AVI or MPEG2 before authoring?

qtranva · Post by **qtranva** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:44 am

I use Video Studio 9 to edit a few movies and use DVD workshop to create the actual dvd. Should I output the VS projects to avi or mpeg(2) for use later with Workshop? or it doesn't matter? I'm just afraid if I make them into mpeg then import them to Workshop, they'll get compress again and degrade the quality of the movies. Thanks for any advice.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:23 am

Either way should work. DVD WS will not re-encode your source files as long as they are already compliant.

What type of .avi is your source? If you are working with dv .avi's, then you might want to output a finished dv .avi for exporting back to camcorder tape (for archiving). If you do that, then you can import the same dv .avi into DWS2, and let DWS2 encode for you.

qtranva · Post by **qtranva** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 12:50 pm

Thanks GeorgeW for your advice. That's a good idea to archive the avi back to tape. Yes, it's dv avis that I'm working on.

qtranva · Post by **qtranva** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:36 pm

Also, should I choose "uncompress" or DV type1 or DV type 2? Thanks.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:42 pm

I would select the DV type that matches your original dv .avi's. Uncompressed files are going to be huge.

This does add one extra render to any section that requires rendering (like an overlay or transition -- because it will be rendered as dv .avi, then from dv .avi to mpeg when authoring). But to me, it isn't much of a quality hit on those sections (the purists would say to render to uncompressed then to mpeg, or to render first to mpeg and be done with it). But that doesn't give you a dv .avi that you can export to your dv camcorder as an archiving tape. It depends on your workflow for backing up etc...

qtranva · Post by **qtranva** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:35 pm

I feel so stupid!!! so how would I determine what type my avi is? I have a Sony DCR-HC21 miniDV camcorder. Thanks.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:45 pm

put one of your videos in a project, right click it and show Info (or Properties), and it should tell you...

It's not a function of your dv camcorder, it's how you end up transferring the dv stream to your computer (as either DV Type-1 or DV Type-2).

Here's a link to one of Ulead's Tutorials: DV Info

qtranva · Post by **qtranva** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:59 pm

Hey GeorgeW, thank you very much for showing me this stuff. I found out that its "Panasonic DV CODEC -- type 2".