[RCD74]

I have a quick question. I don't have a digital camcorder yet, but was wondering if your computer needs firewire to transfer the movies to the computer or will a USB port be all that is needed? Thanks. I am sure that was a loaded question!!

RCD74

[grandpabruce]

I have a quick question. I don't have a digital camcorder yet, but was wondering if your computer needs firewire to transfer the movies to the computer or will a USB port be all that is needed? Thanks. I am sure that was a loaded question!!

RCD74

The USB port is used for transferring photos from your camcorder or if you want your camcorder to be used as a webcam.

Using firewire is the best way to capture if you have a MiniDV tape camcorder. If you have a miniDVD or hard drive camcorder, no capture is necessary. You just copy the files to your hard drive from either of those.

MiniDV tape camcorders still have the best quality video.

[RCD74]

The USB port is used for transferring photos from your camcorder or if you want your camcorder to be used as a webcam.

Thanks Bruce. So, you cannot use a USB port to transfer the mini DV videos? It was my understanding that you could just plug the camcorder with the mini DV inside and transfer the video portions using a USB port. Is firewire just faster than a USB or does USB not have the capabilities of transferring video?? I ask b/c my computer does not have firewire and I am wondering if buying a digital camcorder with the miniDV tapes is worth it for me. I do, however, have a DVD recordable player so I could just hook the camcorder to that and transfer the video to a DVD. Thanks again Bruce!!

RCD74

[myguggi]

Thanks Bruce. So, you cannot use a USB port to transfer the mini DV videos? It was my understanding that you could just plug the camcorder with the mini DV inside and transfer the video portions using a USB port. Is firewire just faster than a USB or does USB not have the capabilities of transferring video?? I ask b/c my computer does not have firewire and I am wondering if buying a digital camcorder with the miniDV tapes is worth it for me. I do, however, have a DVD recordable player so I could just hook the camcorder to that and transfer the video to a DVD. Thanks again Bruce!!

RCD74

Roxio requires a Firewire connection to capture from a digital DV (tape) camcorder. Other software may allow you to capture from tape via USB. For a DVD or HD camcorder you can use USB to copy the video to your PC.

[grandpabruce]

Thanks Bruce. So, you cannot use a USB port to transfer the mini DV videos? It was my understanding that you could just plug the camcorder with the mini DV inside and transfer the video portions using a USB port. Is firewire just faster than a USB or does USB not have the capabilities of transferring video?? I ask b/c my computer does not have firewire and I am wondering if buying a digital camcorder with the miniDV tapes is worth it for me. I do, however, have a DVD recordable player so I could just hook the camcorder to that and transfer the video to a DVD. Thanks again Bruce!!

RCD74

Even if you somehow are able capture through the USB port, the video quality will be nowhere near as good as capturing via firewire.

You want to capture as a DV-AVI file. Capturing through a USB connection will be an mpeg file, which is a compressed file.

This post has been edited by grandpabruce: 02 October 2007 - 12:26 PM

[RCD74]

Even if you somehow are able capture through the USB port, the video quality will be nowhere near as good as capturing via firewire.

You want to capture as a DV-AVI file. Capturing through a USB connection will be an mpeg file, which is a compressed file.

Thanks for everyone's help. But you have now got me wondering, when I create my productions in Videowave and then output it as an MPEG-2 file at best quality, is that not the BEST quality I am able to gett. Is there another choice that is better when I output or do these 2 things have nothing to do with each other. Sorry if my questions are stupid!! Thanks.

RCD74

[grandpabruce]

Thanks for everyone's help. But you have now got me wondering, when I create my productions in Videowave and then output it as an MPEG-2 file at best quality, is that not the BEST quality I am able to gett. Is there another choice that is better when I output or do these 2 things have nothing to do with each other. Sorry if my questions are stupid!! Thanks.

RCD74

If you are not having any problems with MyDVD, then there is no reason to output from VideoWave, at all. You save your VideoWave production, close down VW, open MyDVD, bring in your VW production, create your menu, among other things, and burn your production.

[RCD74]

If you are not having any problems with MyDVD, then there is no reason to output from VideoWave, at all. You save your VideoWave production, close down VW, open MyDVD, bring in your VW production, create your menu, among other things, and burn your production.

When I first started with EMC9, I tried burning my productions from videowave directly to a DVD and had issues. Most likely it was b/c of my video card which I switched to an external one and now things are just fine and dandy. What I normally do is output to MPEG-2 b/c then I can check to see how my movie turned out and if I need to make changes, I can tweek my project in videowave without having burned it directly to a DVD. I have seen people discuss burning it to an ISO file (which I don't understand and don't know how to do). Now that I have become more proficient using EMC9, I would love if you could explain the difference to me from what I do now and burning to an ISO. How will the quality improve and what makes it better? I am still learning so much here, as you can see!! Thanks.

RCD74

[gi7omy]

To make a .iso file you don't actually burn it - what you do is to save an image (the .iso) to the hard drive and then open that to actually do the burn to the disc

There should be a tick box on the burn panel to select 'burn to hard drive' - check that and uncheck the 'burn to DVD' one at the top

[grandpabruce]

When I first started with EMC9, I tried burning my productions from videowave directly to a DVD and had issues. Most likely it was b/c of my video card which I switched to an external one and now things are just fine and dandy. What I normally do is output to MPEG-2 b/c then I can check to see how my movie turned out and if I need to make changes, I can tweek my project in videowave without having burned it directly to a DVD. I have seen people discuss burning it to an ISO file (which I don't understand and don't know how to do). Now that I have become more proficient using EMC9, I would love if you could explain the difference to me from what I do now and burning to an ISO. How will the quality improve and what makes it better? I am still learning so much here, as you can see!! Thanks.

RCD74

I am confused on a couple of things that you said. First, I have to assume that when you say external video card, you mean a standalone card that fits into an AGP or PCI slot, so you don't have to use your onboard integrated video.

Now, you can preview your VideoWave production, in VideoWave, to see if it is to your liking. You can't burn to a DVD, or CD in VideoWave. You can send it directly to MyDVD for burning, but it is MyDVD Express, and you are limited to what you can do for authoring your producion, doing it that way.

I finish my productions in VideoWave, save them, close VideoWave, open MyDVD, create my menus and any other little things I want to do, save it, then burn to an .iso file or folder set.

I can also preview the production in MyDVD, before I burn it.

There are more than one advantages to burning to an .iso file or folder set, over burning directly to a DVD. First, you are only asking your computer to do one thing, and that is encode. Burning directly to a DVD requires your computer to encode and burn all at once, and any hiccup can cause a bad burn.

Another advantage of burning to an .iso file or folder set is you can burn to more than one DVD without having to go through the entire encoding/burning process.

[RCD74]

I am confused on a couple of things that you said. First, I have to assume that when you say external video card, you mean a standalone card that fits into an AGP or PCI slot, so you don't have to use your onboard integrated video.

Now, you can preview your VideoWave production, in VideoWave, to see if it is to your liking. You can't burn to a DVD, or CD in VideoWave. You can send it directly to MyDVD for burning, but it is MyDVD Express, and you are limited to what you can do for authoring your producion, doing it that way.

I finish my productions in VideoWave, save them, close VideoWave, open MyDVD, create my menus and any other little things I want to do, save it, then burn to an .iso file or folder set.

I can also preview the production in MyDVD, before I burn it.

There are more than one advantages to burning to an .iso file or folder set, over burning directly to a DVD. First, you are only asking your computer to do one thing, and that is encode. Burning directly to a DVD requires your computer to encode and burn all at once, and any hiccup can cause a bad burn.

Another advantage of burning to an .iso file or folder set is you can burn to more than one DVD without having to go through the entire encoding/burning process.

Yes, sorry if I was unclear. I did mean that my external video card was in a PCI slot and not an integrated card. Hmm, I see what you mean about burning to an iso. I just have always first created an MPEG-2 and then brought that into MYDVD to make menus, etc. and then burned it to a DVD. I will certainly check out burning to an .iso file. When you say you can burn to more than one DVD, does this mean that I could burn 2 DVDs at the same time to my D and E drive?? That would be awesome if that was the case. Also, when I burn the .iso file, where does it go?? Can I create a special folder within My Documents (My Videos) for .iso files? I guess like everything else, I will have to experiment with it. That is truly when I learn the most. Thanks so much Bruce!!

RCD74

[ggrussell]

Thanks Bruce. So, you cannot use a USB port to transfer the mini DV videos?

You need to be more specific. We have to make a few assumptions when you state 'miniDV' which is usually tape. As others have posted, that type of camcorder has been designed for firewire capture ONLY to get the maximum quality. This has nothing to do with the software. It's hardware design. EMC gives you a choice of directly from tape to DV AVI file which is exactly how the video is stored on the tape OR real-time conversion to MPEG 2 during capture.

Jump forward to present day - minDVD and HDD models have been designed without firewire. Just USB ONLY because you don't need to 'capture'. The files are already MPEG 2 so you are technically just transferring the information to your hard drive like a still image.

HDV and AVCHD - to make things more confusing use totally different codecs when recording to media. They can be miniDVD, miniDV tape and even just a memory chip. Some have firewire and some have USB.

This post has been edited by ggrussell: 02 October 2007 - 02:44 PM

[RCD74]

You need to be more specific. We have to make a few assumptions when you state 'miniDV' which is usually tape. As others have posted, that type of camcorder has been designed for firewire capture ONLY to get the maximum quality. This has nothing to do with the software. It's hardware design. EMC gives you a choice of directly from tape to DV AVI file which is exactly how the video is stored on the tape OR real-time conversion to MPEG 2 during capture.

Jump forward to present day - minDVD and HDD models have been designed without firewire. Just USB ONLY because you don't need to 'capture'. The files are already MPEG 2 so you are technically just transferring the information to your hard drive like a still image.

HDV and AVCHD - to make things more confusing use totally different codecs when recording to media. They can be miniDVD, miniDV tape and even just a memory chip. Some have firewire and some have USB.

So basically, it totally depends on the model of your camcorder. That makes sense. I like the sound of the ones that are already MPEG-2 and just need to be transferred. Thanks so much. I am really asking b/c my sister has the miniDV tapes and wanted to know how to transfer them. I was trying to help her out and also learn for myself if I would purchase one. Thanks!!

RCD74

[grandpabruce]

So basically, it totally depends on the model of your camcorder. That makes sense. I like the sound of the ones that are already MPEG-2 and just need to be transferred. Thanks so much. I am really asking b/c my sister has the miniDV tapes and wanted to know how to transfer them. I was trying to help her out and also learn for myself if I would purchase one. Thanks!!

RCD74

Since MPEG-2 is compressed already, you take an immediate hit versus capturing as .avi. Not good, IMHO.

[RCD74]

Since MPEG-2 is compressed already, you take an immediate hit versus capturing as .avi. Not good, IMHO.

I see your point from what you said before. Thanks.

[myguggi]

I see your point from what you said before. Thanks.

If you never expect to do any editing of your video (or very little) then miniDVD or HD is the way to go but I find that is hardly ever the case. There is always something that you want to edit out, insert etc and avi is much easier to edit.Perhaps in the future the new HardDisk camcorder will allow recording in avi since avi requires lots of storage space, 14GB for about 1 hour of video.

[RCD74]

When you say you can burn to more than one DVD, does this mean that I could burn 2 DVDs at the same time to my D and E drive?? That would be awesome if that was the case.
RCD74

Ok, was I thinking?? I can't burn from the D drive!! My bad!!

RCD74

[grandpabruce]

Ok, was I thinking?? I can't burn from the D drive!! My bad!!

RCD74

But, if you have the 9.1 patch, you can set the number of discs you want to burn, and keep feeding DVD's into the burner without setting up again.

There is a bug in the 9.0 version, where you can't do that, but 9.1 supposedly fixed it.

This post has been edited by grandpabruce: 02 October 2007 - 06:25 PM

[RCD74]

But, if you have the 9.1 patch, you can set the number of discs you want to burn, and keep feeding DVD's into the burner without setting up again.

There is a bug in the 9.0 version, where you can't do that, but 9.1 supposedly fixed it.

I have no idea which version I have. I bought EMC9 at a store and installed it. I assume I don't have 9.1 then. I did experiment with the .iso file and figured out how to burn that and then burn to a disc using disc copier. It has the box in disc copier showing how many copies I wanted. I only burned one. I definitely like doing it this way better than making the MPEG-2 file first. It saves me a lot of time from what it seems. Thanks for the advice.

RCD74

[gi7omy]

To check which version you have, open any of the individual programs in the suite, go to Help, About and it will say yhere if it's 9.0 or 9.1

If it's 9.0, then download and install the update from here:

http://www.roxio.com/enu/support/emc9/software_updates.html

It's a huge file so start downloading and go watch some TV