I'm capturing from a super-vhs camcorder to my hard drive through it's composite cable (the only "out" option). I've tried it two ways - capturing as an MPEG2 file and as DV. I've used the recommended procedure to edit the file, share>create a video file, add chapters and create DVD folders, then finally burn to a DVD.
On my normal 27" TV, there doesn't seem to be a difference in quality between the two. Should I only see that if the source is DV? Going the DV route takes a lot more time as the share>create a video file step takes a lot longer than with the MPEG file. Am I missing something, or should I just go the MPEG route anyway since the source is analog?
SVHS Options
Moderator: Ken Berry
-
Trevor Andrew
Hi
As you are capturing from an analogue source, the video has to be re-coded during capture.
If I were doing the same I would capture direct to an Mpeg 2 file. I would select DVD as the capture format.
I would adjust the capture bit rate to match the length of my movie, Use upper field and Digital Dolby for audio.
When creating the new file (share create video file) I would use Same as First clip Option.
Regards
Trevor
As you are capturing from an analogue source, the video has to be re-coded during capture.
If I were doing the same I would capture direct to an Mpeg 2 file. I would select DVD as the capture format.
I would adjust the capture bit rate to match the length of my movie, Use upper field and Digital Dolby for audio.
When creating the new file (share create video file) I would use Same as First clip Option.
Regards
Trevor
Use any procedure/technique that works for you!!!
As a "starting-point", I always recommend capturing to DV because it is less trouble-prone. In general, encoding to MPEG "on the fly" is more risky. But, lots of people successfully capture to MPEG-2 and there's nothing wrong with it if it works for you.
As you know, the advantages to MPEG capture are time savings and smaller file size.
Some disadvantages:
MPEG compression requres a lot from the CPU. With real-time analog capture, the video-data keeps flowing-in, even if the CPU gets interrupted or can't keep up. (The Windows operating system is always doing stuff in the background, even if you are only running one application.)
The exception to this is when you have a capture card/device with a built-in hardware-MPEG encoder. In that case, the CPU doesn't have to do any work and since the data is pre-compressed, there is actually less data flowing over the data bus onto the hard drive. With these devices, you'll see very low system requirements... Usually something like "600MHz CPU minimum."
If you encode to MPEG after you have a digital video file on your hard drive, your CPU is simply processing data, and the computer's speed or multitasking will not corrupt the file. This also allows you to use variable bitrate two-pass encoding for higher quality (at a average given bitrate). And, it allows you to experiment with different bitrates to balance file-size and quality.
Most "real editing" (other than cutting & splicing) will require the MPEG to be re-rendered. Since MPEG is lossy compression, the extra encode step will result in some quality loss. The same is true if you need to re-code the MPEG to change the bitrate. This quality-loss may or may not be noticable. If you use Smart Render, only the edited parts will be re-coded (i.e. transitions). But, some people have reported problems with Smart Render, and many will recommend that you avoid it.
Some of us have had weird problems (i.e "lip-sync" problems) when editing MPEGs. But, this doesn't happen every time, and some users never have these problems.
As a "starting-point", I always recommend capturing to DV because it is less trouble-prone. In general, encoding to MPEG "on the fly" is more risky. But, lots of people successfully capture to MPEG-2 and there's nothing wrong with it if it works for you.
As you know, the advantages to MPEG capture are time savings and smaller file size.
Some disadvantages:
MPEG compression requres a lot from the CPU. With real-time analog capture, the video-data keeps flowing-in, even if the CPU gets interrupted or can't keep up. (The Windows operating system is always doing stuff in the background, even if you are only running one application.)
The exception to this is when you have a capture card/device with a built-in hardware-MPEG encoder. In that case, the CPU doesn't have to do any work and since the data is pre-compressed, there is actually less data flowing over the data bus onto the hard drive. With these devices, you'll see very low system requirements... Usually something like "600MHz CPU minimum."
If you encode to MPEG after you have a digital video file on your hard drive, your CPU is simply processing data, and the computer's speed or multitasking will not corrupt the file. This also allows you to use variable bitrate two-pass encoding for higher quality (at a average given bitrate). And, it allows you to experiment with different bitrates to balance file-size and quality.
Most "real editing" (other than cutting & splicing) will require the MPEG to be re-rendered. Since MPEG is lossy compression, the extra encode step will result in some quality loss. The same is true if you need to re-code the MPEG to change the bitrate. This quality-loss may or may not be noticable. If you use Smart Render, only the edited parts will be re-coded (i.e. transitions). But, some people have reported problems with Smart Render, and many will recommend that you avoid it.
Some of us have had weird problems (i.e "lip-sync" problems) when editing MPEGs. But, this doesn't happen every time, and some users never have these problems.
[size=92][i]Head over heels,
No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]
No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]