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rick287
Known Participant
September 4, 2022
Question

Canopus DV Codec import, what to export?

  • September 4, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1319 views

OK, I think I understand the forums now, it is just one big forum for Premiere and the tags are just to help finding things. Clearly I'm a newbie. 🙂

So, the current Premiere won't import any of my projects created in Premiere 6.5, but to my amazement, it imports all of the avi files I captured with a Canopus DV Rx card and plays them and exports them! However, when I look at the file properties, it doesn't mention the Canopus codec, weird, yes? Here's the imported file:

So, first question is, which format should I choose to export in? I tried them all but I can't see a difference between them. I use Quick Export because I don't know any other way just yet, and the options include Adaptive High Bitrate, High Quality 1080p, and High Quality 720p. Which one is best? I am exporting to a file which I will import and put into a new project.

No matter which format I choose, the output is always a 4:3 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio in the Source and Program windows is 1.5 (720x480 or 720p). I should be able to export to 1.5, yes?

Thanks, Rick

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1 reply

S
Steve Griffiths
Inspiring
September 5, 2022

Hi rick287, a couple of terminology explanations first that may help.

The 720 in '720p' refers to the vertical resolution in 1280x720 not the 720 horizontal resolution in a 720x480 video file.

So 1920x1080 = 1080p (we'll get to the 'p' part later)

1280x720 = 720p

720x480 = 480

The 'p' refers to 'progressive' frames. If it was 'i' instead, for example 480i or 1080i - this would mean the video was interlaced. In the case of your DV files, it is likely they are interlaced. DV is an old standard definition format and I think it was interlaced by design (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

A complication with DV standard definition files (720x480) is they can also be 4x3 OR 16x9 aspect ratio. In your properties frame grab image you'll see Pixel Aspect Ratio is 0.9091 this means your files are 4x3. if that figure was (I think) 1.2021 this would indicate your DV files were 16x9 (widescreen).

 

Ideally you would be editing in Premiere Pro, in a sequence that matches the size and frame rate of the footage you are working with. One way to achieve this is to choose a sequence setting that matches your video files when you create a sequence or create any sequence and then immediately drop one of your DV clips into the timeline. A pop-up menu should then appear asking if you want to have your sequence settings match the video file - choose yes.

 

You don't mention what you are editing these DV files for and this may have an impact on your workflow. I get to work with standard definition files regularly ... but always as part of a new HD program. So when mixing Standard Definition (SD) with HD I'm always working in an HD timeline (1920x1080) and therefore scaling the SD footage up to fill the HD sequence AND either leaving it 4x3 and having black bars either side OR scaling it up even more so the SD image fills the frame. The downside to working with SD in an HD timeline is it won't look any better just because it's in an HD sequence - it's still just SD resolution but zoomed up to fill the HD frame and if I scale it to fill the frame (no black bars) I will lose parts of the image and make it look even lower resolution.

 

So with all the above in mind the question to ask yourself is what 'final' video to you have in mind. Do you just want to keep everything SD and output SD (4x3) or do you want to convert to HD and output HD (16x9).

 

By the way there are a whole ton of things to consider if you put interlaced SD footage into an HD progressive sequence but that's a whole other story. 

 

You mention 1.5 as your aspect ratio in you Source and Program windows ... not sure what you mean there. Video is generally 16x9 or 4x3 aspect ratio.

 

Hope some of this helps.

 

 

R
rick287Author
Known Participant
September 5, 2022

Hi Steve, this is well over 1,000 clips of a movie I shot on Sony DVCAM many moons ago and now I wish to create a trailer for marketing purposes. All the live action is shot but the animation/special effects are taking decades! My goal is to post the trailer on You Tube to try and generate the funds to finish the movie. (After my wife of 30 years died, I lost interest in the movie). So I have all the clips I need for the trailer but they are in Canopus DV format. I have to combine the clips for the trailer in Premiere and I would like to use the best possible output so it doesn't look so amateurish. My Win XP PC died and none of the software loads on my Win 10 PC.

 

Ok, I always thought the standalone number referred to the horizontal resolution, sorry about that. However, NTSC is 640x480 = 4:3 = 1.333. DV (at least my DV) is 720x480 = 1.5. I measured on the screen as 1.4 but I think there was a setting in the old Premiere to go to 1.5. I think it had to do with the 0.9 pixel ratio. I forget if I captured progressive or interlaced. I think it was interlaced because disk space was hard to come by back then and p takes more bytes. Is there some way to find out?

 

Yes, I will edit in Premeire Pro. I load a Canopus DV clip (typically 30 seconds in duration) and export it in a modern format. Then I will import that new format file into a Premiere Pro project for the trailer (trim the clip, edit the sound track, etc.). When done, I will export it in a format for You Tube, duration less than 2.5 minutes. I do not know how to find or set the size and frame rate for the project. I could easily do this in 6.5, but don't have a clue for Pro. I will have to research it. Do you have a recommendation?

 

Yes, this helps a lot! Many thanks!!! Rick

 

 

R
rick287Author
Known Participant
September 10, 2022
Uprezzind to udh then edit in 1080 does not give you black bars but does cuts off top and bottom of footage...

Steve and Ann, thank you both for your extremely useful suggestions! Fortunately, the trailer will not be more than 2.5 minutes as this is a requirement. So, my approach will be to first construct the trailer using the mp4 clips I extracted from the original footage. I suspect it will be over 8 minutes so I will have a lot of trimming to do. So once I have the final sequence of clips, use Topaz to uprez them to 4K udh (I don't know what udh is but I'll find out) and deinterlace (I discovered MediaInfo which confirmed the avis are 4x3 and interlaced). Hopefull, when I uprez, I can extract only the portion I plan to use. (If not, it will be a major pain but should still be accomplishable in my lifetime 🙂 ). I will edit the uprezzed video in a 16x9 timeline (to match the desired clip sequence) and position the video so that only the non-essential areas are not in the frame (usually the top). Audio edits will come last. From that stage, I will have several options to export the entire sequence to. I have a plan! Thanks again! Rick

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