I have just purchased a DV Camcorder and am trying to find the best and cheapest way to store my videos. I will be getting the IEEE-1394 connection for my computer and will be editing the videos I create. I read briefly about the use of VCD's that play in DVD players. What's a good video editing program to get? Can I burn VCD's to a standard CDR/CDRW burner and do I need special CDR's. Thanks in adnvance for your help.

Jason

-- Jason (jason.dell@voicestream.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

I haven't ever used a DV camcorder to make VCDs, but I can help you with a few of your questions. www.vcdhelp.com has a lot of good, helpful guides that could probably get you started. All DVD players do not support CD-R/W discs. vcdhelp also has a DVD player compatiblity list that can tell you if your player will play VCDs burned to CD-R or CD-RW. There are several editing programs you can use. www.tmpgenc.com, the source of TMPGenc, is free and can be used for editing, but it's fairly painful. I use MPEG2VCR from www.womble.com. Unfortunately it costs $249 US because it also edits MPEG-2 video, but it's a great program. They make a MPEG-1 only version for about $50 I think that you might like. You can get a demo copy at the web site. You don't need special CD-Rs, but all CD-Rs are NOT identical. Generally, avoid those cheap no name brands where you get something like 50 for $10. I've read quite a few posts from guys who've had major problems with no name brands. If you live near an Office Max, they sell 50 packs of 80 minute Prime Peripherals brand CD-Rs. I like these. They're at a good price and some Sony DVD players that don't support CD-R will play these without any problems. However, I have had friends try this brand on other DVD players that didn't support CD-R and they didn't work. Most players support CD-RW, but not all. With CD-RW, avoid the no name brands too. I've had good luck with Sony and Maxell brand CD-RW but as always, your mileage may vary. Read EVERYTHING you can at vcdhelp before you get started. www.doom9.net and www.digital-digest.com might also have some guides that can help you. The more you read about making VCDs before you get started, the fewer problems you will have. I suggest you start by burning to CD-RW as you're not likely to make good VCDs when you first start, but after you burn a few and get the hang of it, you'll start to do better.

-- Jason (not the same) (Jason.Shumate@equant.com), December 04, 2001.

In my experience, Puremotion's edit studio is the best software for capturing and editing DV. It can be used both for capture through IEEE1394 and for editing.The best thing is that you can capture in DV type-2 format; most others only allow DV type-1. If you want to produce VCD through TMPGEnc, you should make DV type-2 files first.It does not accept type-1. Good luck.

-- Jamst (jamst2000@yahoo.co.jp), December 05, 2001.

TMPGenc does accept type-1 DV if the codec is installed and registered in Windows which is what happens when you install drivers for your OHCI 1394 card, and if the VFAPIinstall.bat file that comes with TMPGenc is run. I for one capture and edit with Ulead Media Studio 6; I know I have created type-1 DV AVI files because I can export them straightaway back to DV tape, and use the same files directly as source when encoding to MPEG-1/2 with TMPGenc.

-- M. Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), December 06, 2001.

I (and some others) have also found that sometimes TMPGEnc might accept DV type-1 format (with or without the VFAPI, which is useful when you are frame serving). But TMPGEnc is a VFW-based application and it uses the VFW-wrapping (which comes with winME & 2000) to handle WDM based formats. The performance of this VFW-wrapping is very unpredictable. Sometimes it works & sometimes it does not. This is why TMPGEnc officially says that it does not support DV Type-1 (Please see the FAQ or click on the priorities in TMPGEnc). I know that Ulead media studio users have been lucky in this regard (there are many such posts in many other forums). The codec might have something to do with this. I use winME & 2000 and both my computers have OHCI-complianat IEEE-1394. Sometimes TMPGEnc works with the DV type-1 but most of the times it won't. And it never had any problem with DV type-2 (which is devised only to support VFW-based applications).

-- Jamst (jamst2000@yahoo.co.jp), December 08, 2001.

this may be drifting afield of the original post, however, it may be useful to note that it is possible to take a type 1 DV from mediastudio pro and save it as a type 2 DV. I do this with mainconcept's DV codec prior to svcd conversion with TMPGEnc. the mainconcept codec is free if you don't mind a small watermark.

-- bill ravens (cuervo@newmexico.com), January 06, 2002.