RT2500 for archiving DV

[vitocorleone]

Question for anyone with the RT2500:

Is it possible to encode DV as anything but DV? In other words, with analog in and a Broadway board we could encode mpg1's (which, as it turns out, crash Premiere 6.x) on the fly, but the much more sophisticated RT2500 cannot. As I understand it, the RT2500 can't even do mpg2 unless you hook the dvcam up to the analog inputs.

I'm thinking that this factor, and the ~2sec delay factor means we will have to hook the dvcam up to the computer via analog cables again. Which is a real shame because of the added audio interference/hum from the multitude of hardware that has to be nearby.

Btw - this is for specialized use in a usability lab, where the video needs to be captured (and eventually archived on DVD) at the same time that notes are taken about what the participant is doing.

[Elie]

I have RT2500, and if I need to archive to DVD, here's what I do...

1-Capture from DV Cam via Firewire in DV format.
2-Edit you project if it needs editing, then export to IBP, that way you don't have to cope with analog captures.

My results are great and all rendering is done internally.

[vitocorleone]

thanks for the reply.

Is there a way to capture and compress at the same time so there isn't this multi-hour compression stage exporting dv to IBP? The ideal is that it's already compressed so the file can be copied to a data DVD without an extra export step.

The only editing that might get done is making a "highlights" clip of the session that needs to be rendered at high quality.

[Elie]

Ok if you don't want to do any rendering, you must use analog captures because Mpeg-2 is not a digital standard that can be captured via 1394.

So in this case, capture the footage needed via firewire, edit it, export back to DV then capture that footage via analog straight into Mpeg-2 IBP.

Cheers,
Elie

[Sciascia]

I think that the new Ulead stuff will let you do "realtime" capture from 1394 to MPEG2. It is actually pretty neat how it does it, a buffer type system that will pause the tape until your CPU catches back up, then starts it agin. It may use the new MPEG now codec which kicks the crud out of the old Ligos stuff.

Dr Mordrid would be a better source for the info, but it can be done.

[vitocorleone]

thanks! i'll look into it.

[Ted222]

I have tried Ulead's DV Workshop by just dropping in a straight DV Capture. The rendering was extremely fast and with very good results. Less than 2 minutes for about 3 minutes of video.

Of course I have a newer system with a P4-2 gig CPU.

I am pretty impressed with DVD Workshop so far, although I haven't captured with it, and don't see a need for that yet.

good luck,

Ted