OT: Uncompressed avi - how many gigs for 1hr?

ken c wrote on 7/19/2005, 6:12 PM
Hi - quick question, I need to figure out how much hard drive space per hour that uncompressed 720x480 .avi format footage takes up, does anyone know offhand?

I'm trying to figure out how many 300 gig hard drives I'll need for 18 hours of uncompressed avi seminar video footage...

ken

(btw the seminar went great - whew!)

Comments

trock wrote on 7/19/2005, 6:31 PM
Usually around 108-110GB per hour but if you filmed your seminar in miniDV, then expect about 13GB per hour.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/19/2005, 6:36 PM

Ken, there is absolutely no difference in the image between compressed DV (as it comes out of the camera) and uncompressed DV as it comes out of Vegas with that codec. The only difference is file size as it has been pointed out.


Chienworks wrote on 7/19/2005, 8:39 PM
We don't know that Ken recorded the seminar in DV. It could be that he is capturing uncompressed rather than MPEG for some reason and doesn't have DV as a choice. However, if this is the case, i would highly recommend rendering each captured tape to DV after capturing and then deleting the original uncompressed file. This will reduce the file sizes to less than 1/7 the original with almost no discernable loss of quality.
ken c wrote on 7/20/2005, 5:31 AM
Hi, thanks much .. it looks like the av company was using a large Sony camera (D35?) ... (tapes are larger than mini-dv) ... they said they're in the process of digitizing the footage.... then they'll transfer to ext hard drives... so that's why I was asking..

I need to get avi 720x480 source footage so I can do all the NLE editing in Vegas for a 12-DVD set I'll be making..

appreciate any tips ... thx..!

ken
farss wrote on 7/20/2005, 6:56 AM
They'll most likely be going for 8 or 10 bit 4.2.2 which Vegas should handle just fine, expect around 90GB/hour, actually those codecs runs smoother than DV, less compression means less work for the CPU playing it back. But to get good fps in preview you do need fast disk arrays, at the very least SATA RAID 0 7,200 RPM, some people recommend 10K RPM drives but so far I'm doing OK with 7,200 RPM drives.

If you're only doing basic edits then any drives will do fine.
Bob.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 7/20/2005, 9:08 AM
There is a chance they may simply be the large format of "mini-DV" tapes. In which case... what you may end up with is just plain old DV AVI format (which is probably what you wanted anyway).
Coursedesign wrote on 7/20/2005, 9:39 AM
it looks like the av company was using a large Sony camera (D35?) ... (tapes are larger than mini-dv) ... they said they're in the process of digitizing the footage....

If they were digitizing footage from a DXC-D35, it's Beta SP.

The D35 is a dockable camera that takes different backs, but Beta SP is the only analog format supported.

You should ask what codec they're using, to make sure you have it on your system.
ken c wrote on 7/20/2005, 4:10 PM
Thanks, will do re codec check, brilliant idea.. wouldn't have thought of that.. appreciate the tips everyone.. sorry for the newbie questions, I'm not a videographer yet... :P

thanks to you all, I'm learning.. appreciate it very much...

ken
GlennChan wrote on 7/20/2005, 6:52 PM
Uncompressed capture on other systems typically use 720*486 frame size. Vegas has a preset for this.

There may be a minor foible if you try to mix in DV footage. Make sure you don't reverse the field order on the DV footage, and that Vegas isn't trying to resize the DV footage. I think Vegas will handle things properly, although I haven't tried.