What format from camcorder to PC to DVD

[JProphet]

A buddy of mine filmed about a minute and a half of dv of footage of an airplane taking off at the airport and then sent the footage to me through messenger. The file size ended up being about 360 megs in size so it took about 3 hours to get it all. The camcorder he was using is a Canon GL2 and the transfer from camcorder to PC was through firewire. Now here are my questions:

1) Coming from camcorder to PC is avi the best format to save to hard drive?
2) T get best picture quality what bitrate should I use to encode using TMPGENC.

My main goal here is to burn to dvd getting smoth frame rates and best picture quality.
Can someone please enlighten me on some of this.

Thank-you in advance.

JP

[ormonde]

"1) Coming from camcorder to PC is avi the best format to save to hard drive?"

For the sake of quality, yes.

"2) T get best picture quality what bitrate should I use to encode using TMPGENC."

If your main goal is to output to a DVD (r, rw) for the purpose of playback on a conventional standalone player, use the following method:

1. Convert the AVI/mpeg file(s) to a DVD compliant mpeg-2 file(s) using "TMPGEnc" or "TMPGEnc Plus". Use the DVD template (NTSC or PAL) form the "Project Wizard" to help you accomplish the task.

2. Then use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (different than "TMPGEnc") to author the newly created mpeg-2 into a DVD-related file structure (.IFO, .BUP, .VOB). As an alternative, you can use "DVDLab" to author as well.

3. If the combined filesize of the project exceeds 4.37 Gig, use "DVD Shrink" or similar transcoding program to compress.

4. Use "Nero" or similar burning program to burn onto a DVD (r, rw) disk.

[JProphet]

thanks!!!!!!

Thanks for the response Ormonde! I wonder if you could clear something else up for me. When I use TMPengc to encode the avi
to mpeg format to burn to dvd I did some tests that had to do with the bitrate. The 2 I have been playing around with are either 6000 or 8000 bit rate settings. It appeared that the higher bitrate produced a better picture quality but the framerates were not as smooth, is this a limitation of my cpu and or video card.
Here are my specs.

CPU=P4@3 ghz
Video card= ATI All in Wonder 9800 Pro w/128 ram
1 gig of sdram
plenty of hard drive space with 7200 speed.

[ormonde]

"Thanks for the response Ormonde!"

Glad to be of help

"the framerates were not as smooth, is this a limitation of my cpu and or video card."

I'm not sure what you mean. Describe how the framerate is not "Smooth". Are you experiencing "Jumpiness" or "Unevenness" in playback?

[JProphet]

I guess the "jumpy" phrase would be closer to what I am trying to descibe as you said. Its kind of not as fluid as far as movement is concerned if you get what I am trying to say here. And when I first did my test on dvd1 the size of the actual burn ring on the dvd is about a quarter of an inch. On dvd2 the size of the burn ring is about half an inch. I hope this helps you understand what I am trying to explain to you here.

[ormonde]

"I guess the "jumpy" phrase would be closer to what I am trying to descibe as you said."

This sounds more indicative of poor quality media. Try a different "Brand/Type" of media, and also try burning at a lower speed. (e.g., if you are burning at 4x, try 2x or 1x)

[JProphet]

poor media

You know you might be onto something there because what I have was given to me from a buddy of mine, I just purchased a pack of 10 Sony DVD's so I will try this when I get home and report back.

Thanks for your help again!

[ormonde]

"Thanks for your help again!"

As always, glad to be of help.