I've got a new Sony DCH-HC36 and I want to ensure that I capture the video in the best possible way. Right now I've got two capturing softwares, the piece of crap Pinnacle 10 and a less costly, but seems to be nice for an amatuer like myself, Magix 10. What I want to know, is what is the best resolution to set my software to capture the video? I won't always be using that in my projects, but if I want to save the entire tape so that I can keep memories of my kids and burn them to DVD, I want to be able to watch it clearly on my television. Also, I know the difference between 4:3 and 16:9, but what are some more important terms to know. Thanks!
Always record in the highest resolution and quality that you can. If you live in a NTSC region then your framerate should be at 29.97fps and if your in PAL 25fps, or even a custom framerate if you can set one. I find Mpeg to give me the highest quality files, but a lot of people choose to use AVI, but it's all preferance. If you are going to burn it to DVD, then AVI is propably better. It all depends on what formats your card can take too.
Your camcorder is recording to tape in DV-AVI, so what's on your tape is already digital. It's not the same as capturing analog from TV or a VHS tape to your PC where you have to think about setting capture resolutions etc. All you want to do is transfer that DV-AVI file to your PC. Use your firewire port and and software that transfers DV-AVI. WinDV is free: http://windv.mourek.cz/ After the DV-AVI file is on your PC then you can encode it to mpeg2 and author a DVD.
moonrocks is correct. Transfer as a DV-AV file and keep the 25 Mbps frame rate, rather than MPG2 (using higher compression). By setting to DV-AVI, Type I, the resolution and specs are already set. For NTSC, it's 720x480, 48 Khz audio, etc, etc. Make sure you record in SP and not LP, if you want the best quality. Also, the encoder you use to make DVD compliant files is just as important. Do not use the "built in" encoders in those capturing/editing programs. For personal memories, I use nothing less than ProCoder at highest-quality settings. Yeah, it's not the fastest encoder in the world but it's probably one of the highest quality ones, though. Lastly, if high quality is truly important, I'd return your HC36. It records at an effective 340K pixels, which is not that great. If you can, get a 3CCD or (multi)megapixel camera, which has a far higher effective pixel capture count, translating into a sharper picture.
