ley studio

dv transfer

This is G o o g l e's cache of http://www.cspry.co.uk/links/video_digital.html as retrieved on 31 May 2005 10:38:23 GMT.
G o o g l e's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web.
The page may have changed since that time. Click here for the current page without highlighting.
This cached page may reference images which are no longer available. Click here for the cached text only.
To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:RH3s-Jbtj0IJ:www.cspry.co.uk/links/video_digital.html+transfering+video+dv+firewire&hl=en&start=3


Google is not affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.
These search terms have been highlighted: video dv firewire
These terms only appear in links pointing to this page: transfering
Digital video: Background and purchasing decisions



This page was written by Christopher Spry and last updated on 04 April 2005. It discusses the options I considered before selecting the digital video camera, computer hardware and software that I would use to make digital video films. Please let me know about errors or omissions.

I am an amateur photographer with several years experience of analogue video. About three years ago I began to find out how to create digital video movies and still pictures. I wanted to be able to edit digital video on a personal computer, then store and output digital video film to either television, printed medium, CD-ROM or web servers. While searching for suitable information, I came across many useful web pages of information and advice on these complex and rapidly-moving topics. If you have similar interests, you may find some of the information and links useful. Note that my brief survey has not included non-PC computing hardware platforms, such as Apple and SGI computers, which are covered extensively on other sites. The camera equipment, PC computer hardware and editing software that I finally put together in January 2001 are listed below. See also my second video page on 'Digital video: Editing'.
Index:
1. Background information
2. DV camcorders
3. Video tapes
4. Surveillance video cameras
5. DV camcorders and still pictures
6. Microphones and sound recording equipment
7. Filters and lenses
8. Lights and lighting
9. Tripods, trolleys, booms etc.
10. DV capture cards and devices with editing (NLE) software
11. IEEE-1394 PC connection cards without (NLE) software
12. Analogue/digital conversion
13. Video compression
14. Video disk array hardware
15. Non-linear editing (NLE) software
16. Computer video graphics cards that support two monitors
17. Preview monitors, including 'vector scope' and 'waveform' monitors
18. Digital video recorders (VCRs)
19. Retailers of video equipment and software
20. Books, magazines and journals
21. Digital video production companies
22. The camera, hardware and editing resources I have bought


1. Background information:

A few years ago, video camera only recorded in analogue video formats. Now, analogue formats are being replaced by digital video formats. Digital video is usually recorded into 'avi', MJPEG', QuickTime and other types of digital video format, so that it can be stored on computers, sent over the Internet or viewed directly on computer monitors or TV sets. Another major benefit of digital video is that it can be edited on computers and copied repeatedly without loss of picture or sound quality. However, until digital television and digital computer monitors become more generally available, analogue devices (usually a standard TV with or without a VCR) will generally still be used to view digital video. But this creates problems, as there are several different analogue TV video formats, including NTSC and PAL, to be considered. In addition, TVs and computer monitors differ in the way that they present video (gamma values), so digital video that looks right on one type of display, may appear wrong on another.

Hopefully, the day will come when all images are recorded, edited, stored and played back in standard digital formats and when all display devices use a common digital display standard. Until then, there are selections and compromises to be made because of differences in current video and graphic 'formats'.

Currently, camera equipment, computer capture devices and software are available to
(a) make digital video (DV) movies or clips, using near-broadcast quality DV camcorders
(b) transfer the videos to PCs using DV capture cards and
(c) edit video with non-linear editing software (NLE) so that the video can be (1) output to disk, tape or CD-ROM with no loss of sound or video quality from the original recording (2) copied to VHS video tapes for viewing with VCRs and standard TV sets.
DV cameras record video and compress it 5:1 to ' DV' in either the PAL or the NTSC format, not both (see below).
There are two common digital video formats, which were originally designed to be used by consumers, called 'DV' and 'Digital8' and two other formats for professional work, which are called 'DVCAM' and 'DVCPRO'. Subsequently, professionals have found 'DV' useful, in addition to their own two formats. 'DV' is the format most commonly used by the general public and it is the one focused on in this review. Note that 'digital video' and 'DV' may not be synonymous.
TVs and VCRs. 'Standard' analogue TVs and VCRs most commonly use either the PAL or NTSC video formats. Some TVs and VCRs are 'Multi System' and have worldwide capability because they are designed to receive signals in more than one standard. Most of these can show NTSC, PAL and other popular transmission formats but their features vary by brand and model and they may not be able to record in the 'opposite' format.

There are two principal analogue transmission video formats in use around the world today:
National Television Standards Commission (NTSC): This is the transmission standard used in the United States. American televisions are designed to receive signals broadcast in NTSC.
Phased Alternate Line I (PAL I): This is the transmission standard used in the United Kingdom. British televisions are designed to receive signals broadcast in PAL I.

'DV' can be shown directly on digital television or digital video screens. 'DV' has to be converted into analogue streams for showing on analogue televisions, when it may be in either (a) the 'NTSC' standard, when it is given a timebase' of 29.97 frames per second, 'resolution' of 720 x 480 and 'sampling' of 4:1:1 or (b) the 'PAL' standard, when it is given a 'timebase' of 25 frames per second, 'resolution' of 720 x 576 and 'sampling' of 4:2:0. Fortunately, consumers need not be concerned about these technical details, unless they stray into the world of professional digital videography.

In addition to differences in the format of the video that they receive, TV screens and computer displays also have different gamma values. This is the relationship between numerical pixel value and the amount of light displayed. Video cameras usually have no way to compensate for this difference, to allow the user to select for one or the other. The only way to do this is to set a 'gamma correction' or to alter the 'brighten/contrast' in the computer's video editing software. Of course, if you do this and then send the image back to your camera as a title screen etc., it will now look too bright on a TV screen and vice versa. You can try to adjust the computer monitor to match the TV appearance, which helps somewhat. This issue is discussed in the Beale FAQ. An ideal option, if the output will go finally to TV, is to use a 'true broadcast specification' monitor, rather than a standard computer display, for viewing and editing the video before it is stored for playback. High quality video is also checked with 'Vector scope' and 'Waveform' monitors. These have a setting with 'colour bars' to define the standard output and enable edited to be saved in an optical form.

Converting PAL and NTSC VCRs are available that produce a 'true' conversion of one format to another and the converted signal can be saved to tape. Some cheaper VCRs can output NTSC tapes to a TV in PAL format, but this can not be captured as PAL video because they only create a 525 line\60Hz picture with a PAL type colour subcarrier. Also, note that if you convert from PAL to NTSC the video can ' stutter' due to the extra frames per second. Converting video from NTSC to PAL requires either stretching the frames and the reducing picture quality or adding black bars to the top and bottom of the picture. For these reasons, it is desirable to record to the format they will be output.

Software and hardware can be purchased to convert between PAL and NTSC. Canopus sell software called 'DV Format Converter' for about US$400 and 'aDVanced DV PAL/NTSC Converter', a $98 shareware program to do conversions, has been well reviewed. Keene in the UK, sell hardware to convert between the two standards. Often is it best to have the conversion done professionally for small numbers of tapes.

Here are some links with background information on digital video:
DV 'FAQs', by David H Dennis and Charlie Diaz. The DV format, by Adam Wilt.
'Camcorder Info' links and advice for users.
Video EFX information at 'Pixelan'.
Marc Peters' online guide to digital video creation.
QuickTime
Why faces look blue
Directors Guild of America DGA.
Victor Khong's 'Technical section' has information on 'Tape to Film Transfer Facilities', 'Digital Video Cinematography - Part 1 & 2', 'Film and video's motion clarity signatures', 'Exposure and luminance shooting DV', 'DV Cinematography requires a DV Director of Photography', 'Making your video look more like film', 'Lighting tips on a penny budget', 'Sony TRV900 and Canon XL1 side by side', 'Canon XL1 issues', 'Shooting 16:9 widescreen on MiniDV', 'Video Fallacies', 'Inexpensive dolly from Home Depot'.
The Desk Top Video Handbook On Line advice on editing by VideoGuys.
Robin's Video and Camcorder Web Site with reviews of camcorders and advice on making videos.
Usenet newsgroups and discussion groups about video include news:rec.video.desktop, news:rec.video.production, news:rec.video and 'Video University' which includes 'Casablanca Users'.
Cinematography Mailing Lists.


2. DV camcorders
Categories

DV cameras can be grouped into three categories:
Professional-level £6,500 and up) for news crews and production studios
Semi-professional models (£2,000 to £6,500) suitable for small television stations or large corporations that shoot a lot of video
Entry-level models (£800 to £2,000) for business and home users (consumers and 'prosumers').

Traditional analogue camcorders cost between £300 and £1,000.
Comparisons

'What Camcorder' magazine has awarded the Sony TRV30 the 'Camcorder of the Year' award in their January 2002 issue. The magazine says 'It managed to pull off the difficult balancing act of being a well built, robust machine that was both compact and stylish ... video was simply beautiful. Images revealed themselves to be sharp and well detailed, with good colour reproduction and very little noise ... Put quite simply, you'll be hard pushed to find a more versatile tool with such functionality'. When launched, the TRV30 cost about £1,500 in the UK, but now it can be found with full warranty for less than £1,000. Other 'What Camcorder' awards were:
Compact Camcorder of the Year - JVC GR-DVP3.
Beginner's Camcorder of the Year - Panasonic NV-DS27
Enthusiasts Camcorder of the Year - Panasonic MX300
Analogue Camcorder of the Year - Canon UC-V50Hi
Innovation of the Year - Sony's MICROMV compression/media format.
Budget DTV Package of the Year - VideoWave DV Suite
DTV Package of the Year - Pinnacle DV500
Accessory of the Year - Camsling's mini DV support

Ten 'entry-level' cameras were reviewed by 'PC Magazine' in the 6 April 1999 issue, using the Canon XL1 for comparisons. The Editors' Choice was the Sony DCR-TRV900. The Panasonic NV-MX300B was was reviewed in February 2001.

David Ruether has information on current (December 2001) Sony mini-DV cameras, comparing them on the basis of their CCD chips. He has also compared the following cameras and provided 'frame-grabbed'-pictures to compare them: Sony PD-150, PC-1, TRV-9, TRV-900, VX-1000 and VX-2000; Panasonic AG-EZ30U; and Canon GL-1 and XL-1 - with a Sony UVW-100 Beta SP with Canon YH1 8x6.7 lens used as a reference. Comments about the Sony PC-7 and the Panasonic AG-EZ1U are also included there.

ZDNET has reviewed and compared eight MiniDV cameras costing £650-£1,500, on 10 March 2000. The JVC 'GR-DVL9800' was the 'Editor's pick' @ £1,300.

'PC World.com' has reviewed in June 2001 Canon's Elura 2, JVC's GR-DVM90, Sony's DCR-PC110 and Panasonic's PV-DV401

'SimplyDV.com' has reviews on eight MiniDV cameras: Sony DCR-TRV20E, Sony DCR-PC110E, Sharp VL-PD6, JVC GR-DVL9800, Canon XM1, Sony DCR-VX2000E and JVC GR-DVX10 DV camcorders and the Sony DCR-TR620E Digital8 camcorder. The reviews are based on articles that were published in the U.K. 'Camcorder User' magazine in the year up to January 2001. It also has advice on choosing and using digital video cameras, devices and software.

Personal reviews of many camcorders are available at 'Camcorderinfo'.

dvspot. The goal of dvspot is to make it easy to consumers to find details of current digital video camcorders and accessories, and to understand the complexities of DV. It is a companion site to the popular Digital Camera Resource Page, It includes news and reviews and is useful for comparing video camera features.
Selected cameras

Necessary features are IEEE-1394 for DV input and output and three 'charge-coupled device' (CCD) chips for optimal results. The following are highly regarded:
Canon XL-1 with interchangeable lenses. Charlie Diaz's advice and information on it. Although this is a camera for professional productions, It does not provide 'true' 16 x 9 screen format film.
Canon GL-1/XM-1 This is a newer model (July 1999) with analogue-in and professional Fluorite x 20 zoom lens. The suggested list price is US$2,699. In the USA this camera is called the 'GL-1' and in Europe it is called the 'XM-1'. 'See the GL1-411 web site for more information.
Sony DCR-VX2000 is widely regarded as the 'best' compact DV camera for professionals, costing about £2,500 or US$2,600. It was released in 2000 and superseded the Sony DCR-VX1000 which was first released in 1995. A pre-sales assessment is available and it was reviewed in 'Computer Video' July 2000. There is a comparison of the VX1000 with the Canon XL-1. It is used by the BBC, among others. The DSR 300 is more expensive. If you need the 16 x 9 format, the VX2000 is also the best unit at this price although the more expensive DSR 500 and DXC D30 WS are able to provide it. Buy the Sony VX2000 Mini DV camcorder online.
Sony DCR-HC1000 has replaced the DCR-TRV900. Comments and information by John Beale. (He prefers it to the more recently released Sony DCR-TRV950). Survey of users. This appears to be one of the best of the current (December 2002) digital camcorders for non-professionals, costing about £1,200 on discount or US$2,000. Note that although both the NTSC and PAL versions of the TRV900 have analog video input and output, in Europe, versions prior to about July 2000 of the TRV900E had IEEE-1394 and A/V input disabled. Check this before buying or enable the deficient cameras with a widget. No TRV900 model, as sold, has direct analog->IEEE-1394 'pass-through', although (like most MiniDV cameras) it does go directly in the opposite direction, IEEE-1394 to analog. There is a firmware hack to enable direct pass through for analog input, so you do not have to record to MiniDV tape first to get analog video into a computer attached by a IEEE-1394 connection. You can buy the Sony DCR-TRV900 Mini DV camcorder online.
Sony DCR-TRV17 is reviewed and well received at ZDNet in September 2001 as a camera for beginners. It has a list price of US$1,100.
Sony DCR-TRV80 is reviewed and well received at ZDNet in August 2003 as a camera for technical connoisseurs. It has a list price of US$1,500.
Sony DCR-PC100. This digital video camera is also designed to take stills at 1,152 x 854 pixels. It provides up to 520 lines of resolution and has 'Memory Stick' removable still picture storage. It is small: about the size of a Walkman personal stereo and only weighs 1 pound, 3 oz.
Panasonic NV-EX3B. Tiny, 400g DV camcorder with IEEE-1394 and progressive mode for still pictures.
Panasonic NV-MX300E. Various Video magazines have rated this camera above the Sony TRV-900 and just below the Sony DCR2000, but others disagree.
Canon ZR10. Small home movie camera costing only US$750 and with excellent quality images.
Hitachi have a camcorder model DZ-MV550E that records onto DVD rather than tape.
Enabling DV camcorders in Europe with 'DV-in' disabled

The EU requires DV camcorders to be sold with 'DV in' disabled unless they are also classed and pay additional tax as 'videoplayers'. Several web sites have methods to activate 'DV in', when it has been disabled on models sold in Europe, see (1) Datavision, (2) DV 2000 and (3) Smart DV, UK, £40 for Panasonic DV camcorders. Steve Savva discovered the Panasonic 'dv-in' source codes and writes that his software is the cheapest option!
Cleaning video camera heads and moving parts

Do not clean the camera's head, unless you regularly see video 'drop outs' in video made with the camera. First, try using a (dry) head cleaning tape sold by the camera manufacturer for this purpose. If this does not solve the problem, do not attempt to clean it manually yourself. Never touch the recording head with any cleaning device, unless you have been trained how to use it. Instead, take the camera for cleaning by a skilled professional video technician, who will not use 'cleaning buds', 'q-tips' or any material other than chamois leather or lintless swabs, which are sold specifically for 'head' cleaning, and highly purified specialist cleaning fluids. Most samples of cleaning fluid sold to the general public will damage a video camera by leaving a film that will fuse to the recording surface. Stroking the head across its surface can ruin it. Movement must be along the direction of the tape. You have been warned!
3. Video tapes
It is generally best to use more expensive tape, if several are available from a manufacturer.
Tapes that were made some years ago may have problems, so only buy recently manufactured tapes.
Some MiniDV tapes have embedded chips that allow data to be recorded about when they were used. This is only useful when a tape is taken out of the camera and reinserted later. They are much more expensive than standard tapes and not generally recommended.
It is often recommended that new tapes should have one continuous clip of blank video and sound recorded on them from the beginning to the end of the tape, to provide a continuous 'datestamp' and 'timecode' for recordings, which are later made in discontinuous sections. This 'formats' the tape so that it can be read end-to-end by NLE software. The process is called 'blacking' or 'striping' the tape. 'Blacking' is not needed when a tape has not been ejected between takes and the camcorder has an 'end search' function to find the end of the last recorded section.
Do not record useful video on the first 10 seconds of the tape to make it easier to use NLE software to find the start of the first clip.
Avoid recording to the very end of the tape, as this may (very rarely) damage the tape or camcorder.
MiniDV tapes can be played, in some camcorders, in a standard play (SP) mode of 60 minutes or in a long-play (LP) mode of 90 minutes. LP mode should only be used when the tape will only be played back in the device that created the video in LP format. Other devices may not be able to read the recordings made in LP mode. Do not record in LP-mode over a tape that has previously been used in LP mode, as this can produce video that cannot be edited with NLE software. For these reasons, LP mode is best avoided, if possible.
Follow the advice in the pack, on how to store and use digital tapes. They need to be run through a deck or camera once a year, to expose the magnetic surface to air to prevent degradation.
Video tapes have a limited lifespan. 'Conservation OnLine' at Stanford University has links to information on video preservation issues and resources.
4. Surveillance video cameras

See Nevada Systems Inc. and Supercircuits amongst others.
5. DV camcorders and still pictures

There is an extensive comparison of still pictures made with many different video cameras by a_haru@big.or.jp. The text is in Japanese. To view a translation of the the text and to see the pictures, connect to BabelFish, enter http://www4.big.or.jp/~a_haru/index.html into the 'Website' box and select the Japanese to English translation of the web page. Video cameras can not yet match the picture quality of dedicated still cameras, when the image contains more than about 0.4 million pixels.

The Sony DCR-TRV900 gives good quality still pictures up to the resolution of the camera, which is 720 x 480 (345,600 pixels) for NTSC and 720 x 576 (414,720 pixels) for PAL You can record stills directly to a compact flash (CF) card, floppy disk or a Sony memory stick. Stills of equal quality can also be taken from the video using many non-linear editing programs, such as DVStorm.

The Panasonic NV-MX500 DV is one of the first DV camcorders to provide good quality still pictures. It is reviewed at SimplyDV.com.
6. Microphones and sound recording equipment

simplyDV have an overview of sound in videos. There is a review of microphones at Audio-technica. Good video cameras usually have competent on-board microphones. For amateurs, the Sennheiser MKE-300 short-shotgun microphone is an effective and inexpensive microphone to use in the hot-shoe. It can be bought from Keene with a matching 'Rycote windgag' for £162.50. When wrapped closely in air conditioner filter foam, this microphone is said to be very resistant to wind-noise.

For 'serious' audio, put the microphone close to the sound source. This requires a wired microphone and cable, or a wireless microphone. The Azden WLX-PRO wireless microphone tie-clip omni-directional microphone with discreet pocket transmitter and camera mounted receiver costs £179.99. Most videographers have several microphones for different situations and an even larger assortment of cables and adapters. Jay Rose has advice about professional audio for broadcast and multimedia.

The Azden Pro Series VHF Wireless Lavaliere Microphone System (search here), which costs about US$250.00, provides a wireless lapel microphone with transmitter and a receiver that fits on or under the video camera. Alternative microphones for professionals include the Sennheiser ME-66 microphone and K6 power supply, which records speech particularly well. There are other suggestions. These can be 'Shotgun' microphones, which are highly directional and have a long barrel that is pointed at a distant source of sound. An excellent shotgun microphone for the Sony TRV900 is the Sennheiser MKE-300 microphone which costs US$200 and uses one hearing aid type battery. It has a built in coiled cord that terminates in a stereo mini-connector. If your camera takes a stereo mini-in, you will need an 'XLR to stereo mini adapter'. Alternatively, you could buy an XLR box for your camera such as the 'XLR Pro' from Studio One, which costs about US$219. The Beyer MCE86s microphone is battery powered and works well with video recorders. You can purchase from Robert C. Fisher at rcfish@pacbell.net, a device that prevents recording of head/transport noise from a Sennheiser microphone mounted on a TRV-900. There is a radio-link microphone system from Samsontech.

Wireless microphones: Several cameramen have posted Usenet messages that Lectrosonic VHF 185 or 187 wireless systems are excellent devices and often can be bought used.
Information on sound recording and wind noise at Light Wave Systems.
Windscreens, screens and miniscreens are available at Roycote and Markertek.
Myths about 'microphone reach' are explained.

Audio is usually monitored, as it is recorded, using headphones attached to the camera. If this is not possible, there is a device which fits on the camera's accessory shoe called 'VU-PRO' (rather expensive at US$219), which gives a visual indication of the strength of the sound signal being recorded.
7. Filters & lenses
Use a neutral filter in front of a lens, to protect it. Outdoors, use a polarizing filter to lower the sky values and 'sharpen' them. The filter has to be rotated to find the best setting. 35-mm still photography filters also fit onto many video cameras, but may not be designed to work correctly with digital camcorders. Tiffen filters are often recommended and their 'Soft/FX' and 'Warm Soft/FX' filters are particularly good for portrait work.
The Vivanco VC95W, SQL series 0.5 X wide angle lens with a 52-mm thread costs £100.
The Vivanco VC95T, SQL series, 2.0 X lens converter (telephoto lens) with a 52-mm thread and stepping rings for 46, 49 and 55-mm, costs £100.
8. Lights and lighting

The Hahnel 'Zoom Opto 35' 6 volt on-camera lighting system is recommended and costs about £100. For independent digital cinema, industrial work, or training videos, more lights will generally be required. Lighting at Lowel is reasonably priced. Professional lighting equipment is available from Dedolight, Mole-Richardson, and Arrilights.
There is lighting information at 'Mole' and 'StageLighting'.
9. Tripods, trolleys, booms etc.

There is advice on how to reduce 'camcorder shake' while filming, using a variety of techniques.
Glidecam 1000 Pro camera stabilizer c$150 available in the UK.
MicroDolly, Hello Dolly!, Classic Video Productions Inc. Wheeled platforms, camera dolly, dolly track, and jib arm crane systems.
Karl-Heinz Huber provides 'Video Stabilizer' software, which ' stabilizes' shaky video streams under Windows95/98/me/NT/2000.
10. DV capture cards and devices with editing (NLE) software

Some computers have IEEE-1394 connections built in and a range of video (NLE) editing software can be bought separately to work with them. The IEEE-1394 specification is called 'Firewire' by Apple and 'i-Lnk' by Sony, which can be confusing, as they are identical. Most computers will require a capture card, to provide a way to send the video from a camcorder to the computer. All digital video capture cards should have one or more IEEE-1394 connections, so that video and sound on the camera can be sent to the computer (and usually back again) without loss. DV capture cards usually also have analogue connections for s-Video and sound. Some cards have a 'breakout box' (set of connectors) which can simplify cable connections. Some of the more recent cards have their connectors routed from the back of the capture card, through the computer to a panel set into the front of the computer. This makes it easier to attach the camera and reduces 'cable-clutter'.

Many DV capture cards are bundled with editing software that has been configured to work with them. Purchasing decisions should be based on both the quality and cost of the card, and their bundled NLE editing software. The cards listed below all have software included for capturing video from a camera, editing it and sending the resulting video to a VCR or camera.

There are reviews of IEEE-1394 input and output (I.O.) cards by 'Electronic Mailbox'. Pat Leong had provided a feature compilation of IEEE-1394 cards. The 'Silver List' of cards is maintained by Richard Lawler. Open System DV & IEEE-1394 non-linear editing for PCs. There are also some IEEE-1394 PCMCIA cards for notebook computers. The following list contains the most popular retail DV capture cards, which are not listed in any particular order.

There is a review and comparison by David Em of three add-in boards for PCs that provide real-time DV editing and playback: Pinnacle Systems' 'DV 500 Plus', Matrox 'RT2000' and Canopus' 'DV Storm'. 'PC Magazine', in February 2001, has reviewed a number of the cheaper analogue and digital video capture hardware devices and video editing software, with usability tests. It pointed out many of the problems that are still present in video capture and editing.
Canopus 'DV Rex M1', It is an 'analogue and DV editing solution'. "A DV software and hardware editing product which is tailored to give the digital video producer a complete video and audio editing solution. The DVRex editing system combines high quality DV video with multi-channel audio creating a new dimension of digital video production". It was rated as the 'Best Capture Board Over $2000' by February 1999 issue of 'Videomaker' magazine. "The DVRex-M1 is an outstanding high-performance video capture card for the serious DV non-linear editor. The DVRex-M1 has many features including great stability, Windows 9x and NT compatibility, no rendering, high-quality VGA overlays, PCI support etc." It costs US$ 2,599.00 at Safe Harbor Computers where there are detailed specifications. There is a program to test video cards to see if they will play back video on the computer screen with this software which requires hardware Direct Draw overlay. Note that it may be preferable to view video output on a TV rather than on a computer monitor, if the final result will be viewed on TV. This card supports output to TV. To be able to work properly with the Rex, PAL versions of DV cameras need to provide control 20 (control 10 is one way only), record/play (upload/download) via the 1394 link cable.
Canopus 'DVStorm2 Pro'. Single PCI bus board. Supports Windows 2000. Proprietary DV hardware CODEC on board. Real-time DV and analog output. Real-time capturing through DV and analog (s-video, composite) inputs. Output to MPEG1, MPEG2 and streaming video files. Frame accurate DV deck control (via 1394 interface) when capturing. Real-time editing within StormEdit and Adobe Premiere 5.1, upgradeable to v 6, when it is available. Real-time video tracks. Real-time moving titles. Real-time transitions and filters. StormBay - breakout box fits into a 5 ¼ " drive bay. There is an optional hardware MPEG encoder. The NLE editing software 'StormEdit' includes the components 'Storm Video', 'Storm Navi' and 'Storm Audio'. It also includes 'SoftXplode', Boris 'Graffiti Ltd,' SpruceUp trial edition, Sonic Foundry 'ACID Style', and Canopus 'Web Video Wizard'. Reviews at DigitalProducer and Canopus. One of the strengths of DVStorm is that it has real-time output to DV, so edited digital video does not have to be rendered, before it is output to tape. Canopus also sell a 'Video Out' Plug-in for Adobe's 'After Effects' with DVStorm, which lets you output a composited image from the 'After Effects' time line, to an NTSC or PAL monitor.
Canopus EDIUS Pro v 3. NLE software, which works with Canopus hardware and with Imaginate v 2, which enables graphics files to be manipulated for use in video.
Canopus 'DV Raptor'. $500. This is a 'DV editing solution'. "A DV and i.LINK card which links your DV camera to your PC. With the Raptor you can capture your DV footage through the i.LINK connection while simultaneously viewing full motion video on your computer display and video monitor". 'PC World' review. There are many satisfied users of this product. It comes with either 'Premiere' or 'Media Studio 6' NLE software.
Pinnacle Studio MovieBox USB is a well-designed device to capture analog video from camcorders and convert it to MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 with control over picture quality and sound. A USB-2 port is needed.
Digital Origin, formerly Radius. 'MotoDV', which has three 'plugins' that allow it to work under NT4 and costs £600. Digital Origin's 'EditDV', which had been used by Mac users for two years, has been ported to work under Windows. Initially EditDV's software only worked with Digital Origin hardware. Media 100's CineStream 3 is an upgrade to EditDV, which was acquired by Autodesk in September 2001.
Digital Processing Systems EditBay, dpsReality and dpsVelocity.
Fast Multimedia 'Studio DV', which is available for a PCI slot or a laptop, with a review at 'Videoguys'.
Iomega 'Buz'. It can be difficult to install and get running. When the software and hardware are working, it provides a pleasant little editing system. It does not support Premier 5.1 and video capture needs a separate program 'vidcap32.exe'.
Matrox 'DigiSuite'
Matrox 'RT2000' is one of the most cost-effective and advanced NLE options for domestic users. It provides real-time NLE-editing of MPEG-2 files with DVD-authoring and can be used to create a platform for video streaming on the web. It can provide complex real-time effects and transitions, including complex 3-D particle effects. Unfortunately, certified Windows 2000 Professional drivers are not available for it (April 2001). Additional information is available for Matrox users.
Pinnacle System products for home users: 'StudioDV Plus'.
Pinnacle System products for business users: DV500 Affordable high-quality native DV editing with real time effects. DC30plus The standard in digital editing for S-VHS. MOTION DC30plus Digital editing for S-VHS for the MAC. DV200 The standard in digital editing for DV.
Pinnacle System products for professional video users: Cinéwave. The New Wave in Digital Cinema. DC1000. Professional MPEG-2 real-time editing. DC2000. Dual Stream Component MPEG-2 Editing & CD Authoring Solution. TARGA Family. Large range of professional video editing and compositing solutions for PC and Mac. ReelTime Family. Realtime video editing with 3D effects for Abode Premiere and SpeedRazor InSync.
Pinnacle System products for DVD authoring: DVD2000 Professional Real-time MPEG-2 Video Editing and DVD Authoring Solution with Component I/O's.
ADS Technologies 'Pyro 1394' which includes Video Studio v 4.
11. IEEE-1394 PC connection cards without editing (NLE) software

The IEEE-1394 ('i-Link' or 'Firewire') connections are used to transfer video and audio streams between a video camera and a computer. They also enable camcorder control signals. Normally, they are not bundled with DV editing software. There are many of these, see for example:
Adaptec FireConnect 4300.
12. Analogue/digital conversion

Many people who have analogue tapes and want to convert them to digital formats. There are several ways to do this. The easiest is to purchase hardware designed to do this, such as Canopus 'ADVC-100', Dazzle's 'Hollywood DV Bridge' and 'Director's Cut'. Dazzle have a support web board with information about problems and possible solutions. (Some Dazzle units have had to be returned as unusable). Bidirectional 'Digital to Analogue Converters' (DACs) are available from Keene. The Sony 'Digital Video Media Converter' DVMC-DA2 costs slightly more and has connectors that allow conversion in either direction and to IEEE-1394. It can "convert Analog Video to Digital Video, or Digital Video to Analog; Transfer and Store Analog Video into the Digital Domain; Makes any TV i.LINK Interface Compatible; Selectable Switch for Analog or Digital inputs; Digital Audio Transfer". See a description. It appears to be the unit of choice for conversion work. Check that the chosen devices support PAL, if you need it. Note that, most modern DV camcorders can convert to and from analogue formats and there are many modern VCRs that do the same, but are probably not worth buying to do just conversion work. SwiftDVD.com in Atlanta, Georgia, USA provide a service to convert home videos and VHS/VHS-C including Mini DV, Digital8, 8mm Hi8 (Super8),and VHS/VHS-C (including VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C and DVHS) to DVD.
13. Video compression

Uncompressed source digital video takes up large amounts of storage space. There are many ways to 'compress' video, to take up less space but still provide adequate quality for playback. The word 'codec' (short for 'compress-decompress') is used for hardware or software that compresses or uncompresses graphic files.
'AVI' is the standard video compression format. It is less compressed than 'MPEG' (see below), but easier to edit.
There are two standards for AVI files: Type-1 AVI and Type-2 AVI. John McGowan has an AVI Overview resource and there is a discussion of the differences. All IEEE-1394 cards transfer unchanged 'AVI' video data streams between a video camera and a computer. The software on the computer determines which type of file it stores. AVI type-2 is the preferred format. Canopus cards, StudioDV, Vegas Video, DVIO, AVI_IO, and Main Actor can all capture to type-2 AVI files. Ulead MSP6, VS4, MGI VW3 all capture to AVI type-1, only.
You can convert between type 1 and type 2 with Ulead's 'Media Studio Pro v 6 program, but do not use the "convert" option in the menu. Instead, use the timeline, and create an AVI using type 2 option. There is further advice on how to convert Type-1 *.avi files to type-2, generated (for example) by Digital Video capture cards, to the Type-2 *.avi file format used (for example) by 'Premiere' and other video editing programs. You can also use the free DV Type Convertor tool, that is part of EditStudio, to convert Type-1 between Type-2 DV AVI files.
With DV video, audio and video are intermixed on a frame basis. If you capture (that is transfer the DV video over the IEEE-1394 bus to your PC), the software can extract the audio out of the DV stream and store it as an additional audio stream. Type1 based software does not do this, but leaves the DV data stream intact at the cost of incompatibility with older video for Windows based software, such as Adobe Premiere and others. You can use AVI_IO for your captures, but make sure to carefully read the information under 'DV Video', which will create DV Type-2 AVI files. These AVI files can then be imported into Premiere. If you do not have a 'DV Video' for Windows compliant codec installed on your system, one is available from Mainconcept, which can download as a trial version, before purchase.
There is a description of the maximal size of AVI files in different operating systems. There is no size limit for *.avi files that are 'OpenDML' v 1.02 compliant on NTFS formatted file systems, used by Windows 2000 Professional. In other systems the limit may be 4-GB or even 2-GB. Some NLE software can deal with these limitations by 'seamless' use of separate files.
'MPEG-I' and 'MPEG-2' video compression codecs are often used to distribute videos on CD-ROMs. Trevor Marshal has written a useful article about MPEG and preparing streaming video for different bandwidth connections. MPEG is used by the Pinnacle DC1000 card with Premiere software. MPEG-1 provides relatively low quality and high compressed files giving about 1-MB/minute for approximate VHS quality. MPEG-2 provides sVHS quality that is about twice as good, suitable for TV viewing. There are several products that convert digital video input to the MPEG format by Heuris, Ligos, Darvisions. See Kyong's MPEG Creation Help pages. MPEG-4 is still in preparation and there was no MPEG-3 format.
'Motion-JPEG' (M-JPEG) will give higher quality and low compression for quality that is better than VHS. Many video capture cards provide this format.
The 'ATI' codec, available in the All-in-Wonder, AiW Pro, TV Wonder, TV Tuner etc. cards, is a software compression scheme that provides compressed video of quality somewhere between MPEG and M-JPEG.
14. Video disk array hardware

Digital video (DV) runs at 3.6-MB/s. This means that (a) you need a hard disk that can support this rate of disk writing and (b) one minute of DV occupies 216-MB (3.6 * 60). Nine minutes of DV occupies about 2-GB and one hour about 13-GB. Programs to edit DV often require over twice this space for temporary and other files, so a rule-of-thumb is to provide 1-GB of disk space for each minute of DV that you propose to work with on your computer. If you have very large projects, a video disk array will be needed.
'Medéa'. 'Video Raid Arrays' storage arrays.
15. Non-linear editing (NLE) software

Many digital video capture cards are also sold with NLE software. Some come with additional hardware, such as a breakout box to make cable connections easier and so on. This makes it difficult to compare one product with another. There is a 'Silver' list of DV & IEEE-1394 NLE software for PCs. CNET reviewed and compared, on 1 May 2001, five video editing programs in the middle price range: Adobe 'Premiere' v 6.0, Media 100 'CineStream' v 3.0, Sonic Foundry 'Vegas Video' v 2.0, Apple 'Final Cut Pro' v 2.0 and Ulead 'MediaStudio' Pro 7 and recommended 'Premiere' and 'Final Cut Pro'.
For home and semi-professional use
Adobe's 'Premiere' v 6. Premiere v 6 for NTSC was released in December 2000 and Premiere v 6 for PAL will be available after about March 2001. Premiere is the commonest program used for non-linear video editing. It requires the user to spend some time learning how to use it. It has a reputation for being complicated and for crashing too often.
Digital Origin, formerly Radius. 'EditDV*' v 1.5 for Macs and v 1 for Windows. QuickTime-based. It will only work with Digital Origin hardware.
'AfterEffects'
'FinalEffects'
MGI's 'VideoWave 4'
'Speed Mach Razor'. It does not need to re-render clips, unlike Premiere 5.2 or Media Studio Pro 5.
Ulead's VideoStudio 4.0 provides an additional audio track you can use for voiceovers, and another track you can use for additional music. The main limitation with VideoStudio is that it is limited to just under 20 minutes, for any video project. Version 6 is expected early in 2000.
Ulead's VideoStudio v 8 is cheap but good video editing software. Ulead's 'Media Studio Pro' v 7. 'Media Studio Pro' Tutorial and links by Richard Jones. Video capture, editor, paint etc. It can be used with the DV Raptor hardware. Plug-ins are available: ViZFX by Intergraph Computer Systems, BorisFX, SpiceMaster by Pixelan Software, Hollywood FX Pro, PowerCG by Cayman Graphics, Crystal 3D Vortex by Crystal Graphics. 'MediaStudio Pro' has had good reviews.
Videonics
Pinnacle's 'StudioDV Plus'.

There is a comparative review in 'DV Magazine' October 1999, of 'EditDV' v 1.6, 'Final Cut Pro' v 1, 'Premiere' v 5.1 and 'Speed Razor' v 4.5.
For professional use
Avid Media Composer, which is a TV/movie industry standard. Premiere imitates its style and display.
Avid 'Symphony'
DPS 'Perception RT
Discreet's products
16. Computer video graphics cards that support two monitors

'Premiere' is easiest to use as video editing software, in a computer that has a video card which supports two monitors. There are several cards that support two monitors and work well with DVStorm:
ATI Radeon's 64-MB graphics board
Matrox Millennium G400 MAX
17. Preview monitors, 'vector scope' and 'waveform' analysis

Videographers should check the quality of their video before they save it to the final format:
1. By 'eye', using a TV set or LCD video monitor adjacent to the editing suite.
2. With NLE software, such as in 'DV Rex' and 'DV Storm' that analyze the 'Vector scope' and Waveform' properties of the video ('Vector scope' and Waveform' analyses are described at VideoUniversity.com).
3. On a 13"colour-calibrated professional picture monitor, that has a 'Blue Check' setting to provide a calibrated set of colours bars.
4. Using specialist equipment to analyze video signals. These are available from Tektronix, Videotek and Leitch but are expensive and are seldom used by amateur videographers.
18. Digital video recorders (VCRs)
JVC HR-DVS3. MiniDV/Super VHS Hi-Fi Stereo domestic VCR costing abut £700..
Panasonic DV-edit DVCPRO
Sony DSR-30 professional but entry-level DVCAM recorder.
Sony DHR-1000 DV deck, see Pete Skirrow's review.
Sony GV-D300/GV-D900, 'Mini DV Walkman VCR'. 5.5" LCD screen, analog and digital inputs and outputs, and connects to a linear or non-linear editor. It has LP record/playback, giving two hour on one 60 min. tape and costs < US$2,000.
19. Retailers of video equipment and software
UK
ASK Electronics retailers of electronic equipment.
Computers Unlimited
Digital Video Computing DVC.
HHB Communications Professional sound equipment
J Ackerman, cheap camcorder batteries and MiniDV tapes.
Jessops UK. Electronic equipment.
Keene Electronics UK. Electronic equipment, specializing in video-related items.
Maplin Electronics for cables and connectors.
OnLine GB, Canopus, Pinnacle etc. and professional video equipment for sale or hire.
PEC
Prime Television. Digital production and postproduction equipment and expertise for hire and use.
Unbeatable.co.uk, retailers of electronic equipment
USA
Abrupt Edge. Books, videos and links covering all aspects of production.
B & H - Photo, Video, Pro Audio.
Camera World of Oregon - Photo & Video.
Desktop Video at the MiningCo by David Simpson. General Desktop Video, including DV.
Digital Video Direct - Mail order retailer.
DV & Firewire Central with a DV-L List server
Electronic Mailbox
HHB Communications Professional sound equipment.
Mindlogic.
Omega Multimedia - DV mail-order source
Onecall - Audio Video Consumer Electronics
PacificCable.com sell cables for digital video equipment
'Pocket Producer' Timecode-accurate logging of video clips on Palm IIIx PDA.
Promax - reseller of Sony, Canon, Apple, Panasonic, Adobe, Adaptec, & other DV HW & SW
Rycote - sell microphone windshields
Safe Harbor Computers
SignVideo Ltd make and sell video production, editing & duplication equipment and accessories
Steadicam camera support devices.
Supercircuits video surveillance and micro-camera systems.
TapeOnline Retail blank videotapes, audiotapes, data backup tapes, labels, cases etc.
Videoguys Retail video editing hardware/software and video accessories but not TVs, VCRs or camcorders. They have a 'Best of 2000' page with useful comments on current video options.

Check current US prices at Shopper and Pricewatch.
20. Books, magazines and journals
'Basic Betacam Camerawork' ISBN 0-240-51360-6, $24.95 at Amazon, recently out of stock.
'Picture Composition For Film & Television' ISBN 0-240-51421-1, $44.95 at Amazon.
'Producing Great Sound for Digital Video' by Jay Rose, 375 Pages with audio CD, published by Miller Freeman Books, ISBN 0-87930-597-5, US$31.96 at Amazon.
'The Five C's Of Cinematography', ISBN 1-879505-41-X, $23.96 at Amazon.
'Video Production Handbook', 2nd Edition, ISBN 0-2405-1321-5, $29.56 at Amazon.
'Computer Video Editing' magazine has reviews with UK prices and suppliers. It has a discussion area.
'Digital Video for Dummies' 2nd Edition, available at Amazon.
'DV Live'
'EditorsNet' electronic magazine on editing.
'Modern Recording Techniques' by David Miles Huber & Robert E. Runstein. Recording sound
'The Filmmaker's Handbook'. Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. Paperback. 30 September 2000. Plexus Publishing; ISBN: 0859652939. £11.99 at Amazon.uk.
'The Low Budget Video Bible'. Cliff Roth. Paperback. 2nd revised edition edition. 31 December 1995. Desktop Video Systems. ISBN: 0963521616. £18.39 at Amazon.uk.
'Sound & Vision' formerly 'Stereo Review'
'Videography'. For the 'Club Vid' section of back issues use 'TRANSPORT'.
'Videomaker' magazine.
'What Camcorder' magazine.

21. Digital video production companies
CSST computer animation creation and rendering services.
John Burder Films.
SwiftDVD.com in Atlanta, Georgia, USA provide a service to convert home videos and VHS/VHS-C including Mini DV, Digital8, 8mm Hi8 (Super8),and VHS/VHS-C (including VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C and DVHS) to DVD
22. The camera, hardware and editing resources I have bought:
Camera: Sony DCR-TRV900E MiniDV three-CCD camcorder with DV and analogue input/out and six MiniDV tapes. I bought it in January 2001 from ASK Electronics, London, for £1,494.20 including VAT, the cheapest price for this PAL system that I could find in the UK. I also bought a set of Sony's lens protection and polarizing filters. I bought the camera because of its wide recognition as one of the best, if not the best, 'prosumer' video cameras with a large user base and support.
Personal computer: Dell Precision 610 PC with 550-MHz Pentium III Xeon processor with 1-GB cache, 256-MB SDRAM, Seagate 'Cheetah 18' (ST118202LW) 18.0-GB 10,000 RPM Ultra2/Wide SCSI hard disks, containing the operating system and programs. and other components. This computer also functions as my workstation. It was bought in April 1999, £5,073 excluding VAT. Canopus recommend a PC, the Dell Precision 330 with a 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 CPU, to use their DVStorm NLE hardware and software.
Hard disk: Seagate Cheetah 73.4-GB 10,000 rpm hard disk, for digital video files being stored and edited, bought January 2001 from 'Ingram Micro Services' for £992, excluding VAT.
Operating system: Windows 2000 Professional.
Non-linear editing hardware and software: Canopus 'DVStorm', with 'StormBay' breakout box, which fits into a 5 ¼ " drive bay, with NLE editing software 'StormEdit' (including the components 'Storm Video', 'Storm Navi' and 'Storm Audio'), 'Premiere' v 5.1, which I upgraded at no extra cost to version 6.0 a few months later, 'SoftXplode', Boris 'Graffiti Ltd,' 'SpruceUp' trial edition, Sonic Foundry 'ACID Style', and Canopus 'Web Video Wizard'. I bought 'DVStorm' in January 2001 from 'Online GB Ltd.', London for £1,285 without VAT. Later, I updated it to v 2. My decision was based on Canopus good reputation for support and the high quality of the 'DV Rex M1' card and 'Rex Edit' software, on which 'DVStorm' is closely based. Now (June 2004) I also use Canopus EDIUS Pro v 3 NLE software, which works with Canopus hardware and with Imaginate v 2, which enables graphics files to be manipulated for use in video.
Camera tripod, £45 including VAT. Essential for any photographer. I would like a better quality one, now that I have such a good quality camera.
Video cassette recorder: JVC HR-DVS2 video cassette recorder, which enables me to view on a television screen both my older analogue sVHS/C and VHS tapes and my current digital MiniDV tapes. It will also transfer video accurately between these two types of tape. (In March 2003, the JVC HR-DVS3EK replaced the DVS2 and can be connected to a computer to edit video.)



Go to the next page: 'Digital video: Editing'

Return to the 'home page'

Return to the 'useful links' page

© Christopher Spry mailto:cspry@cspry.co.uk.
#046;uk">mailto:cspry@cspry.co.uk.

posted by leynux @ 10:00 AM