[Recovered Thread: 85310]

[xphyle]

Hey all!

My Creative Labs Divi 428 can capture video on both formats. Is there any reason to select one over the other? I am currently using .avi as my default. Does .asf offer any advantages whatsoever? Quality, etc?

Thanks in advance!

Xphyle

[sgspirit]

It seems to me that one of them takes less memory space for the same length of clip - something you can determine by experimenting. Also, there is better application support for .avi than .asf.

I know of no difference in quality, but hopefully someone will post if they know better. I have cameras that do both, and any noticable difference in quality is due to other things.

Nice to have the choice on your camera, because that will also mean it can playback either format with no problems.

BTW, I believe this is a rebranded Hanshing.

[juandelacruz]

I hope this helps.

Size of the file is greatly influenced by the CODEC and not the format.

MPEG-1 used by VCD, file extension in the disk is .dat, on the PC .mpg

MPEG-2 used by DVD video, file extension can be .vob or .mpg

MPEG-4 used by Divx (file extension .avi or .div), another variation XviD (extension .avi). Microsoft has its own version and is used in .asf or .wmv

MPEG-4 is the newest codec, it compresses the file better than MPEG1 and 2 but the quality is close to MPEG2 or DVD video. This means that previous movies in VideoCD format (352x240) that requires 2 cd's can now fit in one CD at double the resolution (you will find this in numerous P2P sites where one complete movie in DivX format can be recorded in just 1 CD).

Why is .asf not so good ?

1. It is a proprietary format by Microsoft. My favorite (free) editor VirtualDub used to be capable of handling .asf but Microsoft ordered VirtualDub to remove the capability. now I have to look for other software that will be able to edit ASf.

2. New cheap DVD players can play DivX or XviD (.avi) directly but not the ASF.

[Grimbor]

The MPVR shoots exclusively in ASF, but you can still use VirtualDub withthosefiles by using AVISynth as an intermediary.

All you need is a very short script:

DirectShowSource("YourFilePath/YourFile.asf", fps=30)

return last

With that, you can open ASF files in VirtualDub.

To me, both VirtualDub and AVISynth are indespenable tools, especially when you add in a few of the great plugins that are out there.

Grim

[juandelacruz]

Hi Grimbor,

Thanks for sharing the tip. It's been a while since I scout the web for the latest plugins of Virtualdub.

So the first item is no longer valid. The only advantage of using DivX AVi is that I can watch movies directly on the cheapo DVD players (without any PC)

[Grimbor]

Just to clarify for those that might not be as familiar with this subject:

VirtualDub is a freeware video editor. It has limited (but useful) clip trimming and concantenating functions, but it's real power (IMHO) are the plugins and filters that let you do everything from color correcting video, to adding zooms, to motion stabilization.

AVISynth is a completely separate, script-based program. Basically, it acts as an intermediary. Any file that you can play in Windows Media Player can be opened by AVISynth and the resulting frames are passed along to your video application, VirtualDub in this case. AVISynth also has a lot of commands for doctoring video and also supports its own plugins for added functionality. Extremely powerful, once you get the hang of it.

Grim