Audio & Video conversion

[Phil]

Hi, I'm going to take video at a friend's wedding and want the best result when I'm ready to make an SD DVD Mpeg 2 @ 8,000kbps. I've the options to shoot at HD with my video camera @ 25,000kbps or shoot with a 1920x1080 resolution @ 15,000kbps. My audio can be either 5.1 surround or simply stereo. What does VideoStudio Pro x3 do best when converting to the final MPEG2 file?

1/ Video -what is preferred with original footage - 25,000kbps or 15,000kbps, since end result will be 8000kbps?

2/ Audio - what is preferred with original audio - surround or stereo, since end result will be stereo?

3/ My optional external microphone defaults my video camera to stereo. Will end quality be that much impaired if I take the easy option (where files are much lighter for editing) and just go for 15,000kbps + stereo?

I need VSP x3 to produce the best outcome.

Phil

[1080eye]

There is no single correct answer to each of your questions.
The following are my opinions, having shot 100’s of hours of video in HD since Sony released the FX1 back in 2004, and subsequently on a variety of pro and semi pro cameras, both tape and flash memory based.
You do not mention what kind of camera you are using, best guess is a consumer flash or hard drive based model recording in AVCHD format.

1) Quick question: Would you buy a top line 24Mega Pixel Nikon D3s digital SLR camera, then record all your images as lowest quality 2Mega Pixel jpegs? Probably not. My take on this is you ALWAYS record with the highest quality you possibly can. You can always lower the size, resolution or quality later, but you can NEVER, EVER raise the quality of crappy original footage no matter how hard you try. Short answer – use highest quality setting available. The better the master, the better the down-res SD render. Realistically, you could use 15mbps recording mode, and many people would not notice. However, hard drives and flash cards are cheap. Weddings are NOT!

2) When you say surround, you mean four little mics under a single ¾” square grill on a consumer / prosumer video camera, correct? That is pretty much a marketing department selling point, not a functionally useful tool. It’s not how pros record surround sound, and the results are questionable at best. Go for standard stereo audio, or better still, use an external mic. The difference between even a low cost $150 shotgun mic on an anti-shock shoe-mount vs the on-board mics is night and day – the difference between hearing the “I do” vs just hearing the church’s HVAC system rumbling and whooshing.

3) Not sure what you mean by this, but I think 1 & 2 above cover it.

X2, X3, X4, you can even go all the way back to VS9 with the HDV plugin, and all the versions in between… VS9 is what I started editing HD video with. Took a pass on X3 though, not one of the better releases, in my personal opinion. Still use X2, and liking X4.

[skier-hughes]

I agree start with the best you can, and stereo with a half decent ext mic will be far better than any inbuilt mic.

[Phil]

Great advice guys....and the presumptions were correct around the semi pro video camera using AVCHD format. Thanks