Record DV as MPEG

Kishor-Tanna wrote on 10/7/2020, 8:57 AM

I have made several attempts to "Record DV as MPEG". Clicked on "Record" button; however, following forward/rewind of the tape, the "Record" button fades and the recording on the tape is played but not recording. No problem recording the recording from the same tape in AVI. It appears that I am missing something here. I am using MAGIX Movie Edit Pro Premium Version 18.0.1.213 (UPD3)

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 10/7/2020, 9:05 AM

@Kishor-Tanna

Welcome to the Magix user to user forums.

Because the DV Recording facility in VPX12 is currently "non-functioning" I use MEP 2020 to record the output of digital conversion of analogue footage, typically, VHS. I've only ever used the ,avi option so really can't comment on the "DV as MPEG" option; I'm not even sure why it exists!

Hopefully, another user will be able to supply reasons why conversion to MPEG is a "good idea" (? @johnebaker?, @Scenestealer?) but I will freely admit to being perfectly happy with the .avi option.

Is there any particular reason why you want to record as MPEG?

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Kishor-Tanna wrote on 10/7/2020, 1:09 PM

@emmrecs.

Thanks for clarifying that the DV Recording facility in VPX12 is currently "non-functioning". Has this been highlighted to Magix? I expect they should fix this.

The reason I opted to use DV as MPEG is to save space on the PC storage medium. I have downloaded the 90 min video from tape to the PC using the avi option; however, this takes up 5 time more space. I have saved the avi file to MPEG-2 which, with my PCc takes about 2 hours and reduces the file size from 12 GB to 2 GB and does not impair the quality.

BTW: I have 6 GB RAM, AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core 6400+ 3.2 GHz Processor and 256GB SSD and not a very powerful Graphics Card; though running on Windows 10.

emmrecs wrote on 10/7/2020, 1:48 PM

@Kishor-Tanna

The problem of the non-functioning DV Recording in VPX12 has indeed been raised with Magix! According to a reply I received from Support, it should be a comparatively easy task to restore the function but, as to when, who knows?

If you were able to save a 90 minute .avi as a 12 GB file, you must have been using quite a low bitrate. What are you using as the capture/digitising device?

When digitising analogue video I generally work on the principle that 1 hour of material is going to equate to about 13 GB. The quality of the resulting file is more than adequate for those clients simply wanting to be able to access their old VHS recordings, but for which they no longer have a player.

Most of my clients want the final output to be DVD, for which I find that a maximum of about 1.5 hours of footage, so an .avi file of about 19 - 20 GB, exports without problem to MPEG-2 and just about fills the capacity of a standard recordable DVD, about 4.7 GB.

Yes, I do have several terabytes of disc storage space! I have to confess, I would not even consider doing any video digitising, editing or similar if my only hard drive was a 256 GB SSD, sorry. You really do need to seriously consider investing in a large USB external hard drive, preferably USB 3 if you have at least one USB 3 port on your machine.

I'm sure I remember another user once pointing out that there is some quite serious disadvantage in recording straight to MPEG format, especially is any great amount of editing is to be done to the file.

Jeff

johnebaker wrote on 10/7/2020, 3:27 PM

@Kishor-Tanna, @emmrecs

. . . . I'm sure I remember another user once pointing out that there is some quite serious disadvantage in recording straight to MPEG format, especially is any great amount of editing is to be done to the file. . . . .

That could well be @AAProds, @Scenestealer and myself as we have all, at some point, commented on the suitability of MPG for editing and, IIRC, recommended AVI for recording - correct me I am wrong Alwyn and Peter.

The format has, IMO, an inherent issue due to the nature of the audio syncing within a MPG file and it is prone to audio drift/loss of sync during editing, often with the need to recreate the frame table on import and again after heavy editing, the quality is also somewhat poorer than AVI due to its higher compression and does not recompress well.

John EB

Scenestealer wrote on 10/7/2020, 4:05 PM

@johnebaker @Kishor-Tanna @emmrecs

Hi John

Ha ha! Don't get @AAProds started on this subject.....but basically I think we all agree that if you are going to do any further editing and cleaning up of the digitised VHS material it is best to start with the least compressed format to capture to.

DV-AVI is the easiest to do if you are capturing via a firewire device connected to the PC be it a card, or a pass-through from a DV camera, but Alwyn and others find even better results albeit with an even larger file size using an "Uncompressed" "Lossless" AVI Codec. Another lowly compressed codec is the one available from the MEP capture window MEP's .MXV format but you would use these as intermediate files for the purposes of video clean up and then export to MPEG2 or MPEG4 for storage or viewing.

Another reason for not capturing straight to MPEG2 is that MEP needs to compress the DV "on the fly" in realtime and if your PC is lower spec then the capture's quality may be compromised in the process, as MPEG compression does not like noisy material.

Peter

Kishor-Tanna wrote on 10/7/2020, 4:30 PM

Okay. I am a novice compared to you guys and take all you comments on board. Bottom line, stay with avi and stay well clear of MPEG when importing from the tape, regardless whether analogue or digital tape/capture device. Thanks again all.