Last night I created a Survivor Audition tape for a friend. With a few minor
exceptions, it all went smoothly, but it left me with a few questions.

We started by recording segments with a Panasonic Mini-DV (PV-DV51c, I
think). Plugged the Firewire cable in, the computer brought up a suggestion
to start Movie Maker. Cool. The import wizard ran the camcorder directly and
brought in all the clips.

From there, it took us maybe an hour to trim and assemble the clips into the
timeline. All very intuitive, easy to use, kudos to the UI designers. We did
a narration track, and figured out how to mute the sound in the individual
clips.

The problems started when we wanted to output the finished product. Survivor
wants the audition on a VHS tape. My plan was to write the video back out to
the camcorder via the Firewire, then from there send it to the VCR.

First problem: After crunching away for 10 minutes or so, it started
recording the video on the tape. But the first 5 seconds or more was
missing. I assume the tape needed time to come up to speed or something. So,
I added a title slide to the beginning, making it about 5-10 seconds long,
and sliding the narration and other clips down to make room. This workaround
took care of the problem - the tape now started at the appropriate spot,
plus maybe a few seconds of the title slide.

The second problem is more severe, and I haven't yet found a workaround. The
camcorder has sVideo out as its only output (besides the Firewire). I have a
cable that converts SVideo to composite video. So, ran that cable into VCR,
plus an audio cable. I was now able to play the movie and tape it on VHS.
Problem is...the resulting VHS video is blocky. Meaning, there are
occasional blocks of color in the video. Not sure how to describe it, but
it's like when streaming video doesn't get all the bandwidth it needs. I'm
not sure what the source of the problem is, nor how to fix it.

I don't remember seeing these artifacts when playing the MiniDV tape on the
camcorder (even though it's a little LCD screen, I think I would have
noticed). Maybe the camcorder's SVideo output is the problem? If so,
probably no workaround. Maybe it's the codec used by Movie Maker when it
wrote the movie to the camcorder? If so, maybe that can be tweaked?

I didn't see any way within Movie Maker to set a "resolution" or any other
video parameters. When I initially imported the tape, I was given a choice
of resolutions, sort of...I selected the second choice because the
explanatory text said it was for videos where you wanted to output them back
to the camcorder.

So, any suggestions? We also created a WMV file that looks great in the
player - I notice my video board has SVideo out, so maybe I'll plug the VCR
into that and the sound board output and try recording from that. I have no
idea what else to try.

Dana Cline - MVP

Did you save the finalized MovieMaker file in DV-AVI format for the best
resolution?

See if the MiniDV version has the problems you report by connecting the
camcorder via the S-Video cable to the TV and try playing it back on tv.

And good luck..... (I'm a Survivor junkie!)
--
Cari
MS-MVP Windows Technologies - Printing/Imaging/Hardware
www.coribright.com

"Dana Cline - MVP" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Last night I created a Survivor Audition tape for a friend. With a few
> minor
> exceptions, it all went smoothly, but it left me with a few questions.
>
> We started by recording segments with a Panasonic Mini-DV (PV-DV51c, I
> think). Plugged the Firewire cable in, the computer brought up a
> suggestion
> to start Movie Maker. Cool. The import wizard ran the camcorder directly
> and
> brought in all the clips.
>
> From there, it took us maybe an hour to trim and assemble the clips into
> the
> timeline. All very intuitive, easy to use, kudos to the UI designers. We
> did
> a narration track, and figured out how to mute the sound in the individual
> clips.
>
> The problems started when we wanted to output the finished product.
> Survivor
> wants the audition on a VHS tape. My plan was to write the video back out
> to
> the camcorder via the Firewire, then from there send it to the VCR.
>
> First problem: After crunching away for 10 minutes or so, it started
> recording the video on the tape. But the first 5 seconds or more was
> missing. I assume the tape needed time to come up to speed or something.
> So,
> I added a title slide to the beginning, making it about 5-10 seconds long,
> and sliding the narration and other clips down to make room. This
> workaround
> took care of the problem - the tape now started at the appropriate spot,
> plus maybe a few seconds of the title slide.
>
> The second problem is more severe, and I haven't yet found a workaround.
> The
> camcorder has sVideo out as its only output (besides the Firewire). I have
> a
> cable that converts SVideo to composite video. So, ran that cable into
> VCR,
> plus an audio cable. I was now able to play the movie and tape it on VHS.
> Problem is...the resulting VHS video is blocky. Meaning, there are
> occasional blocks of color in the video. Not sure how to describe it, but
> it's like when streaming video doesn't get all the bandwidth it needs. I'm
> not sure what the source of the problem is, nor how to fix it.
>
> I don't remember seeing these artifacts when playing the MiniDV tape on
> the
> camcorder (even though it's a little LCD screen, I think I would have
> noticed). Maybe the camcorder's SVideo output is the problem? If so,
> probably no workaround. Maybe it's the codec used by Movie Maker when it
> wrote the movie to the camcorder? If so, maybe that can be tweaked?
>
> I didn't see any way within Movie Maker to set a "resolution" or any other
> video parameters. When I initially imported the tape, I was given a choice
> of resolutions, sort of...I selected the second choice because the
> explanatory text said it was for videos where you wanted to output them
> back
> to the camcorder.
>
> So, any suggestions? We also created a WMV file that looks great in the
> player - I notice my video board has SVideo out, so maybe I'll plug the
> VCR
> into that and the sound board output and try recording from that. I have
> no
> idea what else to try.
>
> Dana Cline - MVP
>
>

Cari,

> Did you save the finalized MovieMaker file in DV-AVI format for the best
> resolution?

As far as I can tell, the only time I was ever given a choice of "format"
was when I initially brought the pictures into the program from the camera.
Either there or when I saved the project. In either case, I did pick the
DV-AVI format to keep the camcorder's resolution.

> See if the MiniDV version has the problems you report by connecting the
> camcorder via the S-Video cable to the TV and try playing it back on tv.

I'll try that tonight. I'll also try recording from the video card's SVideo
direct to VHS. I'll also create a new project in MM and import in the movie
it wrote to the camcorder - that way at least I'll get an AVI file of the
final movie.

> And good luck..... (I'm a Survivor junkie!)

Well, it's not for me, rather for a coworker. I hope she makes it...she's
brash and beautiful and should be well worth watching <g>. I'm also putting
in an application, but my video won't be as sophisticated.

Dana Cline - MVP