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hoping that answer solves my problem...but still would like to know what settings to put if I have to pick manually..... DVD NTSC ac3 Hq 16_9 for best quality?

what is AC3 exactly? some settings are the same except for the lack of ac3

If you would read the whole thread you posted to before should answer your questions.

On capture you don't set the properties, they will capture what your camera outputs.

It's when you make a file or DVD is when you can change some of the properties of the video/audio.

AC3 is Dolby Digital audio, can be 2 channel or 5.1 channel. You only get this option if you chose a DVD setting.

I am getting these under capture, not output options.....
I captured with DV and I got a 13 gig file. I captured under mpeg with dvd nstc ac3 hq 16_9 and got a 3 gig file... so I can definitely modify capture settings.....

I captured with DV and I got a 13 gig file. I captured under mpeg with dvd nstc ac3 hq 16_9 and got a 3 gig file... so I can definitely modify capture settings.....

You can do that, but you are generally better-off capturing to AVI/DV.

We can give you general advice about what works best for most people. But, most of the time, you have to figure-out a workflow that works best for yourself, considering your file formats, the types of projects you work on, and your particular goals & priorities.

If you capture MPEG-2 (DVD), a higher bitrate gives you better quality and a bigger file. If you use (compressed) AC3 audio, instead of uncompressed LPCM, this leaves more room for the video, and you can use a higher bitrate (if disc space is an issue).

When you capture to AVI/DV, you are transferring and "repackaging" the DV data from your MiniDV tape. This completely preserves the original quality.

AVI/DV is "easier" to edit. Some MPEG-2 editing requires that the video be decompressed and re-compressed, which can degrade the video quality.

If you compress later (as the last step), you can use 2-pass vaiable bitrate, which can give you better quality for a given file size. And, you are less likely to get "glitches" when you encode from a hard-disk file, rather than encoding on-the-fly. (When commercial DVDs are made, MPEG-2 encoding is done after editing.)

thanks for all that... but the recording format is HDV which is already MPEG2. do you still recommend converting to DV/AVI?

No....

The general rule is to "capture" to the native format. If you need a different format, you can always convert/transcode later.

DV isn't high definition, and if your final format is HD you don't want to reduce the resolution.

There may be some cases where you do want to convert the file to DV. (i.e. if you have trouble editing the native format, and if you don't need HD.) In that case, it's safer to capture to the native format convert to DV for editing, and then transcode again to your final format.

ok that's what I thought.. but there are many flavors of MPEG2

I want to output eventually as dvd..

but for now...

do I pick the HQ 16_9 ac3?

what bitrate would you use?

thx

It all depends on what your end product is going to be. I happen to have high definition purposes for my own HDV/mpeg-2 format camera output. A standard definition DVD is, for me, just a by-product I make for friends and family who don't have either HDTVs or Blu-Ray rated players to play my edited video in its original high definition format. So I capture from my Canon HV20 in the native HDV/mpeg-2 format and edit in that format. I then recode the edited HDV into another transport stream version of that format for sending back to a new tape in the camera. I can use that same file for playing direct to my HDTV via my PlayStation 3 which I have networked with my computer and connected to my HDTV via HDMI. Or else I convert the project and burn it to high definition format AVCHD as a hybrid disc using a standard DVD as the medium, and play that direct in the PlayStation.

But, for the by-product standard definition DVD, I merely keep the edited HDV project in the timeline, then select Share > Create Video File and then either 'DVD' (if the default settings for that template are VBR 8000, mpeg-2, and Upper Field First) or else 'Custom' and I set the properties to reflect what I have just typed. I usually leave the audio at the native mpeg layer 2 which comes with the camera, as this is similar to the compression used by AC-2 dual channel stereo Dolby. Then, when the recoding is complete I start a new project to clear the timeline. Then I choose Share > Create Disc DVD. When the burning module opens, I insert the new standard definition mpeg-2, make sure 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' is ticked in the middle (Options) icon in the bottom left of screen, build my menu and burn.

But if a standard definition DVD is always going to be your only intended product, I would probably downconvert during capture to standard definition DV format and edit in that format, only converting as a last step to standard definition mpeg-2 before opening the burning module. Again, I would probably choose Share > Create Video File > Custom at that point so I could fiddle with the settings and make sure they are right at this point. This is important because, as you may realise, DV format always uses Lower Field First and this must be maintained in the conversion to the standard definition mpeg-2.

And just to thoroughly muddy the waters, if you don't downconvert to DV but capture in HDV/mpeg-2 format, edit and then convert to standard definition mpeg-2, Upper Field First must be used throughout the whole process.

thx

I am using videostudio11+

My aim is to import in native HDV format but it gives lots of choices, none of which are called HDV. There are about 10 choices for MPEG2. What advanced features to I pick to make it HDV?

thx

I assume you have the camera attached to the computer via Firewire and the camera switched on in PLAY mode. That is the only way of capturing in full high definition HDV format. You don't use the USB connection, if that is what you are doing. Moreover, the camera itself has to be set in HDV mode -- check the manual how to change that in the camera menu. If it is set to DV output, it will downconvert to standard definition.

I have just connected my Canon HV20 via Firewire, turned it on to PLAY. Then opened VS11.5+ and selected Capture > Capture Video. After a few seconds, the program detects the camera and for Source, it tells me it is a Canon HV20. Format is automatically set to 'MPEG'. No other choice of format is available. (If the camera is set to DV output, you will get the variety of formats you describe.)

I then click the flashing Capture Video icon and capture proceeds. When I stop it, the captured video appears as a new thumbnail in the library pane and I get an automatic message asking if I want the project properties to be the same as the captured video. I click OK. (I have previously set File > Preferences to 'Show message when inserting first clip into timeline'.)

Right clicking on the new thumbnail, I check the properties:
PAL (25 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 1440 x 1080, 25 fps
Upper Field First
(MPEG-2), 16:9
Video data rate: 25000 kbps
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

I check in File > Project Properties, and these are the same. And those properties are stock standard for the HDV/mpeg-2 format.

radman2020

It sounds like you are still not capturing HDV, the capture options you referred to above is for standard definition video. You can capture SD video in DV/AVI or MPG, however HDV can only be captured in MPG and you cannot change the properties of the HD capture. After you capture HD video you can change the properties of the video, and output it to a file or disk.

I checked my output settings on my camera. turns out, I must have changed it to DV out so my dvd recorder would recognize it.

when I changed it back to HDV, vs11 saw it as an MPEG and didn't give me any options just as above... it transferred in HD


for reference

when I did it in standard hq mpeg2 the file was 3 gigs.
when I did it avi it was 13.

when I did it hdv, it was 10


thanks to all.