MPG or AVI?

Dozno9 · Post by **Dozno9** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:23 am

Hello,

I have a Sony Handycam 404 and when I import the video from the mini CD it imports it as MPEG? I cannot move the slider bar, or make chapters as it always resets to the beginning of the video.

I have downloaded a trial version of a MPG - AVI converter and the AVI seems to work (although I can only do 5mins on the trial).

Is AVI ok to work in MovieFactory to make my chapters and do I need to convert this back again once I have made my DVD? Also what is the best MPG-AVI converter if I need to convert all of my videos?

Many thanks.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:49 am

You are not gaining anything by converting your mpeg video to another format. You will need mpeg2 to create a DVD and hence would need another conversion. Every conversion is losing you quality. What flavour of mpeg are the originals?

Dozno9 · Post by **Dozno9** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:56 pm

On the clip info screen in MovieFactory it says the video type is MPEG-2 Video, Upper Field First.

22,848 Frames and 25.000 frames/sec.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:11 pm

Your Sony Handycam 404 is a DVD camcorder and so records in MPEG2 format. Do not get confused with a similarly named DV Camcorder (Note the missing leading D) which records in DV (avi) format.

If you intend to EDIT your video yuou should do so using the format that the videop was created with. In the case of a DV camcorder - edit in DV
in the case of a DVD camcorder edit in MPEG2.

Ultimately all videos will be converted to MPEG2 format, this is the format that VOB files are made from. You should aim to render your videos the least number of times, preferably once because each time you render you risk introducing loss of quality.

Dozno9 · Post by **Dozno9** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:18 pm

Thanks. So why can't I make chapters in the MPEG-2, should I be able to do this in MovieFactory?

As said I can make 2-3 chapters and then whenever I move to another point the PC pauses and then resets to the beginning of the video, is this a fault of the Camcorder or the software do you think?

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:26 pm

...is this a fault of the Camcorder or the software do you think?

I blame both...

Problems with MPEG's are quite common*. But, only some MPEG files seem to cause trouble. So, it seems to have something to do with the particular video file.

Quite often, the (apparently) corrupted file will play-back OK. It would seem that Ulead is not as tolerant as Media player, and it is not as tolerant during editing & re-coding as it is during preview. (I call it "sneaky corruption.)

Both VideoReDo and Womble have tools that can sometimes repair an MPEG. (And, both offer free trials.)

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Personally, I've had MPEG files that appeared to be OK, but after editing they caused trouble or had 'lip-sync" errors. Since not everybody has these problems with MPEGs, it may be that the file is starting-out with some slight corruption, and the editing process is making it worse.

In any case, my MPEG issues were solved by using Womble for the editing step.

* The more compressed the format, the more likely you are to have trouble. AVI/DV at 13GB per hour, rarely causes any trouble. MPEG-2 sometimes causes problems. People who use DivX, Xvid, MPEG-4 and other highly compressed formats seem to have the most trouble.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:49 pm

I fully agree with DVDDoug but would like to add SONY as the most likely culprit. Sony have a very peculiar approach to DRM and copy protection in general. They have been known to be very problematic when trying to do anything with non SONY software.

Dozno9 · Post by **Dozno9** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:52 pm

In the Womble programme do I need the trial for MPEG Video Wizard or MPEG Video Wizard DVD?

Thanks