the old vs. the new--dv vs. hdv workflow

[papabob]

My software & hardware are older & slower: 1gb ram,xphome sp2.

Currently use preimere 6.5 to control camera and do manual captures; watching input on attached 19" crt tv. About 8-12 clips per hour of source material.

* Edit in premiere 6.5 & then export as 1hr. Edited avi file.
* Import to premiere elements 2.0 to author & add chapter markers w/menu and about 10 chapters.
* Burn to disc using max bitrate 8000kbps cbr encode in pe2.0 producing necessary vob files.
* Play on oppo upconverting dvd player to 61" tv at 1080i upconverted.

Video quality ok considering quality of source material --grandkids events --(audio is dolby digital stereo--also ok).

The new--always wanted higher quality video--hv 20 hdv $ now at a point where i'm interested <$1000us.

Problem is, don't fully understand what the hdv workflow needs to be?

Have faster computer available xp sp2 system, but hesitant to spend lots of $ on additional software & new hdtv monitor. Don't understand if software can control the manual capture of the hdv source material, and i can monitor on my existing crt tv as in the past. Get the impression that i'm capturing from .Mt2 file to some type .Avi file but don't understand if that file is 12gb or much larger (raw source 1hr.Long)??

Then as it is edited in the .Avi timeline can i watch(playback) in realtime on my crt tv as with current dv edits(need to render transitions-but still very quick)?

What editing software & how will it work from a workflow point of view??

Final encodes can be done overnight so speed at this phase is not a paramount concern.

Please comment on what works for hdv workflow & which existing software packages can most reliably do the job. Thanks!!

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

First of all: it was very difficult to read your post and I still haven't comprehend all your questions. It has no paragraphs and no capitalization after a stop. Please write more cleanly.

Text has been tidied, so it is more readable. - Worley

Regarding your question: HDV requires software that supports it, and so you will need the latest version of the NLE of your choice. Also, you need minimum 2 GB of RAM to do HDV and a CPU that's not older than 2 years. The filesizes of .m2t files are bigger than DV too, so make sure you have at least 40-50 GB free on your drive for your footage and caches. RAW is at least 300 GB of hour, so don't even think of using that.

[SenorKaffee]

Since the bitrate is the same, the filesize of DV-AVI und HDV-TS should be the same, too.

There are tools like HDVDataMon that display the picture over FireWire and (when the cam is supported) also display f-stop, shutter speed and gain.

If you don´t want to invest in new hardware, you need to use an intermediate codec that is not so stressful on the machine. Like Motion-JPEG oder Lagarith.

How is your TV connected to your PC? An SD RCA-connection (yellow plug) will not improve much in quality.

If you just want to burn DVDs, you could put the HV20 in DV-lock mode. Then it behaves like your old DV cam and you can use your existing workflow.
You don´t get the higher resolution, but DVD doesn´t support it anyway.

[papabob]

The camera is connected to pc via a firewire port & the tv (3 RCA connectors yellow,red,&white )is connected to the camera via mini male A/Vjack. Question--If playing hdv source material back for capture will the non-hdtv have a good enough display picture to allow for reasonable editing?

[papabob]

Thanks Worley for making more readable, i'm the world's worst typist!

[andrear]

where can i get the HDVDataMon software? Is it free?

Thanks

[SenorKaffee]

@andrear

Please use search.

@papabob

As long as you don´t do any compositing it will be fine. The HV20 looks a little average using this video output, so don´t be disappointed. The camera also had component out and HDMI-out, if you have an HDTV that will look much better.

[jpcdoran]

I use Womble MPEG Editor and Ulead VideoStudio 11 to edit and output HD-DVDs onto normal DVD-R media. Both programs are in the $60-$80 price range.

Womble is very useful for converting M2T files captured from the HV20 into "program stream" files, which are more suited to editing.

Womble is also a good basic editor, which works well on relatively older PC's like mine. I use Womble to do basic editing, and output an HDV mpeg program stream file. I make the edited file no longer than about 21 minutes, since this is the largest size that will fit onto an "X3" DVD (normal DVD-R media burned in Ulead VideoStudio with HD mpeg content).

VideoStudio is the program that can burn my edited HD "program stream" mpeg file onto a DVD-R disk, so that I can play it in my Toshiba A2 HD-DVD player.

VideoStudio can also render the "program stream" mpg into a a regular "DVD standard" mpeg 2 file, suitable for burning as a "standard DVD".

To sum up: you don't have to settle for just editing making standard DVDs, if you have about $150 to spend on software.

[slimoli]

jpcdoran

Can't you do the same thing using ONLY the Ulead VideoStudio 11 ? I don't have the VS 11 but my understanding is that you can capture HDV, edit HDV and create a HD-DVD on a standard DVD disk (limited by the 20 minutes ). Can you elaborate on why the Womble would make it better?

many thanks

sergio

[jpcdoran]

Womble, imo, is better than VS11 at several things:

1. Converting between Program Stream and Transport Stream HD mpegs;

2. Editing HD clips on a relatively older PC (my SONY Vaio dates from 2002);

3. Quickly outputting an edited HD program stream mpeg; and

4. Quickly muxing and demuxing mpeg audio and video streams (useful for dealing with audio sync problems, etc.)

I just find that VS11 doesn't do these things as cleanly and quickly as Womble. On my machine at least, VS11 really couldn't do basic edits of HD mpegs without crashing and/or having major audio sync issues, etc. I searched Ulead forums in vain for answers to correct those particular issues.

VS11 handles the (X3) HD DVD creation just dandy. But for actually working with HD mpeg files, Womble is more robust/reliable. So for me, it's worth the $60.

[SalaTar]

ugggg!!!!
Just by software folks