Need advice

Hi all, I am new to the forum and if I ask some stupid questions, sorry in advance
But that is a story and I look for advice from you

Below story and questions,

Based on video data, files - received from customers in different video formats, files or even on VHS - I need to change that different files it into on video format that would be later used by other program to show it over the big LCD or Plasma screen

1. What is the best video format to keep video files considering quality and size - divx, mpeg4 other, if there are a lot of good formats which one is considered to be the best overall - taking under considerations that it will be later shown on big screens such as 40’ LCD or 42’ Plasma screen ?

2. Which program shall I buy or use (- if that program would be freely available) in order to transform different files into that one file – that would be chosen based on first question

3. Is there a program to command and control a computer in order to show video files on other screen – LCD or Plasma regardless of operation on that computer (I have already hardware to connect other screen to computer I do not know how to manage it so I can choose a video file to play and it shows just that video on other screen – its like using Windows with two monitors – one to operate and second one to watch a movie – I think that is possible with ordinary windows software, am I right here ? should be Windows enough here ?)

Regards
pipcia

There is a program called Mediashout, that will turn your PC into a video control centre. It allows you to take many different types of media file(including powerpoint, still images, DVD, audio and video files) and sent them to an output device like a screen or projector, while the PC is left free for you to Q up the next video.

This software will play digital files direct from the PC, but if you add a camcorder with analogue Video In or even better a Canopus ADVC110 to your setup via a firewire connection, you can then either capture your analogue VHS tapes to the PC and play them from there or use it as a pass through device and play them direct from the VCR, but with this last method you would have work the VCR manually.

I hope this is of some help and has not just added complications.

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Edius Pro 4 Broadcast, Edius DVX, ADVC300 -- PremPro 2.0, Matrox RT X100

Thanks !!!

this is of some help for sure !

I just need to know which file format I should choose, since there may be many different file formats from customers which program may be use to switch between formats
– considering quality and size and that it is going to be shown over big screens such as 40’ or bigger – avi, mpeg – which one, other – which one ????

Are you just playing the videos or are you converting them too?

Do you have a budget, or are you trying to get this up and running as cheap as possible?

Mpeg1 and DV-avi have the widest compatibility

With VHS the resolution is low and the quality is also lower than most digital formats, on a 40 inch screen it will not be unwatchable but the quality might not be good. The ADVC300 does offer video cleaning during conversion from VHS to DV-AVI.

Matrox make graphics cards with a WYSIWYG plug in, so any movie format video (mepg2, mpeg1, DV avi) played in media player will be output to an external source. So you could just stack up the clips in media player and play them in any order you wish.

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Edius Pro 4 Broadcast, Edius DVX, ADVC300 -- PremPro 2.0, Matrox RT X100

Hi again

I will be playing but also converting since I can expect to get video files from customers in different formats, for this I would like to know which file format is considered to be the best – taking under consideration size and quality – or is considered to be overall the best – and which program shall I use in order to convert files

I do not want to create list of clips with different file formats since some of them will be presented later to customers some of them will be used to work, ect., for this I would prefer to have them in one file format at the end of the day

The problem is that a good file format for just showing or presenting and keeping it small, is not a good one for editing later. From what it sounds like you want to edit some of these later. If that is correct you may want to consider 2 formats. If you will be keeping the originals then use a divx type format for showing and then if you are going to edit make a dv-avi capture for editing. DV-Avi is a high quality format for editing but very big files and not at all good for presenting.