DVCPRO 25/50 Codec

What they are and what they can do for you

Codecs (compressor/decompressors) are the key to digital video editing. Most personal computers don't have the horsepower or disk space to handle full-quality video, but codecs enable footage to be compressed to manageable size. Of course, the goal is to compress the data with as little quality loss as possible.

There are two types of codecs: software and hardware. Hardware codecs are embedded into devices that are connected to or installed in a computer, such as a capture card. The advantage of a hardware codec is that it can usually achieve very high speed by handling the calculations itself instead of relying on the computer's processor. But there are also some disadvantages. First, hardware codecs are generally quite expensive. Second, there are often compatibility problems because some manufacturers only support their own formats. Third, as CPUs become faster, the speed advantage of a hardware codec is not as great.

Software codecs can offer the same quality as hardware codecs. And, with today's fast processors, they can sometimes even beat the speed of comparable hardware products. As you might expect, software codecs are usually much less expensive.

MainConcept is proud to offer high-quality codecs for two popular video formats: Motion JPEG and DV.

The Motion JPEG format (also known as MJPEG) was made popular by older video editing boards used to digitize analog video signals (for example, from a camcorder or VCR). Although Motion JPEG allows high compression and good quality, the problem is that the format is not standardized. Many manufacturers only supported their own variations of MJPEG. This meant that material edited on a system with a video editing board often could not be played on other computers that did not have the highly specialized software installed.

MainConcept's Motion JPEG Codec offers wide compatibility. It is ideal for a variety of functions including video conferencing, medical technology, or as an add-on for existing MJPEG capture cards. It is especially useful in environments where edited material needs to be played back on multiple computers without expensive capture cards installed.

DV ("Digital Video") is a popular format used by digital camcorders and popular video editing software. Many people believe that there is no quality loss when editing in the DV format, however this is only a myth. Although there is no quality loss when transferring DV data from one device to another (from a camcorder to a computer, for example), there can be quality loss during editing. For example, if a transition is added between two clips, the affected frames will need to be rendered (calculated), and there is the potential for quality loss.

However, the MainConcept DV Codec offers razor-sharp quality, even after many generations of rendering. Many people purchase this codec as an add-on for video editing software which uses an inferior DV codec. The ultra-fast rendering performance also adds to the popularity.

At our low prices, the MainConcept Motion JPEG and DV Codecs are an exceptional value. They offer professional quality rendering as quickly as your processor allows. And their compatibility makes them a great product for every computer that's used for video editing.