just bought Ulead video studio 8 yesterday along with a JVC mini DV cam... i filmed for about 1 hour but when i try to put the footage onto my computer as an 'mpeg' file it says "Cannot Capture" it will capture it as and AVI file but when i save it after i finished editing it comes out as 160X150 resolution and is all distorted, Can someone please explain how to get the footage from my mini dv tape onto the computer so its good quality or 'mpeg 2' using video studio 8 please id really apreciate it

Regards SeanHO

I've just had VideoStudio 8 for a short time and have always taken the Default to capture to an AVI file: full quality, no compression. However, because of your question, I connected my camera and went to the Capture tab. The Format box is defaulted to DV (AVI file), so I changed it to MPEG from the dropdown menu there. I then clicked on Options below it and selected Video and Audio Capture Properties to find out how it would store the video. It indicated that it would capture at 720x480, MPEG1 (not DVD format). I could also select DVD from the same Format box menu, which is 720x480 MPEG2 (DVD format). I don't think my computer could both capture AND convert to MPEG1 or MPEG2 "on-the-fly". Last night I converted a 17 minute file from DV to MPEG2 and it took 6 hours. Your camcorder can't output slowly, it outputs at 30fps @ 3.6MB/sec no matter what you're connected to, so your computer would have to be able to convert the format at that speed.
When you have DV-AVI files saved on hard disk, you can convert them afterwards in several ways using the Share tab. You can select Export, for outputing to the DV camera, creating email attachments, etc. or you can use Create Disk and select the type of disk from the Dropdown window (which defaults to DVD (MPEG2), but you can choose SVCD or VCD for CD-RWs).

thanks for the reply ill try some of that... but i have another 2 questions now lol, if i capture it 2 an avi file how do i get it to full qual and no compression? cause when i save it to my comp after finished editing its comes out really low qual and distorted at the bottom. The steps i take are 1)capture video as an AVI file
2)drop on timeline and split movie by seen
3)dont add any effects goto share tab and click save as video file.

is there anything im doing wrong?

also after i click the mpeg tab to capture it to mpeg i goto the the " Video and Audio Capture Properties" to see if i could change the fps and all that. And then click the capture tab and then video studio freezes comes up with and error and shutsdown! im downloading some patches now from the ulead site so mabye thatll fix it

thanks for the help

INPUT file creation:
When you use the default settings to capture straight from camcorder to AVI files, they are NOT compressed. If you exported them back to the MiniDV tape, you would see they were identical to the original (that's the advantage of digital). The editor can split scenes automatically AS it captures from the camcorder: that is the default. It is not necessarily a separate process afterwards. When you edit scenes, it just saves the results back to the same file types with modified file names similar to the originals. Only if you add inter-scene transition effects etc, are there major changes made, which MAY change the files.
Your OUTPUT file creation options (from the AVI files to other formats):
Create Video File: has MANY choices of varying compression, image size and quality. (NTSC DV is the only one that retains full quality; DVD and Mpeg2 are next; SVCD and Mpeg1 are next; then its VCD, WMV and RealVideo in that order);
Create Disk: has three formats of varying quality( DVD, SVCD, VCD in that order);
Share Video Online: has four quality settings, which are self explanatory: all use major compression.

Which one did YOU pick?

this is what i picked

input - AVI
output - create Video File - mpeg2

That sounds ok. AVI in; MPEG2 out. As you didn't pick NTSC DVD, I must assume you aren't going to DVD with these files. Since Ulead made two different menu entries, I assume somehow there's a difference in the files, but I don't see anything different in the file parameters they list in the Options box for each.
Are both the AVI and MPEG files distorted?
You say it is at the bottom of the images: what happens there? Can you describe it?
Does it happen in both VS8 AND Windows Media Player?
-----------------
The only thing I've noticed is that my MPEG images are a bit too narrow (or too tall) on TV but ok on PC monitor. There is a check box option for "Perform non-square pixel rendering" that I'll have to experiment with.
Update: You have to UNcheck this box each time you make an MPEG file to be watched on a television, or else the frame isn't wide enough (not exactly 4:3). It does not REMAIN off if you Create other projects, you have to UNcheck it each time.

Well the distortion only happens when i export a movie to mpeg2 it does it on both VS8 n mediaplayer. its kinda weird to describe its all blocky at the bottom and resembles the top part of the movie, mpeg1 works fine so ive been exporting it to that or DV format.
but it still dosnt explain why video studio crashes whenever i click the "Video and Audio Capture Properties" tab ( the patches didn't work)

Hi. I always enjoy your posts. Learning the video editing process is an entirely new thing for me. For as many years as I've been playing with computers, video editing is surely its own world. You always seem to explain things well.

There was a user who was concerned about purchasing an external HD for video editing. I could only comment on my experience with the one I bought (for just that reason). I had absolutely no problem capturing to that HD.

In your post above you mentioned a spec that really explains why it shouldn't be a problem. I did not know the feed rate these digital camcorders gave information to the computer. 3.6 megs per second is a far cry from the capability of a USB2 or Firewire external HD which can write at about 400 megs per second! Doesn't seem to be a bottleneck there at all.

I also purchased Uleads Video Studio 8 software (on line from Ulead) They talked me into a sister program called Movie Factory 3. I haven't even loaded that program yet.

I really don't understand the difference since I can burn to DVD with the Video Studio program just fine. Can you explain ( in video laymans terms) what the subtle differences are? It also seems that I can capture video from camcorder with the Movie Factory 3 program, so I really don't get it. To me it almost seems like these programs are doing the same thing.

**edit**

Oh boy, I hope I didn't cut into an ongoing discussion. I didn't realize the last sentence in you previous post was asking a question. I'm sorry if I did. Please move this if you need to. Sorry.
thanks for your help,
joe

__________________
So much information... the more I learn, the more questions develop. If I keep learning at this pace, soon I'll be too dumb to continue!

JJ4:

I don't know why you bought something else. You only had to download the VideoStudio8 Trial for free from the Website. If you found that the Trial did everything you wanted, then buy the product. Later, if you find that initial product DOESN'T do everything you want because your needs expanded as you learned, then find a program that does have it at that time (unless they are throwing in something for next to zero $$$ as an incentive.).

SeanHO:

Have you ever considered your install of VS8 might be corrupted on your hard disk? Have you tried reinstalling it?

Yea its most likely a problem with my computer cuz it comes up with lots of errors when i try it with windows movie maker , ill try it on my bro's comp

Just to let you know that I have had the same problems capturing video with VS8. Poor quality capture, and complete shut down when selecting certain options. However I'll give Ron's explainations a try and see if that does the trick. Like you, all I want is high quality footage that I can burn to DVD and watch on a TV with a good, clear picture.

This video carry on...it's a minefield, just like computers themselves!
Glynn

__________________
Mini DV - JVC GR-DX77
Digital Stills - Olympus 5050-Z
Video Studio 8
Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Windows XP Professional

Exactly! lol, im getting more fustrated by the minute

Are you using a firewire? I've just got one and it's helped alot with video capture apart from capturing in DV (avi) format.

__________________
Mini DV - JVC GR-DX77
Digital Stills - Olympus 5050-Z
Video Studio 8
Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Windows XP Professional

im getting one tomorro...glad to hear it helped, ive been busting my balls over this