Hello everyone. I've got a few questions that I wasn't able to get a clear answer on regarding Vegas.

1. When capturing video from your camcorder, is it best to use the "capture video" mode, or "capture tape" mode? Does it make a difference?

2. What is the best format to render the video if you're putting it on DVD? I've read MPEG2 was best, but wasn't too sure.

3. I have a PVGS150 from Panasonic, and it can record in standard mode, or wide mode. As far as editing goes, would it be better for me to record in standard (4:3) mode or wide mode? Is there a difference in resolution when edited?

I appreciate any help you guys and gals can give! :)

Hi,

1: I always use Capture Video. Capture Tape will rewind all the way to the start of the tape and can lead to problems with accuracy if you have to recapture at a later time.

2:There is no choice here. DVD must be in Mpeg2.

3:Not sure, but your camera's widescreen mode is probably just a masked 4:3 image, so your better off shotting 4:3 and masking it later if you want. At least you could shift the image verrically within the mask if you needed to.

Gary

The panasonic consumer GS-series 3CCD cams all have widescreen modes, and I think different ones have different modes. I know for a fact the GS400 is true widescreen (widescreen NTSC of course, not HD) because I own one, and I think one of the lower models has it too, but some models might be scaled/zoomed instead, which isn't as good. The GS cams can also do "masking" like Gary referenced, but that option is buried in some menu somewhere, and is not the "WIDE" mode as labeled on a GS cam. So, you should first figure out what kind of WIDE mode your cam actually has. If it is true widescreen, then use it and love it, if it is zoomed/scaled, then I'd go with what Gary said, shoot 4:3 and mask it to widescreen in post if that is the look you are after -- you'll have more flexibility that way because you can kind of "pan-and-scan" the widescreen footage vertically using keyframes. Bottom line is you need to check what your cam is actually doing, because if it's scaling/zooming, IMHO, it looks like crap, but if it's true wide, it is a beautiful thing.

You should check out this site and review for more about your specific cam's WIDE mode...

Review of GS150 and GS250 (http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article.php?filename=Review:-PV-GS150-and-PV-GS250)


UPDATE: The review states: "The addition of a true DV widescreen mode on the PV-GS150 and PV-GS250 is a substantial upgrade over last year's PV-GS120 and GS200."

I've always wondered how this was done.

According to the (Panasonic) review above, "Both normal 4:3 aspect DV and 16:9 aspect DV widescreen have a 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL) frame size."

Does this mean there is a anamorphic adapter involved? Or are they just stretching vertically? Anyone know?

Cheers,
-Matt

2. What is the best format to render the video if you're putting it on DVD? I've read MPEG2 was best, but wasn't too sure.


use the two-pass encoding capability when making those mpegs, the quality is better... ac3 audio encoding is the better choice as well.

I've always wondered how this was done.

According to the (Panasonic) review above, "Both normal 4:3 aspect DV and 16:9 aspect DV widescreen have a 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL) frame size."

Does this mean there is a anamorphic adapter involved? Or are they just stretching vertically? Anyone know?

Cheers,
-Matt

Matt - depending on the camera, one could either use an anamorphic adapter to squish the wider view into 720x480, or the camera might shoot the larger size and squish it into 720x480 itself as it writes to tape. The GS400 and other "true" widescreen cameras do the latter, so there is no need to use an anamorphic adapter. Then, when you play it on your DVD player, the frames are "unsquished" into 16:9 aspect ratio.

I'm pretty sure the GS150 does not have true widescreen, so it just takes the same 720x480 4:3 frame and blacks out the top and bottom of the image.

So if that is the case, that its not a true widescreen, what does the Cinema mode do? I know when I put that mode on, it puts the black lines on the top and bottom. Why would they make two modes that do the same thing?

The GS150 and GS400 have a true widescreen mode. The GS250 has crop and zoom. All record widescreen with anamorphic pixels. Cinema mode is a fake widescreen mode where the cam just puts black bars on the video. The cam records cinema mode with standard 4:3 pixels.

I don't know why Panasonic leaves Cinema mode on its cams that shoot widescreen. It is a never ending source of confusion.

[QUOTE=Guy Bruner]The GS150 and GS400 have a true widescreen mode.

So, just to be clear, does this camera have a 16:9 CCD?

Cheers,
-Matt

The GS150 and GS400 have a true widescreen mode. The GS250 has crop and zoom.
I defer to Guy and apologize for the misinformation above. As I said, I was not entirely sure about the GS150 wide mode.

[QUOTE=Guy Bruner]The GS150 and GS400 have a true widescreen mode.

So, just to be clear, does this camera have a 16:9 CCD?

Cheers,
-Matt
GS400 and MX500 yes, the others no... maybe the GS250 now as well...
all the camera is doing is adjustiung the aspect ratio, NOT the resolution..