File Format for Saving TV Shows

Mega D · Post by **Mega D** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:01 pm

I'm quite new to video editing and was wondering which format was best to use to save recordings from television, or which option is the best compromise between size, quality, and flexibility. I'd like to be able to play them on any PC without too much fuss. I've been using the WMV Broadband preset, which seems okay. I'm just wondering if there's a better option I should use. I don't know enough about the pros and cons of the different formats to judge which would be best without a long process of trial and error. The source I'm working from is an MPEG-2 from a DVR in 352x480 resolution.

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:48 am

Mpeg 2 is fine but that frame size seems pretty small...but OK for playing on a PC

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:13 am

It depends upon a number of factors.

1. Your recording hardware.
What recording formats are available?

2. What do you intend to do with those recordings?

IF you simply want to use your computer like a Sky+ box and record TV for later playback and then delete the program(s) then simply record in whatever format gives you the best playback results. My TV cards all record in MPEG2. They do allow me to alter the quality settings - rather like the old fashioned VHS tape would have single play, long play etc.

For simple recording / playback / delete after being watched - with plenty of hard drive space I can set the recording to its highest level. For playback i can hook the computer up to my 32" TV screen and watch it in the same quality it was broadcast in.

If your aim is to preserve a recording onto a DVD disc then you have to alter the quality level to take into account the duration of the recording.
A standard 4.3 GB DVD disc will hold roughly 1 hours worth of video at best quality, If you want something a bit longer then you have to alter the recording quality (Suggested settings) - Remember to deduct from the duration any adverts etc that you are going to cut out, but add to the duration a small amount for any DVD Menus you might create.

If you intend to place stuff onto the internet (Be careful about copyright) then you can alter the video completely from MPEG2 to some other format more suited to YouTube, Google Video, VEOH etc.
These formats include MPEG4, DivX and Xvid.

Only alter screen sizes when necessary - the more you change the more the original will deteriorate.

Please also view this link:
Suggested work flow by SJJ1805 for Video Creation

Mega D · Post by **Mega D** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:32 pm

More specifically what I am doing is taking shows recorded on my DVR, moving them to my computer via the DVR's network connection, removing the commercials, and then saving them for future use. These are shows that I plan to keep long term, things that I might like to watch several times down the road. They don't need to be fantastic quality. I'm just looking for a good compromise between quality and file size since I plan to keep them.

The file I get from the DVR is an MPEG-2 in 352x480. An sixty minute show is about 1.2 GB. My DVR is not HD. After removing the commercials, saving it with VideoStudio's WMV Broadband preset (I think it's 320x240, 30fps) makes a file that's about 180-200 MB, which is a size and quality level that I'm fairly happy with. I was just wondering if there was a better option, for example, perhaps "format X" is far better than WMV and people who know what they're doing only ever use WMV if they absolutely need to for compatibility reasons. Maybe I'm already using the best option for my purposes. I don't know much about the merits of different formats, so I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:49 pm

There isn't a "one fits all" best format.
You have formats available to
1. Preserve on a DVD disc in a format like the films you buy from the shops or hire out from the local DVD rental shop. These are DVD's with menus and play in your stand alone DVD player and you can fast forward, rewind etc with your DVD remote control.

You must create these in either MPEG1 or MPEG2.
The better of the two is MPEG2. The other one was created in the days before the DVD disc and enabled you to save just over a hours worth of video on a standard CD disc.

Your MPEG file will be converted to VOB files when you create a "DVD" disc.

2. Similar but different are videos preserved on a DVD "DATA" disc.
Here you can use whatever format fits your fancy providing the file size is small enough for it to fit onto a DVD disc. This is simply using a DVD disc as though it was a hard drive. The videos can only be played back through a computer - though of course you can connect a computer to quite a few of the modern large flat screen TV sets nowadays - many of them have a VGA input. There are some standalone DivX players on the market so you could create a DivX DVD - similar to a traditional DVD Video Disc.

3. You may want to share your video on the internet. Many of the TV Stations now place there programs on the internet so that if you miss an episode of something you can watch it / download it from their website. Here the popular formats are DivX, Xvid, MPEG4, WMV.

Like most things in life you are presented with various choices.
It's a bit like do you prefer brown bread to white bread.

4. You may want to email your video.

5. You might want to put a copy of your video into your mobile phone.

6. You might want to put a copy of your video in a page on your website - here you would probably use "Flash." or Quicktime or WMV.

As you can see.... there isn't a one for all answer.

Mega D · Post by **Mega D** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:24 pm

I just want to be able to save them without taking up a tremendous amount of space and to be able to watch them on any PC without too much fuss. I'm not looking to put them on the internet and I don't have anything like a cell phone or an iPod that I want to use them with. What would you use if you wanted to keep numerous episodes of your favorite show just for your own viewing on a PC, or through a PC on a television?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:10 pm

The DVR records in MPEG-2 format. I would leave them as that. MPEG-2 is a good quality format, no sense recoding to something else.

Mega D · Post by **Mega D** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:32 pm

Well, my issue there is that the recordings are over 1GB per hour. That's more than I have room for. I'm trying to find out how small I can make them without drastically sacrificing quality.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:40 pm

I'm trying to find out how small I can make them without drastically sacrificing quality.

That's like asking how long is a piece of string. Nobody knows what your version of quality is. It is in the eye of the beholder.

WMV, DivX, Xvid, MPEG4 should all produce decent quality with smaller file sizes. How good and how small will have to be determined by you.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:54 am

You might consider getting a larger hard drive to replace one of your 80GB units. You could put the old drive into a USB enclosure so you can still use it. Hard drives are cheap these days - you can get a 1TB drive for $100 or less.

There would be two principal benefits from keeping the video in mpeg2 format. First of all, you would minimise picture quality loss, which inevitably occurs when you re-encode to some other file type. Secondly, it should greatly speed up the process - since having trimmed out all the commercials, you should be able to "Smart Render" the project in just a fraction of the run time of the video. If your project ends up as 60 minutes long, I would expect it to Smart Render in perhaps 7 minutes or less, which must be considerably less than the time required to encode to wmv.

I presume you have the DVR set to it's longest play mode, hence the odd frame size. In its high quality mode, you would expect it to record at 720 or 704 x 480.

Mega D · Post by **Mega D** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:51 pm

2Dogs wrote:You might consider getting a larger hard drive to replace one of your 80GB units. You could put the old drive into a USB enclosure so you can still use it. Hard drives are cheap these days - you can get a 1TB drive for $100 or less.

There would be two principal benefits from keeping the video in mpeg2 format. First of all, you would minimise picture quality loss, which inevitably occurs when you re-encode to some other file type. Secondly, it should greatly speed up the process - since having trimmed out all the commercials, you should be able to "Smart Render" the project in just a fraction of the run time of the video. If your project ends up as 60 minutes long, I would expect it to Smart Render in perhaps 7 minutes or less, which must be considerably less than the time required to encode to wmv.

I presume you have the DVR set to it's longest play mode, hence the odd frame size. In its high quality mode, you would expect it to record at 720 or 704 x 480.

I had no idea hard drives had become so cheap. I guess it is time to upgrade. Thanks for the advice.