Re: [ProgSoc] physical to electronic

[Telford Tendys <telford@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au>]

I have a little experience in this area, having played with MPEG recording.

> Does anyone know how to put images from a tape (eg. vcr or camcoder) to
> the computer (eg. .rm, .mpeg, etc)? do i need a special card to deal with
> this? and similarly put video clips onto a vcr tape?

Yes, the data in a video camera or VCR is stored in analog form, you
need a video digitiser to convert it to digital form. They come under a variety
of names such as `frame grabber' but they are all doing the same job of
converting analog video data into digital data.

As for which is the best value for money and where to get it,
that's beyond me. There are just too many possibilities to keep up with.

> what's the best type of video file to use to give best quality images and 
> sound? avi, rm, mpeg?

MPEG gives the best quality and best compression factor without a doubt.
However, there is one big problem with MPEG which is that converting raw video
data into MPEG requires not just digitising the video but also a bucketload
of mathematical processing. This usually means that you need to store the
freshly digitised video in some huge raw file and then go have lunch while it
converts across into MPEG.

There are video digitisers that can do the MPEG conversion at full speed while
digitising the video but the cost is prohibitive.

Also, MPEG is difficult to edit for much the same reason.

No doubt, as processor grunt continues to grow, MPEG will get easier to use and
become the dominant standard (until something better comes along which requires
even BIGGER processors :-)

	- Tel


> 
> thanks in advance
> 
> rup
> 
> 
> 
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