DV format and AVI files

[j-pierre]

Hello,

For me, DV format is an uncompressed one, while AVI is a compressed one.

But while searching the forum for info about capture in DV format, I found a number of posts where DV is equivalent to AVI, i.e:

The best way to get camcorder video onto your PC and eventually a DVD is to capture in DV format (which produces an AVI file encoded using the DV codec), edit that, and then transcode to MPEG format for burning. Take a look at the topmost post in the forum, it contains all the information you need.

Does this mean that an uncompressed video (which would be DV format) can (or must) be stored in a file with .AVI extension ? Does DV format use a specific extension ?

There is also a mention about a "DV codec". Is this codec supplied with Ulead Video or Ulead MediaStudio ? If not, where can I download it ?

Many thanks for your help

Jean-Pierre

[heinz-oz]

If you capture DV from your camera to your PC via firewire using the Ulead capture plugin, the file format will be AVI. The file is encoded with the DV-AVI codec which results in a slight, lossless, compression (~11%) of the file.

The required codec comes with the Ulead capture module in VS, MSP, MF, DVD WS etc. and does not have to be obtained separately.

[sjj1805]

Jpiere
AVI is not actually a format, it is in fact a container!!

AVI (Audio - Video Interleaved) comes in many "Flavours"

There is uncompressed which is huge and would need an extremely big Hard Drive and a lot of computing power.

Then there are several compressed versions including
Cinepak, Indeo, Divx, Xvid, MPEG4,

For a lengthy list click here:
http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.php

DV is one of those formats - you will find it half way down the long list.

[j-pierre]

Very clear

Till now, all my .AVI files were containing either DIVX or XVID format, creating this confusion.

Many thanks for your help.
Jean-Pierre

[j-pierre]

Sorry, I'm back again

Still searching Internet for more info about DV, I discover there are 3 possible formats with DV: DV type 1, DV type 2, DV RAW.

DV RAW probably means "not compressed at all", type 1 and 2 some compression.

Now, my questions

VideoStudio apparently only supports DV type 1 and 2 but not DV RAW. Is it correct ?

What compression do we get with this 2 types ? heinz-oz, when you're mentioning 11%, to which type does it apply ?

What is the size of the resulting AVI file, let's say per minute of video in DV RAW format ?

Thanks again
Jean-Pierre

[sjj1805]

DV Raw is I believe uncompressed though to be honest I'm guessing on that one.

DV type 1 keeps the video and audio together and is less likely to cause any "Out of synch" issues.

DV type 2 seperates the audio from the video. Some software will only work with DV type 2. The Default setting when you first install a ulead product is DV type 2 though I have never understood why. The first thing I do is alter that to DV type 1.

[j-pierre]

Many thanks for the answer, I didn't reply earlier because I was trying to find information about the compression (if any) with Type 1 and Type 2, the less compression I have, the better the quality will be.....

It seems to be a "highly confidential defense secret", impossible to find it......

Cheers
Jean-Pierre

[skier-hughes]

Compression in dv-avi is around 5.1
I think this has more info on it.
http://www.adamwilt.com/
Mpeg is about 20.1 compression.

dv-avi once in this format you can save and save and not lose any quality, apart froma miniscule amount at transitions.
Mpegs are like Jpegs, each time you make a cahnge adn save you apply the compression to the movie so it will gradually worsen in quality.

Type 1 and type 2 are the same compression, just one is audio/video joined in one file and the other is two files.

dv is what is recorded on the minidv tape.

It becomes dv-avi on pcs and mov on Macs, unless you choose the raw state, but as you've found it's then hard to edit.

[j-pierre]

I think this has more info on it.
http://www.adamwilt.com/

You're right, this site is really a rich one, it will take me some time to read it all....

I think I now have a very clear picture about what is DV, raw, type 1 and 2. Just to test, I converted a MPEG file to raw format (with VirtualDub), the resulting file size is 360 megs/minute of movie, in other words ~ 21 Gigas per hour, for a frame size of 352x240. As PAL is 720x576, it should logically be at least 4 times bigger, 84 Gigas per hour, just makes this format unusable for non-professionals.

However, knowing now type 1 is not reducing the quality, it's the good format.

Many thanks to all the people who toke the time to answer

Jean-Pierre

[COSMOSNARF]

What do I need to do to get media off of a DVD (currently in VTS/powerDVD format) and into an AVI or MOV format?

[j-pierre]

Hi,

I'm not sure that's the right place to discuss this matter. However, some help.....

You first need to extract the movie. May I suggest XMPEG ? it's excellent, it's free, visit their site at:
http://www.xmpeg.net/website/
of course, they're other ones.

Then, you may need to edit the resulting avi file. I would recomment VirtualDub, it's excellent, it's free, visit their site at:
http://www.virtualdub.org/
of course, they're other ones.

To do this, you'll need an avi codec, why not installing the "official" free one ? http://www.divx.com/

And if you need to edit/convert the sound, use VirtualDub to extract to wav, use dBpowerAMP at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ and Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net, they're both excellent and free, and use again VirtualDub to merge back your sound and the video.

And of course, if you need to create your own DVD, use Ulead softwares, they're not free, but they're excellent

Extracting the movie will only work if your DVD isn't protected against copies (but almost every commercial DVD is....)

Enjoy
Jean-Pierre