I am capturing all my home vhs movies to my pc. I am using cyberlink powerdirector. When i capture the video the file is saved as a .mpg file. my question is should i leave the file as such or convert it to dv-avi, windows-avi, mpeg-1 or mpeg-2 file?
If i convert it to one of the other file types will i be able to open the new file and edit it or will i need to keep the original file for future editing?
mpg is the same as mpeg1 which is low resolution video comparable to vhs (352x240 usually 1.5 mb/s). Converting it to mpeg2 or dv-avi won't increase the resolution or editing capability. Mpg is good for storage since it doesn't take up too much space, but the quality is probably not as good as the original vhs tape to begin with.
You should always keep the original for further editing as needed. Since it has the best quality. If you convert the mpg file, the new file (mpeg2/dvi)will still have the ability to be edit further. But since it is a conversion it will be of lower quality. Everytime you edit or convert the video will loose some quality.
It is always best to capture as mpeg2 if possible, that will give you better quality due to higher bitrates, it would look more like the original vhs tape. Due to your software limitations, your not getting the best quality captures but it might be good enough.
The best method is to have a tuner capture card with built-in hardware mpeg2 encoders (pvr150 or similar). That will always get the best quality.
For editing, where you don't want to loose quality you need a software that edits mpegs without reencoding (videredotvsuite). It's what I use for editing mpegs.
i have a hauppauge hvr 1800 card. I actually had to download wintv and install it to get the rca jacks to work. I had found a thread that stated that microsoft configures media center to turn them off for some reason. I thought that was weird but lol and behold it worked. I originally tried capturing with Pinnacle 11 ultimate but never could get it to work with my vista machine, not capturing analog, not via the 710 usb device or the capture card on my pc. It just kept freezing and non of the suggested fixes worked so i went to cyberlink power director, guess i forgot to state what software i was using earlier.
If i understand you are saying i am capturing as mpeg1 as that is the only option power director gives me to capture as, i should just leave it as that and not convert to mpeg2 or dv-avi? I am not sure about the space either, it seems that a one hour video is 3-4 gig even at the mpg file type. Is that about right?
I had used pinnacle in the past with my camcorder and liked the functionality for editing home movies but i just could not ever get the new stuff to work and the usb would not work on my old pc with the older version, i could never get any sound with the capture. i really wish i could get it to work.
You might have your mpg setting set on high quality, it is configurble. The 3 to 4 gb/per hour is very high. When I capture mpeg2 video I can get a 2 hour movie in under 3gb at decent quality.
The hvr 1800 capture card is an excellent capture card with the hardware mpeg2 encoders (next generation of the pvr 150 I use). It's definitely capable of capturing the highest quality possible.
You can always try to capture the video through wintv as mpeg2, once you have it saved, you can always open it up in any editing program.
i am not using media center, that is the whole reason it would not allow me to capture via rca cables in the first place. I am using sage tv. I have disabled windows media center.
