On Jan 6, 12:22 pm, Dan <[email protected]> wrote: > Just out of curiosity, how big are those pre-compression files? Are > you doing this in 1080 or higher? > > - Dan.
How big are these movies, these video files? Well, a manual I have here on Final Cut says: "the DV video that you work with in Final Cut features 5X compression, meaning that a DV clip uses 1/5 the data that raw, uncompressed video would." The format is listed as DV-NTSC: each frame is 720 X 480 pixels, and they play at about 30 frames per second. My latest family movie, 17 minutes long, exported from Final Cut, is listed in the Finder as 832 MB. iDVD created a disk image of it that is 956 MB. To create the actual DVD, I drop that disk image into Toast and burn it to a DVD-R. I can also export the finished video from Final Cut directly back to the video camera. The camera can then record it onto a blank mini-DV tape. So I have two ways to archive a finished movie project: DVD-R and mini-DV tape. I don't know which is more archival (longer lasting), but I would guess the tape. But I'll archive my movies onto both. For a comparison of visual quality, I have 8mm film movies that my father took of my brothers and I when we were little kids, back in the 1950s and 60s. They're pretty grainy, and the colors are fading. I think my digital videos, despite the DV compression, look better than his movies on film--certainly sharp enough to trigger the memories of family events that they are intended to evoke. Those video images, and the associated recorded sounds, bring old memories back to life quite effectively. Anybody with a Mac capable of using iMovie should be aware that you can plug a DV camera into your Mac (with a FireWire cable) and easily create movies. iMovie takes control of your camera for import, and then you can edit the imported video in iMovie, and afterward export it to iDVD to burn it to a disk. The ease of doing this is a revelation for some people--it sure was to me a few years ago, when I first tried it. Just make sure you buy a video camera that has a FireWire port, so you can connect it to your Mac. Tom --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
