Capture Settings - Am I confused???

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:49 pm

Hi guys

After a couple of weeks with VS8, I'm getting the hang of things and have made a number of movies, which look good apart from shaking.

I thought I'd had my anti-shake thingy switched off during filming but today I happened to notice the camcorder's monitor as I was capturing and that was very smooth and contrast was better defined in comparison.

I've done a trawel through all the advice to similar questions and I'm a bit confused, so here's my details: The camcorder is a Panasonic NV-GS10. I've always run a PC defrag (2-3 times a week as the disc is 233gb - 198 free). I have 1gig of memory.
My capture settings are capture to DV setting DV type 2.

I'm UK based so I'm set to PAL by default. My general preference boxes checked are: Show messages (and it always asks to change to match the capture device's); Playback Instant and instant playback on dual head device: Field order is lower field first.
Edit preferences are resampling quality - better; Keep ratio aspect; Default inserted image -3; Deafault auto fade - 1 and default transition - 1.

Capture preferences are: Image quality - 100; but the allow access to capture device's setting is not checked.

Am I overlooking something here? I've tried a couple of permutations, such as switching to DV Type 1 but nothing changes. According to most comments I've picked up, the camcorder should be like a second disc and what is transmitted from the tape to PC should be identical.

Any help or advice would be gratefully recieved as the overall effects are good, it's just the shaking and a little contrast, which is obstructing some excellent outputs.

Regards.
Gra

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:39 pm

You are not terribly clear what your complaint is: is it that the final disc quality is not good or is it that the preview quality is not good? If it is the latter (as I suspect it might be), then you could try setting your preference for Instant Playback to 'Preview Screen' or 'Preview Screen and DV camcorder". Be aware, though, that the preview screen in Video Studio is not particularly good, and the final burned disc is (usually) much better.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:59 am

Thanks for that Ken.

The problem shows itself in the capture screen and then the preview screen, after I've edited. I've only rendered movies to Mpg to see a better res finished version (so that smart render will make the DVD creation process faster when I run it). I've watched these finished mpgs on both PC and TV via a laptop connection. However the rendered mpgs show the same shake problem (and the contrast is not quite as good), as though I've not switched on the anti-shake during filming (which is on according to the original dv tape, when watched through the camcorder's monitor).

I really like working with VS8 and it's not anywhere near a total disaster; my other half thinks they look really good. However the perfectionist in me just want's to make the final output look as smooth as the original footage (and I just like to know why things replicate properly or don't).

Any suggestions would be welcome as two weeks in this new frontier for me doesn't quite give me the overall technical experience many on this board have.
Regards.
Gra

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:00 pm

Gra,
You list only Preferences (not Properties). Note that the Field Order Preference is only a default setting and does not indicate the Field Order of your captured video or your project. Shaking is often caused by wrong field order.

Please post your video properties. Are you manually setting the Burn properties as advised in the Recommended Procedure?
John

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:40 pm

Thanks John

I'm going to show my lack of experience as I'm not sure what properties you are talking about. The only properties I can find are project options, which are as follows:
ULead: Non square pixelling;
General (boxes checked): Audio & video;
25 frames/ sec;
Lower field first
Standard frames size - aspect ratio 4:3
AVI: Compression - PAL DVD (I'm in England)
Quality - 70
DVD VR Compliant box - UNCHECKED
Constant video rate - 6000 KBPS
Audio - LPCM

On the capture screen I see little info type tags in a circle (i) under DV Type 2 - PAL and PCM audio.

As I mentioned originally, the capture options simply offer DV type 1 or 2 and whether to have the audio on or off.

I apologise now if this is still not the info that's needed, but as a newbie to this I cannot see any other heading stating 'properties' and would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction.
regards.
Gra

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:03 pm

Select one of the clips in the timeline.

Right click and select properties.

These are the properties of the captured video.
------------------------------

From File/Project Properties

You now see the properties of your project.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:18 am

Thanks Trevor

Thanks everyone for your patience. The properties from one of my clips are as follows:
File
Format: AVI files - Open DML
Size: 356,381
Rate: 25,000 frames/ sec
Duration: 96.200 secs

Video
Compression: DV Video encoder - type 2
Attributes: 24 bits, 720x576, 4:3
Total frames: 2,405

Audio
Compression: PCM
Attributes: 48.000Khz, 16bit streo
Samples: 4,617,529

I'm not sure what this tells the more experienced person, but can any of these setting be modified (and how) to reduce the shake problem or is there another answer to the shake problem or do I need to supply any further info?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards.
Gra

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:13 pm

Hi Gra

Your capture settings look ok with the exception of DV Video encoder - type 2.
Change it to ‘DV Video encoder - type 1’ for your next capture.
The rest look like standard settings.

Your project properties appear to be set to Mpeg, It would be normal for these settings to match your capture settings.i,e Dv-Avi.
Then after editing, convert the project to an Mpeg 2 file. Share / Create Video File / Pal Dvd.(did you do this?) Then use this file to burn disc.

Having said all that I cannot understand the shakes.
The settings you have should not produce this problem.

The playback on the preview screen in VS is a little to be desired, and can be jerky depending on your pc’s spec’. The final product being good.
But if you have burned a disc and are still getting the shakes then I can only assume that the footage on your camcorder has the shakes, even though had the steady shot thingy switched on, it only takes out some but not all the shake.

I can only suggest you try a new test recording, use a tripod and keep the camera on wide angle rather than tele-photo, You will only need a short clip, about 5 mins will do.
Capture this to video studio, if you still get the shakes then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a look at :-
‘My Quick Guide for Avi'
'Avi Capture and Project Properties'
from the link below.

Also have a read at the posting at the top of this forum.

Trevor

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:26 pm

Hi Trevor

Many thanks for all your advice. I'll make that adjustment (what does DV type 1 or 2 encoder mean? It seems most advice suggests moving to type 1).

A minor last question and sorry if its obvious. Do I change the capture setting (on the capture page) to DV-type 1 as well as the properties to encoder type 1? You asked 'did you do this' in your comment on PAL DVD. At the serious risk of looking like a twit, I don't know (I don't remember fiddling at that end

); does it make a lot of difference and what should it be?

Re. the mpg setting, I always check capture as AVI, but it just flicks back to DV (although I understand that is ok?) However, I always get a message 'change to same properties as capture device', when I move from capture to edit for the first time (which I ckick 'Yes' to).

In general, the shake problem appears on footage taken where I move or use the zoom. Perhaps it just doesn't look as as dramatic on the small camcorder monitor, although I should have thought what I saw there was close to what I view on the PC.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out and try some test footage when I get back from the day job.

Many thanks again.
Gra

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:50 pm

Hi Gra

Gra wrote:
(what does DV type 1 or 2 encoder mean? It seems most advice suggests moving to type 1).

DV captured by Firewire is stored in AVI files (when using Microsoft Windows). There are two types, Type-1 and Type-2.

An AVI file can contain multiple streams, usually one video and one audio. DV is a data stream that itself contains video and audio. In a Type-1 AVI, the whole DV stream is stored unmodified as one AVI stream. In a Type-2 AVI the DV stream is split into separate video and audio data, which are stored as two streams in the AVI.

The advantage of Type-1 is that the DV data does not need to be processed, and is stored in its exact original format. The advantage of Type-2 is that it is compatible with video software that is not specially written to recognize and process Type-1 files.

From Ulead Site

http://www.ulead.co.uk/learning/video1/page1.htm

a2barmby · Post by **a2barmby** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:46 pm

Hi Gra.

I think you may have hit the proverbial nail on the head here, when you mentioned about your camcorder monitor screen size.
A small movement can be very difficult to see on such a small screen. However, when displayed on some larger monitors ie TV's and such, the smooth pan you thought you had made, becomes an horrendous nausea inducing clip.
Try and experiment with a tripod panning and zooming etc.
Burn this as a test project and see what it looks like on your TV.
Bet things are OK......?
Post and let us know.
Cheers and good luck.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:02 pm

... And to answer your question in passing: YES - definitely change the capture settings to Type 1 in the Capture screen, in the Options cog wheel icon down about a third of the way down the left side of screen.

Gra · Post by **Gra** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:45 pm

Thanks everyone for your in-put. Changes & testing underway and I'll post results (maybe the Panasonic isn't up to all its blurb). I'll also dip my toes in the water to test some shake-removing software that I've seen discussed in other threads.

Many thanks for all contributions and watch this space

.

Gra