new to boards & need help w/convert film to digital

[cls]

I am new to this form and am very much a novice. I am hoping that someone can either enlighten me or provide me with a resource for obtaining the following:

I need to understand the process of converting film to digital. I need to know what software is needed in order to compress files and upload them to the web. Is this something I can do in the comfort of my own home or would I need to outsource this?

To get more to the point – I am an actress and would like to take the work of myself and a few of my peers and showcase it on the web.

If for instance I was given films in any of the following formats VHS, S-VHS, Beta Sp, Mini DV, DV Cam – what software, if any, could I use to compress it and upload it to the internet at broadcast quality?

Additionally, if the films were given to me on CD or DVD would the process be the same, what software, if any, could I use to upload it and show it over the internet at broadcast quality?

Thank you in advance.

 

[kaos1000]

Macintosh

Macintosh

What you really want to do is get yourself a new (G4,G5) Mac.

These things are made to sling video around out of the box.

Find an Apple dealer and tell them what you want to do............the will probably do exactly what you want to do right there in the store.





kaos

 

[jodymichelle]

hi cls, welcome to the forums

 

[laurent.a]

Yep, but that would cost quite a lot of money, and if you would tell us what computer you have, then it could be considered if your actual PC/MAC can handle it.

Putting film (I mean s8, 16 mm, 35 mm) on a computer is not as esay as what you plan to do which is actually putting video on your computer.

You basically only need a video acquiring card and the proper connection...

If it's dv or dvcam (digital video), you should use a IEEE (firewire) connection. Then you'd need your card to have IEEE connection, for the best result.

If it's VHS, SVHS, HI 8 (analog video) you want to put on it, you can use basic Synch connectors, that you can use also with digital video (though the result won't be as good as with IEEE) or S-video output connector from the camera (better than synch).

After acquiring the video on you computer, you'll have to encode it so that it can be send thru the internet, but it will never be "broadcast quality" because the material has to be compressed (that the encoding does) cause the broadcast quality is too heavy to upload, and people cannot download so big files from the internet...

As for the software that do that, sorry, I don' know much about that, but I guess that any NLE system should give the ability of outputing a coded and compressed (Mpeg 2 for instance) material from the tape you would have acquired (think of adobe premier, final cut pro...) But, again, I don't konw these software's possibility a lot as I don't use them...

Hope it can help... I guess Jason "Digigenic" should give you a more apropriate answer or anybody correct me if I was wrong trying to help in the meantime.

If you want to show a good quality product, you'd better burn a DVD and send it by mail...

Any software that burns DVD would burn the encoded file as well as recording it on deck.

Welcome to the forums !

 

[laurent.a]

Or you could consider finding a lab that would transfer you material on whatever you want DVD, CDRom... it would be less a pain in the neck if you're not used to this kind of things, and should cost you so much. You should checkk this up !

Regards.

 

[DerekEastham]

laurent is right...

Today, there is no real good way to stream broadcast quality images over the internet... unless you've got the server base of Microsoft or Apple or another large base to do it from...

The best way to get your stuff out there is to do the next best thing... find the best possible quality you can put on the web with a decent download tiem...
now, this is different for many people... but the higher quality standard you stick to, the faster the internet access has to be for people to realistically watch it...

On my website for instance, I use a high power quicktime codec... I actually mirror the same general settings that Lucasfilm uses when they post their on-line featurettes for behind the scenes of Star Wars...
however, I have opted to only mimic the high quality settings... this leads to a larger file... and really, unless people are content with waiting for a long time on a dial-up connection... my website is for broadband users only really.

In the end... you should really try to find someone near to you who's experienced with encoding media for the web... they'll be able to help you do that as best as possible, and in the most affordable way for you to do that...

Other than that... like I said... laurent is right... the best way to get out there is to make a DVD or a VHS demo reel & comp reel of your work that you can send out to potential employers.

Best of luck... maybe Jacob can come up with a better idea.

 

[cls]

Thank you for responding. This information helps me a great deal and gets me going in the right direction.

 

[Digigenic]

Great responses from everyone
I agree with what Derek and Laurent have articulated in defining the process for converting footage from Film, VHS, S-VHS, Mini DV, etc. to a format appropriate for DVD or web streaming. In fact, I’ll probably have some questions of my own for the two of them with regard to the same issues in coming months.
If you should have any other questions, feel free to check back in, you know where to find us