Digital Video

[yenhoi]

Anyone know where I can get software to view and edit digital video coming from my x10 cameras into my computer via USB?

www.x10.com

.....but that costs money!

Thanks!

:eek:

[Kristoffer]

search on shareware programs, you might find cracked ones

[MasterKiller]

I use Ulead Video Studio 6 to edit video. You should be able to stream it in via USB and record it with the program, then edit it.

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

I use the same soft as MK.

Forget the free or cheap editing softs, they tend to be rather bad.

While many got the same or similar features it will take you about 5-times as long to get the job done.

Didn't the X10 Software come with driver and basic editing Software?

[yenhoi]

No.

Sold seperate.

Dont have the camera driver either.

:eek:

[David Jamieson]

usb= *blech quality*

spend a little, get a dv i/o cable and a firewire ieee1394 card.
maybe even upgrade your graphics card?

you will be continually disappointed with the quality of usb dv captures.

but, if you must, you can always push the file in with the software the camera came with and if you are running xp you can use windows movie maker to edit all your stuff.

if you are running another os you will need movie maker 1, if you have xp mm2 is preferred.

cheers

[Kristoffer]

Is windows movie maker any good?

[yenhoi]

Just trying to convert my current video system to digital.

The dojo is wired.

:eek:

Id like a video digital camera for christmas.

:cool:

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
you will be continually disappointed with the quality of usb dv captures.

How would that be??

The ONLY difference between USB 1.0 & Firewire is the transferspeed, USB 2.0 tends to be about the same speed as Firewire.
Mya dvise would be to get a Firewire & USB 2,0 card installed, most pc's that are on the market still use USB 1.0.
USB 1.0 & USB 2.0 are compatible but will run at the lower transfer-speeds.

Said that the only reason why I would choose Firewire is because it is older and been debugged more.

Regardless of what transfer speed you use the quality should be the same.

Either way he does not have the driver software for the camera that will decode the signal from the camera, there is a chance that a generic driver might work and in this case he most likely will see a quality loss.

Good capturing Software allows you to set a lot of parameters that will affect the quality of the DV capture.

[yenhoi]

Whoa.

Figured it out I think.

Using Ulead 7.0 to view video now.

Neatness.

:eek:

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

Looks like you will also need XRay Vision, it is available at the bottom of the page(same one that has the drivers on).

If the Driver and that software don't work, I would suggest you call their tech centre.

[yenhoi]

Wow.

Gimme some time and Ill get some vids up..

:eek:

[David Jamieson]

Regardless of what transfer speed you use the quality should be the same.

They are not :D

seriously, firewire ensures you get all the data off your digital8, dv, or other tape. usb simply turns out lesser quality video captures by comparison.

try it, I have.

cheers

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

KL.

USB and FIREWIRE are transfer protocols that have NOTHING to do with image quality.

What is the difference is that the modern Cameras using FIREWIRE got better imaging encryption build-in than the older USB equipped ones.

But if you transfer an image from a poor Camera it will be a poor image regardless if you use USB or FIREWIRE.

What REALLY effects the image quality is the hardware to record/encrypt it and the decrypting software after the download, best results are if they are matched aka from same supplier/manufacturer..

Don't confuse transfer protocols with image encryption.

The encoding may it be MPEG-1 (VCD quality) or MPEG-2 (DVD quality) is based on rather loose guidelines (MPEG-standard) quality of imaging will depend on how the standard is applied.
MPEG standard is FREE, but the implementation usually is copyrighted.

I used to do that type of programming for a short time for a Company that created Chips for Cameras and similar equipment.

USB 2.0 vs FIREWIRE (http://www.digit-life.com/articles/usb20vsfirewire/)

[David Jamieson]

TJM-

-No- LOL

transger protocol or not, usb blows, dv i/o over firewire rocks.

lemme tell ya why.

I have a dvtcr140 sony camera with dv i/o and usb streaming.

usb blows and the dv i/o over firewire totally rocks and a huge difference is totally seeable.

now, I have seen it with my own eyes and I am here to say, usb transfer protocol somehow degrades the video quality. I don't know how and I don't care about articles selling one technology over another.

I have seen it, done it and I know what the heck I'm looking at when I 'm looking at it. I disagree that usb is not at fault in poor quality. It totally sucks :D

thanks you
good night
cheersand

[MasterKiller]

USB not only degrades the quality, but it drops a lot frames as well.

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

Guys last post on this topic.

IF USB lost data or had such a signal reduction than WHY in the world is it used as the most widely used Data transfer standard in the world and WHY do major corps rely on it for backups.

If what you guys say is correct my programs would receive less Data from the Database than it was send, which is NOT true.

I agree that some encoders/decoders for USB transfer are sub-standard, main reason is because people use generic drivers.

There is also a BIG difference between USB 1.1 & USB 2.0, I would think that you might still be using 1.1 not 2.0.

Like with so many disucssions here people can't see what the real problem is and than pound away on 1 point and insist that it is the right one.

BTW, don't invest too muhc money into Firewire, it will soon be replaced by a better standard.

Have a nice day.

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

FYI.

Here is some info about Digital Cameras BOTH Video & Still.

1.) Most of those devices still use the USB 1.1 standard.
You need a USB2.0 device(with encoder), USB 2.0 Cable, USB 2.0 Card & USB 2.0 compatible decoders to take advantage of USB 2.0 quality.
2.) Most of them are loaded with outdated firmware, you should get new one loaded every 6 month or so. Improvements of up to 40% can be achieved. ;)
3.) Generic Drivers like in Wondows XP suck big time, as there is 1 driver for multiple cameras and they will run on the older standards and encryption method and thus will NOT support higher quality of newer models.
Get a specific driver for your model/series.

Initially digital Cameras are usually delivered with buggy code(firmware) and the encoding/decoding has not been finetuned yet, especially true when using new technology or hardware.
Makers rely on feedback from 1st generation customers to debug.
Usually models that are sold after 6 months got better firmware installed and thus less bugs and better quality.

This is an ongoing process and improvements will be done all the time.

This was a free infomercial.

P.S.: I used to work for Hitachi at one stage and we wrote the software for MOST digital cameras out there.
Sony always was problematic. ;)

[David Jamieson]

well, usb is a way of transferring data in ascii or even binary, the issue seems to be in how it streams...which is not well and indeed frames are dropped, artfiacting occurs etc.

a still image i have no issue with when it comes to using usb.

but really, it (usb) truly blows for capturing movies off tape.

I don't think ieee is really going anywhere just yet, it's still pretty good tech. :D

cheers

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
I don't think ieee is really going anywhere just yet, it's still pretty good tech. :D


It is good tech, but the manufacturers are not too fond of it.

1.) It used to be the fastest, USB 2.0 is a tad faster(still not widely used).
2.) Advantage is that Ieee can carry power to a pheriperal device, many don't as the device uses a smaller plug and thus still relies on external power like a USB device.
3.) Plugging many Ieee devices into a notebook and draining power from it's power-source is not the thing I would like to do.
4.) Not sure how Apple will further develop the Ieee standard in the future or if they will adopt USB 2.0 or similar tech.

I think it will depend which standard gets more utilised by the manufacturers, USB 2.0 got of to a slow start so far.