DV Capturing

[MCD]

I was just wondering if it is possible to capture dv footage from my Sony trv25 camcorder to cpu through firewire as UNCOMPRESSED video. I am currently using pinnacle studio 7 and Sound blaster Audigy card for the captures. Not sure exactly which codec is being used, just a dv codec of some sort. But I have been seeing posts about people capturing in uncompressed format for better quality. I have 400 gigs of harddrive space so that is not an issue. In studio 7 I have no option to capture as uncompressed. Do I need different software for capturing or is this not possible with the firewire capturing devices.

[TODD]

Your camcorder already compressed the video in DV format before recording it on the tape. Capturing over firewire does not alter that existing compression, so the capture is lossless.

If you were to capture a DV video through the RCA jacks then you would need to pick a capture format, and you would lose quality. That is why direct firewire capture is preferable.

[MCD]

Ok I think I kinda get it. But what happens then when I use my camcorder as a passthrough for my vcr captures. Is it being compressed as dv format also. This is what I mainly capture the most, so I was wondering if the "passthrough" method is the best way for me to do it. But I have been reading threads of people capturining UNCOMPRESSED video. I was just wondering if I could do it that way.

[vhelp]

Evening MCD.

No, it woudln't. basically, when the data (DV) is beging transmitted to
your hd, it's in DV format. You cannot, say, turn a switch, and change it
to UNCOMPRESSED.

If you MUST process or want to try your hand at UNCOMPRESSED video AVI's,
then you'll have to go back to the good old, analog capture route. R U
comfortably setup (w/out issues ie frame drops, noise, etc) for this
test ??

As you alrady know, for un.. video, you'll approx 60gig. So.. 60/400=6.6 hours
of un.. video. More than enough for your needs. But, w/ your current
PC setup, you have greater than 26.6 hours w/ DV. hmmm...
With my current DV setup, with my 60gig, (actually 52g) I have close to 3.5
or so hours. Still, more than enough for a streight 2 hour movie.

-vhelp