Strictly Capture Pana DV-PV-GS36--Best 'Master' Format

[Javad0g]

Good afternoon, and thank you in advance for any information and help. I've got 3 years of DV tape that i want to get finally put off to the computer. I run a computer hardware company for 15 years, i am deep and wide as far as hardware understanding, but this video editing stuff, i got no skills...*smile*

what i want is the same philosophy we use when taking digital pictures:

take the best possible format and quality because you can always 'dumb' it down later for whatever, but your master cannot get better ever (within reason)

so here i am needing to and wanting to cap off all my old DV tapes for future use, and i could really use some advice on the best program to cap with (number 1), AND the best overall FORMAT to cap into for all future use.

Future use being:

playback on the computer
author a DVD to send to the parents so they can see their grandchildren
dumb down for pub on YouTube or other innerweb-streaming-sites

can anyone please tell me the best format to capture my 'master' into, and the best overall program for CAPTURE.

again, right now i am only and ONLY worried about the capture part of this process. i am NOT going to author dvds currently, and when i do, thats a different question. I just want to get the best possible format done and the best program for capturing said best-format.

a simple look at the built in windows movie maker shows .avi as 25Mbps or ~~178MB for a min of video, while the NTSC High Quality (30fps) cap is between 2.5 and 1.5 and is captured in a .wmv format.

computer exp tells me that the 25Mbps is going to be better quality and i also know that .avi is a better overall format than .wmv, but my concern is future, and am i going to pigeonhole myself when i want to make a DVDR and i run into issues encoding a .avi so it can be seen in a standard stand alone DVD player.

Again, new to the forum, and thank you in advance for any help and advice.

-Javadog

[Soopafresh]

The capture device is a piece of hardware from Canopus, although there are other companies that make these

http://www.canopus.com/products/videoconversion.php

The ADVC110 or the ADVC300 are both good


Recommended storage format is DV

[edDV]

DV format tapes are transfered as a stream over IEEE-1394 and captured to a file at the hard drive. The resulting file on the hard drive is an exact digital copy of the data on the MiniDV tape, or in video world terms "first generation". DV format video is 25Mb/s + audio bitrate + metadata. The resulting file is ~13.5 GB/hr.

A simple but effective program for doing the transfer is WinDV.

For HDV (MPeg2) format, a similar program for transfer is HDVsplit.

The Canopus ADVC shown above is a good product for capture of analog video to DV format. You would also use WinDV to manage that transfer.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Capture and store as DV.

Windows Movie Maker captures DV as DV. It is only when you go to the next stage that it defaults to WMV. However, you can tell it to use the original DV instead.

[Javad0g]

Outstanding gentlemen!

i certainly appreciate the help and now i know the way i need to do this.

SO

second part to this question now that i have the background:

i plugged in the camera to the IEEE and XP Pro recognized the device. same cable ive used before (albit on a different motherboard), and i go into the windows movie maker, sees the camera, attempt to capture, and the camera throws an error that says "The specified DV device is not responding. Verify that the device is connected properly and turned on, then try capturing again"

FINE. i verified the connection. even replaced the IEEE cable with another KNOWN WORKING one, camera is turned to PC CONNECT mode...but no go.

IEEE is active, in BIOS and in 'Manage' i see the connection. am i this dumb?

anyone have an idea where i may start troubleshooting? i have captured off this before, again though, on a different MB.

pointers are certainly appreciated. and again, thank you ALL in advance for your help and advice.

much appreciated.

-Java

[edDV]

Do you intend to cap the full tape as is or just clips?

WinDV works well for full tape capture or manual start stop.

Movie Maker 2 should allow remote control of stop, play, ff, rew and pause. If you use Movie Maker be sure to export as DV-AVI under Other.


Movie Maker 2 comes as part of the SP2 update. Movie Maker 1 is useless.

[Javad0g]

Do you intend to cap the full tape as is or just clips?

WinDV works well for full tape capture or manual start stop.

Movie Maker 2 should allow remote control of stop, play, ff, rew and pause. If you use Movie Maker be sure to export as DV-AVI under Other.


Movie Maker 2 comes as part of the SP2 update. Movie Maker 1 is useless.

thank you@!! i was going to use the second option 'dv-avi' but i WILL go under the OTHER option and do it as such as per your insight.

now, just to figure out WTF is going on with why when its seen by the computer, seen my movie maker, but when i click CAPTURE, i get the 'not ready device' error.

grrr

thanks again all, and i certainly appreciate the help.

but this 'device not ready' error, im at a loss for......

-java


EDIT:

and yes, im going to cap the entire tape each time, i know they will be broken into clips, and thats fine, my biggest desire is to get 3 years of DV data at LEAST onto the computer so i can do something with them.

[edDV]

Test WinDV

It can break into chapters or cap the full tape depending on settings.
http://windv.mourek.cz/

My settings are for full tape capture and look like this. Experiment.



The little box next to the "Capture" button will preroll the tape and cap from parked position. Unchecked requires manual camcorder start.

[JohnnyMalaria]

i plugged in the camera to the IEEE and XP Pro recognized the device. same cable ive used before (albit on a different motherboard), and i go into the windows movie maker, sees the camera, attempt to capture, and the camera throws an error that says "The specified DV device is not responding. Verify that the device is connected properly and turned on, then try capturing again"

My initial guess is that you have some Pinnacle/Nero/Roxio cr@p installed.

I have written a troubleshooting guide for DV camcorders with Windows that you can get here:

http://www.enosoft.net/dl.php?filename=dv_connectivity.pdf

(you can skip the download registration page)

It provides the best step-wise way to find out where the problem is.

Good luck.

[Javad0g]

i plugged in the camera to the IEEE and XP Pro recognized the device. same cable ive used before (albit on a different motherboard), and i go into the windows movie maker, sees the camera, attempt to capture, and the camera throws an error that says "The specified DV device is not responding. Verify that the device is connected properly and turned on, then try capturing again"

My initial guess is that you have some Pinnacle/Nero/Roxio cr@p installed.

I have written a troubleshooting guide for DV camcorders with Windows that you can get here:

http://www.enosoft.net/dl.php?filename=dv_connectivity.pdf

(you can skip the download registration page)

It provides the best step-wise way to find out where the problem is.

Good luck.

SIR:

thank you for getting back to me on this, and the previous post, again , thank you, i will look into that program, but my biggest issue is obviusly seeing the camera first for an initial cap.

bck to the first, YES, i do have a verison of NERO installed.... 6.666 or some S*** like that, i got 3 kids running around, and tonight here in an hour i will look at the guide you posted and see if that is where my issue is...

again, thank you ALL for the help. and i am one that will post success and show where the problem laid, in order to help out others...

again, thank you for all the help everyone...

-Java

[edDV]

This may help you separate issues. IEEE-1394 connection is an OS process. The connect can be used for networking, media transfer or external hard disk control. DV video transfer is a separate process that requires an IEEE-1394 connection and is part of DirectShow. A third process is camcorder transport control (e.g. Stop, Play, FF, Rewind and Pause). If the first two are working but not the third, you can still transfer by manual camcorder cue and play control.

[Javad0g]

This may help you separate issues. IEEE-1394 connection is an OS process. The connect can be used for networking, media transfer or external hard disk control. DV video transfer is a separate process that requires an IEEE-1394 connection and is part of DirectShow. A third process is camcorder transport control (e.g. Stop, Play, FF, Rewind and Pause). If the first two are working but not the third, you can still transfer by manual camcorder cue and play control.

you think and explain how i work. Thank You. i can now help narrow down and limit where my break is. at this point im pretty sure its a MB/OS issue with regards to how the IEEE is being recognized and accpeted. Spring here in northern California so ive been more busy out in the garden than i have been troubleshooting, but suffice to say this weekend i want and WILL get this worked out Thanks to the help and direction of this community that process will be realized.

so again, thank you all. tomorrow starts another day, and i shall make this work.

will post results regardless.

thanks again.

-java

[edDV]

I'll be washing and restaining the decks this weekend. Good luck.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I'll be cutting our 2 acres of grass for the first time since July of last year! If only I could remember what the mower looks like...

It will be such a historic event, perhaps I should strap a camcorder to the front.

[Javad0g]

Thanks again for all the help. my busy schedule, i finally got time to look back into this issue. turns out, smart guy that i am, the camera needs to be turned to 'Play' in order to capture video, not the PC icon.

i is smart

anyway, turns out its not a NERO conflict or anything else. just a short between the keyboard and the chair

also known as a PEBKAC

so here i am capturing video and i got hours and days to even dent all the tape i have.

as a side note, id love to know what anyone thinks of Ulead video studio 11?

i heard its the bees-knees and i was going to buy it if it got good feedback as being extensible yet relatively easy to use with good plugins, audio handling, and other 'film tricks' that make an authored DVD look really nice.

thanks again all.

-java