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  1. I just purchased a Sony DCR-PC101 digital camcorder to take on a family vacation and am now transfering the digital video to my computer and editing it. The resolution that it transfers at is 360x240 I believe. The specs on the camcorder are "Video Actual 690K", "520 lines of horizontal resolution" which were similar if not better than most of the 1CCD cameras I reviewed.

    Prior to purchasing the camcorder I did quite a bit of research on the camera but not too much on the miniDV format. The information I read was that the miniDV digital video was far superior to any of the analog formats (8mm, Hi8mm, VHS, SVHS etc).

    Now that I am back and talk to a co-worker, he said I should have stuck with the analog camcorder and got a capture card on the PC so that I could capture at 720x480 to create a DVD.

    I don't need DVD quality on the DVD but at least VHS or SVHS quality so that the video looks nice.

    After reading the computer resolution comparison information on this website and talking to my co-worker, I am completely and utterly comfused.

    Is the resolution from this camcorder going to be adequate to make a good video.

    BTW I have a firewire card, 7200 RPM 60 GB drive, 1Ghz PC and am using Adobe Premiere

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Thank You
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  2. Member
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    The video has to be FILMED at 720x480 to get 720x480 resolution. Capturing an analog tape at 720x480 doesn't do a thing, if it was only filmed at 340x240 (normal VHS resolution) - except take up more space.
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    Once you capture your DV into your computer, you only need to convert it into MPEG-2 DVD format for your favorite burning program to make your DVD. TMPGEnc would be my choice, but the registered version costs $48.00.

    Will your DV be adequate for your DVD? Oh yeah! As you stated, it blows away the other formats, and it is just as good as DVD format. It also takes up a lot of hard drive space, so be prepared.

    Anyway, your video will be more than nice, and no disrespect meant toward your colleague, but he is in error. I myself have been capturing in analog for months, and thought I was content content until Davan showed me a DV file. Now I will not be satisfied until I am working with DV myself.
    Hello.
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    DCR-PC 101 capture 320 x 240 at 30 fps.
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  5. Originally Posted by ian follow
    DCR-PC 101 capture 320 x 240 at 30 fps.
    What???

    With a 1megapixel CCD, it can do the DV
    resolution 720x480 with no problems.

    NOTE:
    if during playback on your PC (mediaplayer) you get half that size
    is becuase the codec does this just to get rid of the
    interlaced lines during playback.

    The video is in 720x480 all the time

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  6. Are you sure you're not just viewing the DV-file with the MS DV filter which displays at 360x240 default? You can set it to play them at 720x480 as default, do a search because I can't remember the exact steps.
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    DV is always 720x480 (for NTSC) and coincidentally that's the DVD resolution too. As AJP says change the settings and you'll see a big difference in playback quality of the DV material.

    DV is certainly suitable for SVCD. Just be aware that sometimes you have to do things a little differently for DV than analog captured material (there has been some discussion that colors aren't handled as well with DV as in a raw analog capture so you want to correct it when encoding, but I'm not sure if this is really a problem).
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  8. I, myself, have worked on DCR-PC101E (PAL one) for quite a while. I can tell you that quality is as good as (if not better) compare to DVD. The thing is you have to transfer (not real time capture) in digital format which will take alot more hdd space after that you have to encode this avi-dv file into mpeg1/mpeg2 whatever format you desire.
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  9. Keep some stuff in mind with DV (and digital8 ) cams...

    A megapixel CCD doesn't always give you the 500+ lines of res the DV format is capable of. Usually the whole megapixel isn't used for video (just for stills). Then, consider that there's a color mask so that one chip actually gives you less usable pixels in color than it does in B&W (this is why the best cams are 3 chippers; one for each primary).

    Compare a DVD made with that 101 against a VX2000 or similar 3 chipper. There's a difference. But then, for the cost, size, & weight, there oughtta be!
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  10. This is directed to Tonyp12's comments above:

    I have two followup questions:
    1)When I capture the movie clips in Premiere or the program that came with the camera and right click on the .avi file, the resolution says 360x240. So I am a little confused how to get the full 720x480 resolution that you speak of.

    2) "if during playback on your PC (mediaplayer) you get half that size is becuase the codec does this just to get rid of the interlaced lines during playback" - This makes some sense, I think. My understanding of DV images are that they are not interlaced, each frame is a complete picture, capable of being captured as a photograph. So does that mean that a 360x240 DV video source would be output (authored, encoded, etc.) to 720x480 interlaced on a DVD and that is how I get the higher resolution?

    Thanks
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    1) If you are only getting 360x240 then you software is screwed up. DV is always 720x480.

    DV is not necessarly progressive, nor is it necessarly interlaced either. Generally speaking a DV cam is an interlaced device unless it specifies otherwise.

    So first thing you need to do is figure out why you are only getting 360x240 into your PC. Once you have that fixed THEN you can figure out how to convert and author it. One step at a time here.
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  12. Like ajp and Tonyp12 said, the 360x240 resolution is just the preview size which is a funtion of the Microsoft DirectShow DV filter.
    The actual full resolution of MiniDV video format is always 720x480 when it is recorded by the camcorder and it remains at 720x480 when you transfer it to the PC via Firewire/1394 and edit in DV format. This is a non-changeable specification of the MiniDV format. It is an interlaced video format. Some MiniDV cameras can shoot progressive non-interlaced still images (photos) but the MiniDV video is always interlaced.
    Microsoft simply defaults the DV filter to display at 360x240 to improve playback performance on the PC. However the captured video file is still actually 720x480. You can change the default display size to the full 720x480 by the following steps:

    Windows Media Player 6
    Double-click on a DV AVI file to start Windows Media Player
    Stop the movie from playing by clicking the stop button (make sure that the movie is not paused)
    Right-click over the main preview window and select "Properties" from the popup menu
    Click the "Advanced" tab
    Select the DV Video Decoder from the list
    Click the "Properties" button
    Select "Full" as the resolution
    Set "Save As Default"
    Click OK
    Close the Properties window
    Close Windows Media Player
    DV movies will now play at full resolution

    Windows Media Player 7
    Start Windows Media Player
    Select "Options" from the "Tools" menu
    Select the "Performance" tab
    Click "Advanced" under "Video acceleration"
    Make sure Digital Video is set to "Large"
    Click OK
    Click OK
    Close Windows Media Player
    DV movies will now play at full resolution
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    Please, enlighten me...

    The data for Sony DCR-PC 101 says as follows:
    "Video Actual 690K
    Still Actual 1,000K
    Memory Mode Yes, 1152 x 864, 640 x 480
    MPEG Movie EX Mode Yes, 320 x 240, 160 x 112
    USB Streaming Yes, 320 x 240 (up to 30 frames/sec.)"

    So, can you explain me how can 1megapixel CCD yield 720x480? I think it's impossible.
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    720 * 480 = 345,600 pixels
    This is far less than the 590,000 and 1M, so the onboard encoder can easily achive this resolution from the CCD input. The video is recorded onto the DV tape at full D1 (720*480) resolution. You can then transfer the DV video to your PC using firewire (IEEE 1394) cable and card.

    I'm not familiar with your camera, but is it really a DV camera? USB 1.1 has nothing do with firewire and nothing to do with quality video IMHO. If you're transferring the video by USB, you're not going to get good quality video. If it's a true DV camea you should have a 1394 connector to use, so obviously use that rather than USB. If your camera is really a digital8 camera, then who knows.
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  15. Thorn,
    Actually, the camera that Ian Follow quotes is my camera and it is a DV camera using the mini DV tape, has a Firewire 1394 port and I am transfering it to the computer via Firewire 1394 not USB

    I, like Ian Follow, could not figure out the math nor the reason why the .avi files "properties" would list 360x240 if they are actually 720x480.

    Do you know why the cameras on the market offer 500K-1000K if the native 720x480 is only 345,600 pixels?

    Your explaination and Jhebert's have demystified a great deal. THANK YOU !!!!!!
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  16. I'm not sure if I'm right, feel free to correct. I think 1000K is something to do with still image only which work the same as digital camera. As Ian info, i believe it applies only to still image and movie mode when use memory stick thus it's been transfer via USB.

    You should try different capturing software like Ulead video studio6 to see if you can get actual 720x480 with it.
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    The larger CCD sizes make a big difference in image quality. Since the CCDs aren't 720x480 (either in size or dimension) some conversion needs to be done to get the image into a digital format. The larger/more detailed the image you start with, the better the image that gets to the tape. There are probably more reasons and maybe someone can give a more detailed explanation if needed. And yes, the other functions like stills make good use of the larger CCD.

    As for the video size... I'm not 100% sure windows properties is worth anything so you may get better info from a program like movieID (check www.divx-digest.com). MovieID will tell you the codecs used, the frame size, and the bitrate (for audio and video). That will help narrow down if this is a capture problem or a viewing problem.

    Capturing with a different program (like DVIO which is free) may help ensure that your capture program isn't messing with things. Anyway, dig deeper so we can know better which way you need to go to fix it.
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  18. JHebert and all others providing input on this topic.

    The thing that was very confusing and JHebert helped clear it up was the settings of the Windows Media Player. When you load an .avi, stop it, click on File, Properties, Details, the information in the Video Size option is NOT the resolution of the actual video clip, it IS the settings (default or user defined) that are set in the DV Video Decoder properties as he mentioned. So even though the video is 720x480, the Details show 360x240 because that is what your video player is set to.

    When I change the default settings for the viewer to 720x480 and clicked on the Details, WAHLA now it says 720x480. Also, when viewing it at the higher resolutions it looks quite good although there is a few minor digital artifacts (when doing a 360 degree pan from our condo the edges of items are jagged). I assume these are a limitation of the viewer and they will go away or be lessened when I author it and write it to a DVD.

    A million thank yous !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  19. Originally Posted by snowmoon
    1) If you are only getting 360x240 then you software is screwed up. DV is always 720x480.

    DV is not necessarly progressive, nor is it necessarly interlaced either. Generally speaking a DV cam is an interlaced device unless it specifies otherwise.

    So first thing you need to do is figure out why you are only getting 360x240 into your PC. Once you have that fixed THEN you can figure out how to convert and author it. One step at a time here.
    Prolly the codec. If I go into file/properties of WMP while playing a DV I can change the codec resolution from full to half to quarter to eigth. basically 720*480 Or 352*240, etc.....
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    Thorn, tnx for refreshing my math, I totaly forgot the way the CCD works so I came up with some strange numbers. My fault.
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