Movie capture source selection

ManUtd · Post by **ManUtd** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:12 am

In VS 9 Video Studio Editor, I select capture video and can only see my installed WinFast vc100 xp. No USB can be seen, why ?

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:25 pm

Because USB is not comonly used for video transfer/capture. If you want to capture DV-AVI from your digital camcorder, you will need to get a firewire (iLink, IEEE1394) connection from your camcorder to the PC. The firewire cable is not usually supplied with a camcorder. The USB cable is used for the transfer of stills only.

ManUtd · Post by **ManUtd** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:48 pm

Hi,

My Mini DV is Panasonic one and comes with Panasonic video capture software can use USB to capture DV but not so user friendly.
So USB can use in video capture. Please comment.

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:00 pm

USB is used for transferring still images from your camcorder. It is generally too slow to use for transferring video. Like Heinz-oz stated you need to use Firewire if you are going to transfer/capture DV-AVI. Does your Panasonic camcorder have a Firewire port?

ManUtd · Post by **ManUtd** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:34 am

Hi,

I am not quite understand why it is "too slow"?
I tried to use the USB to download my Mini-DV tape video from my Panasonic to my PC through Panasonic's software, it succeeded. I need to play my video when I download my video. For a 60 minutes video, I need to play 60 minutes to capture the video.

So what if I use firewire to download? Do I need to play the video? How does firewird increase the speed of download?

kphutch · Post by **kphutch** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:40 am

I don't believe that the new Sony hard-drive camcorders have firewire (iLink) capability and have USB 2.0 only. Here are the specs for the DCR-SR80:

http://review.zdnet.com/Sony_Handycam_D ... tml?tag=ut

From reading many different reviews about the Sony hard-drive camcorders, no one has mentioned any problems transferring video to their computer via USB.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 6:27 am

ManUtd said that his camera is a mini-DV one, and ipso facto it will have a firewire port. Unless it is a very top end one, the USB port is usually a USB 1.0 port and used for transfer of still images or streaming video i.e. relatively low quality. To capture high quality DV format video, you should use the firewire connection. If your computer does not have a firewire card, they are relatively cheap. Only a few top end (i.e. expensive) cameras have USB 2.0 which is fast enough to transmit the DV in high quality DV format...

If not, and you are happy with the quality of the video captured via the Panasonic software, then use that software for capture and simply insert it in Video Studio for editing/authoring.

ManUtd · Post by **ManUtd** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:46 am

Hi,

My Panasonic DV camcorder is NV-GS150 supports USB2.0.
I just wonder what will be the video quality difference between the USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394 ?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:53 pm

Hard disk video cameras capture in varieties of mpeg-2 format which, if I understand it, are essentially DVD-compatible. However, again if I understand things correctly, some are more proprietary than others in requiring capture via the proprietary software which comes with the camera.

But the bottom line is that these cameras film in mpeg format, and capture (via USB 2.0 connections) is also in mpeg format.

As you may be aware, there is considerable debate as to whether mpeg-2 in particular is an editable format. It is a lossy format and there is some quality loss every time the video is re-encoded -- though how long it takes (or much quality has to be lost) before the the loss becomes noticeable to the naked eye is really the centre of the debate. If the initial mpeg quality is high, editing kept to a minimum, and any re-encoding done using high quality settings, it seems that there will probably be no noticeable quality loss in your final DVD even after several re-encodings. But as I say, the debate continues, and there are more than a few people who think mpeg should not be edited at all.

I have never been near a hard disk camera, except in a shop, so have no first hand experience of its quality. DV, on the other hand, is clearly a high quality format and moreover is not lossy. It can be edited with ease quite a few times, retaining its original quality. That is why we recommend that as far as possible people capture in DV format, do their editing and only after everything is done, convert it to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. But clearly this is not possible either with hard disk cameras or those that use mini-DVD discs. With them, you are 'stuck' with the vagaries of mpeg-2.

ManUtd · Post by **ManUtd** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:56 pm

Hi Ken,

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. My DV camcorder is a tape one, not a harddisk one.

So what format should I save would have the best quality with minimal data loss when I do a video capture from my camcorder to computer ?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:07 pm

Sorry. Had you confused with kphutch...

My answer two posts ago remains valid for you ("ManUtd said that his camera is a mini-DV one...")

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:31 am

Please view:
From Camcorder to DVD with videoStudio