DV to what format??

[mb571]

I am stuck in analog camcorder land so I couldn't answer this question for my brother in law.
He is capturing from a DV Video cam to a format .WMV
What is the best software to capture with and what is the best format to store this video in?

Mark

[yg1968]

You are better off capturing in DV avi and editing in DV avi. You can encode to mpeg-2 but keep a DV avi archive on miniDV tapes. Windows Movie Maker lets you capture in DV avi. It doesn't matter what program that you use to capture DV, the results will be the same.

[mb571]

I would use TMPGEnc to encode to mpeg2 for a SVCD, but what would be the best encoder for mpeg2 to be played on a pc. I have found that the the mpeg file from TMPGEnc when played in Media player looks squished as it has an aspect ratio meant for the DVD player/TV.

M

[bugster]

I have found that the the mpeg file from TMPGEnc when played in Media player looks squished as it has an aspect ratio meant for the DVD player/TV.

M

Windows media player does not seem to handle aspect ratios correctly. Any software DVD player such as Power DVD or WinDVD will do a much better job. You don't need a DVD-rom on the PC to install them either.

[tonyp12]

DV to mpeg2 would be interlaced
and only PowerDVD could
play it back in a decent way.

[mb571]

That makes sense. So what Progressive Display format would you use to send video out to family? Divx?

M

[tonyp12]

How do you plan to send it out?

On DVDR, keep it interlaced. (mpeg2)
It will look good on a TV.

SVCD same as above.

On a PC include free trial of PowerDVD on the disc.


VCD, as interlaced is not supported it will look OK on TV and PC.
Though more blocky due less resolution.

Divx, I'm not sure if the divx-player de-interlace on the fly?

[mb571]

I would certainly do mpeg2 for my stand alone DVD player. Then send it to folks with a PC only and include PowerDVD for all to use on a PC.
What I wanted to know was what was the best format for PC only use.

M

[Bondiablo]

The best software for capturing/transferring DV would probably be Scenalyzer Live www.scenalyzer.com

For PC only use I think using TMPGEnc to covert to MPEG1 would be best since everyone should be able to play that without installing any additional software. Next best would probably be Divx since it's pretty popular, lot's of people have it and gives pretty good quality/file sizes.

If you want to stick with MPEG2 and it's only for playing on the PC try changing the aspect ratio on the Video tab in TMPGEnc to 1:1 (VGA) when encoding and it should look right when played back in media player.