Ok, I just though of something... if the video takes up 13GB per hour of video I have, that if I have 20 hours of video I want to edit I need a 260GB harddrive at least just dedicated to storing the video? I have to keep all the raw video that I'm editing on the computer correct? This will require me to make a bit of an investment.
Dann
importing WMV and preserving quality
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Ken Berry
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Stannmaple -- ultimately, you will need to realise that video editing is a resource intensive process across the board. If you are going to aim for the best quality, particularly if you are wanting to capture analogue video, then with your set-up, it is tailor made quite literally to provide the best quality -- BUT only using Firewire precisely because it can provide a DV signal to your computer. You would completely lose that advantage if you were immediately after capture, to convert it to some smaller format simply because you don't have enough hard disk storage space. I realise you may have financial constraints, or at least don't want to have to make any major outlays, but as Heinz has just said, hard disk space is currently very cheap.
There are a couple of options you may want to consider. The first is the cheapest and predicated upon your current set-up (plus the modest outlay on the Firewire card/cable). Instead of capturing all your 20 analogue tapes at once, plan ahead. Work out individual projects, and capture only those analogue tapes necessary for any one project which would normally be no more than one or two at a time. Do those projects and then delete the cpatured files. The other alternative, however, involves a new hard drive -- and the larger the better, though consistent with what you think you can afford. A variant, if you don't have the space in your computer or knowledge to install an internal hard drive yourself (and don't want to pay someone else to install it!!), would be to consider an external hard drive. If you have regular computer fairs near where you live, go alone, buy a cheap hard drive and an external box which should be either USB 2.0 and/or Firewire which are also cheap at such fairs. Believe me, it is extremely simple to put the drive in the box, and then connect it via USB 2.0 (or Firewire). The computer will then see it as a normal drive.
Paulie -- it would also be folly for you to consider using your ADS device to capture digital video from your digital video camera. The ADS device is meant for analogue video, and, yes, it can capture direct to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. But if you really want to, and your computer is up to the job, you can do the same thing over Firewire -- capture from your digital camera direct to mpeg-2, I mean. However, while some people do this with success, there are some notes of caution which need to be expressed: the first is that this type of capture places a strain on your computer. If it is not powerful enough, the capture will be too fast, and the excess video captured will be stored in a capture buffer. Usually this means that the capture will stop every few minutes until the buffer empties as the computer catches up. So your capture could be erratic. Then, once you have it, then conventional wisdom is that mpeg-2 is not a format which lends itself easily to extensive editing. To do the best job on that you need an mpeg-specific editing program like Womble or Video ReDo. Problems with editing include, notoriously, out of sync video and audio.
For both Stannmaple and Paulie -- the BEST alternative (unless you have a HD camera, DVD camera, hard drive camera or the rather more expensive models which use USB 2.0 for high quality transfer) is ALWAYS to capture in DV format if you can, edit in DV, and ONLY then convert it to DVD compatible mpeg-2 or whatever other format you need for your particular project.
There are a couple of options you may want to consider. The first is the cheapest and predicated upon your current set-up (plus the modest outlay on the Firewire card/cable). Instead of capturing all your 20 analogue tapes at once, plan ahead. Work out individual projects, and capture only those analogue tapes necessary for any one project which would normally be no more than one or two at a time. Do those projects and then delete the cpatured files. The other alternative, however, involves a new hard drive -- and the larger the better, though consistent with what you think you can afford. A variant, if you don't have the space in your computer or knowledge to install an internal hard drive yourself (and don't want to pay someone else to install it!!), would be to consider an external hard drive. If you have regular computer fairs near where you live, go alone, buy a cheap hard drive and an external box which should be either USB 2.0 and/or Firewire which are also cheap at such fairs. Believe me, it is extremely simple to put the drive in the box, and then connect it via USB 2.0 (or Firewire). The computer will then see it as a normal drive.
Paulie -- it would also be folly for you to consider using your ADS device to capture digital video from your digital video camera. The ADS device is meant for analogue video, and, yes, it can capture direct to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. But if you really want to, and your computer is up to the job, you can do the same thing over Firewire -- capture from your digital camera direct to mpeg-2, I mean. However, while some people do this with success, there are some notes of caution which need to be expressed: the first is that this type of capture places a strain on your computer. If it is not powerful enough, the capture will be too fast, and the excess video captured will be stored in a capture buffer. Usually this means that the capture will stop every few minutes until the buffer empties as the computer catches up. So your capture could be erratic. Then, once you have it, then conventional wisdom is that mpeg-2 is not a format which lends itself easily to extensive editing. To do the best job on that you need an mpeg-specific editing program like Womble or Video ReDo. Problems with editing include, notoriously, out of sync video and audio.
For both Stannmaple and Paulie -- the BEST alternative (unless you have a HD camera, DVD camera, hard drive camera or the rather more expensive models which use USB 2.0 for high quality transfer) is ALWAYS to capture in DV format if you can, edit in DV, and ONLY then convert it to DVD compatible mpeg-2 or whatever other format you need for your particular project.
Ken Berry
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heinz-oz
Just to elaborate a bit more on the things Ken just mentioned:
I never have all my DV footage on my PC, I have about 60 MiniDV tapes, each holding about 1 hour of video
I tend to stick to a duration of not more than 90 minutes for any of my DVD's. That may involve 3 tapes or so but that is all that I will have stored on my HDD's. I do keep my original tapes and my projects in case I ever want to redo one.
When I have finished a project, I package it to an external HDD and store a screenshot of the relevant directory and path in Windows Explorer with it. The captured clips are deleted after this for space reasons. If ever I need to redo a project, hasn't happened yet, I could recapture the clips, using the same naming conventions, to the respective folder, open the project and get right back into it. It requires a bit of planning but is simple to do. All my tapes have a name which I use for the capture file naming also.
I never have all my DV footage on my PC, I have about 60 MiniDV tapes, each holding about 1 hour of video
I tend to stick to a duration of not more than 90 minutes for any of my DVD's. That may involve 3 tapes or so but that is all that I will have stored on my HDD's. I do keep my original tapes and my projects in case I ever want to redo one.
When I have finished a project, I package it to an external HDD and store a screenshot of the relevant directory and path in Windows Explorer with it. The captured clips are deleted after this for space reasons. If ever I need to redo a project, hasn't happened yet, I could recapture the clips, using the same naming conventions, to the respective folder, open the project and get right back into it. It requires a bit of planning but is simple to do. All my tapes have a name which I use for the capture file naming also.
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stannmaple
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Wow!
I've really learned a lot here. Thanks again for the valuable info!
My original idea was to create a very edited down video of my daughter's first year of life on one DVD. Maybe this is not practical. In MPEG-2 format, how much time could I put on 1 DVD (4.7GB)?
I have about 10 tapes that I'm working with, so that would be 1 and a half hours per tape I believe. obviously I'd be edtiting extensively and keeping only important moments. The original video would need to stay intact on my harddrive somewhere though (unless I went through and only captured what I needed, but that would be a pain) That's why I was thinking I would need a large harddrive.
My financial situation is the main thing that would keep me from buying a new harddrive although, I did get a pretty substantial tax return this year, so I may consider investing some of that into a harddrive.
Again, I know I've said this a lot, but thank you to all of you. This has really helped me out. I ordered the firewire card that came with a cable for only 15 dollars so I was pleased with that. I'm looking forward to getting it and trying it out.
Dann
My original idea was to create a very edited down video of my daughter's first year of life on one DVD. Maybe this is not practical. In MPEG-2 format, how much time could I put on 1 DVD (4.7GB)?
I have about 10 tapes that I'm working with, so that would be 1 and a half hours per tape I believe. obviously I'd be edtiting extensively and keeping only important moments. The original video would need to stay intact on my harddrive somewhere though (unless I went through and only captured what I needed, but that would be a pain) That's why I was thinking I would need a large harddrive.
My financial situation is the main thing that would keep me from buying a new harddrive although, I did get a pretty substantial tax return this year, so I may consider investing some of that into a harddrive.
Again, I know I've said this a lot, but thank you to all of you. This has really helped me out. I ordered the firewire card that came with a cable for only 15 dollars so I was pleased with that. I'm looking forward to getting it and trying it out.
Dann
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heinz-oz
How much you can fit onto one disk depends on the bitrate you use for the conversion to mpeg plus the audio settings. You can fit about 2 hours worth, in reasonably good quality, onto one DVD disc if you use around 5000 kbps for the video and not more than 256 kbps for the audio. The higher the bitrate for the video the better the quality. Higher bitrates create bigger file sizes. Your DVD limits you to 4.3 GB for a single layer disc.
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stannmaple
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wow
You guys are amazing. I swear, you have all the answers to all my questions! Thanks again
Dann
Dann
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heinz-oz
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stannmaple
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Thanks again
For all of you who helped me out with this issue, I'm extremely grateful. I purchased the firewire card with cable for 10 bucks which was a steal if you ask me. I was extremely pleased with the results. It's better than I could have imagined. I did have a question about it though and I decided to start a new thread which can be found here: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 6077#66077
Thanks again for the help. I'm glad I can make this video all that it can be instead of capturing USB to WMV... I think I would have been kicking myself later had I decided to do that. Thanks again.
Dann
Thanks again for the help. I'm glad I can make this video all that it can be instead of capturing USB to WMV... I think I would have been kicking myself later had I decided to do that. Thanks again.
Dann