Capturing in Video Studio Pro X5

[andyfranks]

Hi - I am about to capture HDV footage from a Sony A1 camera using VS Pro X5. In Capture mode you have Settings / Edit / Preferences with Resampling quality as an option - is Best the, er, best option? What are the drawbacks? Why wouldn't you use Best? Also, are there are any other Capture settings that could catch you out and I should be aware of? Thanks for your help, Andy F

[canuck]

Give us the full make/model of you camera or camcorder?

If that is a digital camera then you do not capture but simply use Windows Explorer to copy the video to your computer.

[Ken Berry]

If that is a digital camera then you do not capture but simply use Windows Explorer to copy the video to your computer.

Sorry Canuck but he has already told us it is a Sony A1 and it produces HDV. (In reality, its full name is the HVR-A1 which is a professional-end HDV camcorder.) And you *do* capture HDV as it is recorded on mini DV tape and has to be captured in real time i.e. one hour of video takes one hour to capture.

But you can ignore those various options. You *MUST* capture HDV using Firewire if you are to have any quality at all. The Sony will have a mini-Firewire port (call iLink by Sony), and of course you have to have a Firewire port on your computer. No ifs, no buts... And if you don't then you have to install either a Firewire card or Express card with firewire port depending on your what your motherboard will take. And if you use Firewire, you get HDV in its unique high quality original settings (anamorphic 1440 x 1080i, Upper Field First transport stream mpeg-2, 25 Mbps CBR and mpeg layer 2 audio).

If you use USB you will at most only get streaming i.e. poor quality web video. I don't know about the A1 in this regard, but some HDV camcorders only allow transmission of still photos via USB.

[canuck]

You're right,ken. When I googled for "Sony A1" what came up first was "Sony A100" digital cameras. I did not page down for the camcorder lists.

There is often confusion when posters only use an incomplete make/model name.

[andyfranks]

My apologies and thanks for the replies. Yes, it's a HVR A1 movie camera. I will use a firewire. What about that Capture / Settings / Preferences / Edit Resampling quality setting (and any others)? Thanks, Andy F.

[Ken Berry]

I repeat -- you just ignore them. HDV comes in one (high quality) flavour with the settings I outlined above. So no need to tweak anything. Just do the capture via Firewire and what you get is exactly the same quality as on the camera...

[andyfranks]

OK that's great got it, thank you.