Capturing DV questions ~~

[hotdog55]

Hi all, i just found this website and wow this is incredible =)
ok i have been using videowave 4.0 to capture files from my miniDV camcorder, it looks like all the output files are all interlaced... is it because of my camcorder or because of the software? what is the best software to use for extracting video??

[jtor]

Unless your camcorder can shoot progressive (and you recorded on that setting), the video will be interlaced.

The software you're using only lets you transfer the video from camcorder to PC. Videowave should be fine. The difference in these editing softwares are on the 'fancy' side of things (transitions/effects, titling, etc), and more. But for the basics (hobbyists), videowave should be OK.

hope this helps.

[Malcom]

miniDV is interlaced.

29.97frames/sec 59.94fields/sec interlaced video. There's no way around that.

You can de-interlace but you will be throwing away data one way or another. I say leave it interlaced unless you plan to go to VCD, in which case you're in for a quality problem anyway :)

I only de-interlace when the computer screen is my target. BTW capturing DV is not like capturing analog -- it is just a copy function that transfers DV data from camera to PC.

software? I like VegasVideo best... virtualdub is okay too but more specialized.

[hotdog55]

so are you saying all the digital Camcorders out there are interlaced?? hmm...... btw i have a sharp WD450

[Tommy]

As I understand it, not all DV camcorders are interlaced. There are a few that will shoot progressive. 8)

[Malcom]

There are a few that will shoot 30 fps progressive... but they are rare.

I think if you owned one that did it, you'd certainly know about it :)

[hotdog55]

doh...... it's kinda disappointing actually =p the interlaced video clips don't look that great on computers... i was hoping that i can get a quality that is as high as those dvix movies on the web =p guess not....

[Dragonsf]

doh...... it's kinda disappointing actually =p the interlaced video clips don't look that great on computers... i was hoping that i can get a quality that is as high as those dvix movies on the web =p guess not....

Question: are you watching the original avi in DV Format on your PC or a converted clip? DV avi should look (with proper player like FastDV) much better than DVD on a PC (higher bitrate).
If you're watching a compressed video, you can deinterlace the footage before converting (with VDub for example)

[hotdog55]

actually i was looking at the uncompressed .avi files i extracted using videowave 4, and the interlacing problem is far more serious than in the fight club movie (divx) i got... isn't that suppose to happen?

[vhelp]

.
.
you can check out this link (below) here in reference to MY own DV
experience.
In addition, I have posted some sample clips there. D/L them and see
or share your comments on them.

DV Camcorder - R U using your's to capture?

See you all later on this evening.

-vhelp

[hotdog55]

hmm i went to your msg but i didn't find any thing related to interlacing though... i just read from the pc magzine and it says DVs are all progresive???

[hotdog55]

ok i can kinda get around this problem by using virtualDub deinterlace filter... but now i have one more question, all the DV files I captured are using the DVsoft codec (Adeptec) ... so when I captured them they are already compressed?? how do i capture them without using that codec? i tried DVIO, Videowave 4, and VirtualDub... and i heard main concept's DV codec is better... where will i be able to find these other DV Codecs??

[vhelp]

morning hotdog55,

As far as I know, pretty much ALL dv cams are Interlaced. There are
those that offer progressive, but I guess in your case (and mine) we're
stuck with those interlace lines.

In my old days of wiping out interlace, I ues vdub's "deinterlace" filter,
set to blend, cause I thought that was the best quality. I also turned up
the sharp due to using this filter, to overcome the blurryness, but it's
perfect.
If you feel you STILL need to deinterlace, then try vdub's filter.
I used vdub to frameserve to tmpg.

TMPG also has a deinterlace set filters too, under the Advanced tab.

-vhelp

[Malcom]

It's compressed when you capture it... it is compressed before you capture it. It is compressed on the tape. It is compressed by the camera in realtime as it records/passes-through.

You cannot and don't want to recompress w/ another DV codec. UNLESS you are already recompressing for some other reason. Then, yes MainConcept's DV codec is a better choice. Or... you're probably recompressing with another target -- VCD/SVCD/DVD... so you won't likely go to DV again. Just go to huffYUV then to MPEG or whatever... or straight to MPEG if your software allows.

[dadmakingvideos]

so are you saying all the digital Camcorders out there are interlaced?? hmm...... btw i have a sharp WD450

Hey, hotdog55,

I have the same camcorder. It definitely records interlaced dv.

I convert a lot of my dv material (including vhs material via the analog-in feature) to MPEG2 for viewing on television via settop dvd-player. Therefore, I keep my video interlaced. But, after about a year's worth of trial and error, I may be able to offer some of my experiences if you got specific issues about the WD450. Feel free to e-mail me.

[hotdog55]

so no matter which software i use to capture i'll get the same quality right? I read on a few websites that talks about dv codec... looks to me that the codec are used only when i try to edit the video. the computer use these codecs to de-compress the video, make changes, and then compress the video again?

[hotdog55]

About Interlace...

I found that if i use PowerDVD to play MPEG2 video clips on my computer i won't see the interlace anymore... but if i play the original .avi files i can still see the interlace.....

[Malcom]

Yes about the codec.

About PowerDVD -- powerDVD has a de-interlacer built-in. It is pretty good and produces good quality.

[hotdog55]

Thanks a lot ~~

one more thing about capturing DV ... when there are gaps between the videos in the miniDV tape, DVIO won't be able to capture the first few frames of the later video (because it will stop when there's no signal in the DV tape and automatically start when it detects the video i think, but it starts too slow and misses a few frames) , and it seems like the same problem with Adobe Premier 6 .......... any suggestions about what i can do about it?

[jtor]

Looks like a gap in the timecode on the tape. I'm not sure if there's an outright fix to your problem, but to prevent that (in the future), make sure that you do not have gaps on the tape, or you can 'black strip' the entire tape before actually shooting video.

hope this helps.

[hotdog55]

hmm what do you mean by 'black strip' ?? how do i do that??

another newbie question: how do i get around the problem of avi files not being able to be larger than 4 GB in windows ???

[jtor]

hmm what do you mean by 'black strip' ?? how do i do that??

Two ways to do this:
1. in Camera mode;
a. leave the lens cap on
b. plug a mini-headphone jack to your cam's Mic In, to prevent sound
from being recorded.
c. Hit the REC button, and leave it running, til it reaches the end of tape.

2. in VTR mode;
a. on your editing software, insert a black color image on the timeline.
b. stretch this black image to play thru the entire tape length (1hr).
c. export your editing software's timeline to tape.

The purpose of this is to write a straight 1hr timecode to tape. With that, even if you eject the tape, re-insert it and restart recording, you're sure that a timecode exists on your tape.

As for the 4GB limit, you can either switch OS, to one that supports NTFS (W2K or XP), or use another editing software that allows seamless capture...and I thought virtualdub does this. I'm not sure because I don't use it...sorry.