dv and 4gb limit

[jeremypps]

hi everybody, I just bought a mini-dv camcorder, which (sigh!) is only dv-out, and a firewire card.
I began doing some tries, but I fall into problems immediatly, mostly with file size limitation.
I capture dv using pinnacle studio 7, which doesn't overcome the file size limit, but this is not such problem, I capture more files all smaller than 4gb.
then I use media studio 6.5 to add music and effects (I've also tried studio 7 but it usually hangs up), then I have to choice what to do.
If I make an mpeg for vcd/svcd, the video looks blocky and, compared to dv original quality, unwatchable.
I've seen I get best results making an avi, then feeding tmpgenc with it, use noise reduction filter, and I get a vcd/svcd pretty good (20 hours encoding for 36 min video ....), but media studio stops reaching 4gb size (6.0 stopped reaching 2gb, maybe 7.0 won't have any limitation ...), so I have to make a compressed avi (divx, otherwise, even with mjpeg, file is still too big).
can anybody please help me find a solution to bypass some of these steps?
thanks a lot.

[djidjo]

You have to find in Ulead Media Studio an option like "save segmented avi" in VirtualDub, that will save your AVI as a number of 2Gb files following each other. This way you can save your Movie uncompressed with maximum quality without worrying about 2 or 4gb limit. There must be a function like this in Ulead Media Studio, it's such a common problem.

Then, open the first file in VirtualDub, add all the other with the "Append AVI segment" (or something like that), and then do "frameserving" from VirtualDub to TMPGEnc. There are plenty of FAQS around here to explain how to frameserve. I think the best one is here : http://www.vcdhelp.com/virtualdubframeserve.htm

Hope this helps
Djidjo

[jeremypps]

thanks a lot djidjo, I've looked around in msp manual but didn't find anything, I'll do a better search to find how to split file during capturing, that would really do the job

[djidjo]

I thought your final movie was bigger than 4Gb, though all video rushes aren't. If you want to make "segmented capture", use VirtualDub. I think you can do this also with Studio 7, but I don't know how (and I hate this prog). Here's how to do it with VDub :

--------------
So how do I capture more than 4GB?

You must do all of the following:

Use normal capture (F6 key) and not compatibility mode capture (F5 key).
Check Capture/Enable multisegmented capture.
Add one or more drives to Capture/Spill drives. Set the thresholds to 50MB, and make sure you use a full path (i.e. E:\ and not E:). Also, set priority of all drives to 0 to avoid a bug in V1.4c.

VirtualDub will then capture in segments to a bunch of 2GB files.
-----------

This comes from http://www.virtualdub.org/docs_capture

[ronnylov]

I use Scenalyzer live to capture DV-video and this program automatically splits the captured video at scene changes. Each scene will include date and time in the file name and its done in real time during capturing. If the scene is very long (>2 GB) it will split it before the file size limit is reached. But I see this was not a big problem for you.

I have also played a little bit with Ulead Media Studio 6.5 but I can't find a segmented AVI option there either. But I have DV-in on my camera so normally I just put it back to a new tape.
You probably have to output your project manually to smaller files (shorter time duration, not more compression), open them in VirtualDub (as described in the other post) and frameserve to TMPGEnc.

An alternative could be editing in Adobe Premiere. You can frameserve to TMPGEnc directly from the Premiere timeline (but don't ask me how, I have never done it myself). I think there is also MPEG2-plugins to premiere that can be used to encode to SVCD directly. The ligos mpeg2 plugin is a good alternative.

I have also heard that Ulead DVD Workshop can be used to make real-time MPEG2-capture from a mini-DV and burn it as DVD, SVCD or VCD. I haven't tried it but I think there is a trial version for download.

SVCD and VCD would still probably not be very good in quality. You can try stabilizing the video with the program DynaPel SteadyHand before the encoding if the video is shaky (by hand-held camera). This can help the encoding and give better quality. DynaPel Steadyhand can not save segmented avis either so this has to be done on the smaller files before putting them together. Use the program fitCD to make macroblock optimized rezising (you don't need a picture in the overscan area that can't be seen on the TV). You can also try a lower non-standard resolution like 352x480 (NTSC) or 352x576 (PAL) when making SVCD. If your player can handle higher non-standard bitrates you can try XSVCD. I found that with a 352x576 (PAL) resolution and a bitrate of at least 3 Mbit/s the XSVCD can look pretty good, better than VHS-tape. But then you may not be able to play it on other standalone players... Perhaps a better solution is to buy a DVD-burner. SVCD and VCD bitrates are too low to make really good looking home videos.

[jeremypps]

thanks a lot for your answers.
Maybe the best solution is to use premiere and frameserve to tmpgenc (if I only will learn how to use it ...); in fact I could make more than 1 avi with media studio and then join them together, but I should end each segment with a fade to black of both audio and video, which is quite ugly...
the ligos mpeg encoder in media studio is not as good as tmpgenc (or at least so it seems to me) and there's no way I can set any filter, such as the noise reduction or the motion estimation search quality level.
the dvd-burner? here in italy is too early, the cheapest one is about 500$, and the blank dvds are really expensive, hope prices will fall in the future.
many thanks again and wish you best luck !

[ronnylov]

I am using Windows XP but have the video files on a FAT32 formatted HD. The reason for this is that I have it mounted in a HD casette I also use on another computer with WindowsMe operating system using FAT32 file system.

I wonder if it's possible to overcome the 4 GB file size limit by using NTFS file system (Windows XP or Windows 2000) on one partition of the HD. Then it may be possible to create "unlimited" files as output from MediaStudio and overcome the problem?

I have also got the best results from TMPGEnc when creating SVCDs, but the standalone encoder LSX 3.5 can give quite good results also. I have never tried the Premiere plugins.

[Mac Sidewinder]

@ ronnylov

I wonder if it's possible to overcome the 4 GB file size limit by using NTFS file system (Windows XP or Windows 2000) on one partition of the HD. Then it may be possible to create "unlimited" files as output from MediaStudio and overcome the problem?

I use XP and routinely dump 5 to 13gb size files from my camcorder. I use Studio 7 but I only output the file as an avi after all transitions, titles etc are inserted. I then use DVD2SVCD, using the avi input option, and encode with cce. I think the videos come out looking pretty good.

Mac

[mrbass]

yes NTFS is required, either 2000 or XP, to overcome the 4GB file limitation.

[theReal]

With the NTFS file-system, both Media Studio 6.0 and 6.5 can handle files of unlimited size (I have only tried 13GB though, because that's one hour of DV).

jeremypps, can't you tweak your camcorder so it will allow DV-in?
Most camcorders only have DV-out because then they are not considered "digital video recorders" and you have to pay less customs and tax for them.
The option for DV-in is there however and you can buy software and hardware to remove this limitation. I'd really look for a way to do this, DV-in is worth it because DV is superior quality, better than DVD.

[droolian01]

Yeah - thats right.
Just search google with your camcorders make and/or model number and "widget".
These widgets are fairly cheap.

[jopereira]

I have enabled DV-In in my Sony camera; not only DV-In feature but also a number of other options only available in their professional cameras...

About 2G or 4G limitations: I'm trying Sound Foundry Vegas Video as it will capture multiple files until HD is full, AND it will output multiple files until HD is full...

No more file size limitions in my W98. I then make and AVS file to join all those AVI's and encode then where I want (CCE, TMPGEnc, etc.)

[goemon]

Originally posted by djidjo
You have to find in Ulead Media Studio an option like "save segmented avi" in VirtualDub, that will save your AVI as a number of 2Gb files following each other.

Ulead doesnt have that kind of option. If you want >4gb with ulead you have to use NTFS.