I have a general question about processing videos. We have a horse farm and take video clips of each horse with our digital camcorder. After pulling in the video with Pinnacle I edit the video and save the edited clip as an AVI file. I think this is in the same format that came from the camcorder, not condensed in any way. When we need a DVD of the horses for sale, I put several of these video clips on a DVD with a menu and send it out. I do not edit the clips again. Several questions: 1. Should I store the video clips in AVI format or something else? 2. The video is in 720x480 resolution. Is this more resolution than I need? Can it be changed or converted? 3. I have tried Nero and Sonic both, and both have produced DVDs that freeze or are choppy. Could the problem be my original AVI files? I always use the name brand blanks (Memorex, TDK, JVC, Phillips) and each has the problem. I have replaced the DVD burner and upgraded firmware. I have tried this with similar results on a brand new computer. 4. If I should convert the AVIs to something else, what should I use for this? 5. What video format would be the fastest to reduce the transcoding time? 6. Since I pull in the original footage with Pinnacle (we have a Pinnacle capture card) would this be stored in some native format to the camcorder, or encoded somehow with a Pinnacle codec? Thanks in advance for any help!
1) Avi format is fine for storage purpose. It's a popular format, and requires little space for storage. 2) 720x480 is the resolution for regular dvds. It can be changed, but no reason to do so unless something is wrong. 3) The important thing is do the avis play o.k. before encoding and burning. If yes, then try encode with e.g. VSO DivxToDVD (free version), then burn with e.g. Nero to see if things are better: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/vso_divxtodvd_free.cfm 4) Many converters (e.g. Power Video Converter, Advanced X Video Converter) can convert avis to mpegs etc.. But since avi is a very popular format itself, there's no need to do so unless you have strong reasons. 5) The main thing is not speed 'cos when you convert the avis into other formats, you most probably lose out on quality. 6) I'm not familiar with Pinnacle, but usually you can choose the format for the outputs (e.g. avi, mpeg, rm). Happy dvd editing!
