Can someone here help me??

[TeddyBear]

Ok, I've read some instruction on various sites but I'm still stuck. Here is what I'm trying to do. I've got some videos on my Sony DV camcorder. I would like to capture them into my computer via firewire and edit them using Adobe Premiere or any comparable software, then encode(?) or is it compress(?) the final AVI into Divx so that I keep the higest quality possible but keep the file size down so that I can fit about 40min video into 1 CDr.

Here is my computer spec:
P4 2.0Ghz
512RDRAM
Geforce 3 (guillemot)
2x 40Gig IBM

Please try to explian in detail as I dont know much about these stuffs. Feel free to send email if you like, drteddy@swbell.net

thanks guys...!

[Kedirekin]

I'm sure many here will be happy to help, but you do have to do your homework first.

You'll find excellent guides and resources to get you started at www.doom9.org (or is it www.doom9.net?). Perservere and don't get discouraged.

[Captain_Nipple]

That's the best advise you can get Teddy ;)

[TeddyBear]

thanks...

I read through most of the tutorials and went through pretty much every forum but it doesn't say much about my question.

I have no problem capturing from my Sony Digital Camcorder to my Hard drive using Adobe Premiere. When I edit the video using Premiere, I can do pretty much everything I want to do. But regardless of finished file size of final AVI, the quality is reduced quite a bit.

Eventually with further study, I'm sure I can encode that final AVI into Divx or whichever codec is out there, but am I going about it the right way?

I've read some forum about purchasing seperate Video card (capture card), does this necessary?

Any suggestion/help will help greatly...!

[Neo Neko]

Premiere is a good piece of software but it has it's quirks and problems. If it is what you capture your video in do so, but export it to an AVI. Do not use and DV-1 codecs. Use DV-2 codecs or HUFFYUV. You can then open the video in Virtualdub and filter and compress the video. I will not recommend any settings per say. Everyones tastes are a bit different and it all depends on the source. The best thing to do is experiment. Sorry I can't be more specific than that. :( I am sure there are others here who will have some recommendations though. :p

I have heard of premiere in the past having problems with the Divx MPEG4 codecs. That and most everyone I know of has had a general inability to export with MP3 audio in premiere as well.

The reason I say not to use DV-1 codecs is that there is no VFW codec for it so programs like Virtualdub can not read it. There are VFW codecs for DV2 though.

[theReal]

But regardless of finished file size of final AVI, the quality is reduced quite a bit.Divx will definitely reduce the quality of your DV video (even more so if you want to fit 40min on one CD). I can say nothing about Premiere, I'm using Ulead Video Editor for DV editing, but a pretty nice setting for DV->DivX would be:

Save as Type 2 DV with PCM audio, open with VirutalDub, use filters deinterlace (blend), precise bilinear resize to 640x464,then two-pass encode to Divx, data rate must at least be 2100 (~45min), better 3000(~30min).

You don't need a capture card because with firewire you already have a much better setup. Capture cards are for analog sources only.

What you might want to buy is a real-time editing card for real-time previews of effects and stuff, but such a card is going to cost you even more than your shiny new computer...
... you won't need it if you're not a real pro-editor.