Best settings to use for mini-dv tapes to Blu Ray transfer

[webcombo]

It has been a long time since I have visited this forum, but I remember how great it was for all of my video questions. I am now starting a new project and searched all over the forum for my specific question and just couldn't find it anywhere. So I apologize if this has been answered already.

I have over 120 home videos that are all captured on 1 hour mini-dv tapes. The first half of them were recorded on a Sony DCR-TRV20. They are all in the 4:3 aspect ratio and are in Standard Definition. The last 60 or so were recorded using a Canon HV-20, all in High Definition in 1920 x 1080 resolution. We have started re-watching the videos (through the camcorder to HDTV) and noticed a lot of pixels that are starting to show up on the tapes. This makes me think that Mini-dv tapes don't last as long as I originally thought (our oldest video is from Dec 2000). So I want to get them transferred to Blu-Ray discs as quickly as I can. I am not so much worried about the import settings of the Standard Definition videos (although I wouldn't turn down advice on those), but I am mostly interested in the capture settings/project properties for the High Definition videos.

I want to be able to import the videos into the computer at the best/highest quality possible, preferably a raw format that has no loss of pixels/quality. I know once I get the settings correct, this project will go quickly. I just plan on transferring the files to the computer and then burning them directly to Blu-Ray with little to no editing. I don't plan on using any menus or anything. Possibly markers at different scene changes, but I don't think that matters too much to what advice I will receive.

When capturing the video, what format should I use (AVI, DV, MPEG)? Are there some custom settings that I can use in the properties somewhere that will get me the full RAW video file? And then when it's time to create the video project within VideoStudio ProX-5, what should my properties be? Also, I do have an XP machine that has a firewire input, but it is a painfully slow computer. My Windows 7 PC with 4GB of RAM only has USB. Can I still capture the highest quality using the dv port on the camcorder, if I get a dv to USB cable? This may be super basic and super easy to answer, but I will lose sleep at night, if I don't get advice from people that know what they are talking about (the pros!).

I thank you in advance for anybody that decides to help me out with this massive project. I have 7 kids that almost all of these videos are of, and they will be forever grateful to you as well, for having videos to watch of themselves growing up, for years to come!!

Sincerely,
Rob

[Ken Berry]

First off I would forget the DVD to USB cable. I think they are gimmicks. Use the old computer and do the captures, both standard and high definition, via firewire. Both DV and HDV are not demanding formats and are captured in real time i. e. one hour of tape takes one hour to capture.

While VS can capture both formats, I use small freeware programs because you can assign your own names to the captured files which are split by scene. For standard definition I use WinDV www.windv.mourek.cz For HDV I use HDVSplit. Do a Google search for it.

Incidentally the footage from your HV20 is 1440 X 1080 and not 1920 X 1080. HDV has that fixed aspect ratio. But it is anamorphic and translates perfectly into Blu-Ray mpeg-2 at either 1920 or 1440. Believe me, I know because most of my high def work is done on my own HV20!!!

So you capture in HDV mpeg-2 and DV/And and do any edits you want in those formats. Then you do the conversions necessary for Blu-Ray. If you are intending to burn the two formats separately then you could finish editing the HDV and jump straight to burning. Share > Create Disc > Blu-Ray. I have never had any problems with this process but if you do then first go to Create Video File > Blu-Ray.

With the DV, however, I would first convert it to Blu-Ray files before opening the burning module.

[canuck]

Further to what Ken has posted...

If you are converting standard DV-avi do not expect good quality when watching on a HDTV. After all you are blowing up 720x480 video to 1920x1080 and any flaws (pixelation) on the SD video will be magnified when converted to HD.

[webcombo]

Hello Ken. First of all, thank you so much for responding so quickly. Secondly, I am flattered that you are the one that responded because I have respected your opinion on this board for almost 10 years now! And Canuck, thank you also for you post. I am prepared for the SD video to not look as good, since I am used to playing those via the camcorder, to the TV, with the bars on the side. I will leave the aspect ration of 4:3 since I don't want the kids to have stretched faces/bodies.

1) After I have a file that I have captured in mpeg2 (I have a sample that I did a little while ago that must have been captured correctly because it is in mpeg2 format, 24bits, 1440 x 1080, 16:9, 29.97 fps), but when I go to set my settings for the project, I only get the option for MPEG or AVI. If I click on MPEG and go into Edit and then the General tab, I have the option for the Frame Size, but the highest it goes is 720 x 480. The "User defined" option is greyed out. Any ideas on that?

2) When I click on the option to Create the Blu Ray disc and then go into the Project Settings, it already has the format set in 1920 x 1080 (even though that isn't what the settings for the project were originally for). It also has a Field Type section that is set for Upper Field first. Is that the correct setting?

3) Since you have the same exact camcorder, when you burn your tapes to Blu Ray, do you leave the compression to the default of 90, or do you bump it up to 100? For the audio, do you change it to 3/2(L,C,R,SL,SR)? Do you leave the default audio of 384 kbps, or do you bump it up to 448?

4) In the compression option, I do have the option to change the video format to H.264 video, instead of MPEG-2. Do I have any interest in doing this?

5) Does it really matter what the project settings are, as long as the original video was captured via MPEG at 1440 x 1080 and as long as the output format of Blu Ray is chosen? I don't want to be hung up on something that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks again for responding so quickly,

-Rob

[Ken Berry]

I'll reply to all you points against each of them as follows:

1) After I have a file that I have captured in mpeg2 (I have a sample that I did a little while ago that must have been captured correctly because it is in mpeg2 format, 24bits, 1440 x 1080, 16:9, 29.97 fps), but when I go to set my settings for the project, I only get the option for MPEG or AVI. If I click on MPEG and go into Edit and then the General tab, I have the option for the Frame Size, but the highest it goes is 720 x 480. The "User defined" option is greyed out. Any ideas on that?

Even though it's called HDV, and you think of standard def DV/AVI, HDV is in fact high def mpeg-2 1440 x 1080 Upper Field First and using mpeg layer 2 audio. When you get to output options forget about ordinary mpeg and AVI. You either, as I suggested above, just simply do the editing and jump directly to Share > Create Disc > Blu-Ray, which will take care of everything. Or else Share > Create Video File > Blu-Ray which will do the same, and include 1440 as one of the options. The only thing about HDV is that it is not directly compatible with Blu-Ray, perhaps because of the audio codec used. You may recall that most NTSC DVD stand-alone players could not play mpeg layer 2 audio, but had no trouble at all with LPCM, Dolby or other audio formats compatible with the international DVD standard. Blu-Ray will convert your video to Dolby or LPCM, but again this will not cause problems.

In point of fact, if you really wanted to create a Customised template, you would choose Share > Create Video File > Custom, then choose MPEG transport stream files (.m2t) as the basic format, not mpeg or avi. But as I say, you don't have to bother about this.

2) When I click on the option to Create the Blu Ray disc and then go into the Project Settings, it already has the format set in 1920 x 1080 (even though that isn't what the settings for the project were originally for). It also has a Field Type section that is set for Upper Field first. Is that the correct setting?

First off, ALL high def video is either Upper Field First or else Progressive (which is the same as Frame Based to all intents and purposes). So don't worry about that. HDV is UFF and just about all Blu-Ray formats are also UFF with a few exceptions not relevant to the current exercise.

I am not too sure what you mean by going into Project Settings when you have already selected Create Disc > Blu-Ray, but suspect you mean that is what the Options cogwheel icon in the burning module displays. Never mind about that, it is what you are after anyway. As I say, anamorphic 1440 x 1080 HDV converts quite nicely into 1920 x 1080 Blu-Ray. But as I said above, if you first convert it using Share > Create Video File > Blu-Ray you could also select 1440, which is part of the international Blu-Ray format. Just make sure the 'Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG Fiiles' box is ticked in that Options box if you first create a Blu-Ray file, and it will happily accept and burn the 1440 footage, as 1440 is also part of the international Blu-Ray standard. But if jumping direct to Create Disc, forget about it and accept the default.

3) Since you have the same exact camcorder, when you burn your tapes to Blu Ray, do you leave the compression to the default of 90, or do you bump it up to 100? For the audio, do you change it to 3/2(L,C,R,SL,SR)? Do you leave the default audio of 384 kbps, or do you bump it up to 448?

I ignore all those possibilities and simply accept the defaults, and have never been unhappy with the results.

4) In the compression option, I do have the option to change the video format to H.264 video, instead of MPEG-2. Do I have any interest in doing this?

H.264 or AVCHD is one of the Blu-Ray compatible formats. It is in fact mpeg-4 created with the H.264 codec. It produces high quality high def video which is much more highly compressed than Blu-Ray mpeg-2 and so is in smaller files. So you might be interested from the point of view of squeezing more onto a final Blu-Ray disc. But if space is not a problem, stick with Blu-Ray mpeg-2.

5) Does it really matter what the project settings are, as long as the original video was captured via MPEG at 1440 x 1080 and as long as the output format of Blu Ray is chosen? I don't want to be hung up on something that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Essentially, what I do with all my projects is ignore Project Settings. They were developed for standard def projects, and Corel has not to date updated them. They are only relevant if you intend to use Share > Create Video File > Same As Project Properties, which you don't intend to do here, either with HDV or DV. (They are also relevant when you want to take a high quality screen shot, but that is irrelevant here.) So again, just ignore them for current purposes.

[webcombo]

Ken, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of those things to me. I think I was caught up too much with the Project Properties, rather than the Output. You have now made it so that I will not second guess myself on this new project, and I can't thank you enough!!

Cheers,
Rob