Capture uncompressed?

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BraxtanFILM

Member
Is there a way to change the data rate on the capture, or the codec used to capture in vegas? I hate Microsoft's DV codec as there is almost always noise around very saturated colors.
 
There's no codec involved in capture. It's a bit for bit transfer of the data on the tape, wrapped in an .avi format.

The codec becomes involved within Vegas, and at default settings, Vegas uses the Sony/Vegas codec, which is superior to the Microsoft codec.
 
Interesting. Because it seems that no matter what I do, I get artifacting. I've captured the same footage with final cut and the artificating is not there.

So something is happening either in the capture or the timeline. This is what I have never been able to figure out. Usually I just blur the chroma by a pixel or two and that fixes it. But there must be something else to this.
 
what camera do you use? and whats your color setting in camera?
 
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BraxtanFILM said:
Interesting. Because it seems that no matter what I do, I get artifacting. I've captured the same footage with final cut and the artificating is not there.

So something is happening either in the capture or the timeline. This is what I have never been able to figure out. Usually I just blur the chroma by a pixel or two and that fixes it. But there must be something else to this.
Click to expand...

I would like to know if there's some scientific truth to this. I have heard this from FCP users before but would like to know for sure.

Are you using the same monitor to view the same timeline for both platforms? Some people complain about bad looking footage and they're viewing it on an LCD that's not calibrated pushing the dark shadows into gray with tons of noise. I'm not saying that that's the case but I'm just making sure.

Jgastelb
 
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I don't think it's possible. As far as I know, FCP does the same thing -- a straight transfer of the 1s and 0s on the tape, with a Quicktime wrapper.
 
That is what is bugging me out. If I capture it with FCP, it's a quicktime movie DVCPRO50.


But the artifacting is definitely not just the monitor. What I'm talking about is vertical lines through the extreme ends of the color spectrum--red and violet are the biggest offenders, but the more saturated a color, the more noticeable the lines are.
 
How do you capture it with FCP? Over firewire? Or through S-Video and some kind of capture card?

What you're describing is normal DV color. It wouldn't be as present in DVCPRO 50.
 
Always through firewire and always though the same canon camera. That's why I'm wondering if there is a way to change the capture method. A friend of mine said he did it but doesn't remember how (conveniently, ha!).

I knew he did something crazy when the files he sent me were 5-10 times normal file size. They were like uncompressed AVI. He said that's the way he captured them.
 
Are you sure he's capturing through firewire?

Short answer in Vegas is that the capture program captures what's on the tape, and there's no way to change it.

But the problems you're seeing are simply what you get with DV 4:1:1 color.
 
DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=80409&highlight=quicktime+DVCPRO50


Seems the answer for dv25 croma blockiness is to turn down the chroma levels in camera. Watch the RGB parade waveform when using a capture device like dvRack, you can watch light levels clipping in the luma waveform monitor if your overexposed. But color clips faster in the RGB Parade relative to the luma levels. There is less camera latitude in chroma rendering with dv25 format cameras.
 
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You know guys, we should really come up with a term for this "color blockyness". It's always so hard to describe the problem.

But I've basically been doing what is says in that thread. I blur (or "smooth") the chroma in post, and render it out uncompressed so the blockiness doesn't come back. I was just hoping there was a way to avoid the smoothing part. I've seen video captured that isn't blocky. I just need to figure that part out.
 
There IS a term for it: 4:1:1.

If you've seen video captured in its native format which doesn't do this, then it's not DV. Or, if you've seen something captured from a DV-only camera not do this, then it wasn't captured AS DV, and probably was captured from S-video or composite through a capture card which can then compress it to a different format, such as the DVCPRO 50 you were talking about.

But any time DV is captured as DV, you're going to see that. It's simply an inherent characteristic of the format.
 
4:2:0. Same amount information as 4:1:1, only the blocks are horizontal instead of vertical. Same as PAL DV.

It's not as apparent in HDV unless you get down to a 1:1 pixel level and compare it. And HDV downconverted to DV can have better color, even though it'll still be 4:1:1.
 
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