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Quality Control
There is a new Sony DCR-DVD Cam in use, that shoots great pictures but is tricky to convert from a PC capture program to use with Apple FCP editing. Is there one Codec setting that works best to preserve the quality captured in the camera? Is there a work flow that is best to keep the camera’s picture resolution in tact all the way through to burning a DVD of the final product?
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3 Replies
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Well, Cam DVD output mpeg2 file, so its already compressed and can be tricky to edit. FCP can import mpeg2. It would just a second generation lost while output using Compressor from FCP.
Pete
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That’s correct, but if you really want to use the camera as an acquisition tool (not really recommended, DV is better in most cases), then I would suggest getting to know MPEG StreamClip on the mac. It’s free and does a excellent job handling most MPEG formats and quickly being able to convert them to editable formats like Uncompressed video.
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I really appreciate the information. As a matter of fact I am using Stream Clip, but for some reason there is often times black horizontal lines around images after I convert them to QuickTime movies for edition. The MPEG files that come off the camera don’t have sound. But Sony makes no bones about it, they say up front they are not compatible with MAC. After conversion, when there are moving shots there is some blur. I managed to get the images stable for a burn uncompressed 8 bit with a 4:3 ratio. It’s good, but not camera playback good. I am shooting DV pictures in 16:9 and the play back quality from the camera through the monitor is flawless. Only when I convert the MPEG files to DV Pro/DVD NTSC to use with FCP will the lines appear. I suppose I could try all of the options and find the best one, but I was wondering if someone with more experience might know already know a setting that keeps the pictures as high resolution as the playback from the camera. Maybe Sony should be more forth coming with this sort of information. The camera maybe small, it is also the future in many ways for gathering and editing video.
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