Analog - Digital - and Conversion Settings?

[Manzano808]

Here's something else I didn't have the luxury of knowing before capturing the video to an MPEG-2 file:

From your Sticky Recommended Procedures:

Field Order property: Upper Field First for analog video, Lower Field First for digital video.

When capturing cable through an AIW 9800 Pro is it Analog or Digital? What if i goofed and got it wrong? I believe properties confirmed it was Lower Field First.

Can this be corrected by converting to Avi?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, please forgive me for adding the following:

I searched for this but couldn't get any recommendations for converting the mpeg-2 to Avi? In the OPTIONS box, could I get help on the following:

Frame type & size (in General tab) Default is Frame-based / 320x240 ?
Compression, Audio, (Avi tab) Default is Custom / PCM ?
and the Advanced settings (Avi tab) Default is Custom with no boxes checked. ?

Would all this depend upon whether I goofed on the first point?

Please excuse my idiocy here

Thanks Again for all the help!!

[Manzano808]

Hopefully someone will be able to clear up my above questions/confusion. I feel like i should know this stuff. No matter, i've been searching all over the web. Even checked specs and reviews on the 9800. Just when I think i've got it figured out, I'm again not sure. BUT i forgot i didn't use VS to capture these files, so probably the Upper Field/Lower Field issue is - at least in this case - a moot point!! I had used the ATI software to capture.

In the meantime, i've found something i think may be related. My users manual doesn't clear any of this up either.

NO DV CHOICE in VS9?
I found that no matter if I'm capturing from tuner (cable) or from Composite as Source (haven't tried S-vid yet), there is no format choice for DV. Is this normal? I can choose AVI or MPEG (didn't check the others) but no DV. When I choose DV, it hesitates and then defaults back to prior AVI or MPEG without staying.

I've noticed also that when I go to "Change Field Order" it is already set to "Upper Field First". Does this program know something I don't know? Would this be then correct?

[Ken Berry]

FWIW, I don't have the same capture device as you, but a Winfast DV 2000 TV card, which works fine. However, unlike most analogue capture devices, it captures mpeg-2 Lower Field First (instead of the more usual Upper). And the results are excellent. Sounds like yours. You would be able to tell easily if yours had captured wrong Field Order by the shearing that would be painfully obvious in any quick panning shots in the captured video. Usually the program does in fact know something you don't and uses its default, even though it might seem to run against the 'rules'... As I say, though, you will quickly notice if it has made the wrong choice!

FWIW also, my card will not capture DV format -- but this is fairly normal with such devices. It is usually only the higher end, much more expensive, hardware encoding capture devices which give you the DV option (plus, of course, using a DV digicam as a pass through device). I also get the choice of AVI (plus a number of other formats) but it is the uncompressed -- and thus huge -- form of AVI (about 65 GB per hour!!!!)

And as for converting the captured mpeg-2 to .AVI, I would simply say: "Forget it!" You will only degrade the quality by re-encoding to AVI and then re-encoding back to mpeg-2 to burn to DVD... There is a lot of debate out there about the merits of editing mpeg-2, but frankly, most of us, with the analogue capture devices we have (similar to yours), make do with what we've got. And in my own case, I am happy with the results (though don't set your expectations too high when dealing with the quality of DVDs from analogue tapes. You can get 'good' quality -- about equivalent to good VHS, but never 'best' let alone 'excellent'...)

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi
Capturing to DV is achieved by capturing from a Digital Source.
DV Camcorders are connected via a Firewire (i-link) to your pc.
Other devices such as a AV to DV converter are connected via Firewire.

Video Studio detects the digital signal and defaults to DV should you select AVI.

The capture process to DV is not re-coded, the data on your camera is copied to your pc.
What you have on the camera is what you get on video studio. The file is known as Dv-Avi and is about 13 Gb per hour.
Unless you have a digital source and Firewire you will not capture to DV.

Typical Dv-Avi capture settings for Pal:-

Microsoft AVI files
24 Bits, 720 x 576, 4:3, 25 fps
Lower Field First
DV Video Encoder -- type 1
Check data rate: 3515 KB/sec
DV Audio -- PAL, 48.000 kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

Capturing to any other format, Avi, Mpeg2, Vcd etc requires re-coding/trans-coding.
This has to be done in real time and is very demanding on your pc’s resources.

The capture settings have to be selected by you, and can be accessed via the ‘Options’ cogwheel in the capture window.

Avi capture with a compressor such as ‘Microsoft Video 1’ will produce a file in the order of 13 Gb per hour, very similar to the DV size.

DVD capture will produce an Mpeg 2 file 600Mb to 700 Mb per hour. Suitable to fit one hour to a dvd disc.

Typical Dvd-Mpeg 2 settings for Pal:-

MPEG Files
24 Bits, 720 x 576, 25.00 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-PAL), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
MPEG Audio, 48.0 KHz, Stereo

If you capture to Mpeg 2 select DVD from the ‘Format’ box not Mpeg.

Hope this Helps

Trevor

[Manzano808]

You would be able to tell easily if yours had captured wrong Field Order by the shearing that would be painfully obvious in any quick panning shots in the captured video.

Thanks! I'm not sure what you mean by "panning shots" but the video came out excellent (until i burned it ). I appreciate everyone clearing up that this was analog and why no DV option.

I also get the choice of AVI (plus a number of other formats) but it is the uncompressed -- and thus huge -- form of AVI (about 65 GB per hour!!!!)

CRAP IN A HAT!!!! That's absolutely amazing. Even i know how much hdd space video takes up but i had absolutely no idea AVI was THAT MUCH!! What's 'a person to do?!! I can't help but wonder what people did before we had the larger hdds. I remember starting out with 120 MB hdds!! I've read that most of the movie Titanic was done with Linux 5.2. I can't imagine how they did it!

And you are absolutely right about what you said.

There is a lot of debate out there about the merits of editing mpeg-2, but frankly, most of us, with the analogue capture devices we have (similar to yours), make do with what we've got. And in my own case, I am happy with the results

I know that there are differing opinions up here and many go beyond mere opinions where the person obviously - through research, experience or both - knows what they are talking about. Some say mpeg isn't for editing and yet - at this point - isn't that about all we can do since we can't capture in AVI or some form of avi. ?

The only other thing my mere brain can think of other than to get a bunch of gazillion gigabye hdds and set 'em up in RAID, is to convert the file but you go on to say

And as for converting the captured mpeg-2 to .AVI, I would simply say: "Forget it!" You will only degrade the quality

Not to mention that unless i use a specific "easy to use" app for it, as mentioned above, i would need specific help with the settings. Nevertheless, I'm going to plug forward with all of what you Great people have given me and see what happens. If i can lick the OOS thing i will do cartwheels in the street. I will continue using mpeg (no choice can't afford gazillion GB drives) and report back. I'll also try Womble trial.

If someone could help me with the conversion settings that would be awesome , just in case i need to try that too.

[Ken Berry]

Re "panning" -- it is simply what you do when you move the camera from right to left or vice versa over a shot, or up to down or vice versa. VS 9 allows you to 'pan' over still images in a slideshow, to give them a simulacrum of video movement, and to make things more interesting, while 'panning' you can also zoom onto a part of the photo. VS 9 also allows you to do this to video. The value of the zoom, though, is to an extent limited by the quality of the original photo or video -- in other words, if it is low quality to start with, then zooming on it will only show up any faults in much greater detail!

[Manzano808]

And as for converting the captured mpeg-2 to .AVI, I would simply say: "Forget it!"

I should have took heed!!

The created [avi] file was WAY MORE out of sync than the mpeg that it was created from! No sense going any further with that. At least now i know. I will update other post.