I record on a MiniDV camcorder. Will software take care of it, or is a
proc amp better?

Thanks, Blake

"Cajman" wrote ...
Not sure what that means in your context?...
1. Does it mean that you shoot video with a mini-DV camcorder?
2. Does it mean that you record video from some other source
(like a VHS VCR or something) on your mini-DV camcorder.
3. Does it mean that you capture on your computer video from
your mini-DV camcorder?

What do you mean by "it"? Are you looking to solve some kind
of problem? What are the symptoms and circumstances?

"proc amp better" than what?

Please describe more completely what you are doing, how,
and exactly what your question is.

I apoligise for being vague. I record on a MiniDV camcorder, and
capture on my PC (using virtualdub or Vegas).

The types of corrections I am wanting to make are white balance,
saturation/hue, contrast, and noise reduction (ie: pixelated areas).
Would a proc amp do a better job at correcting these problems better
than say Combustion, Vegas, Premier, Pinnacle, ect?

I'm not looking to copy any VHS's to DVD, at least yet... but I do know
that if I do decide to do that I'll need a proc amp and a TBC from what
I have read.

All things that I am working on are to either be burnt to NTSC DVD or
CD via AVI/MPEG.

I hope this is clearer

"Cajman" wrote ...
OK, I will have to make these specific assumptions...
1) You are shooting live video with your camcorder
2) You are NOT recording on your camcorder from
some analog source like a VHS VCR, etc.
3) You are conecting your camcorder to your PC via
a Firewire cable.
4) You are asking about a *hardware* proc-amp and
not some software plug-in/application, etc.

In this scenario, there is NO opportunity to use a proc-
amp even if you needed one. If you want to do any
modification of the video, you would need to do it
in your NLE video editing application (Vegas, etc.)

Proc-amps (at least the traditional consumer hard-
ware ones) use analog video in and out. But your
assumed workflow is digital all the way (as it is
for most of us).

No proc amp is going to do even analog noise reduction
(i.e. "snow"). The CIA or NSA may have some kind
of computer algorithm to de-pixelate digital de-res,
but I'd bet against it. Once you have lost that much
information (where you see blocks of color instead
of individual pixels) the video picture is gone forever.

Unless you mean something different by "proc amp"
than I am familiar with, I don't see any way you could
use a conventional proc amp even if someone held a
gun to your head?

*IF* you could connect a proc amp in the Firewire path
between your camcorder and your computer, it would
certainly be faster and easier to color balance different
shots "on-the-fly" as they were captured. But AFAIK,
there is no product that implements this functionality.

This is the kind of consumer-level proc amp I'm picturing...
http://www.signvideo.com/single_dual...-processor.htm
It is typical of both consumer and professional proc amps
where they have only analog (composite, Y/C) inputs and
outputs.

I just do not know of any consumer-priced proc-amps with
digital (Firewire or otherwise) inputs/outputs? If you have
some particular product in mind, it would be good to mention
it so we don't dance around in the dark here.

IF you were recording from some other source of video
(as contrasted from aiming your camcorder at the scene),
then you would have an analog connection (between the
source and the camcorder input) where you could insert
a conventional proc amp (and/or TBC). I have found that
the Canopus ADVC-300 is pretty good for cleaning up
old VHS tapes (and digitizing them into DV/Firewire).
The ADVC-300 has built-in TBC functionality.

I have also acquired traditional analog industrial TBCs
(on eBay) and vitually all TBCs also include proc-amp
adjustments on the front panel: gain ("contrast"), pedestal
("brightness"), chroma ("color"), and phase ("hue").

Richard Crowley wrote:

The camcorder is nothinig to write home about so I find that while
shooting that it pixelates areas of the frame sometimes. Now, this
could be because when I edit the video it is magnified on my computer
monitor, this pixelation could be due to pixel streching. Maybe I
should look into hooking up to an external CRT at the videos native
resolution for previews and editing. What do you think?
amps I looked at had only analog inputs. This confused me because
while doing some reading several articles said that most broadcast (ie
news, tv shows, ...) use similar setups with amps, TBC's, audio
equalizers, ect. I thought that most studios had switched to all
digital, which would reduce the market's need for hardware. Therefore
I *assumed* that proc amps were superior over software. But that is
where the difference lies, correct me if I am wrong. Hardware (mainly)
for analog signals, and software for digital signals. Even though one
could argue that MiniDV is analog because it stores info. on tape.

raving remarks about it.

afford anything expensive anyways. I would probably get a used one.

Lets see where this goes.
Thanks

On 4 Feb 2006 09:57:00 -0800, in 'rec.video.desktop',
in article <Re: do I need a proc amp?>,
"Cajman" <wastedyouth821@yahoo.com> wrote:

That almost sounds like it could be an error reading the tape.

Absolutely, positively. There's no way that you can perform objective
picture evaluation using a computer display. You need a television
display device in your edit suite, preferably a high grade, direct
view CRT display.

Anyone making that argument would lose. The DV (or HDV) data stored on
that MiniDV tape is in a digital, not analog, format. It's zeros and
ones just like all data stored on your hard drive.

Data in digital form has been stored on tape for about forty years
now. (I'm referring to computer applications, not video applications
-- before someone pops in to tell me that digital camcorders didn't
exist forty years ago.)

A position that one could argue (and win) is that data, whether in an
analog form or in a digital form, stored on magnetic tape is stored in
a linear fashion. There's no direct access to a given piece of data on
tape without first passing all of the data that precedes it.

I've been using a Kramer Electronics SP-11 for the past few years with
very good results whenever I have composite video or Y/C video to
clean up. I recommend it highly.

http://www.kramerelectronics.com/ind...asp?name=SP-11

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/

"Cajman" wrote:
Then your camcorder is dirty, misaligned, or broken.
No proc amp on this planet will fix that problem.

Get your camcorder cleaned/aligned/repaired ASAP
before you shoot more video that you will never be
able to recover!

Thanks for the replies.