What is best format for DVC to PC « Videomaker Community Forums

hrlpirate@yahoo.com
Member

I've gotten a new Sony digital video camera and can download the video to my computer, but I want to know what is the best format to move it over in order to keep the absolute best quality so I can burn the video to DVD and keep them at the same quality as watching them on the tv with the video camera hooked up.

In my video settings, I have the following:
PAL 4:3 AND 16:9
NTSC 4:3 AND 16:9
HDV1 16:9 1280 X 720 25 FPS
HDV2 16:9 1440 X 1080 25 FPS
HDTV 1080I PAL 16:9 1920X1080 25FPS

...and so on. I can always back the files up to DVD-RW's until I'm ready to edit then burn them to DVD, but I want to be assured of the best quality. I don't want to play the DVD on my TV and see it as some small box in the middle of the TV or to be very pixilated.

Thanks everyone. I like this site so far. Hope to learn a lot.

Posted 4 years ago #
tonsofpcs
Member

How are you capturing? [what hardware?]
Where in the world do you live (what is your TV system?)?
Does the camera record in HD or SD, and what format does it record in?

Posted 4 years ago #
hrlpirate@yahoo.com
Member

tonsofpcs Wrote:
How are you capturing? [what hardware?]
Where in the world do you live (what is your TV system?)?
Does the camera record in HD or SD, and what format does it record in?

I have a few different ones. Pinnacle (which does freeze on me occasionally), Sony Vegas (which is incredibly hard to learn), Magix (which is my choice to use), and Windows Moviemaker.

I live in the US on the east coast, North Carolina. Not sure what you mean about TV system.

I'm not sure if it can record in HD, but I don't necessarily need that. It is a Sony DCR-HC36.

Posted 4 years ago #
hidef1080
Member

hrlpirate@yahoo.com Wrote:

I live in the US on the east coast, North Carolina. Not sure what you mean about TV system.

We are NTSC in the States so don't worry about PAL.
You won't be able to play PAL DVDs.

Posted 4 years ago #
kkmac
Member

Capture your video files as uncompressed DV avi's. I use the Microsoft DV avi compressor. These files do get big. 17 minutes of video is about 4Gig in size.

Posted 4 years ago #
tonsofpcs
Member

hrlpirate@yahoo.com Wrote:
I have a few different ones. Pinnacle (which does freeze on me occasionally), Sony Vegas (which is incredibly hard to learn), Magix (which is my choice to use), and Windows Moviemaker.

Ok

I live in the US on the east coast, North Carolina. Not sure what you mean about TV system.
NTSC-M with NTSC color then, got it.

I'm not sure if it can record in HD, but I don't necessarily need that. It is a Sony DCR-HC36.

Ok, so it is DV. You will want to capture a DV AVI or Raw DV, the capture software should automatically know what to capture it in, your project should be NTSC DV (720x480) 4:3.

Posted 4 years ago #
hrlpirate@yahoo.com
Member

Thanks for the input! I'll definitely look at those settings.

Posted 4 years ago #
perrin26
Member

About the capture format:

Keep Pal as an option if you plan on taping for people who live out of country.

Posted 4 years ago #
tonsofpcs
Member

perrin26 Wrote:
About the capture format:
Keep Pal as an option if you plan on taping for people who live out of country.
You wouldn't be capturing in PAL unless your camera were PAL, you would be rendering out a PAL file (and possibly setting your project settings to PAL) and giving it to them on a disc (or dumping it to a PAL or multistandard deck -- most of the newer small form factor DVCAM decks have a NTSC/PAL switch).

That being said, I dislike how edit systems name the standards PAL/NTSC. PAL is simply a color encoding schema and NTSC (alone) is a black and white television standard. NTSC-II or NTSC Color (sometimes NTSC-M) includes the television standard and the color encoding; PAL-B/G/I/K/... is the color encoding attached to the system, but once you are in the digital world, you don't have the NTSC or PAL color system (other than to be sure that your colors are in gamut).

Posted 4 years ago #