Capture Question

[SITN]

I am attempting to capture video using Premiere 6.0 a Canon ZR80 MiniDV camcorder, a PCI Firewire card and of course the firewire cable.

I am attempting to get the best quality possible to edit with, size is of no concern.
Going with the above I assume I want pure, uncompressed .avi files.

I can capture the video fine, my question is about the settings in which I capture with.

Within the capture window of Premiere under the Settings options what is the best configuration for capturing a raw data stream?

I currently use:

General: Editing Mode: DV PLayback
Timebase: 29.97fps
Time Display 30fps Non-Drop TImecode

Video: Compressor: Microsoft DV(NTSC)
My only other option is Microsoft DV(PAL)
The only other options I can modify in the video tab are the 'Recompress' option box and the pixel aspect ratio(Which is currently on D1/DV NTSC 0.9)

Capture: Capture Format: DV/IEE134 Capture


I assume the Compressor is compressing the data even if the Recompress option box is not checked.
I have read through the forums where people suggest to use 'no compression' as a compressor(Maybe that is only on exporting a clip?)

Is this common to only see 2 Options for compressor?

My system:
Windows XP Pro - XP Canon Driver
AMD T-Bird 1.33, 512mb PC2100 DDR, 160 WD 7200rpm, 8MB Cache(All 160gigs for video editing)
Geforce 2 MX 64mb(Old card,MX bottleneck- I know)

Can anyone help with give me settings for optimal quality, pure raw avi files?

I appreciate any help!!

Thank you,
Nick

 

[Akribie]

DV is already compressed when recorded to tape in the camera, so you gain nothing by expanding it for storage on your hard disk except pain and frustration. In any event, your PC doesn't look fast enough to handle the data rates of uncompressed video.

Capture DV via FireWire - the result is a digital copy of the noughts and ones on your digital tape = no loss of quality.

You are hardly at the cutting edge of editing with Premiere 6.0. Make sure you have at least the 6.01 update to avoid too many bugs.

You'd get better quality with Premiere Pro, because it uses the YUV colour space and saves double conversion to and from RGB when editing. But your system isn't fast enough for Pro by the look of it, and I also suspect that your CPU doesn't have the essential SSE instruction set required to install and run PPro.

If your final output is to tape, then edit using a DV CODEC. Minimise the number of recompressions to keep best quality through the edit - ie, don't alter a clip, save it to disk, import it and alter it again. Do it all in one pass.

 

[SITN]

I understand it is compressed when put on tape

I am not trying to 'epxpand it' . I am simply trying to capture the exact quality of that which is on the tape already.

I 'assumed' that using Microsoft DV as a compressor would simply compress the data coming from the tape in an attempt to save space. However as with anything compressing usually means a loss of quality.

My final output will be to DVD, therfore I want the best quality possible that I can squeeze out of the video.


I know 6.0 is old, I however am not going to spend high $ on any higher version as this is just a small hobby.

Yes you are correct, my CPU does not use SSE so the highest version I could go could be 6.5


What are the data rates of uncompressed video? mb/s
I am not sure of the exact value.