Sony HDR-HC3 - HDVSplit or winDv?

[jefftaz]

Ok guys, first post here. I think I am ready to start my miniDV to hard drive transfer endeavor. I have a 2TB hard drive and a firewire cable for my Sony HDR-HC3 HDV handycam. I want to do the best back up that I can of my tapes, and I see 2 programs mentioned a lot here on the forums HDVSplit and winDv.

I used regular Sony minDV tapes and not the High Def Sony tapes when I shot my videos. I heard there was not to much of a difference in video quality vs the two types of tapes.

1. Would I still use HDVSplit to transfer these to my hard drive or winDv? My camcorder shoots in a
native 16x9 landscape.

2. Also if I read correctly, I would save as DV-AVI codec?

My hope in the future is to get a device like the Boxee Box or something similar where I can connect my hard drive with all of my videos and stream them to my projector.

Thanks in advance for you help.

Jeff T.

[titigrom]

Yes you can still use HDVSplit for HD contents because it is the only easy way to do it as it transfers exact copy of your tape (MPEG-2 AVCHD) to hard disk. 16:9 shoots, no problem.

DV-AVI meant for SD contents not MPEG-2 AVCHD. It is possible to compress your files later with that codec but you will loose in sharpness, crispness, details... and you said you wanted to backup your tapes. HDVSplit save them in ts format (sort of container with video, audio, info, etc.).

Maybe such a device will be out to achieve your wish. Some tv sets can now read mkv files with HD contents with a Hard Disk plugged in them (such LG).

[aedipuss]

use hdvsplit if the cam is exporting 1440x1080 HDV. use winDV if the cam is exporting 720x480 DVavi. if it's like the HDV canon hv20/30/40s there is a setting to switch from one to the other.

[zoobie]

you'll be saving your HDV as .m2t with HDVsplit because winDV is just for DV
16:9 is part of the HDV spec
if you have a NTSC cam, you can also spit the output of your editor back to your cam's tape as a backup
you'll find various methods of backing up your work like hard drives, burning to discs, and sending back to tape very important when working with video

[jefftaz]

Thanks for the replies so far, so I will need to use HDVSplit with .m2t codec correct? My camcorder shoots in a native 1080i format which I think is 1920×1080.

Oh and does MPEG-2 AVCHD = .m2t?

[edDV]

Thanks for the replies so far, so I will need to use HDVSplit with .m2t codec correct? My camcorder shoots in a native 1080i format which I think is 1920×1080.

HDV cameras work in several modes depending on menu settings.

1. You can shoot 720x480i DV format (4:3 or 16:9 wide) and output DV to a DV-AVI file. Use WinDV.

2. You can shoot 1440x1080i MPeg2 format (always 16:9) and output HDV MPeg2 to an m2t file. Use HDVsplit.

3. You can shoot 1440x1080i MPeg2 format (always 16:9) and output 720x480i DV to a DV-AVI file. Use WinDV.

The reasons you would do #3 are to match resolution of a DVD project, or to edit on an older computer or older software that can't handle high definition. In these cases, save the HD tape as your high definition master.

Some HDV camcorders have additional specialty modes.

4. 1440x1080p @23.976 fps (aka 24p)

5. 1440x1080p @29.97 fps (aka 30p)

6. 1280x720p @ 29.97 fps

7. 1280x720p @ 59.94 fps (JVC only*)


* Some JVC models also do 1920x1080i/p MPeg2 at up to 35 Mb/s flash RAM which exceeds the HDV format.

[edDV]

Oh and does MPEG-2 AVCHD = .m2t?

HDV camcorders shoot with MPeg2 compression and usually export with linear *.m2t linear transport stream containers*.

M2ts is a random access transport stream container used for flash RAM and Blu-Ray. Some HDV camcorders (e.g. JVC) can record HDV to flash RAM. In those cases the m2ts container is used.

Many people that shoot HDV MPeg2 with an m2t container want to convert to to a so called "AVCHD" DVDR structure that can play on a BluRay player. This can be done without re-compression in many editors or by MultiAVCHD. If done correctly, only the container is changed. The video remains first generation MPeg2.

It is also possible to convert MPeg2 video to h.264 for additional compression but this results in some quality loss.


* This is similar to ATSC tuner file captures from broadcast.

[jefftaz]

Wow things just got a bit more confusing on this miniDV transfer. I forgot that I used to have a Canon Optura Xi which also recorded to miniDV tape in a native 16x9 format, however it is SD and not HD.

So for those tapes I will need to use WinDV correct? Will WinDV keep the native 16x9 screen format?

[edDV]

Wow things just got a bit more confusing on this miniDV transfer. I forgot that I used to have a Canon Optura Xi which also recorded to miniDV tape in a native 16x9 format, however it is SD and not HD.

So for those tapes I will need to use WinDV correct? Will WinDV keep the native 16x9 screen format?

Yes use WinDV for 720x480i DV format.

If your editor doesn't recognize the file as wide, just edit the file properties or force a 16:9 aspect ratio.

[jefftaz]

Thanks edDV, one last question for the night. I am now in HDVSplit (to transfer one of my Sony tapes) Should I check the Scenes Split box? I want master copies of my mini DVs in the full 13-14gb files per tape. Would the scene split break my master tapes into many smaller files? Or is this just used later if I want to edit the tape?

Thanks again!

[jefftaz]

Well I did some trial and error, and it seems like the Scenes Split box needs to be unchecked in order to save the file as one large container. I tired it for a couple minutes with the Scenes Split on and I had about 5 M2T files when I went and checked my hard drive. I really don't see the value of the smaller files, unless you want to edit. However for master backups, it seems better to keep one large file. Am I thinking through this right? For example if I want to stream from my hard drive to a PS3/Boxee Box etc. if I have all these small files I would have to keep clicking play all the time vs the one large hour file where I could just sit back and enjoy the family films. And if later down the road I want to edit all the tape, I could always use a video editor to flag the scene splits right?

[aedipuss]

i never use scene splitting with hdvsplit. separate files will be created anyway for each stop start found on the tape.

[edDV]

Well I did some trial and error, and it seems like the Scenes Split box needs to be unchecked in order to save the file as one large container.

.... And if later down the road I want to edit all the tape, I could always use a video editor to flag the scene splits right?

The Scene Split chops files according to camcorder stop/pause. This is detected from breaks in the time code.

Alternate is to capture the tape as a continuous file, then manually edit scenes later.

There is a DV capture program called "Scenalyzer" that uses so called optical scene detection. This is useful on dubs that have continuous time code. The scene breaks are created from image analysis.