re: video editing program for Sony DCR-PC101

[jazcan]

Hello,
I have a question that I hope someone can answer. My mom owns a Sony DCR-PC101 minidv recorder. When she originally got the camera she also purchased cyberlink's Powerdirector Pro. She's had nothing but problems with this program and would like to get another program. I know that the best video editing program is supposedly Adobe Premiere but my question is this?

On adobe's site I found this:
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/29ad2.htm

I take it from this that MPEG-1 files cannot be imported to premiere since they will be recompressed after editing. We tried a friend's premiere 6.5 and when we captured the video from my mom's camera the resulting file saved as an avi file. I know that in-camera the movie format is MPEG-1 (according to Steve's old review) and I'm wondering why the file saved as an avi file. When we played the video after capture, it was fine but I'm wondering if editing then recompressing for DVD format will lose a lot of quality.

Any help on where I can find out some info on this topic would be appreciated. I didn't even really know what forum to post this question in but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'd contact adobe and ask them but it appears that I actually have to own premiere to ask questions about using it.

Thanks in advance,

Tracey

[jazcan]

Well after a lot of reading I think I've figured it out.
When video is transferred directly from a dv camcorder:
The quality of the video captured via Firewire to your hard drive will be identical to the quality of the video recorded on the tape in your DV camcorder (DV format).

The video is not MPEG-1 unless it is video that is taken and stored directly on the memory stick, therefore, capturing the video from tape only becomes an avi file when it is transferred and stored on the harddrive.

This is probably common knowledge for a lot of old hands out there but it took me a while to get around this concept.

Anyway, I'm glad the premiere can be used with the camera.

Now we just have to figure out how to use it :lol:

[amazingthailand]

Yes, you got it right. The video from a DV camcorder, when transfered via firewire to your computer's hard drive is essentially the same as the original DV on your tape.

Editing is essentially lossless, depending upon what *effects* you add to your finished product.

MPEG1 format is what is captured from the *old* analog video cameras. DV beats it hands down.

Premier is definately one of the best mid priced video editors on the market, however it is kind of pricey. There are a bunch of entry level video editors under or at the $100 price point.

As you may have guessed from the dearth of responses to your question, this is really not the best place for video related questions. So here are a few video related sites to try:

http://www.dvspot.com/
http://www.simplydv.co.uk/index.html
http://www.videoguys.com/
http://www.moviecodec.com/
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/top.html

Hope those are of some help.

Declan

[jazcan]

Thanks very much for your reply. I did do some searching for other forums but a couple of them were only available to paid subscribers. My mom did end up buying adobe premiere and now we just have to learn how to use it :lol:

Thanks for the links!!!!!!