DV/DVCPRO-NTSC Codec...& Pinnacle Studio Plus

[Lisa Bennett]

I am using Pinnacle Studio Plus. I have a client that requires the final version to be delivered as follows:

4 Full Frame, full resolution quicktime exports (DV/DVCPRO-NTSC Codec), 854x480 Native 16x9 export no letterboxing.

Can someone help me as to how to take a final rendered pinnacle project and meet the delivery requirements? Is there a way to convert it to quicktime export?

Also, if you a person that is currently using Pinnacle Studio Plus, when you begin your project(s) are you placing all of your related captured videos, pics, music, VO, etc into one file with the name of the project? I'm curious to know what other pinnacle users are doing. I haven't been putting everything into one file and would like to know if there is a better way of doing things. I think it most likely would be best if everything is in one file because in the end the whole file can be copied onto disk for safe keeping for each individual project and of course a copy of the project run back to tape before cleaning it off the hard drive, anyway let me know.


Thank you
Lisa

[Lisa Bennett]

I have looked thru Pinnacle / forums but don't see anything specifically listed as DV/DVCPro for this system. Any Pinnacle users in the forum that can help?

How can the fiel be converted to mov for quicktime?

Thanks
Lisa

[Mike Gunter]

Hi Lisa,

I have and use a Panasonic camera that uses the DVCPro CODEC and also Pinnacle Studio, so when I export Movie>AVI>Custom>Settings>List all CODECs, DVCPRO50 (the CODEC that you're looking for), shows up on my machine.

But the CODEC is installed in my machine. I'm not so sure that it will be installed in yours. I don't think it is native to the Pinnacle software. I have both CS3 and NewTek's SpeedEdit installed on my computer, each come with DVCPro's CODEC.

I wish I could be more helpful.

Mike

[Lisa Bennett]

Mike,

Thank you for the info. The codec must come in to your system from one of the programs you have or something. I've checked my Pinnacle and went through the settings but nothing shows up and I think you are right, it's not a codec normall within Pinnacle software.

Guess I'll have to keep at it and figure out something. Thanks again for the reply.
Lisa

[Mike Gunter]

Hi Lisa,

One thing you might ask your client.

If they are savvy to DVCPro, they are also likely savvy to Huffyuv v2.1.1, a loss less CODEC that you could deliver by hard drive once the job is done.

The CODEC is free at Huffyuv. Once you download and follow the instructions for installing it, it will appear in the menu for CODECs for exporting a file.

When you complete the job, you can export the job as a file to an external drive, deliver that drive as the job. Then the client can do whatever with the the file(s) he/she needs to do and return/keep the drive.

You'd need to be sharp about the pixel aspect ratio of the job itself. Those things get pesky going from CODEC to CODEC, but that would have been an issue to DVCPro, too.

Just a thought.

My best.

Mike

[Lisa Bennett]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of huffyuv.

Best,
Lisa

[Ervin Farkas]

Someone more familiar with QT and video editing on Apple computers please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think DVCPRO and DV are the same thing in QuickTime, at least as far as the codec itself. The difference is the bitrate, while DV is 25MBps only, DVCPRO can be 25 MBps or 50 MBPs. Also 854x480 square pixels (other editing apps list it as 853x480) is the same as 720x480 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1.2.

So as long as you can export to QT Movie from a DV timeline, you get exactly what your client asked for. If you can't, then I would export to DV-AVI and convert with MPEG Streamclip (free), where you will see that you actually have one setting for DV and DVCPRO - NTSC.

The attached screenshot is from Edius, virtually identical to Streamclip.

[Lisa Bennett]

Hi Ervin,

Interesting...thanks for the input.

So if I understand correctly, I can take a project from Pinnacle Studio Plus, render it as an mpeg and then using Streamclip convert it using the setting for DV/DVCPro and meet the requirements. They specified :

frame size varies per project: 854x480 (16:9) or 640x480 (4:3)

codec: DV/DVCPro-NTSC

16-bit integer (Little Endian)
Audio stereo (L R) 48,000khz

They also asked for "locked audio" which I have to say I have never been asked for and not sure how to handle this part of the process.

Best,
Lisa

[Ervin Farkas]

No, I would not export MPEG; export the project's native format in order to preserve quality.

See screenshots of Streamclip. Import file, choose Export to other formats, choose QT, go to Options, in video settings choose the right compression.

See http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-tech.html#LockedAudio for locked audio; I believe you shouldn't worry about that, NLEs work with locked audio.

[Lisa Bennett]

Okay...so you mean I should capture the video straight from camera into streamline or capture into pinnacle edit and then export to streamline? I'll look at the screenshots and read about streamline so I can get more familiar with the process.

Thanks again so much,
Lisa