spend the money and get Pinnacle Studio. It's well worth the money.

I am looking into burning my own movies an have resisted paying for a burner because , I hear they become obsolite in no time, as per copy write , changes.

New to this I discovered Deep Burner but only 1 person in the reviews out of 42 said they burned a movie with deep burner, but everyone liked it better than Nero

thanks for any help

Well, this board has been dormant for quite some time, and my apologies for that.

I've recently started taking videos with my mobile phone. The quality is good for streaming, so in a couple of weeks I'll start putting together pages on my web site with some movies.

I'm very interested in how they turn out.

By the way -- anybody know if there are any MP4 - MPEG converters out there anywhere?

Is it possible to put a SVCD/VCD onto a DVD-R re-codec the files so they still in super video cd and/or video cd compression & are the same size….
So you can put multiple SVCD/VCD onto the DVD-R?

Wow. Painless.

I'm not a paid spokesman for Pinnacle Studio. But if they offered, I would be.

Adjusting the video, per clip, was, I thought, going to be tedious. However, there is an 'auto-correct' feature in the basic package that essentially adjusts the Gamma (similar to adjusting the white balance on a video camera). I pumped up the saturation on a couple of clips that looked washed out.

I added titles at the beginning of each song the kids performed (fade in and fade out) and then went to work on the DVD menues.

There are a bunch of pre-built titles in the software package, including a bunch that are animaated. The animation lays on the video track, and the menu buttons lay on the 'title' track. During the taping of the show I pointed the tripoded (sp?) camera at a backdrop with a pretty shot of a plam, black back frop, burgandy curtain, some candles, etc. The music teacher was playing one of the songs quietly in the background. There was about 10 seconds of this with little or no voice rumble, so I replaced the stock video in the title with this.

All that was left was adding the chapters to the DVD, and this was a just a matter of adding chapter pointers and titles.

The final product was a big hit, especially among the kids. Something about seeing themselves on TV blows their mind. And with blank DVDs costing bout $2.50 (singapore dollars -- less than a buck-fifty american) I'll be burning a bunch for the start of school term and donating them to the school to raise moeny.

I have a new project.

My kids (and the rest of the kids in their school) put on a dinner theater at their school. I have somehow become the official videograper for the school and was determined to get multiple video sources for this one so I could get opposing angle views and close ups. Fortunately a neighbour showed up with his whol kit (still and video camera) and only wanted to take stills so he let me use his Sony digital. A good friend (father of one of the kids on the soccer team) let me take his tape home after the show (he was on the opposite side of the room.

So I ended up with three tapes of a 45 minutes show (a pretty good show, actually).

I've spent the last two days going through the primary tape (from my camera, for the most part fixed on a tripod) taking out the longer dead spaces between songs, and cutting in closeups and opposite angle shots fromt he other two cameras. The only difficult part I anticipated was synchronizing the video from the other cameras to the audio from the primary.

Fortunately, it's a kids production and cameras were flashing all through the show. It became fairly simple to pick a flash at a particular point in a song, move forward or backward from that point to the place I wanted the edit to occur, and find the corresponding flash on the other tapes.

I now (after about 15 hours) have a 40 minute movie that has all of the cut-aways I wanted (and synchronized, nicely).

Tonight I will fix up the video portion (some shots are a little to dark, and there is some glare I want to try and get rid of in one place), filter the audio (may actually end up splicing in some audio from one of the other cameras, although I didn't want to do that, but one of the teachers has a very quiet voice and she come in much better on one of the other cameras) and make the DVD menus.

More on that later...

June 4, 2004
Video Card Image Quality Comparison
By Jason Cross Rate it Yourself

Discuss this now (7 posts)

SLIDESHOW (26)


Slideshow / All Shots

The recent introduction of the GeForce 6800 and Radeon X800 has sparked a lot of debate about the relative merits of different graphics cards. NVidia chose to offers full support for Pixel and Vertex Shader model 3.0 and other features in DirectX 9.0c, while ATI avoided such new technologies for now, instead focusing on raw performance.

We dove deep into the new nVidia's architecture and performance in our earlier preview, then followed suit with a deep examination of ATI's new card. These articles, and most others like them, have focused on the performance and features of these new GPUs from the top two graphics companies. Here, however, we will focus primarily on issues of image quality, examining texture filtering and anti-aliasing quality.

Throughout this feature, the images we discuss are going to be much larger than you're used to seeing on ExtremeTech. You may need to scroll or resize the pop-up image window to get a good view. It was important that we didn't resize or overly compress the images, as that could affect image quality. Our game screens were captured at a resolution of 1024x768 – though these video cards can easily run games well at higher resolutions, our choice helps better display the effects of anti-aliasing. Also note that, unless otherwise stated, screenshots were taken with the default "quality" driver settings.

Check out our image quality comparison slideshow next >

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1607400,00.asp

Get the proper cable and plug it in. Shouldn't have to do anything more than that...

The Video card is a Nvedea 64Mb, Gforce4, MX420, supports two monitor and has a svideo output too.


shawn

S-VIdeo output; I think I have the right board for this question!
I have Win XP-pro, and on my video card I have an outlet for Svideo, or aka for connection to TV. How do I activate this output? Thanks

Shawn

eamonnshute, I really am a believer of free markets...

The mac is but one way to get things done. It is not the only way. Of course you know this.

Now that I know people tend to consider their computers as humanoid they develop a relationship with their computer. This tends to polarize discussions into the Mac vs. PC.

I no longer partake of these discussions because it is a success-less discussion.

Best Regards!

You'll be pleased to know that the school my daughter will be starting at next fall has 2 computer labs.

On, all MACs, the other all Linux machines.

Not a WinDoze machine in the place...

eamonnshute, you will find that with...

...the Unix platform a lot of toying around under the engine is going on. How much toying around under the hood?

http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/000257.html

Naw, didn't work...but...

I found the solution I think:

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

daring as this may sound, try it.

Copy it to test.mpeg and see if it works.

Let us know how much smoke pours out the back of your machine ;^)

quicktime to mpeg?

I can convert from Quicktime to mpeg4, but the extention is not .mpeg. I want this video to run on a PC with the extension .mpeg. Does anybody know if it will run if I change the mp4 extension to .mpeg?

I have a Sony Handycam. Anyone care to fill me in on how to use it for the benefit of others who cannot afford one?

I'm making a movie with my kids this year. We're working on the story and structure now. We'll storyboard it by the end of April then start shooting. Have had to fight to keep some creative control, but inevitably there will be talking animals (may only happen in a dream sequence, if I have any say in the matter)

I'm not doing this to create a movie masterpiece (but if it looks any way half decent we're going to enter it in next years Singapore International film festival). I think it's a good medium to teach kids the process of organizing and planning (and story arc).

I'll keep the board up to date as I progress...

Upgraded to Pinnacle Studio 9 and still have to say that (for non-Mac, anyway) I haven't seen a better program.

Highly recommended...

Have managed to do multiple menus in it, so Lucas, look out.

I truly am torn between beefing up my DOS machine and going MAC.

Your info is good, and I"ll consider it more. But my plan was to build a monster from scratch this summer, showing my kids the nuts and bolts of it...

Eamonshute,

Mac w/ OS X(10.3 aka "Panther"), the iLife Suite of Digital Media Software apps(included for free w/the purchase of any new Mac, or $49.00 purchased as an add-on), and a group of extra transitions, titles and effects from a company called Gee Three(the Slick series -- Vol. 1-6, available for about $150.) is an unbelievably easy way to make beautiful, rich productions. If you purchase a Mac w/built-in "SuperDrive", you can do everything from importing the raw footage to output of a beautiful DVD with this setup. The totally seamless integration of the iTunes(digital music), iPhoto(digital photography), and iDVD(DVD production) apps w/ the iMovie(digital video editing) programs is just a joy, period!

The new Mac OS(OS X) is now Berkeley Free-USD UNIX-based, largely open-source with a beautiful GUI on top- but if you want to have at the innards you easily can via the included "Terminal" application, and the X-Code Developers Tools included w/ Panther can give you plenty of tinkering fun.

If spending much more of your movie-making time and energy actually producing a great finished product is what you're after, the choice is clear-cut.

John

Well, I'm stoked.

I just finished adding menus and chapters to a video. Plugged it into my DVD player and the main menu came up, with alooping animated background and choices "Play Movie" and "Scene Selection"

"Play movie" jumps to chapter 1 and plays through to the end. "Scene selection" jumps to a second menu with, naturally, scene selections (that will jump to the selected chapters).

Pinnacle Studio is an incredible piece of software...

Format preference survey

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board_surveymenu.asp?board_id=2302

boom, I doubt that there is any danger of rampant piracy of any movie *I* make, so I'm going to pass on personal DRM for the time being...

Movie piracy legislation war, hotting up! eom

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1536846,00.asp

Courts Shut Down DVD X Copy
By Cade Metz
February 23, 2004

The battle against digital piracy continues apace. On February 3rd, the country's major movie studios, music publishers, and recording studios asked a U.S. appellate court to shutdown Grokster and Morpheus, two Internet file-sharing services used to trade copyrighted songs and movies. A week later, the studios launched civil suits against two factories in China, accusing them of illegally copying and distributing copyrighted movies on DVD. And then, late last week, digital pirates received not one, but two significant setbacks.

On Thursday, the FBI joined forces with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) to announce a new initiative designed to combat the theft of copyrighted material. Then, little more than twenty-four hours later, a federal court ordered 321 Studios, a privately-held software developer, to cease making DVD X Copy, an application that lets users make copies of DVD movies.

At a press conference at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office on Thursday, the bureau's cyber division discussed its recent efforts to address complaints involving copyright infringement and released a new "education letter" meant to inform the public about the risks of exchanging files online. In the future, the FBI will place an "Anti-Piracy" seal on copyrighted materials, providing further warning against digital piracy.

"The theft of copyrighted material has grown substantially and has had a detrimental impact on the U.S. economy," said Jana Monroe, assistant director of the cyber division. "The FBI's Cyber Division recognizes the importance of the problem and stands ready to meet the challenge. Through working partnerships with other law enforcement entities, the Department of Justice, and industry, we will continue to devote significant resources in pursuit of those who steal copyright protected data." Managed from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the cyber division oversees sixty different task forces in various parts of the country, each designed to investigate violations involving fraud, identity theft, child pornography, and copyright infringement.

Friday's ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California was even bigger news. Judge Susan Illston ordered 321 Studios to stop selling DVD X Copy by the end of this week, deciding the application was illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which prevents the sale of software designed to break the copy-protection schemes used by digital media.

321 Studios immediately announced that it would appeal the decision, requesting a stay that would allow it to continue selling DVD X Copy during the appeal process. The company claims that the DVD X Copy buyers use the software to make private backup copies of DVDs and feels that the law should protect such use.

"Despite today's ruling, 321 stands firm in our vow to fight the Hollywood Studios in their effort to take away our customers' digital rights," founder and president Robert Moore said in the company's press release. "There is no difference between making a copy of a music CD for personal use and making a backup of a DVD movie for personal use. We are so firm in our belief in the principle of fair use that we will appeal this ruling immediately. And we will take our fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if that's what it takes to win."

321 has claimed that the DMCA allows individuals to make copies of DVDs for their own personal use, but, according to Evan R. Cox, an intellectual property attorney and a partner in the San Francisco office of the international law firm Covington & Burling, this is not the case. "The statute prohibits using something to circumvent access controls [on a DVD] and allows the copyright office, in periodic review, to decide if there should be exceptions to that," Cox says. The copyright office just recently finished another periodic review, he explains, and to date, it hasn't created any exceptions to the statute.

Cox feels that Judge Illston's ruling is in line with all past rulings involving DVD copying and does not expect 321 Studios to win an appeal. "This was a pretty unsurprising result," he says. "The judge really couldn't come out any other way without standing the statute on its head and, basically, rendering it meaningless."

If 321 Studios is not granted a stay this week, it will begin offering a version of DVD X Copy that does not include a so-called "ripping" engine, the software that pulls the data from a DVD disk. In theory, users could download another ripper from the Internet, such SmartRipper or DVD Decrypter, and use it in tandem with DVD X Copy's compression software to make copies of digital movies. Unlike SmartRipper and DVD Decrypter, DVD X Copy is sold in retail stores as well as on the Internet, and it's far easier to use.

eamonn! Gotta' admire your pluck in opening up this can o' worms! -

I like many others no doubt, have struggled for some years with transposition of super 8 via computer, Pinnacle systems was probally the closest I've ever achieved, but unfortunately not ever PC watchable.

However never wishing to quit on lifetime ambitions, and after trying and throwing seemingly amazing amounts of dosh at the present day software! - ie. Dr Divx - Sonic MYDVD - Serif DVD plus - Intervideo et al, have to say the only one worth having IMHO is Nero 6 am able to rip/ burn/ copy to r/cd - rw/cds - rw/dvds with some success.

As I vassilate a little between Canada & UK its important to me, that I'm able transcribe contents in both formats.

Best of luck with this venture - Boom

I haven't done anything so far, but I'll let you know when I do and how it works out.

MAC is certainly the way to go for this, and I may very will buy a MAC next. I have hesitated because I enjoy mucking about with the OS and innards of my computer, having the engineer's predisposition to disbelieve that anything bought off the shelf could be optimized for my particular needs. I get the impression that MAC is not that optimizable (and ardent MAC users will tell you that's because it doesn't NEED to be optimized.)

Let me know what Linux software you use for this...

[editted] Well, you certainly have the right computer for this..


Intel P4 (HT) (2.8) -- built in FIREWIRE (USB2.0 but of course)
ASUS P4P800DX
2GB RAM (ram drive perhaps?)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600* 128MB
Existing 7200RPM 120GB PATA drives (currently 2 out of 6 in my collection..)
Antec P160 case + Antec 480W P/S
XP Pro (SP1a)


I had to add memory (to 1GB), firewire and USB 2.0 (easy - both on a single PCI card for about $40) and an additional 120GB HD...and it's still just on the edge...

I have tried in the past to pull video off of old VHS tapes with very limited success. I have added a TV tuner card to my computer, and will have to try using the video input on that and seeing how it works.

I render and burn VCDs for quick viewing (and school video donation). A standard VCD holds about an hour of video (63 minutes), MPEG2 encoded at 1150 kbps. SVCD (Super VCD) is MPEG2-2400 kbps and 1 disc holds about 32 minutes of video.

The DVDs I use (DVD+RW) are 4.7GB, and with standard DVD encoding (MPEG2/6000kbps) you get about an hour.


IMPORTANT to note that VCD and SVCD samples the audio at 44.1 kbps[edit] that should be 44.1 khz (as a standard) and DVD standard samples audio at 48kbps [edit2] that should be 48 khz.

As a result (and I found this out the hard way) if you render the video to a DVD compatible MPEG2 file, then use burning software to burn that file a VCD or SVCD, the video and audio will not be synchronized. MANY hours and discs wasted before that occured to me.

Best of luck! I'm a novice at this and hope to get more answers here.

Pop for the membership...it's worth it just to NOT see the advertising.

Eammonshute, this board is a great idea!

I'm a total novice at this, so I'm sure I can learn a lot. My desire is to: (1) take Hi-8 and MiniDV tapes I've made of my family over the last 16 years and convert them to DVD, then (2) start editing to get the most interesting material.

I use Linux most of the time now, so I'd like to do everything under Linux. If necessary, I might consider buying the Great Satan's products, but I would have to think long and hard before doing so.

My son is in high school. He just finished an introductory video class. His school uses Apple computers and software to do video editing. My impression is that the Apple platform is the most user friendly at this point. I'd appreciate any comments about this.

Cut cut cut -- the lighting was all wrong!

Good to see I too am not alone in this arena. Forgive this giant post. It clears my head and gives me directions and goals plus perhaps it will lead to others providing feedback.

For years I have been filming on our Sony camcorder - hoping that one day, in a galaxy far far away, that I can rip into the computer and spit out VCDs/DVDs.

So now I might have number three on my top 10 time wasters:
#1 Computers
#2 Internet
#3 World of Movie Making
#4 TV?
..
..

I ended up getting new gear just after Xmas that hopefully would lead me toward the promised land.

Intel P4 (HT) (2.8) -- built in FIREWIRE (USB2.0 but of course)
ASUS P4P800DX
2GB RAM (ram drive perhaps?)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600* 128MB
Existing 7200RPM 120GB PATA drives (currently 2 out of 6 in my collection..)
Antec P160 case + Antec 480W P/S
XP Pro (SP1a)

** I want to thank sites like 'sharkyextreme' for providing buyer guides. Without them, I would be lost with all the possibilities. I spec out each component when I buy a new computer, but I do so every 2-3 years. That is dog years - nothing can be carried over from the past - so you either start from scratch or spend every waking moment taking in all the new technology. (I would prefer to spend every waking moment reading about stocks so at least I can make serious money and pay someone to do this). See http://www.sharkyextreme.com - folder "Guides". Even with the guides, it took me weeks before I could widdle the price and go for the new system.

Case/MB..
The main criteria was ensuring that firewire was built into the motherboard. Further, this MB had onboard connectors for attaching to ports on the front of the case - another requirement. I found a lot of cases nowadays have "USB+HEADPHONE" jacks on the front, but not all have, in addition to these, FIREWIRE and MIC jacks. The P160, high priced and all, fit the bill. But I felt with video ripping it might get a hotter than most - it is aluminum and comes with a 120MM fan at the back and an optional spot for one strategically placed in front of the harddrives. Finally, the case and power supply were high on my list and I wanted to ensure they were of high quality.

ATI AIW.. take Deux...
I had the 2nd generation (circa 1997) of the ATI All-in-Wonder. Not impressed with ATI's support (read: lack of, that is) and how they just said "no support for TV tuner under Windows 2000". In 1999 I bought a Matrox card (G400DH). This time around, other than Nvidia, there was nothing out there that was a leader as was the ATI Radeon cards. The original goal in mind, I took a chance and got another AIW card.

FYI: 9600 versus latest 9800 differences:
9800 (PLUS) DVI
9800 (PLUS) better "graphic processing" engine (~x2 of 9600)
versus
9600 (PLUS) DUAL Monitor (2 VGA or 1 VGA + TV)
9600 (PLUS) FM Tuner
9600 (PLUS) $110US cheaper

What happened was, ATI made the 9800 then, for whatever reason, went back and made the 9600 AIW version - this time introducing DUAL monitor support for the first time, plus throwing in an FM tuner to boot. Compelling reasons to go with the less expensive 9600 over the 9800. Paying for minor improvements (even 2x the graphic power) are useless when in 6mths to a year the gains are like 10-30x. Also as a side bar, I am on the CPU all the time - so a TV tuner with a built in recorder were worth the $40US premium over the standard 9600 (save hydro with another "TV" on in the house).

XP.. finally..
Everyone might balk at the high price tag for XP Pro - but they really have made giant leaps to improve the product.
- built in "pcanywhere" (Remote Desktop) which is far better than pcanywhere
- built in web/ftp server (apparently SMTP but can't get that working)
- built in scanner software
- built in picture viewer
- built in movie maker (recently upgraded to boot)
- far more stable than 98..
- UNIX like command line options
- doesn't sit for 30minutes on the blue screen scanning your harddrive after (and if) you crash
- ability to run in the tasks in the background and "switch users"
- NTFS (512byte blocks - far better than that "should it be 8K or 16K crap FATCAT32)
.. and on and on..

SONY...
Not much to say. If yourself or anyone can help with this - I don't have the manual handy. As you record there appears to be some "auto-indexing" or "snippets". As you rewind the tape, the "counter" keeps going to "0:00:00" then back up (new snippet). See more below on this.

Life continues..
At this point in the story, I have barely scratched the surface on my way to utopia. The accomplishments are few:
(A) FIREWIRE (DIGITAL)
- I bought a "4p-6p" FIREWIRE cable - paid $4.50US - buy at a local computer store since the big boxes will try to sell them for $15+++++ easily
- Camera is SONY - has "iLINK" - SONY site says "standard IEEE1394"
- With XP Pro installed, I was able to plug the camera in, turn it on. Instantly in "My Computer" it shows "SONY DV" icon. It then starts Movie Maker.
- I was able to rip in a few seconds of video. Played ok. -- first test was a screaming success (see E for more)

(B) ATI - (ANALOG)
- ATI has built in recorder (for TV; FM; INPUTS) plus "TiVO" / "VoD" / "Video on Demand" capabilities
- Has SVIDEO out and audio out; but also has a breakout connector to give you SVIDEO or COMPOSITE VIDEO IN; RCA audio IN
- I have been able to "record" video from a VHS tape directly into the ATI. A mere test is where I have finished.

(C) Roxio V6 DVD Maker - (comes with VCD support)
- I was able to rip video via FIREWIRE directly in this product
- storybook setup - you can add your own audio/video; chapters apparently
- automagically burns a VCD for you - was able to put it (was on a CDRW) in my Panasonic DVD player and it worked no problem
- didn't explore all options on this

(D) Windows Media Player - WMP v9
- you can rip video too but limited options it seems
- I ripped in VIDEO via FIREWIRE (DV) but had no sound
- I made some adjustments and was able to rip VIDEO/SOUND via firewire but I lost frames

(E) XP Movie Maker version 5.1 (upgraded from CD install)
- same as (A) with a much better interface than ROXIO (C)
- As videos are read into the system (any product I would think) from the SONY, the "snippets" are shown separately - and can be manipulated separately or saved as a single file
- Storybook look - you can move "snippets" around into your "storybook"
- you can add titles and credits to your storybook
- create the movie (single file)
- this version asks "where will this movie be played?" to enable you to create files in formats and frames per second (fps) that can be viewed on various machines

So now where am I with this? My goal is to make movies up and then:
(A) Distribute on VCD/DVD (I don't own a DVD writer today though);
(B) Provide streaming video over the net (various qualities/sizes);
(C) Archive in digital format;

For thet streaming, I just copied over to my web directory and then from outside was able to retreive the movie.

So everything works, right? Well there is "Hertz and Not Exactly" and baby it Hurtz alright. Getting the connectivity working is the easiest part of the exercise it looks like.

The hardest part is deciding on the best quality to rip the movies and then how to export them.
- Some of my movies are coming from legacy tapes that cannot be digially imported (VHS).
- Then there are old Sony camcorder tapes - I think, although analogue in format, they can be moved across the firewire back to the computer instead of through the RCA jacks. My camera has DV out, but not DV tapes - it uses Digital 8 tapes.
- The third kind of tapes are the standard Digitl 8 tapes (native format for the camera today; digital)

The biggest problem is - understanding and coping with all the formats, file sizes and that "judge" dreaded word - CODECs. With music the formats, although many, most are using Mp3 and the methods for encoding are easily found. However, with movies the field is expanded and there are more issues introduced partly due to the sheer size of files. Want to spend hours reading on capturing, ripping and recording? Look at VCDHELP.COM - which, when I can find some time, is where I will be spending my time.

Consider music. Say you have a CD that is of high quality - your bit rate could be "192" or "160" or "128". So if you use "128" you might find the quality is "so/so". If you lose the original CD, you will never be able to achieve a better bit rate. However, suppose you ripped it at "192", you could always make a second copy at "128" - now would "128" match the quality as if you ripped from the original CD at 128? Probably not. You could have two versions - one for archiving and one for listening (e.g. the most Mp3s on a CD to listen to) - e.g. to preserve and for everyday use (I do see the value of two copies, unless 192 is the only rate to listen to)

With movies, the same goes. I can rip in the movies at the highest possible quality, then export, but the export would be massive if I don't use a compression algorithm.

I see people uploading "DVD" movies (2hr) using DiVX encoding at qualities that result in 700MB files (ok quality) to say 1.5GB (great quality - pure DVDs are 4GB). Some movies use a poor encoder - sometimes the audio/video get out of sync or when you move the position slider, it takes a while for the movie to play or play properly. Nowadays the defacto standard appears to be DiVX.

Using the ATI, a 25m (minutes) program recorded off the TV is "exported" in MPEG-2 at 900MB (.MPG) and MPEG-4 at 700MB (.AVI) [options available within the ATI player]. As you can see - the sizes are far too large. 120m would be 3.3GB -- and that is TV broadcast, not a bloody DVD copy. I take the MPEG2 over to a friend's house - and guess what - WMP didn't play MPEG2 - isn't that special!

When I ripped a couple of movies from the camera one ended up as 6MB (DEST). Another example - I ripped in a 2m clip - it was pure Digital in - SOURCE at 250MB - then exported using a format that would achieve 30fps using a "340kbps" broadband connection - this resulted in a 23MB file. Again seemingly a standard compression - but still large - 2minutes is 23MB!!

Next, when at my outlaw's house, their machine was circa 1997. So right off the bat, playing the 6MB file above was brutal. Even if the Win98 Media Player is at the right version, the codec, if I choose to use one that is not standard, must be installed. But the movie was unwatchable. The movie played alright, but almost every video frame was lost due to the lack of CPU power. Here is the other factor - your target audience. Futher the quality also may relate to the VIDEO SIZE. E.g. is it a tiny box on the screen is useless. FULLSCREEN - is it even watchable?

So here are the points I need to address and be satisified with:
- Import at the highest quality possible (Digital 8; VHS; Legacy camcorder tapes; Firewire; Composite)
- Export in various formats
- VCD? That is standard - but you can only achieve something like 35minutes/VCD. Shall I wait for DVD? Will I be able to "seamlessly" string together multiple VCD files for DVD? At least everyone can play VCD who has a CD player in their computer. Most DVD players on the market play VCD too.
- Poor PC format - something for parents to see their grandchildren on their crappy PC
- Fast PC format - high quality a big file -- therefore, I have to be able to compress (encode) to something more reasonable
- RAW? The purest form so I can "Export" later using a better codec? Perhaps the odd flick? All flicks? Worth it?

- Of course do all the above with confidence that I don't have to go back and do something over.. do it once and be happy. If I am ripping from old tapes will I be able to do it again? Will they still be good? I will assume not.

- When you read VCDHELP.COM it isn't so simple to move from one format to another. Some examples deal with having to rip video in one pass then ripping audio in another pass and then putting all the pieces together - hoping they are all "sync'd'. And of course all this entails many steps, programs and hours.

Lots of thoughts and lots to learn. When I rip CDs I own today, I don't think "I will lose this CD so it better be a good rip". I rip with the thought - I can rerip if necessary and I want the most music today on a Mp3 CD. Not such an easy call with this stuff.

BTW: I have just downloaded from Divx.com their free trial of DrDivx... the next chapter begins..

(And think about this - today there are CD's and DVD's. Already they are working on larger capacity DVD's - and perhaps beyond. Plus, CD's and DVD's are not 100% either - they scratch. At least you can create "copies" and/or parity files .. but still...)

SoB

PS: Unfortunately I am a lurker and haven't paid up at iHUB (I have lifetime at SI) - so hopefully I can reply and post more during future Happy Hours -- assuming I am not already pissed drunk at the time.

Much success, mon, on the forum.. Cheers mon!

(I don't expect to be good enough to charge for my services for a few years)

I recently taped the school Christmas play at my children's school, editted it to something reasonably passable (I will need to get the cooperation of some of the other parents to get multiple shots the next time), added titles, cleaned up the audio and made a bunch of VCDs for the school.

I donated the time and discs, and the school is selling them (for a nominal fee) to raise money for their library...

I told the principal (a good friend), when he was insisting on paying my for my trouble that I was using them as a guinea pig, and that when I got better I would consider taking money...

It's a terrible addictive habit.

If you use Pinnacle Studio products I highly recommend their knowledge base.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/wwwsupport/InteractiveSupport/us/frameset.htm

Welcome to the board. I'd like to use this as a repository for questions and answers also, for those that are trying this hoppbe and don't want to make the same time consuming errors I have.

Cheers!