I am not entirely new but kind of picked up editing to help a non-profit dance organization. I am confused with all the different compression techniques. When is a video good enough ?
I figured that it would be different for different applications: HD, broadcast, weddings, home entertainment etc, but is there a rule of thumb or some objective test ?
I have a lot of tapes that I am archiving, they span from half inch b/w reel-to-reel video to VCR to Hi-8 and now DV. I just bought a "DVD recorder" which allows me to take a/v input or firewire and burn directly to DVD. So these will be VOB files. I read in the forums that I can re-render them to .avi. So far, I have just changed the .vob into .mpg and I can bring them into Vegas 6.
Are these .mpg good enough to go through editing and then re-rendered to mpg again ? The file sizes start out a lot smaller than if I capture them directly as .avi. I just can't tell from my screen how good they are.
I don't expect that the footage will be editted a lot, but just in case that they need to be I would like to keep the best original quality without burning stacks of DVD with .avi files.
Thanks in advance for your advice(s)