Any hints on format of a canon MV920 ?

[halsboss]

Hi, just bought a canon mv920 DV camcorder for AU$299. Did a search but couldn't locate any hints on the video/audio format once captured via the firewire , eg

Should I capture with WinDV or DVIO (unknown, guess WinDV)
16x9 AR's width x height after capture (unknown, is it just same as 4x3 but AR 16:9)
4x3 AR's width x height after capture (unknown)
Is it TFF or BFF after capture (unknown)
Is it type 1 or type 2 after capture (unknown)
video PAL 25 fps (known)
audio 16bit PCM (known via camera setting)

Any pointers, ideas, links, or even how to test/resolve the unknowns myself ?

[bb]

[...]
Should I capture with WinDV or DVIO (unknown, guess WinDV)
WinDV is good and easy. Try that first.
16x9 AR's width x height after capture (unknown, is it just same as 4x3 but AR 16:9)
Whether you capture 16x9 (or 16:9 in terms of aspect ratio) depends on the format you set to shoot your footage. If it's letterboxed, then it's 4:3, which you should zoom to 16:9 on a 16:9 TV set.
4x3 AR's width x height after capture (unknown)
See above.
Is it TFF or BFF after capture (unknown)
DV is BFF.
Is it type 1 or type 2 after capture (unknown)
Either one, the quality is the same, but type-2 files are a little larger because of the audio stream being stored twice. Some programs may have problems with type-1 (VfW programs). My recommendation: Use type-1 if it works for you, else use type-2. There are (free) programs to convert between the two (see "Links" sticky thread), so there's nothing to lose.
video PAL 25 fps (known)
That's fine if you bought a PAL camcorder :)
audio 16bit PCM (known via camera setting)[...]
That's what I'd recommend. 12 Bit audio often causes problems (if you don't know how to deal with it). For DVD production 16 Bit 48 kHz audio is recommended.

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[halsboss]

Thanks for the help. Used WinDV and am able to confirm
- camera is PAL (Aus) and 25fps
- WinDV is really really easy to use
- captured type 1 fine
- confirmed standard DV at BFF (bottom field first)
- camera at 16:9 setting yielded 720x576 (yet to try camera 4:3 setting, but guess it'll yield 720x576 too)
- (camera audio setting @ 16bit) latest FFMPEG decodes the 16 bit audio from the type 1 AVI quite nicely and converts into AC3.

Cheerio.

[bb]

[...]- camera at 16:9 setting yielded 720x576 (yet to try camera 4:3 setting, but guess it'll yield 720x576 too)[...]
PAL DV is always 720x576, but that can be 4:3, 16:9 anamorphic or 16:9 letterboxed (with black bars).

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[halsboss]

For completeness, just a link to a note on DVD specs re aspect ratios and cropping DV to become DVD compliant ... http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1019561#post1019561