with, as you will specify this in the capture software. If you make no choice at all and just use the default choice, then you are letting the software make the decision for you and are at the whim of the programmer. If on the laptop you are using some Microsoft software, you will probably end up with a WMV file.

Also, as mentioned, you simply have to change the display parameters to show you what type of file extension is on the files. Note that "AVI" can actually be several dozen different things.

[SLK001]

I think that this is a file association issue. MS just loves to associate your files with their software. Just right click on the file and click "OPEN WITH...", then select which ever program you desire to open it with, while also clicking on the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" button.

[Ai Haibara]

but when i repeat smae process on my new laptop , it calls the files video clips (and has microsoft logo) this having been said, the file sizes are similarly large.

Do you have Hide Extensions for Known File Types checked in Explorer's settings? And, if the file is indeed an .AVI, the icon will usually depend on the program currently set to play AVI files... I'm guessing it's set to play with Media Player.

(edit: Gah, should've read redwudz' entire post.)

[Scorpion King]

ICBM target coordinates:
26° 14' 7.62"N
80° 16' 0.78"W

Chateau Park & NW 15th, or NW 12th & Chateau Park, Fort Lauderdale?

[SLK001]

Chateau Park & NW 15th, or NW 12th & Chateau Park, Fort Lauderdale?

Chateau Park? Never heard of it (really). Maybe you need to upgrade your GIS capable program (try "Google Earth" - its free and it gets to within 30 feet). Or maybe you didn't convert from DMS to decimal properly?

[CrayonEater]

I got curious once and punched your coordinates into a website. I think I got something close to that, on the west side of Fort Lauderdale. Am I warm?

@devdev
Agreed with the others on this being a file association issue. Beware, in the future, that many products like to re-associate files with their software, especially after updates, so this will probably crop up again.

[Scorpion King]

....... it gets to within 30 feet).

30 feet? If I were that close I'd come in for coffee...

Just kidding around here. :P

[SLK001]

It's in Coral Springs, Florida. Fort Lauderdale is a suburb of Coral Springs!

[devdev]

hi

thank you all for your responses!

It seems that the suggestion that MS was renaming file was spot on. I did indeed go into the explorer settings and unchecked the box in question.

Having rebooted - my files now have avi extensions.

I also did the open with thing and they now open with premiere which is fab.

THANK YOU ALL!

FINAL QUESTION HOPEFULLY!:

The only thing that i still dont understand is Nelson37 point on AVI being a dozen things..??

MY OBJECTIVE:
Essentially, i have a mixture of formats to capture and this is my plan so far but i'd love some pointers for quality:

1. mini dv tapes - to connect mini dv payer directly to laptop via firewire and capture as avi via premiere6.

2. mix of older video 8 and hi 8 tapes (of which i still have original camcorders for) - here i plan to capture but this time with canopus advc100 in between - and onceagain as an avi file to premiere6. (or i could play via camcorder that plays video 8 but converts to dv and outputs directly to firewire port on laptop therefore obviating canopus completely - dont know which is best??)

not much of a plan i know but thereafter to edit and create whatever final avi files i want having cut the crap out.

sound okay? or should I be doing something else such as resaving avi file as another avi format following Nelsons37's point about different avi types.

essentially im looking to do it all with best quality possible (aiming to create about 4 2 hr family archive dvds at end)

thanks you!

[SingSing]

It's in Coral Springs, Florida. Fort Lauderdale is a suburb of Coral Springs! ICBM target coordinates: 26° 14' 7.62"N 80° 16' 0.78"W

Jeff maybe betting with george on this one.

[redwudz]

I imagine what Nelson37 was referring to is that the name 'AVI' is the container name and doesn't tell much of anything about the file format or codec used. DV, Divx, Indeo, HuffyUV, H261, Cinepak, X264, Xvid and a host of others could all be called 'AVI'. Xvid and Divx are more properly called MPEG-4, so it can be confusing.

But don't worry about that so much. Just refer to the codec used, such as Xvid, when decribing the file and that tells us which one you are talking about.


I use a ADVC-100 for analog to DV conversions.

My method: Transfer from the ADVC with WinDV to my hard drive. Open the file in VirtualDub Mod using the Panasonic DV codec. Edit, filter and trim as needed. Save out the audio as a WAV. Encode this WAV to AC3 with ffmpeggui. Frameserve the video only to TMPGEnc encoder. The encoder settings are where you set the quality of the encode to MPEG-2. I use a bitrate calculator from 'Tools' to set the bitrate for the runtime of the video and the size of my finished file. There is a lot of fine tuning you can do during the encode.

After encoding, I drop the MPEG-2 video and the AC3 audio into TMPGEnc DVD Author, make my menus and burn.

A few notes: AC3 is NTSC DVD compliant, TMPGEnc's default output of MPEG-1 Layer2 audio is not, but works with +90% of the players out there. TMPGEnc also has a AC3 encoder option. Frameserving keeps you from having to take up space on your hard drive with the edited file. It goes directly to the encoder from VDM, so you don't have to save it or delete it later. Your original DV is untouched, so you have that copy for backup.

Premiere should work fine. Just remember the quality is in the encode settings, no matter which encoder or program you use.

If you have a camcorder that outputs DV through FireWire, it will generally give you exactly the same DV as the Canopus box. Either way is fine.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Are you transferring DV from a DV camcorder or similar? That's not capturing.

Says who?

There are many forms of "data capture" that don't involve conversion/compression etc etc. Data that are streaming via some form of serial transmission protocol can be "captured". IP packets get "captured" by IP sniffers.

Not sure when and where this "it's not capturing, stupid, it's transferring" started. After all, if you want to get really pedantic, "transferring" would imply that the data are moved from one place to another, not copied.

[Origin: 1535–45; < MF < L captūra, equiv. to capt(us) taken (ptp. of capere to take) + -ūra -ure]

[Middle English transferren, from Old French transferer, from Latin trnsferre : trns-, trans- + ferre, to carry; see bher-1 in Indo-European Roots.]

"to take" vs. "to carry" - rather similar, I'd say.

[redwudz]

Agreed, but devdev was saying in his original post that:

when i capture video using premiere on my pc, it captures as a .avi file which is great. but when i repeat smae process on my new laptop , it calls the files video clips (and has microsoft logo) this having been said, the file sizes are similarly large.

That would give me the impression that he was unsure of what format the file was and that it seemed to differ between the two computers as if some format conversion were taking place. I was also referring to the forum he posted in which could just have likely been the 'DV and HDV' instead of the 'Capturing' forum.

It gets more confusing when you are taking video from a VCR and running it through a camcorder or DV converter over FireWire to a computer. I would definitely call that 'capturing' because there is a conversion happening from analog to digital. But when you are making a 1:1 digital transfer over a FireWire link from a DV camcorder tape to a computer hard disk, that doesn't seem to be capturing to me, just a data transfer.

More a question of semantics.

[devdev]

i really apologise for unwittingly starting this capture/transfer debate but eternally grateful for explanations and suggestions of processes that i could adopt for capture/transfer quality so far!

one thing that i've noticed is that in premiere when i've edited stuff and finally got my final film ready, it gives me a choice of exporting to avi or dv avi (amongst others) which confused me
since i thought that they were both equal but i guess that's where the 'container' issue comes in.