Camcorder for mpg files

[beco73]

Hi,

It is rather dumb question. Video that we make from a regular
Camcorder , what format is it? Is it in mpg, format? or if not is it possible to easily convert it into mpg format?

Thanks

 

[pmonett]

If your camcorder uses magnetic tape, then it is analog - no "format" in the digital world.
There are many possible tools to convert to mpg format, but all of them start with digitization - sampling the signal and transferring it to hard disk where it can then be analyzed and rewritten in mpg, DVD, DivX or whatever other format is the thing you wish for.
So, if I'm not mistaken, your camcorder will have to be hooked up to the Video In of a PC - either an image acquisition card, or using the video capture of some graphics cards like ATI's AllInWonder series.
Once the camcorder can be hooked up, you'll need the right software to capture and record the digital copy of your data. That can be something bundled with your PC (ATI delivers something with its AIW cards), or a third-party package like Pinnacle Studio.
Once you have all that done, you can start creating chapters and designing your video, if you want, or just go ahead and "compile" the video to mpg if that is your wish.

I must bring to your attention the fact that today there are DVD recorders for the TV. Hook one up on TV and you can record automatically whatever image crops up. The more expensive of those solutions have integrated hard disks.
If you buy one of those DVD recorders, you have only to hook up your camcorder to the TV, and the TV to the DVD recorder, and let things work. Once the DVD recorder has everything on disk, I have been told that it is simple to convert to DVD and burn on a blank disk.

Why is this interesting ? Because the DVD recorder for TV is streamlined for the task, as are all the components that come into play (camcorder and TV).
On the PC, however, you'll have to consider the data throughput of your CPU, the Front Side Bus and the hard disk, which have been built for many other things as well.
In short, you can have a performance bottleneck anywhere in the PC system, and it will cost you money to remove it and get the video capture quality you want.
In the TV DVD scenario, there is no bottleneck, a lot less components, and a result that is all but guaranteed. It's also straight to DVD, but you can easily find a DVD ripper program to convert that to mpg if you really want, and you'll still be able to bring your videos to your friend's house to show them on their DVD player.

Pascal.

 

[kiddpete]

Digital camcorders record digital data on tape. It has a format which, I think, is called Digital Video. It is not mpeg. It is a virtually uncompressed data format which will be converted to a recognizable format when it is 'captured' by a computer. Virtually all capture software works best when connected to the camera via firewire. Firewire is a digital interface, and the connection on the camera is almost always called DV.

 

[kiddpete]

The capture software may immediately convert the data to mpeg, but I don't think this is common. Sony's Vegas, for example, writes the captured data to disk in the AVI format. A seperate operation converts it to mpeg which is a slow process.

 

[cdogg]

AVI is the standard format that video will be in when captured from a digital camcorder to your PC. It is usually in a lossless form which can take up large amounts of space. For example, an hour of video could take many gigabytes of space. So you also need to be aware of your PC's specs.

Once you have video captured onto your PC, it is up to you what format you want it in. The conversion process, as kiddpete mentioned, can be slow. And once you convert it to a lower-quality format, such as MPEG, you don't typically want to convert it any further.

Go directly from AVI to whatever format you want, and don't compress the same video several times deciding on a format, otherwise you'll kill the quality.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[beco73]

thanks a lot to everybody ......... I do not have Camrecorder, yet. My goal is basically to have mpg files.

SO my first step should be to buy a camrecorder. Any
average camprecorder will do? or I need to be careful there about certian specs?

then I will hook it up to my computer and move it to my hard drive, correct? .

Then to convert from AVI to mpeg I will need software, right , are these softward expensive or do they have free download?

 

[felixc]

Some digital camcorders do come with utilities to transfer the date to the PC. Please read the specs to make sure that it is there. Video editing software: some basic ones come along with the DVD writers. For a better editor, you can get Pinnacle Studio9 for $49. these days.

 

[beco73]

If I buy a digital camera with movie mode, that will do the job for me too as well right? instead of buying camrecorder. Since my goal is to make mpeg files only, not to put it on dvd or VHS

 

[cdogg]

It depends on how good of quality you want your video to be. Most digital cameras that have that feature sacrifice quality to save space. Plus, your camera will likely have 512MB of space or less, which restricts the length of video as well. Most that I've seen will only do clips up to 1 min or so and the video/sound is choppy.

If you are serious about working with video on the PC, a digital camcorder is the only way to go...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[felixc]

cdogg is right. I've never seen good quality video out from these digital cameras. At the other end, MiniDV camcorders have reached quite a good quality of video.

 

[beco73]

thanks a lot