VideoStudio

[lata]

Hi Wendy

I have search the internet for your camera ZR45MC and found a manual
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/7/090000069 ... 5IM-EN.pdf

I assume this is your camera.
It does indicate that the camera can be used as a Digital Analogue converter aka Passthrough
It also shows how to switch the feature on Page 93

However you should first be able to capture from the camera.
Please read the section referring for normal use, (P93) then try capturing a tape.

For Digital Analogue converter aka Passthrough the tape should be removed from the camera.

The DV terminal shows at the front of the camera.
I did find my old Canon MV400, looks pretty similar to your camera, but does work when capturing via firewire.

[bowl3001999]

Yes, I did see that, thank you

Drumroll, please...I was able to capture video from the ZR45! YAHOOOOOOO! So, maybe for now, I'm thinking I had a faulty firewire. I will attempt to convert the 8mm in a little bit, I just want to back up the mini DV tapes since those are working right now.

I wanted to thank you all SO much for all of your help...I could not have gotten this far w/out it! I will be forever it your debt

Quick question, (I'm going to Google it right now)...there are a LOT of options when you create a video file. Any suggestion on that? For now, I just selected DVD 4:3.

[Terfyn]

Most modern TVs are 16:9. i.e. wide screen.
Good luck with your copying.

[lata]

Hi Wendy

To create a Standard DVD disc you need an Mpeg2 file.

Your captured files Dv-Avi use Lower Field first, it is quite important that you use this field order, the original field order of your captured files.
The Share Create Video File DVD 4:3 uses Upper Field First using this option will cause some quality issues in the form of jagged lines.

You should NOT use Share Create video File DVD for your DV-Avi files, instead….

Modify/edit the project properties to use Mpeg (edit file Format) , from the General tab choose Lower Field First.

I would use these settings.

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps (constant)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

The Video Data rate should be reduced if your movie is over 60 minutes, ensuring the total video file size is below 4.3 Gb, that’s the disc capacity.

As a guide
8000kbps constant for 60 minutes (full quality DVD)
6000kbps constant for 90 minutes (good Quality DVD)
4000kbps variable for 120 minutes, (good quality VHS)

For “variable” also use Two Pass Encode selected from the Compression tab.

Read my guides to avi, they were written for VS 10 but still relevant with the exception of the Field order change

http://lata.me.uk/video_studio/guides.htm
http://lata.me.uk/video_studio/guides/q ... de_avi.htm

Hopefully you will now be able to capture your 8mm using pass-through, please check the Field Order of these captured files

Good luck and a Happy and prosperous New Year

[bowl3001999]

Lata, I did all those settings, thank you. What does it mean when you select "Lower Field First"? Not that I know what anything else means

Yes, I was able to record using the pass-through! I about fell on the floor!!! I have already recorded 2 videos...a little grainy, but I expected that. I am so exited, I just want to do cartwheels through the house! I need to put it away, but I'm almost afraid to unplug it for fear it won't work again!

Thank you again!

[Ken Berry]

What does it mean when you select "Lower Field First"?

Most video is interlaced (putting aside for the moment frame based standard def video, and fully progressive high def video). Putting it very simplistically, in the "old" days, TV's worked by broadcasting video as a set of lines in two alternate phases or fields. If it broadcast lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9... etc up to 575 (PAL) or 479 (NTSC), followed a microsecond later by lines 2, 4, 6, 8... etc up to 576/480, that signal or field was called Lower Field First (1 being lower than 2...) Some video -- nowadays most video -- was broadcast using the upper field (2, 4, 6, 8 etc) first followed by the lower field. (That's also why VS now uses Upper Field First as the default, and you have to consciously change things to Lower Field First if you have LFF video, such as DV/AVI.)

Anyway, these fields were broadcast at such high speed that the human eye would perceive the interleaved lines as a single image. But if, say, you had a Lower Field First video and broadcast it (or processed it for broadcast) using Upper Field First, the human eye perceives that some little thing is wrong with it -- something not quite in sync. There might be a slight jerkiness, particularly in fast panning shots, and vertical lines typically would look jagged. Hence the importance of maintaining the same Field Order throughout a project.

These days, most modern HDTVs are capable of broadcasting solid images made up of all the lines broadcast at once, up to 1080 horizontal lines (and soon, with the forthcoming generation of higher definition 4K video and 4K-capable TVs) twice that. The eye perceives these solid images as being crisper than those broadcast using the interlacing method.

In standard definition, if you take a slideshow, for instance, it is made up of individual solid images. There is in effect no need to apply a field order of either Upper or Lower Field First to them. So instead you can produce a slideshow of images using Frame Based -- which means the whole frame or image is broadcast at once. (However, you can also apply either UFF or LFF to a slideshow if it is part of a video presentation using one of those Field Orders.)

Clear as mud???

[bowl3001999]

Oh yeah, clear as mud But, thank you for explaning...even though it went mostly over my head! No wonder you are a site administrator!

[lata]

Hi Wendy
and a Happy New Year

Interlacing

Most analogue source video, TV tuner, VHS tapes, analogue camcorders all use Upper Field and the new High Definition Videos use Upper field.

The tried and trusted DV-Avi uses Lower Field, lower field was set as the default for earlier versions of VS only to be changed with the development of HD video.

Your DV-Avi uses Lower Field, and that should be used when creating/rendering your project.

The golden rule is to check the original field order and use that throughout your video production.
If you do seem to be producing video with jagged edges then check the field order.