A mini DV simple question

[Guest]

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I have the .avi files resulting from the transfer from my mini DV
recorder. But these files are really big!. Right now I do not know
what format will I need in the future, so for now I'd like to
transform these movies to any format that 1) gives me the flexibility
of later converting these clips to a xvid/divx based avi or to mpeg so
I can burn a SVCD and 2) keeps the files smaller than those I have.

Any suggestions on these formats and the tools to use?

Thanks in advance

 

[Guest]

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Dan Mors <mebnm@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I have the .avi files resulting from the transfer from my mini DV
>recorder. But these files are really big!. Right now I do not know
>what format will I need in the future, so for now I'd like to
>transform these movies to any format that 1) gives me the flexibility
>of later converting these clips to a xvid/divx based avi or to mpeg so
>I can burn a SVCD and 2) keeps the files smaller than those I have.
>
>Any suggestions on these formats and the tools to use?
>
>Thanks in advance

It depends on how much quality you are willing to sacrifice.
Personally I'd just hang on to the MiniDV tapes, but if that isn't
your thing I guess converting them to Mpeg would be your best bet. If
you don't intend burning them to DVD, keep the data rate as high as
you can to keep the quality up.

Cheers


--
Kevin Gleeson
Blue Rocket Productions
www.blue-rocket.com.au
www.hoota-snoz.com

 

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On Fri, 21 May 2004 02:36:38 +0200, Dan Mors <mebnm@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I have the .avi files resulting from the transfer from my mini DV
>recorder. But these files are really big!. Right now I do not know
>what format will I need in the future, so for now I'd like to
>transform these movies to any format that 1) gives me the flexibility
>of later converting these clips to a xvid/divx based avi or to mpeg so
>I can burn a SVCD and 2) keeps the files smaller than those I have.
>
>Any suggestions on these formats and the tools to use?

Others will point out this too -- the cheapest and simplest way to
keep full resolution files is to keep them on DV tape. If you want to
save out your edits (conserving tape and time), record those to DV
tape.

The files won't be smaller, but they won't be compromised for future
editing either. You can reload them simply by capturing the video
from the tapes.

The next option is to convert to your target format -- mpeg2 or
whatever Divx/mpeg4 format you think will suffice. Once converted, it
will be quite difficult to edit those efficiently, and even harder to
do it without costing quality in the video. Best to do that rendering
one time only, and leave it that way.
--
*-__Jeffery Jones__________| *Starfire* |____________________-*
** Muskego WI Access Channel 14/25 <http://www.execpc.com/~jeffsj/mach7/>
*Starfire Design Studio* <http://www.starfiredesign.com/>

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I use either of these techniques depending on the situation...

1) Preserve the original DV camera tapes. (Duh, but likely
good for at least another 10 years)

2) Save avi files to DVDr disks. They are becoming pretty
cheap (even compared to mini-DV tapes) I just downloaded
http://www.dekabyte.com/filesplitter/ to split up large files.

Of course, if you don't have further expectations of editing,
or can live with the loss of quality, you can save them in some
compressed format (MPEG, etc.)

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote in message
news:10b1ubbndetla6@corp.supernews.com...
> I use either of these techniques depending on the situation...
>
> 1) Preserve the original DV camera tapes. (Duh, but likely
> good for at least another 10 years)
>
> 2) Save avi files to DVDr disks. They are becoming pretty
> cheap (even compared to mini-DV tapes) I just downloaded
> http://www.dekabyte.com/filesplitter/ to split up large files.

I've done the same. The blank DVD recordables aren't as cheap as I'd wish,
but you will have access tot he files without having to 1) find the images
you want on the tape and 2) capture them to the computer again. Of course
you can only get about 20 minutes, maybe less, of avi files on a recordable
DVD with the current technology.

 

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On Fri, 21 May 2004 02:36:38 +0200, Dan Mors <mebnm@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I have the .avi files resulting from the transfer from my mini DV
>recorder. But these files are really big!. Right now I do not know
>what format will I need in the future, so for now I'd like to
>transform these movies to any format that 1) gives me the flexibility
>of later converting these clips to a xvid/divx based avi or to mpeg so
>I can burn a SVCD and 2) keeps the files smaller than those I have.

There's nothing better than the original format, but there's only an
academic difference to a DVD at highest quality settings.
Given that, I keep the tapes if it's original live footage but I
wouldn't keep tapes of movies.
I back everything up on DVD because tapes can easily be damaged by
mechanical failure. Well done DVDs retain almost 100% of the quality
and are much cheaper than tape.

With an MPEG2 capable editor, you can later on cut these DVD files
without further quality loss, as long as you don't filter everything.
Only transitions have to be re-rendered but that's not a big deal. If
you recompress to lower bitrates, it's no problem anyway.
I usually edit DV with Studio9, but once captured I can also convert
right to MPEG2 (usually CCE Basic) and save the result along with the
..scn (scene information) file of Studio9, so I can open the MPEG later
on instead of the DV and start cutting right away. (It may be
necessary to patch the bitrate tag of the MPEG because some encoders
set it too high, so editing programs think they have to recompress dor
DVD compatibility. Use http://mitglied.lycos.de/dvdpatcher/ for this.)

Making a real DVD with menus from the raw footage has the advantage
that it can be easily previewed (set chapter marks every minute), but
it involves reassembling/remultiplexing of the VOB files when reading
back for editing.

Quality wise, highest bit rates allow for 1 hour per DVD. With
variable bit rate, 90 min should also be possible with no
disadvantage. Even 2 hrs are possible nearly lossless if the source is
not too crisp or noisy. Some results at my page (DVD part, CCE
encoding tests).
As the best target format will usually be DVD, you won't really lose
qualiity by mastering this way, at least if you use a good encoder.

Movies usually require much lower bit rates than your own live
footage, BTW.

Cheers



http://www.codecpage.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

as mentioned, leaving the video on tape is the
simplest way, but its no longer the cheapest.
storing on dvdr has become more cost
efficient in the last few months - bulk 100pk 4x
grade a dvdr's now run about $70 US, and 3
dvdrs will be used to replace 1 60min tape
(21min per dvdr, assuming type 1 dv file). if
one minidv tape costs about $5 US, the dvdr

backup costs more than 50% less. caveats
are the added cost of a dvd burner (but they
are cheap, now), write once media and
coasters (with grade a media,it should be very few). dvdr files will use same dv25 format as
minidv, and no quality loss, time to make
backups is about the same (1hr to download,
15min per dvdr to burn + verifying the
burn).

othe factor to consider is storage longevity -
grade a dvdr may edge out magnetic tape
(open for arguement, i think)

--
brian