Capture from dv camcorder

Bob N wrote on 6/1/2006, 2:52 PM

Captured video is always saved as large (~5Gb) avi files, which I convert to much smaller mpeg2 files for editing and rendering for burning to DVD. Two questions: Is it possible to capture as mpeg2? Am I losing anything by converting to mpeg2 as part of my process?

Comments

rs170a wrote on 6/1/2006, 3:29 PM

Is it possible to capture as mpeg2?

There are various boxes that will allow you to do this. I can't suggest any as I don't edit this way.

Am I losing anything by converting to mpeg2 as part of my process?

A lot of information!! MiniDV takes up (approx.) 13 GB/hr. to maintain the original quality. OTOH, MPEG-2 can take up as little as 2 GB/hr. That translates to (again, approx.) a 6:1 reduction in size. Something has to suffer with this translation and it's the picture quality that takes the biggest hit. If you can accept this quality loss, then go for it. I personally try to squeeze the best quality I can out of what I shoot and that means capturing in AVI format.

Mike

Bob N wrote on 6/1/2006, 3:46 PM

That's very helpful. Thanks, Mike. I guess I need to attach a large external hard drive.

riredale wrote on 6/1/2006, 4:55 PM

Disk space is super cheap these days. My 300GB drive was on sale for $69. At this point, my PC carries over 1TB (1,000GB) of hard drive capacity, and I suspect many Vegas users are in a similar situation. You can even buy a single 750GB drive for about $300!

MPEG2 was never meant to be an editing format. The purpose was to use compression and CPU crunching as much as possible in order to minimize the file size. As a result, MPEG2 files are tiny but put an enormous load on your processor. This is why, although you could in theory directly edit m2t HDV clips with Vegas, it's not recommended. Instead, you convert those clips into a format that is perhaps less compact but much easier to process (such as Cineform or a DV proxy).

EDIT:
Go with an internal hard drive if possible. An external drive is workable (and necessary with a laptop) but going internal gives you one less potential interface hassle to deal with. It's very easy to install an internal drive--you can do it yourself.

Former user wrote on 6/1/2006, 5:45 PM

But also remember, DV is compressed as well. It is compressed in the camera while shooting and has about a 5 to 1 compression ratio.

Dave T2