I got together a group of folks and we entered the novice division of a short film contest. We spent all weekend shooting using the only camera we had, a Sony DCR-DVD92. This is a handycam that uses mini-DVDs. We shot on DVD-R. The editor went to start work and, well, to make a long story a little shorter, I am told that while using -R rather than -RW DVDs the camera records in "video" mode and not VR mode and that there is no way to get the footage into the computer to edit, except we could perhaps use RCA connectors, which as I understand it would reduce our lines of resolution by about half. (I am also told we could use S-video, but then we lose the sound).

While we were not planning to blow anyone away with the technical quality of our film, I am afraid that if we reduce the resolution, the quality will be a big distraction to the judges and take away from our story.

Our editor was planning to use Adobe Premiere 6.0

Any suggestions on how we can edit this footage, without degrading the picture or making it a silent film?

Thank you.

Any program that rips DVDs would solve your problem. They have been posted here, but I don't remember their names. I use Vegas, which does this natively...

If you can't find the above-mentioned program a last ditch effort would be to capture the picture with S-Video, then capture the lesser quality picture with RCA and just isolate the audio track in Premiere.

I may be a little off base here, but from what I understand, camcorders that record directly to DVD capture and process the file into the DVD format, which is generally compressed to roughly 1/5th the file size (and quality) of the native DV format the standard dv camcorders record to on mini-dv tapes. As such, these files are not standard dv file format that most editing programs can easily work with, and the camcorders themselves are generally not recognized by the editing programs for importing (or capturing).

Your solution would be to offload the files into your comptuer, and then up-rez them into dv files that can be imported into your editing program. They won't be as high quality as a native dv file shot on mini-dv, but that was pre-determined when you shot the footage on a DVD camcorder.

It would help to know what platform you are using. On the mac, there are a few programs I know of that easily rip the video from the DVD and convert it into a dv file for you (sound included) but for a smooth interface and ease of use you will have to spend a little cash - $40 - $60?? I'm sure freeware can be found on the net, but you would have to hunt around (maybe version tracker) and maybe sacrifice ease of use in doing so. Your technical know-how will be a determining factor in which method you use.

If you use Windows, I am sure the options for you are vast and you will more easily find solutions on the net and likely even low priced boxed software options at any CompUSA or BestBuy that will let you rip the the DVD and convert it to DV very easily. I am pretty sure that is what you have to do in order to get it into a format that can be usable by your editor.

Again, I may be wrong about this, and maybe your editor will be able to read the mpeg2 files directly from the DVD, but I haven't yet heard of this as a possibility.

Good luck, - hope this helps.
-Jon

This is a handycam that uses mini-DVDs. We shot on DVD-R. The editor went to start work and, well, to make a long story a little shorter, I am told that while using -R rather than -RW DVDs the camera records in "video" mode and not VR mode .

what is "vr mode"? you should be able to plop a dvd-r into the dvd drive of a computer and copy(rip) the contents right off to hard disk, as was mentioned earlier.

unfortunately it'll be mpeg2, so maintaining the picture quality while editing could be tricky... take a look at the mpeg2 editor at www.womble.com, if you are on a pc.

Thanks to all those who already responded.

Someone suggested to me that the quality may already be such (due to the format in which it was saved) that running it through the analog RCA cables will not harm it at all. Does anyone know whether this Is this true?

Thank you.

Thanks to all those who already responded.

Someone suggested to me that the quality may already be such (due to the format in which it was saved) that running it through the analog RCA cables will not harm it at all. Does anyone know whether this Is this true?

Thank you.


As far as harm...well at mpeg2, I suppose the harm might be negligible (sp?), however it will still exist...for example, pretty much every consumer DVD player has both composite and s-video output. If you have a tv or monitor with both options for video input and you try both side-to-side, you would generally note that the s-video provides a cleaner picture. The 4 posts of the s-video provide separate channels for each of the 3 primaries (RGB) and then one for the luminesnce (brightness - for lack of a better term), and thusly gives you better color separation and more accurate color dynamics - whereas the composite video out mushes all the RGB signal through 1 pipe and providing minimal separation for signal cleanliness.
-Jon