project capture settings

[petrea]

Hi - its me again
I solved a video problem by changing the capture rate from 1800 to 8000.
No am capturing new video and the system seems to be defaulting to 1800 not sure how. I went into capture, said new project made sure that the compression was set at 8000 - but somehow...when I checked the captured film it was at 1800.
Am I doing something wrong - how can I get it to permanatly stay at 8000?
Thanks
Petrea

[Ken Berry]

You've not given us much to work on, most importantly in regard to what you are trying to capture, from what sort of device, and how that device is connected to your computer. The normal capture templates in Video Studio already have the much higher sort of bitrate you want to set, so I am at a loss to know why these rates don't appear automatically.

This in turn suggests that there is something wrong with your set-up, particularly in how you connect your external device to the computer. Essentially, if you are trying to capture high quality (high bitrate) digital video from a digital video camera, then you will need to do so using a Firewire cable between the camera and computer (unless you have one of the very new model cameras which have USB 2.0 and can transfer to the computer vis this means). Older cameras which have USB ports use USB 1 and are just not fast enough to transfer high quality video. Instead, they are used either to transfer still photos taken on the video camera's card, or else low quality webcam-like video which has the sort of bitrate you are currently getting.

So tell us about your set-up how you are trying to capture, and we'll see where we are. If in fact you do have the set-up correct, we can then explore options like setting up a new template with the properties you want -- though as I say, there should already be templates there with the bitrate you require, capable of capturing high quality digital video.

[petrea]

After doing it three times I finally figured out my problem.
I was scanning from a canon dv camcorder - trying to increase my rate and the system kept defaulting to 1,800 kb.. I finally realized I had to set my format to dvd then corrected the capture rate. That was after I ended up at mpeg and then avi.
Thanks for listening. Think I am fine now.
Petrea

[Ken Berry]

I am still not completely satisfied you have resolved your problems. In particular, you still haven't said how you have your camera connected to the computer.

I am also concerned that you are not following recommended procedure. Have you read the very top Announcement sticky post at the very beginning of this Board. You say you are now capturing direct to 'DVD' but have corrected the 'capture rate' (by which I assume you mean the bitrate). But if you read the recommended procedure, you will find that most of us think it is better to capture to DV/AVI format, and only after you have done all your editing, convert the file to a dvd-compliant mpeg-2 (Share > Create Video File > DVD), and then burn that to disc. While it is of course possible to capture direct to DVD-compatible mpeg-2, this often causes more problems than it resolves, especially if your computer is not overly endowed with resources.

But essentially, I am still worried about how you have the camera connected to the computer...

[heinz-oz]

Am I reading this right, you capture to mpeg first and then convert to AVI

[petrea]

One of the first things I did was set up re: instructions. I think in working with files I may have messed up. I have an awful tendency to move to quickly and make mistakes
Here is the current format for capture from my project properties
File format: NTSC DVD
Video Type: MPEG-2 video, lower field first
Variable bit rate - max 8000
I am transfering via firewire from a Canon DV Camcorder.
Where I seemed to have the problem is designating the file format as MPEG - vs DV
Am I on the right track now?
Thanks
Petrea

[THoff]

If you want to capture directly to MPEG2 format, you'll have to switch the capture plugin from the DirectShow plugin to the MPEG plugin.

However, I would recommend that you capture to DV AVI first, do all of your editing in that format, and then use Share -> Create Video File to output to an MPEG file. That will give you the best possible quality, and it isn't as demanding as the realtime transcoding to MPEG as you capture.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Petrea

The right track is a personal choice based on experience.

If you have a digital camcorder.

Capturing to Dv-Avi at 13 Gb / hour is probably the best option as the demand on your pc is small.
Capturing to Mpeg 2 is more demanding as your pc has to re-code the video.

After you have edited your video you need to make a Mpeg 2 file to burn to disc.

If you capture to mpeg 2 then the process to re-make the project to Mpeg 2 is relatively quick
If you capture to Dv-Avi then the process to convert is longer but the quality is thought to be better.

Trevor