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DVCII incompatible files
OK,
After reading a lot about DVCII, I was curious. Given, I have a machine that can be reformated, the decision was made to give it a shot.
The hardware is very simple. The set is a PCI card and a BOB. The BOB is slightly smaller than the Marvel G400, but still kind of clutsy.
There is a lot of software that comes with the card. The DVDit package looks very nice for PC distribution (no DVD-R in my setup). The only drawback is that it is a limited edition version.
The installation was not pain-free, but I was prepared. Reading about the installation problems with this card helps. This card does not behave well when sharing an IRQ, so that is a first check. After the basic setup, the software would not recognize the card at all (Win98 setup). I went to Dazzle's support site and downloaded the latest driver/MovieStar software. This made it possible to actually get the card to be properly recognized by Win98/MovieStar.
Once the pre-op was done, it was time to get down to business. I captured some recent Hi8 footage of a recent trip to Inner Harbor (that's in Maryland, USA) at the highest setting (MPEG2, 720x480, 10Mbs, 24 bit color). The playback was very nice! The quality is definitely there.
This is not comparing apples to apples, but I decided to compare it with a MJPEG full frame capture with lowest compression. The MJPEG capture had the upper hand for color depth. However, I noticed the MJPEG capture had slightly more outline noise.
After having some fun, I looked deeper at the files. First, I took a look a at the bitrate. Even though the settings were for 10Mbs, the viewer only showed a rating of around 4Mbs. This is kind of odd. Has anyone out there had this type of experience?
Now for the big sticking point. Most folks do some form of editing with the video. The MovieStar software is just too simplistic for anything but the most basic home movies. The options are extremely limited.
An interesting item happened after that. I ran DVDit to try and incorporate the files into a simple project. They were not recognized! I even tried different captures. You have to do some type of editing/conversion with MovieStar before they are recognizable.
Continuing on to other software, I took the resulting MPEG2 files (.m2v) and tried to bring them into Ulead VideoStudio 5 (with the latest patches). VS5 did not recognize them! Ouch, this is not a good sign.
After the VS5 experience, I fired up Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6. Well, MSP6 sort of supports the files. Now, I know MPEG2 is rough to edit, but the files just did not play well with the 'source' or 'preview' windows. Every time, the output was just blank.
Being more dissapointed by this, I decided to continue. Some tinkering later, I finished some simple edits. The output process did not go well. I tried various codecs, but just could not get anything but a blank video.
The MSP6 experience was the last test I would complete with the DVCII setup. Even though the captures were very nice, the usability of the files is limited and the bitrate can be questioned. To my surprise, I find it hard to believe that owners of this card (at all levels) could be happy with MovieStar.
If anyone could give me input on their success with this card and other editing suites, I would appreciate it. If nothing changes, the card is going back to the store soon.
I would also appreciate it if owners of the PVR could relate their editing experiences with me (especially with VS5 and MSP6). These are sticking items with me.
Thank you
After reading a lot about DVCII, I was curious. Given, I have a machine that can be reformated, the decision was made to give it a shot.
The hardware is very simple. The set is a PCI card and a BOB. The BOB is slightly smaller than the Marvel G400, but still kind of clutsy.
There is a lot of software that comes with the card. The DVDit package looks very nice for PC distribution (no DVD-R in my setup). The only drawback is that it is a limited edition version.
The installation was not pain-free, but I was prepared. Reading about the installation problems with this card helps. This card does not behave well when sharing an IRQ, so that is a first check. After the basic setup, the software would not recognize the card at all (Win98 setup). I went to Dazzle's support site and downloaded the latest driver/MovieStar software. This made it possible to actually get the card to be properly recognized by Win98/MovieStar.
Once the pre-op was done, it was time to get down to business. I captured some recent Hi8 footage of a recent trip to Inner Harbor (that's in Maryland, USA) at the highest setting (MPEG2, 720x480, 10Mbs, 24 bit color). The playback was very nice! The quality is definitely there.
This is not comparing apples to apples, but I decided to compare it with a MJPEG full frame capture with lowest compression. The MJPEG capture had the upper hand for color depth. However, I noticed the MJPEG capture had slightly more outline noise.
After having some fun, I looked deeper at the files. First, I took a look a at the bitrate. Even though the settings were for 10Mbs, the viewer only showed a rating of around 4Mbs. This is kind of odd. Has anyone out there had this type of experience?
Now for the big sticking point. Most folks do some form of editing with the video. The MovieStar software is just too simplistic for anything but the most basic home movies. The options are extremely limited.
An interesting item happened after that. I ran DVDit to try and incorporate the files into a simple project. They were not recognized! I even tried different captures. You have to do some type of editing/conversion with MovieStar before they are recognizable.
Continuing on to other software, I took the resulting MPEG2 files (.m2v) and tried to bring them into Ulead VideoStudio 5 (with the latest patches). VS5 did not recognize them! Ouch, this is not a good sign.
After the VS5 experience, I fired up Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6. Well, MSP6 sort of supports the files. Now, I know MPEG2 is rough to edit, but the files just did not play well with the 'source' or 'preview' windows. Every time, the output was just blank.
Being more dissapointed by this, I decided to continue. Some tinkering later, I finished some simple edits. The output process did not go well. I tried various codecs, but just could not get anything but a blank video.
The MSP6 experience was the last test I would complete with the DVCII setup. Even though the captures were very nice, the usability of the files is limited and the bitrate can be questioned. To my surprise, I find it hard to believe that owners of this card (at all levels) could be happy with MovieStar.
If anyone could give me input on their success with this card and other editing suites, I would appreciate it. If nothing changes, the card is going back to the store soon.
I would also appreciate it if owners of the PVR could relate their editing experiences with me (especially with VS5 and MSP6). These are sticking items with me.
Thank you
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