Re: DVD-making "capture" questions...

Hi George,
Answers "inline" below ->

"George" <air1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O5NqLTsdGHA.3900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm just ramping up (pls excuse newbie questions) and want to basically
get all my video (source code so to speak) onto a PC (and save it to media
like a hard drive to keep in safe deposit box while I'm at it).

Then, I'd like to put all this video onto a series of DVD discs,
organizing it by subjects or times (like "1996 Olympics", "1999 Family
Movies", "2000 in Florida", etc.) so I can play them in a HOME DVD player
(and also duplicate/send/share with family).

Still need to keep raw digital data (right?), because things change,
"everything" might someday be ultra HDTV and wide screen in the future...
so with raw data I could go back and re-cut the DVDs with newer tools and
playback formats, right?

Absolutely. My camera records to DV tapes. I capture them to my harddrive
and save the important captured videos "As Is" on DVDRW disks as well as
saving the DV Tapes. I designate "impotant" to those videos that can't be
recreated such as events or family stuff.


Ok, so wondered if someone might offer suggestions on the "capture"
process to get going. Here's the hardware/software setup, then after
that, the capture question(s), thanks

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SETUP. Most of the components are in place... Nothing
"pro" grade or even brand new, but like most people, I accumulated stuff
over the years.... Sony digital8 camcorder (3 yrs old), Sony DVD home
player (~5 yrs old), Win XP PC with speakers and basic CD/DVD (+/-RW?)
burner, FireWire card, spiffy ATI Radeon video card (even has RCA
component video/audio [red/white/yellow inputs] and S-video, simple Sonic
MyDvd freebie from Dell, MS Movie Maker (really like), and Roxio Easy
Media Creator 8 to arrive this week hopefully. Anything else I need?

CAPTURE QUESTIONS. Is there a "uniform" file format I need to (or should
do to) get everything into the PC as the raw "source" files. I'd like to
capture 100% of the digital data (not compress, or do anything that throws
out data or drops resolutions, etc.). What I'm seeing in various capture
software are a multitude of choices, like...

1) Medium. ATI VCR (assume file= .vcr) 480.x480 NTSC, 4mb/sec
2) VGA Res. file= .avi 640x480 29.9 fps
3) Qtr VGA file= .avi 320x240 29.9 fps
4) AVI Recording, file =.avi, 80x30 ~29.9fps
5) VGA res. mpeg2 640x480 NTSC. 6mb/sec
6) Many others...

Is there "one" file format I can (should) choose for capturing
"everything", or do I choose different formats to "capture" for each of
these sources?...

a) VCR tapes. Got a few dozen, basic home movies... Capture format?

Since this is a Movie Maker NG I will give you the WMM answer. You have no
choice here but to save as a WMV for these files because you can only hook
the VCR to the computer via USB.


b) 8MM DIGITAL VIDEOTAPE. The Sony camcorder records and plays these
digital tapes, got maybe 8. Plus it 'plays' the old 8mm analog ones made
with a prior camcorder. It should output both to Firewire, right?
Capture format?_________

Yes if you have a firewire port then you certainly want to use it and
capture with WMM as a DV-AVI file.


c) MPEGS. These aren't the driving factor, but got maybe 50 fun clips,
about 15-seconds each (that's all my camcorder does), from the Sony
digital camcorder. Why not zip them all onto a DVD for playback, right?
Capture format?________

Not capturing these, they are already clips on the computer apparently. If
they are MPG files you "may" get lucky and get them to work with WMM. If
they are MPEG2 then they will have to be converted. Personally I make it a
point to always convert MPG files to AVI regardless of the type so I don't
have to worry about having issues down the road.


d) TV. This PC has a TV-card. Suppose I knew a relative was going to be
on the news a few seconds one night. Is there a "format" to record that
clip for max resolution? Capture format?_________

You would want to use the capture software that came with the cord for this
one. If you want to be able to edit it with WMM then capture as an AVI or,
if by chance the option is available, a WMV. Ususlly you don't have a choice
here with TV capture cards, they usually save as MPG automatically so you
would need to convert.


e) DIGITAL STILL CAMERA. Got a deal on one of these. It records 640x480
10fps movies, not exactly Hollywood grade, but these ___.avi files might
be useful if we forgot the camcorder that day. Do we keep "as is", or
upload them in some other format? Capture format?_________

DV-AVI is still the best way to go but if they are simply going to be stored
for future use and as they aren't really high quality to begin with then
High Qualty NTSC will do the trick and save you a lot of harddrive spce.


f) DVDs. Suppose Uncle Elmer gives me a DVD movie and I want to upload it
onto video collection on my PC. Capture format?_________

They need to bw "ripped" from the DVD which will again give you an MPG file
which you should convert to AVI.


g) ANYTHING ELSE? Are there any other prevailing formats out there that
we need to convert for any reason?

As a general rule you want to use these formats with Movie Maker:
Video: WMV or AVI
Audio: WMA or WAV
Images: BMP or GIF (I use JPG quite often but some have reported issues with
JPG)


h) ONE MORE...SOFTWARE. For capture, does it really matter if I use
WinMovieMaker, Roxio, SonicMyDvd, etc. and change to something else later?
I'm assuming that what WOULD matter would be if I EDIT a movie in one of
these...them I'm stuck with that brand forever, right? That is, to change
brands would mean I'd have to start over and re-edit with the new
software, right?

Well if you edit and save the project with one piece of software you would
NOT be able to open it and do more editing with another if that's what you
mean.

Anyway, thanks for patience, just getting going here, will try to ask
smarter questions in future...

George


Hope that gets you started, we look forward to the "smart" questions. :-)
--
-Wojo

Wojo's Web:
http://www.Wojos-web.co.nr


.

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