Pros and Cons of Capture Format?

[Accolades]

What are some of the pro's and cons of capturing DV for editing in VS X2?

DV
MPEG
VCD
SVCD
or DVD

[skier-hughes]

Pro's identical to dv recorded to a mini dv tape.
Easy to edit
no quality loss at any stage.

Cons none.

Use no other format.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi
It really depends on your final product. What are you trying to make, and what capture devices you have?
For a DVD I would use DV capture (via firewire) assuming my source is Mini DV.
The footage is literally copied from camera to pc. No recoding, what you have is what you get.

If my source was VHS then I would consider DVD as this gives compatible properties.
Footage is recoded during capture. I can set the bit rate to match the length, no need to render to fit to disc as the file size would be correct. Being VHS I assume little editing required.

If you only have a CD burner then you are heading VCD or SVCD
But I would probably capture DV-Avi, edit and render to Svcd.

Mpeg capture is a pure manual approach allowing you to choose a large range of properties.
Easy to get the wrong settings, I leave well alone and use the DVD option. (Pal-DVD)

As you say Its All Good

[Devil]

DV all the way. It's the only quasi-lossless format in your list.

[DVDDoug]

I agree. If you are "capturing" MiniDV, capture to AVI/DV.

Some random thoughts & comments...

- When you transfer/capture digital broadcasts/recordings, keep the original format. If you've got a hard disk camera that captures to MPEG-2, transfer to an MPEG-2 file on your hard drive. If you've got an AVCHD camera, transfer to an AVCHD file, etc. If you are capturing a digital broadcast (MPEG-2), capture to MPEG-2.

- If you convert the data on-the-fly during capture, there is more potential for trouble. Decoding/encoding is CPU intensive, and if the CPU can't keep-up, or if the CPU gets interrupted, you can get dropped frames or corruption. And, there is no possibility of 2-pass encoding when you're encoding in real-time. It's better to transcode after you have the data on your hard drive.

- If you are capturing analog streams, use DV if you can. (My capture card only captures to MPEG.)

- The least-compressed formats (i.e DV) cause the least trouble. The most-compressed formats (DivX, MPEG-4, etc.) cause the most trouble (when you try to edit or convert them).

- When you edit video, the "data" has to be decompressed and re-compressed/re-rendered (at least the edited parts). You always get some (theoretical) quality loss when you re-render a lossy format. This is less of a problem with less-lossy and less-compressed formats.

- If you need to compress or convert the format, convert/compress once to the final format as the last step after all editing.[/b]

- Sometimes a highly-compressed file will give you trouble. So, sometimes you have to convert the file to a less-compressed format for editing. This means an additional lossy encoding step, but sometimes you have no choice. (If you can convert to DV, this step can be essentially lossless, if the resolution and framerate are already DV compatible.)

[Accolades]

I agree. If you are "capturing" MiniDV, capture to AVI/DV.

Some random thoughts & comments...

- When you transfer/capture digital broadcasts/recordings, keep the original format. If you've got a hard disk camera that captures to MPEG-2, transfer to an MPEG-2 file on your hard drive. If you've got an AVCHD camera, transfer to an AVCHD file, etc. If you are capturing a digital broadcast (MPEG-2), capture to MPEG-2.

- If you convert the data on-the-fly during capture, there is more potential for trouble. Decoding/encoding is CPU intensive, and if the CPU can't keep-up, or if the CPU gets interrupted, you can get dropped frames or corruption. And, there is no possibility of 2-pass encoding when you're encoding in real-time. It's better to transcode after you have the data on your hard drive.

- If you are capturing analog streams, use DV if you can. (My capture card only captures to MPEG.)

- The least-compressed formats (i.e DV) cause the least trouble. The most-compressed formats (DivX, MPEG-4, etc.) cause the most trouble (when you try to edit or convert them).

- When you edit video, the "data" has to be decompressed and re-compressed/re-rendered (at least the edited parts). You always get some (theoretical) quality loss when you re-render a lossy format. This is less of a problem with less-lossy and less-compressed formats.

- If you need to compress or convert the format, convert/compress once to the final format as the last step after all editing.[/b]

- Sometimes a highly-compressed file will give you trouble. So, sometimes you have to convert the file to a less-compressed format for editing. This means an additional lossy encoding step, but sometimes you have no choice. (If you can convert to DV, this step can be essentially lossless, if the resolution and framerate are already DV compatible.)

A most excellent and understandable reply

Thanks

So For CAPTURE and EDITING PURPOSES:
-------------------------------------------------

DV = BEST FORMAT AND SHOULD BE USED AS DEFAULT. Large file but the best for editing. Will need to be converted to MPG during final DVD prep? Should keep DV Format as MASTER and backup if have space?

MPEG = When capturing DV will conver/compress on the fly and can cause errors with editing but a smaller file than DV would produce?
Will not need converting if no edits made to file to create final DVD?

VCD & SVCD = When only have small video or CD Burner only? Compresses file on capture, similar to MPEG?

DVD = I assume some compression occurs when capturing from DV camera or Other video source VCR/Tape ?? Allows you to fine tune the compression depending on size of video to capture? Still have similar editing options as MPEG?

Am I on the right track?

Maybe can make sticky? Very useful info.