File Format questions

[chrishargrave]

Hi everybody
For the first time I hoping to put together a project which involves files from different cameras. Some are older AVI files (pal 25fps) and some are from a Sony cybershot still camera.
My latest camcorder is a Sanyo xacti which produces MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 files. This has various record options including 1920 * 1080 at 60 or 30fpc. So far I have used mainly the 30fps option.
I am wondering what is the best option when it comes to editing..... should I convert all the files to a common format first or should I set project properties etc, to the Sanyo (NTSC?) and do all the editing before creating a video file suitable for a DVD (PAL)

i am using VS X4 Ultimate and considering moving to X7 which I assume would have some advantages re the HD settings of the Sanyo.

Any advice would be appreciated

Chris H

[BrianCee]

There's going to be a lot of conversion going on there if you are going to convert NTSC HD to PAL SD - I would suggest you do that first and see what the result is - I fear you may be disappointed with the quality of the final result so first convert NTSC to PAL and then convert that to MPEG-2 for your standard DVD

I would then be inclined to convert your PAL avi files to mpeg- 2 and edit the whole project in PAL mpeg-2

[lata]

Hi Chris
Your location shows as West Yorks, nice area not far from me.
So why are you using a NTSC camera when we us Pal as our TV standard.

If the Sony is gonna be your main camera then you should consider working with NTSC, Most if not all Pal DVD players will play NTSC.

You seem to say you have 3 varieties which is the longest.
I would consider converting the shortest footage.

[chrishargrave]

Thanks Brian and Trevor for your replies
First of all the Sanyo Xacti camera I have had for a couple of years (now made by Panasonic) - I wanted a 'pocket' camera just to lighten the load when out and about.
When I bought it (from Comet) it never occurred to me that it was 30/60 fps. Just assumed it was OK for UK. No indication in the shop etc.
Just had a look on Currys website and the first few models I picked at random gave no indication of PAL/NTSC (or even frame rates as far as I could see. Is this something not relevant to HD camcorders)
Having said that I have used the Sanyo happily for all this time and made DVDs which work OK - I don't have an HD tv yet so perhaps would not notice any quality issues. (or maybe I just don't appreciate how much better real HD is! )

I have never used the NTSC options in preferences or project properties so maybe the program has made it's own settings without me realising- using 'first clip?'

Yes I think my best option is to probably to use NTSC and see if my DVD player will play it. Then convert if necessary.

As you can tell my knowledge is somewhat limited about this....
Yes Trevor we are fairly near - about 11 miles I think we established some years back.

Regards to all

Chris

[skier-hughes]

I think you'll find it is not NTSC, but just 30fps 1920x1080 video, same codec as used in many digital cameras.
I would suggest you use PAL settings to make your dvd.

[chrishargrave]

Thanks Graham
The 1920 * 1080 options are 60 fields (60i) and 30 (fps) (30p). The 1280 * 720 options are 60 & 30fps (60p & 30p). An extra note says that the frame rates 60 and 30 are 59.94 and 29.97 respectively which made me assume NTSC.
I will experiment further...
Chris

[skier-hughes]

There are many more variants to many other aspects of the video when comparing ntsc to pal, not just the fps. I can't find any details on the file format on line doing a quick search.

[lata]

Hi Guys

The point is if you convert a 30fps video to 25 fps you will loose 1 frame in 5 and that will impact on quality.

The quality will depend on the video content, a slide show, static images and you probably won’t notice.
Pan across a scene especially having vertical lines and you will see a stutter in playback.

You can see the bad effect if you use a sample from the X4 library, try rendering
V10 to Pal DVD Mpeg2 , the samples are 4:3 but using 29.97fps
Then render the same to NTSC DVD Mpeg2

You will now have two samples one NTSC and one Pal
Play each to check the quality.

[chrishargrave]

Thanks again Trevor
I have created Video files of sample v10 using both PAL and NTSC project settings and the DVD-mpeg2 option . Both seem to play OK with no stuttering or discernible quality loss (and identical clip properties)
I also created them using the 'use project properties' option. again no quality loss as far as I can tell.
I will have to experiment a bit more! but can you confirm that edit preferences, project properties and smart proxy settings should all be the same - either NTSC or PAL depending which I try to use.
Also I notice that the camera setting which I have used most - 1920 * 1080 pixels, 30fps (30p) means it is progressive rather than interlaced. I can't see anything in VS about that? Does the program adjust for that itself -or doesn't it make any difference?

Regards
Chris

[BrianCee]

I have created Video files of sample v10 using both PAL and NTSC project settings and the DVD-mpeg2 option . Both seem to play OK with no stuttering or discernible quality loss (and identical clip properties)

How can they have identical clip properties - there is something wrong there NTSC and PAL use different frame sizes and different frame rates - there should be noticeable differences in the clip properties.

[lata]

Hi Chris

Add the sample to the timeline.
Make sure the project properties are using Pal Mpeg
Share Create Video file – same as project properties

Play the new clip from the library to compare with the sample WMV one.

Give us the properties of your original video files from the camera.

Right click a clip on the timeline and choose properties, what are they?
You can copy and paste the window to create an image to attach to your post.