14 replies to this topic

[JimD]

After working with MyDVD4 and Showbiz editing for a few years I upgraded to MyDVD premier 8 for more versatility. So far, big mistake. I use windows media, 160 gb hard drive, 50 gb of free space, and 1000 mb of ram.
I captured video from my mini dv camera using videowave. The result was jerky video and out of sync and scratchy sound. From the forum I understood that this is not too uncommon and would probably correct itself in the finished product. I went ahead and edited, added text and transitions, and added sound. After sending the work to MyDVD8 there was some improvement but not much, and not up to DVD4 standards. Also the resulting DVD played about one second and repeated like a broken record. I also used mpeg2 setting and the DVD file size is about 4.5 gb. The features give the system great possibilties. please help me if there is a fix.
Many thanks.  
Jim.

[myguggi]

JimD, on Aug 21 2006, 10:58 PM, said:

After working with MyDVD4 and Showbiz editing for a few years I upgraded to MyDVD premier 8 for more versatility. So far, big mistake. I use windows media, 160 gb hard drive, 50 gb of free space, and 1000 mb of ram.
I captured video from my mini dv camera using videowave. The result was jerky video and out of sync and scratchy sound. From the forum I understood that this is not too uncommon and would probably correct itself in the finished product. I went ahead and edited, added text and transitions, and added sound. After sending the work to MyDVD8 there was some improvement but not much, and not up to DVD4 standards. Also the resulting DVD played about one second and repeated like a broken record. I also used mpeg2 setting and the DVD file size is about 4.5 gb. The features give the system great possibilties. please help me if there is a fix.
Many thanks.
Jim.

What connection did you use to capture, Firewire or USB? To what format did you capture , avi or mpeg? EMC requires a Firewire connection and avi gives best quality.
If the captured video file is jerky,, etc. then it will not correct itself in the finished product.

[ggrussell]

JimD, on Aug 21 2006, 10:58 PM, said:

I captured video from my mini dv camera using videowave. The result was jerky video and out of sync and scratchy sound.

Sounds like you are capturing using teh USB cable to MPEG 1.  The USB cable included with most miniDV camcorders is for connecting the camcorder as a 'webcam'.  This will give you much lower quality and usually MPEG 1. Most will not capture audio at all.  As Walt suggests, you really need to capture via firewire to DV AVI for absolute best quality.

Media Import will allow capture to MPEG 2 via firewire, but you need a fairly fast computer to do this real time.  With a slower computer (or poorly optimized one), this would indeed create a jerky video and possibly poor audio.  Capture to DV AVI and mostly likely your problems will go away.

[JimD]

myguggi, on Aug 21 2006, 07:05 PM, said:

What connection did you use to capture, Firewire or USB? To what format did you capture , avi or mpeg? EMC requires a Firewire connection and avi gives best quality.
If the captured video file is jerky,, etc. then it will not correct itself in the finished product.

Thanks for the prompt response. I do use a firewire and mpeg. More info following.

[JimD]

ggrussell, on Aug 21 2006, 07:24 PM, said:

Sounds like you are capturing using teh USB cable to MPEG 1.  The USB cable included with most miniDV camcorders is for connecting the camcorder as a 'webcam'.  This will give you much lower quality and usually MPEG 1. Most will not capture audio at all.  As Walt suggests, you really need to capture via firewire to DV AVI for absolute best quality.

Media Import will allow capture to MPEG 2 via firewire, but you need a fairly fast computer to do this real time.  With a slower computer (or poorly optimized one), this would indeed create a jerky video and possibly poor audio.  Capture to DV AVI and mostly likely your problems will go away.

Thank you too Gary for the prompt response. As I mentioned to Walt I do use a firewire and mpeg2 setting when capturing. I did not use AVI because of the size. My DVD finish size is 4.5 gb with mpeg. Could I get the AVI file on a 4.7 gb DVD disc, after editing? I have made many videos and put them on disc but I feel semi literate when people throw out the technical terms. My computer has Pentium® 4CPU 2.66 GHz. I think that is the speed the you are refering to. Advice is desperately needed as I am stuck in this project.
Thanks.
Jim

[T.O.T.G.]

JimD, on Aug 22 2006, 01:19 PM, said:

Thank you too Gary for the prompt response. As I mentioned to Walt I do use a firewire and mpeg2 setting when capturing. I did not use AVI because of the size. My DVD finish size is 4.5 gb with mpeg. Could I get the AVI file on a 4.7 gb DVD disc, after editing? I have made many videos and put them on disc but I feel semi literate when people throw out the technical terms. My computer has Pentium® 4CPU 2.66 GHz. I think that is the speed the you are refering to. Advice is desperately needed as I am stuck in this project.
Thanks.
Jim

If you create a disk image while burning, instead of burning directly to DVD, and then use Disc Copier, I believe it will automatically compress the file for you.  This will reduce quality, but going from 4.7 to 4.5 shouldn't decrease quality too much...

As for actually solving the problem, i'm not too sure...

[myguggi]

JimD, on Aug 22 2006, 05:19 PM, said:

Thank you too Gary for the prompt response. As I mentioned to Walt I do use a firewire and mpeg2 setting when capturing. I did not use AVI because of the size. My DVD finish size is 4.5 gb with mpeg. Could I get the AVI file on a 4.7 gb DVD disc, after editing? I have made many videos and put them on disc but I feel semi literate when people throw out the technical terms. My computer has Pentium® 4CPU 2.66 GHz. I think that is the speed the you are refering to. Advice is desperately needed as I am stuck in this project.
Thanks.
Jim

File size means nothing when it comes to burning video to DVD. It is the timelength of the video that is important. On a standard 4.7GB DVD you can get 60 minutes of "best" quality video. Capturing 60 minutes of DVD avi will give you an avi file of about 13-14GB. When this is burned to a DVD it will be converted to DVD compliant mpeg format and fit on the DVD. Many of us first create an ISO file via myDVD and then use DiscCopier to burn the iso file to DVD. This method allows you to create videos that are  longer then 60 minutes (I regularly create 90 minute DVDs using this method). When DiscCopier burns to DVD it transcodes the larger then 60 minutes video to fit on the DVD. The quality will of course be reduced but not that noticeable. Using the ISO method also seems to give a more reliable burn since the encoding and burning become separate operations.

[JimD]

T.O.T.G., on Aug 22 2006, 01:40 PM, said:

If you create a disk image while burning, instead of burning directly to DVD, and then use Disc Copier, I believe it will automatically compress the file for you.  This will reduce quality, but going from 4.7 to 4.5 shouldn't decrease quality too much...

As for actually solving the problem, i'm not too sure...

Thank you, i will try it.

myguggi, on Aug 22 2006, 02:00 PM, said:

File size means nothing when it comes to burning video to DVD. It is the timelength of the video that is important. On a standard 4.7GB DVD you can get 60 minutes of "best" quality video. Capturing 60 minutes of DVD avi will give you an avi file of about 13-14GB. When this is burned to a DVD it will be converted to DVD compliant mpeg format and fit on the DVD. Many of us first create an ISO file via myDVD and then use DiscCopier to burn the iso file to DVD. This method allows you to create videos that are  longer then 60 minutes (I regularly create 90 minute DVDs using this method). When DiscCopier burns to DVD it transcodes the larger then 60 minutes video to fit on the DVD. The quality will of course be reduced but not that noticeable. Using the ISO method also seems to give a more reliable burn since the encoding and burning become separate operations.

Thanks Walt, I will start all over again with capturing following your advice.

[JimD]

JimD, on Aug 22 2006, 03:42 PM, said:

Thank you, i will try it.
Thanks Walt, I will start all over again with capturing following your advice.

Well I erased my previously capured video from my computer and recaptured in AVI format. I then went to videowave8 and added the newly captured work to a new production. My immediate preview playback is bad, out of sync and intermitant music. I reviewed my camcorder tape and it has no flaws.
Is it possible my MyDVD8 Premier was corrupted in the download? Should I redownload the CD? I am grasping at straws but it is very frustrating.
Thanks again for any help.

[ggrussell]

Wow... out of sync issues are extremely rare with DV AVI captures.  It is 'possible' that your download is corrupt, but first check a few things.

Make sure you don't have a lot of stuff running in the background. 2.66Ghz should be fast enough to capture via firewire.  

How much free hard drive space?  Delete all temp files and empty your recycle bin. Defrag the hard drive.  Try again.

I once had a 1.5Ghz P4 and had no trouble capturing from firewire, but it was fairly well tweaked and tons of free HD space.

[JimD]

ggrussell, on Aug 23 2006, 09:26 AM, said:

Wow... out of sync issues are extremely rare with DV AVI captures.  It is 'possible' that your download is corrupt, but first check a few things.

Make sure you don't have a lot of stuff running in the background. 2.66Ghz should be fast enough to capture via firewire.  

How much free hard drive space?  Delete all temp files and empty your recycle bin. Defrag the hard drive.  Try again.

I once had a 1.5Ghz P4 and had no trouble capturing from firewire, but it was fairly well tweaked and tons of free HD space.

Thanks again Gary. I have 50gb of free space and all programs are shut down, temp files are gone, no trash, defragged a week ago. In desparation I downloaded my video to my old program, which is ShowBiz, which came with MyDVD4. I used AVI and it worked perfectly. Now I know my video and firewire are ok. I will try anything you suggest.

[JimD]

JimD, on Aug 23 2006, 05:05 PM, said:

Thanks again Gary. I have 50gb of free space and all programs are shut down, temp files are gone, no trash, defragged a week ago. In desparation I downloaded my video to my old program, which is ShowBiz, which came with MyDVD4. I used AVI and it worked perfectly. Now I know my video and firewire are ok. I will try anything you suggest.

Latest update. I uninstalled my MyDVD8 Premier. I deleted all old video files, now have over 100gig of free space, re-defragged. Then I re-installed MyDVD.
Again captured video, -media import window. As before, it told me where file was imported to but did not give me the oportunity to save when capture was complete, (the only thing I found strange). I exited the window,clicked 'edit video' on the screen that came up and selected my captured video. On the preveiw window I hit the start button and as before it was totally out of sync.
I am now totally out of my depth.
Please help.

[ggrussell]

JimD, on Aug 24 2006, 09:53 PM, said:

As before, it told me where file was imported to but did not give me the oportunity to save when capture was complete, (the only thing I found strange).

Capturing to a file, you are 'saving' it. Where the file is stored should be chosen before you hit the CAPTURE NOW button.

No idea either about the out of sync.

[Larry]

For the sync problem, defrag your hard drive(s), then disconnect from the internet, shut down all firewalls, antivirus, and other system monitoring software that may be running and see if that helps. It may help. Worth a try.

[JimD]

Larry, on Aug 24 2006, 06:11 PM, said:

For the sync problem, defrag your hard drive(s), then disconnect from the internet, shut down all firewalls, antivirus, and other system monitoring software that may be running and see if that helps. It may help. Worth a try.

Thanks Larry, I have been doing all of that.
I am noticing more with each capture. After capturing and still in the capture window, the immediate preview is in sync. It is not until I am in the edit window that my preview is out of sync, before I do any editing.
Jim.