newbie question on preserving video quality

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve as much vid
quality as possible when capturing to my computer for editing. Can someone
clarify this issue for me? I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio Videowave,
and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.

One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in 4x3 and 16x9, the
captured material seems to be one or the other if you capture the whole tape
at once. All the scenes are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if the
tape starts out that way.

OK, quit laughing, I said I was a newbie.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"comcast2" wrote ...
> I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve
> as much vid quality as possible when capturing to my computer
> for editing. Can someone clarify this issue for me?

Why do you think you are losing any quality? "Capturing" DV
from camcorder to computer is really just a matter of copying
the data, bit-for-bit from the tape to a disk file. No quality is
lost during capture.

> I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio Videowave,
> and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.

Doesn't matter what you are using. Unless you are converting
to some more compressed format (MPEG for DVDs, etc.)

> One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in
> 4x3 and 16x9, the captured material seems to be one or the
> other if you capture the whole tape at once. All the scenes
> are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if the tape starts out
> that way.

Probably depends in which software you are using for the
DV capture. Likely NOT a generic question.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

In many ways, it isn't appropriate to say you are "capturing video" when you use
mini-DV format. If you are using a firewire card, you are simply "transferring"
video to your computer without any loss in quality. This can be transfered back
to DV tape without loss in quality.

Where you can lose quality is if you don't keep your edited video in mini-DV
format every step of the editing process.You just want to make sure that the
editing settings are for full size DV video. This is not the default with Movie
Maker. So the point is to use the DV format encoding for every step of the
editing process, right up to outputting back to tape.

One quick way to check this is to have some captured DV footage. Edit this in
your favorite editing program, just choosing simple cuts between some of the
video. When you export or output this project to a video file, it should go
pretty fast, just about as fast as it takes to copy the file from one location
to another on your computer. If it takes any longer than this, your editing
program is recompressing or changing the original video. Any time your editing
program does this, except for section where you changed the original, you know
you are risking tremendous degradation in quality.

"comcast2" <elmo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:-9OdncWy9Z6R_VDdRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
> I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve as much vid
> quality as possible when capturing to my computer for editing. Can someone
> clarify this issue for me? I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio Videowave,
> and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.
>
> One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in 4x3 and 16x9, the
> captured material seems to be one or the other if you capture the whole tape
> at once. All the scenes are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if the
> tape starts out that way.
>
> OK, quit laughing, I said I was a newbie.
>
>
>
>

 

[Rich]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"comcast2" <elmo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:-9OdncWy9Z6R_VDdRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
> I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve as much vid
> quality as possible when capturing to my computer for editing. Can
someone
> clarify this issue for me? I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio
Videowave,
> and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.
>
> One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in 4x3 and 16x9,
the
> captured material seems to be one or the other if you capture the whole
tape
> at once. All the scenes are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if the
> tape starts out that way.
>
> OK, quit laughing, I said I was a newbie.
>

If you are capturing/transferring/copying from your Sony camera to your PC
you need to be using FireWire, i.Link or IEEE 1394 (All the same). Sony has
a tendency to lead people to capture/transfer/copy with USB which will give
you poor quality. You most likely did not get a FireWire cable when you
bought your camera and it is an expense option if you buy it from Sony as
mentioned in the manual. Your PC also needs a FireWire port. Once you have
the .AVI video file on your system the quality can be reduced on how you
process the file.

Rich

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

hu rich--thanks.

i have FireWire on my PC and bought the cable, so I'm transferring via that
firewire connection.

In Videowave I have the choice of (a) DV or (b) MPEG-2.

In Windows Moviemaker I have the following choices:
(a) "Best Quality" (windows media video, Variable bit rate, 720x480 pixels,
30 fps)
(b) "Digital Device Video (DV-AVI)," which says it's audio/video
interleaved, AVI, 25.0 Mbps Bit Rate, 30 fps, NTSC
(c) "OTHER SETTINGS" which include:
(c1) DV-AVI (NTSC)
(c2) High Quality Video (NTSC)
(c3) Video for local playback (2.1 Mbps NTSC)
(c4) Video for local playback (1.5 Mbps NTSC)

Since I have Videowave I'm leaning toward that instead of moviemaker, and in
that one I guess I "capture" from the camera in DV mode, yes? That makes an
AVI file on my HD.




"Rich" <richsanchez43@usa.com> wrote in message
news:k%jzc.176$w07.172@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
> "comcast2" <elmo@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:-9OdncWy9Z6R_VDdRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
> > I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve as much vid
> > quality as possible when capturing to my computer for editing. Can
> someone
> > clarify this issue for me? I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio
> Videowave,
> > and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.
> >
> > One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in 4x3 and 16x9,
> the
> > captured material seems to be one or the other if you capture the whole
> tape
> > at once. All the scenes are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if
the
> > tape starts out that way.
> >
> > OK, quit laughing, I said I was a newbie.
> >
>
> If you are capturing/transferring/copying from your Sony camera to your PC
> you need to be using FireWire, i.Link or IEEE 1394 (All the same). Sony
has
> a tendency to lead people to capture/transfer/copy with USB which will
give
> you poor quality. You most likely did not get a FireWire cable when you
> bought your camera and it is an expense option if you buy it from Sony as
> mentioned in the manual. Your PC also needs a FireWire port. Once you
have
> the .AVI video file on your system the quality can be reduced on how you
> process the file.
>
> Rich
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thanks, Richard.

Here's another question--

When I write an edited "movie" out to DVD will there be a quality loss
there? Or is this a system which, because it is digital, does not lose
fidelity unless intentionally introduced by an elected compression?

thanks--


"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote in message
news:10cr96v7pbkt185@corp.supernews.com...
> "comcast2" wrote ...
> > I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve
> > as much vid quality as possible when capturing to my computer
> > for editing. Can someone clarify this issue for me?
>
> Why do you think you are losing any quality? "Capturing" DV
> from camcorder to computer is really just a matter of copying
> the data, bit-for-bit from the tape to a disk file. No quality is
> lost during capture.
>
> > I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio Videowave,
> > and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.
>
> Doesn't matter what you are using. Unless you are converting
> to some more compressed format (MPEG for DVDs, etc.)
>
> > One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in
> > 4x3 and 16x9, the captured material seems to be one or the
> > other if you capture the whole tape at once. All the scenes
> > are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if the tape starts out
> > that way.
>
> Probably depends in which software you are using for the
> DV capture. Likely NOT a generic question.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

elmo wrote ...
> When I write an edited "movie" out to DVD will there be
> a quality loss there? Or is this a system which, because it
> is digital, does not lose fidelity unless intentionally
> introduced by an elected compression?

Go back and look at the numbers again.
You intentionally elect compression when you
choose to write the video to DVD.

DV = 13GB/hour
DVD = 2.3GB/hour (max)

 

[Rich]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Yes, you want to capture in the DV mode which will be an .AVI file. A large
file, about 13 GB for 60 minutes.

I was curious about Videowave, will download the demo some day, but 436 MB
on dial-up will take a while.

Rich

"comcast2" <elmo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:uNudnQMQOPAfJ1Pd4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> hu rich--thanks.
>
> i have FireWire on my PC and bought the cable, so I'm transferring via
that
> firewire connection.
>
> In Videowave I have the choice of (a) DV or (b) MPEG-2.
>
> In Windows Moviemaker I have the following choices:
> (a) "Best Quality" (windows media video, Variable bit rate, 720x480
pixels,
> 30 fps)
> (b) "Digital Device Video (DV-AVI)," which says it's audio/video
> interleaved, AVI, 25.0 Mbps Bit Rate, 30 fps, NTSC
> (c) "OTHER SETTINGS" which include:
> (c1) DV-AVI (NTSC)
> (c2) High Quality Video (NTSC)
> (c3) Video for local playback (2.1 Mbps NTSC)
> (c4) Video for local playback (1.5 Mbps NTSC)
>
> Since I have Videowave I'm leaning toward that instead of moviemaker, and
in
> that one I guess I "capture" from the camera in DV mode, yes? That makes
an
> AVI file on my HD.
>
>
>
>
> "Rich" <richsanchez43@usa.com> wrote in message
> news:k%jzc.176$w07.172@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> >
> > "comcast2" <elmo@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:-9OdncWy9Z6R_VDdRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
> > > I'm using a Sony HC40 MiniDV recorder and want to preserve as much vid
> > > quality as possible when capturing to my computer for editing. Can
> > someone
> > > clarify this issue for me? I'm using Windows Moviemaker 2, Roxio
> > Videowave,
> > > and I'm trying out uLead's Video Studio 8.
> > >
> > > One other problem is that when a tape has material shot in 4x3 and
16x9,
> > the
> > > captured material seems to be one or the other if you capture the
whole
> > tape
> > > at once. All the scenes are 4x3 if the tape starts with 4x3, 16x9 if
> the
> > > tape starts out that way.
> > >
> > > OK, quit laughing, I said I was a newbie.
> > >
> >
> > If you are capturing/transferring/copying from your Sony camera to your
PC
> > you need to be using FireWire, i.Link or IEEE 1394 (All the same). Sony
> has
> > a tendency to lead people to capture/transfer/copy with USB which will
> give
> > you poor quality. You most likely did not get a FireWire cable when you
> > bought your camera and it is an expense option if you buy it from Sony
as
> > mentioned in the manual. Your PC also needs a FireWire port. Once you
> have
> > the .AVI video file on your system the quality can be reduced on how you
> > process the file.
> >
> > Rich
> >
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

i take your point, but i don't get it. does this mean ALL DVDs (even
commercial ones) are at this reduced quality (compression)?


"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote in message
news:10ctvod754vk6cd@corp.supernews.com...
> elmo wrote ...
> > When I write an edited "movie" out to DVD will there be
> > a quality loss there? Or is this a system which, because it
> > is digital, does not lose fidelity unless intentionally
> > introduced by an elected compression?
>
> Go back and look at the numbers again.
> You intentionally elect compression when you
> choose to write the video to DVD.
>
> DV = 13GB/hour
> DVD = 2.3GB/hour (max)
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"comcast2" wrote ...
> i take your point, but i don't get it. does this mean ALL DVDs (even
> commercial ones) are at this reduced quality (compression)?

Yes. Absolutely.