confusion

[paddyFrenchman 0]

Hi guys,

The more stuff I read the more I get confused.
From what I gathered, I can firewire all the footage from my camera straight to my computer without compressing the video and loosing quality.

From there I can edit the video using something like adobe premiere. This is where I start getting confused. Once the movie is edited, you can either send it back to the tape (no compression), save it as an .avi file on your computer (compression) or burn it to a dvd (I'm not really interested in creating VCD's).

Now, what format do you convert the movie to before you burn it to DVD ?
What is the purpose of all the codecs out there (divx, mpeg4) ? Are they used only for the web ?

Could you tell me step by step how you take footage from your camera and stick it to a dvd in the best possible way (quality wise) ?

thank you.
Paddy.

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

[docjohn 0]

There is no compression when creating an AVI file. AVI files are about 3.6 megs per second or 200 megs per minute. Since DVD disks can hold 4.7 gigs of data, you can only fit about 20 minutes of AVI footage on a DVD disk. To create a DVD with more than 20 minutes of footage, you need compression.

When you create a DVD using a program like Sonic MyDVD or ULEAD DVD, your avi files are converted to MPEG2 with compression This way you can get about an hour of footage on a single DVD (or longer if you use more compression).

If you examine the file structure of a DVD, you'll find files with the extension VOB. Those are actually MPEG2 files. (you can copy VOB files from a DVD disk to your hard drive, change the file extension from VOB to MPEG and then view them using Windows Explorer).

There's a wealth of information regarding video files and DVD at: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[docjohn 0]

Ok, I got too technical and didn't answer your question. Step by step:

1). Capture video from camera to hard drive (AVI files)

2). Use Premiere to edit your video. When you're done, select EXPORT TIMELINE TO MOVIE. This will create a new AVI file (you still haven't compressed it just yet).

3). At this point you could dump it back to your camcorder without any compression.

4). To burn your DVD (Sonic MyDVD, Ulead, etc), selec the AVI you just created. It will then be converted to an MPEG2 (but will show up on the DVD as a VOB file).

Hope this helps

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[skyfly 0]

another way to do it, is to export the edited movie from premiere to an Mpeg2 file - thus avoiding the double time of -1.exporting the AVI file, and 2.transcoding it to mpeg in another application.

this way you can import your mpeg file that you created to any dvd authoring application and it will not need to recompress it.

Be Simple, Be Creative, Bee!
Sharon.

[Squeak 17]

OK for those of us who have not yet purchased a DVD burner and suffer under the archaic reliance on CD burners, how can I make the AVI fit onto a 650MB CD??

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[nacmacfeegle 0]

First you have to work out why you want to put it onto a shiney discie thingie?
Archiving/storage of a final project? Send it back to your camera, tape is cheap, quick, and reliable.
Distribution? Find out if your intended audience would rather have a VHS tape or a disc.

If you must put video on a CDrom and the video is longer than about 2 minutes, I'd recommend you use Tsunami, its free and you can find out about it here....
http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html
VCD and SVCD discs should play on most DVD players, SVCD is reported as being better quality than VHS, and you'll get about 20 minutes on a 650 disc.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[speedy 0]

Most of the Tandem Videos I do are put on a CD as a SVCD. The quality from Tmpgenc is excellent. The reason I don't burn DVD's is because I can get around 40 mins of video on a CD which is plenty for a Tandem Video and the blank CD's are much cheaper than blank DVD's.

Nearly all modern DVD players can play SVCD and the players themselves sell as cheaply as $40.

I thought about archiving my Tandems vids to CD or DVD this year but changed my mind. Tape is just as cheap as CD or DVD and your can store the video with out compression on tape.

I would not recommend producing anything in VCD format as the quality sucks.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"your can store the video with out compression on tape."
Yep Speedster, this is the important bit, it means you can pull stuff from the archive and use it in end of years/best of type videos, without any quality loss.
For what its worth, and to the geeks amongst us, there is compression involved, but it happens in the camera.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[docjohn 0]

You CAN put your video on a 650 mb CD. I've been doing it for the past couple of years with tandem videos. The problem is, if you keep it in AVI format, you can't store more than about 2.5 minutes of footage on a disk. I convert it to WMV format using Premiere. (EXPORT TIMELINE/ADVANCED WINDOWS MEDIA/VIDEO FOR BROADBAND 2 mbps). A 5 minute video takes around 100 mb. You view it on your computer using Windows Media Player. The quality is excellent.

I've been giving my tandem customers a CD with their tandem video in WMV format plus 20 to 30 still jpeg images (plus a VHS tape).

Ah, but this year: DVD!

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video