Capture Basics

[pennuk]

Hi, New to the forum, DVD and Premiere 7. I have captured some VHS footage via a Canopus ADVC110 and firewire and the captured filesize for a 30 min. session is around 5Gb. Is this normal ? Also could someone explain in basic terms the process order and possible settings that are best for capture of VHS footage, editing, authoring and burning to DVD.

Thanks in advance

 

[blkj]

File size seems about right.
resolution of 720x576 @ 25 fps.

I am surfing the board looking for the same info.
I have been at this for about 4 years and am not 100% happy with the quality of DVD's I am producing.

But here is some info anyway

Complete you project in Premiere.

Then export movie to hard disk using the divx codec
DivX settings
Encode Performance: Slow
Average Bitrate: 4000
Encode mode: 1-pass
Interlacing: Progessive source
max Keyframe interval 150

Then use TMPGEnc to convert the avi to MPG
Settings:
Video Type: Interlace
Field Order: Field A
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 625 Line (PAL)
Rate Control mode: CQ
DC Component Precision: 10 Bits
Motion search precision: Highest Quality (very slow)

Then use an Authoring program like Ulead Movie Factory and burn onto a DVD.

As I said this is what I use and there are still some cruddy bits during transisions and fast action.
Anyone with advice on best quality production, please chime in.

I would love to see the answer to:
I have unlimited hard drive space and all the time needed.
What will give me the best quality DVD?

 

[robmcl]

pennuk: There are certainly lots of options in terms of products, but blkj has summed it up well. The process is:
1) capture and edit orig footage
2) convert the resulting AVI to MPEG2 (req'd for DVD authoring)
3) Use the MPEG2 to "author" a DVD (the process of creating menu's, chapter points etc and finally creating .VOB files in the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS file structure)

You're off to a great start with the ADVD110 for capturing (I've used the ADVC100 for a long time now).

The only change I would suggest to blkj's process is to *not* use the divx codec. From what I understand, the divx codec is primarily for movies to be viewed on PC only - not for a DVD you plan to watch on a TV. I suspect this is the reason for lesser quality results. It would also be best to simply eliminate this extra step in the encoding process.
I'd suggest to try to go directly from Premiere to TMPGEnc...
1) export from Premiere as an uncompressed AVI (again using TMPGEnc to get an MPEG2 is already encoding the clip...try not to do it twice). This takes a lot of time and diskspace.
2) Use a Frameserver (search in this forum - I've explained it before). The frameserver utility allows export from Prem directly into TMPGEnc, avoiding the need for exporting before encoding.
3) Bite the bullet, and jump to a product like Canopus Procoder (as a Premiere export) for encoding to MPEG2. Unfortunately, it's pricey.

Hope this helps
...Rob

 

[robmcl]

Just to add...

PPro includes the Mainconcept encoder for exporting directly to MPEG2 (although I understand that many people prefer the result from TMPGEnc).
The DIVx codec uses a "very" high compression...it claims to be "the solution" for video like MP3 was/is for audio. Unfortunately the results will always be poor if you encode the AVI using divx, then re-encode again (using whatever) to get an MPEG2 file. As I mentioned, avoid this step if possible.
Also, Canopus has a "light" version of Procoder called "Express"... only $59 (not as $$ as the full version)

FYI...Rob