Comments

jboy wrote on 8/29/2001, 12:47 AM
This has always been a mystery to me as well. Uncompressed files never play or load properly, although logically they've got to be the same as the NTSC DV template files, because that's the way they are compressed by the camcorder and outputted to the PC. Anybody know why uncompressed files do this ??
FadeToBlack wrote on 8/29/2001, 1:46 AM
SonyIMC wrote on 8/29/2001, 11:49 AM
From post: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=12&MessageID=75613

The DV format is not lossless, let's be clear about that. The only truly lossless compression that you can use in Vegas/VF is NO compression at all, but the problem is that uncompressed 720x480x29.97 video takes up about 85MB per SECOND and almost no system is going to reliably play that back, render times are huge, storage is a problem etc.

If you work in the DV avi format, video is approximately 3.8MB per second, you get full framerate playback or straight cut DV footage, and you get NO degradation in successive render generations if you use straight cut video- it's purely a data copy to a new file. If you add video fx, tiles etc, of course the video gets recompressed (you are changing the frame data) but the DirectX8 DV compressor is pretty good and is widely used by many people in the industry. Stick with DV as a source format whenever possible- you won't be dissapointed.

Finally, if you are buying new hardware for video editing and wondering what to get, get a generic OHCI compatible 1394 card (such as the Pyro or SIIG), AND the Sony DVMC DA2 media converter. You'll get great results, excellent image quality, you can pipe just about anything in/out, no driver hassles... that's the setup.
jboy wrote on 8/29/2001, 2:27 PM
IvanC, why is the computer trying to play an 85mb/sec stream in the uncompressed mode, when logically, an uncompressed DV stream would only be 5 X 3.8 or 19mb/sec ?Also, (since you seem knowledgeable in this area and I have your attention), is it possible to throttle back a computer during rendering so that it"s not running at 100 %, maybe something like 85-90%? It seems that if one could do this it would help improve platform stability for long renders, since running flatout for long periods of time doesn't seem like a very good idea. Tnx.
SonyEPM wrote on 8/29/2001, 3:31 PM
DV avi and uncompressed avi are totally different things. There's not much reason to use uncompressed avi (unless you've got some super powerful system with ultra hi-end quality needs). Use DV source and Render to DV avi and you'll get great quality, perfect/ no-recompress copies for cuts only footage, and you'll get full frame rate playback.
pking wrote on 8/29/2001, 4:00 PM
How would the Sony DVMC DA2 be better than the Dazzle Hollywood Bridge? Will the Dazzle product work with VF and VV?
SonyEPM wrote on 8/29/2001, 4:27 PM
There may be slight differences in the analog to DV conversion (and the reverse) between the 2 boxes, but all users report that both work well. We have not done a detailed scientific comparison here at SF. Either box will work with Vegas and VideoFactory.

Personal opinion: when in doubt, go with Sony. A universal statement.
pking wrote on 8/30/2001, 1:56 PM
Except for Control-L (Lan-C connection), I can't find any difference between the DVMC-DA2 and the DVMC-DA1. What would I use the Lan-C for anyway? Can anyone think of any reason to get a new DVMC-DA2 over a good, used DVMC-DA1?