AVI DV MPEG2 MPEG1 MOV Argh! What format should i use?

[Spatule]

Hi there, Well for a long time i tried to edit my camera videos but i always get a problem so here is what i got:
-Leadtek Winfast a250 TD, svideo in/out w/ Gforce4 ti 4400.
-Amd 1466 mhz
-256 meg ram pc133
-Windows XP
-20 gig hard disk, 7200rpm

Ok, now heres what i want to do: Transfer my videos from the video camera to my computer using s-video, edit them with premier, export them and transfer it back to a vcr witch i can plug on my video card.

What video formats should i use to capture?
What video formats should i use when i export a part of a clip that i finished editing?
What video formats should i use when i export the entire clip (the full movie)

I use winfast myvivo for capturing and i would like to use premier for editing cuz i know it`s a good prog (i`m pretty good with premier)
I`d like to know if my computers is good enough for that kind of editing and how much disk space does a good movie take (40 min)

Thanks alot!

[jpfilmfreek]

hoi you can record from your vcr to your computer to a vcd file but there are also tv in carts that recording in avi if you have that one you need TMPGEnc with that progam you can convert avi to vcd/svcd and even dvd
then you can burn it with nero to a vcd on a vcd can you store on a 650mb disk about 70 min of video and on a svcd 35 ontil 45 min on a 650mb disk but the qwality geting wurser wen you put more on it
i hope you can youse this info and i hope that you can read this cous my english isn´t very good cous i em not inglish 8)

[Thorn]

Try to familiarize yourself with the capture guides (button to the left) as there is a lot of information out there about capturing. Also, mentioning what problems you're having will affect the advice you get...

There are many capture methods and formats; some are personal preference and some depend on the circumstances.

Typically Huffyuv gives the best capture quality (as it is essentially lossless) but it requires about 30GB per hour at 720x480 resolution. Various MJPEG codecs have good abilities if used right, and some settings take a lot less space. At VCD resolution, the Huffyuv takes about a quarter as much space. Divx capture is often bad because the computer can't keep up and quality suffers. Do some quality comparisons to see what formats look better to you when you're done.

DV is mainly for capturing from a DV source like a camcorder. You usually can't capture to it with your analog card, but some software might be able to. DV takes about 13GB per hour but lowers quality slightly from what Huffyuv can do. I don't know if DV or MJPEG is better at comparable bitrates.

To play back from your pc you need something that plays well (huffyuv doesn't play back well in real-time, mpeg2 is ok if you have dvdplayer software installed). VCD is probably not the best choice if you're just playing back out from the computer to the vcr (VCD is great if you want to play it on your DVD player -- and you could also play from your DVD player to your VCD). Divx is a good final encoding format to use if you only play it on the computer.

[Spatule]

Hi!
Well thanks alot Thorn! That will surely help me.

I do still have a question I forgot to mention?

NTSC or PAL ?????..
they said it depended on your region in the premier help file..
I`m from Quebec.. (CAN) if that really matters
But i still dont know wich one i should choose..

Thanks again

[Thorn]

PAL is European, NTSC is North American. You'll select NTSC if you're making an mpeg, but as AVI files are computer based they don't need to be either. Just make sure you stick to NTSC framerate of 29.97 (sometimes 24). Assuming your video card isn't from Europe its output should be ok for your VCR and you'll be fine, regardless of if you meet NTSC spec or not for frame sizes (that only apply to VCDs and DVDs).