welcome to the forum.

errr...
your DV-AVI is like 10+ years old for one.
AVI - audio video interlace is not sharp or better than progressive videos for two.
we're in 4K era and jumping into H.265 HEVC, which PD13 supports, or VP9 codecs for three...

I'll pause there.
I prefer H.264 .MP4 30p 28Mb/sec 1080 FHD / 30p 100Mb/sec 4K QHD
I'm waiting for Samsung NX500...

sorry, I know this isn't what you want to hear and didn't follow the instructions, either.
shame on you, he wanted pros and cons... 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Yes, yes my age is showing and my source footage is from a bunch of home movies I took way back using S-VHS (remember those) and DV camcorders

I would think that most casual user (you excluded of course ) don’t shoot in 4k but rater just HD DV.
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

well, mine's older...

look below the 'no bridge too far'
Super 8,
that is my friend it's 8mm film, yes, the silver stuff...

I've backed up my Beta, S-Beta, VHS, S-VHS, Hi8, Di8...
to DvDs
and used PowerDirector 8, 9, 10 & 12 to edit and produce DvD Home Movies
for family and relatives.

I've tasted the 4K and it's awesome ( Eugen157)...
happy editing. 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Ok, ok you win with the older stuff (I remember the 8mm home movies - the highlight was always if you had a scene of kids jumping into a pool and you played it in reverse )
So, you are putting them on DVD (I tried that – but did not like the fact that a LP tape would not fit on a regular DVD) so I stared creating a backup on HD – in DV-AVI format.
I have also tried the H.264 .MP4 format for Soccer videos I was doing – and I liked it because of the small size.
I did not like the fact that I loose timecode (when video was captured) info that I would have in DV-AVI format when backing up home movies (might be user error not knowing how to see it).

For 4K I would have to purchase a new computer first for sure

PS Samsung NX500 looks interesting
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

A person's preferred source video format would be what he has, could afford, and has the most experience with. That DV-AVI format has a lot going for it 10 years ago. Did you know that the default audio capture is 14 bits and not 16 bits. You have to go into the menu of your camcorder to set it to high quality 16 bit(cd) quality. Sony put a lot of stuff and thoughts into Hi8, not svhs like rc time codes for future editors. Likewise, sony built a lot of features into that DV-AVI. Some were never implimented in editors that I know of, like a second stereo and commentary track, etc. Too bad computers came along that were fast enough, and hard drive capacites went to hunderds of gigs, and I think that is what stopped it's development dead in it's track.

Did not answer your other questions because I have no problems with it. The answer is simply use software optimized for DV-AVI such as those created and sold 10 years ago. PD12 is the PD that work well with it. You might want to dual boot your pc with an older operating system. That is what I did at one time to be able to run all the old stuff fast and well but was dissapointed after I found that the older os, games, and software do not support multi-threads, multi-core cpu, only single thread. Speed increase was negligible in many cases.

I still have a DV cam that works well.

I recently captured about 60 tapes in the DV-AVI format - Tape media will not last forever – or so I was told .
Half is from a Sony DV camcorder and the other half is digitized via the Sony Camcorder (using S-VHS input in the camcorder as a pass-through so the camcorder can digitize it so I can capture it via Firewire). The pass-through stuff has no useful timecode info and can be converted into any format (whatever is best – hence the tread). The Sony DV tapes do have useful timecode info (for scene analysis and knowing when footage was captured) so that would be nice to keep.
And yes, the camcorder is set to use 16bit sound – that is a good point!
My thought with the tread was not to convey what I use but rather to learn what all you guys(and gals) like best and use to store you digital video source files (if you do), so we all learn something
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

When Hi8 came out, I remember it as a camcorder aquisition format only. You were expected to edit it to produce svhs tapes. DV-AVI was announced as a camcorder aquisition format only. You were expected to edit it and produce it to svhs or mpeg-2, or dvd later as the final product for showing video. Writing back to dv tapes was for archival purposes. Smart rendering of dv was in all the major name brand software I used. I think that you could use PD8. I think that it is highly unlikely that engineers will fix any of their newer software to work correctly with an older format when the older versions worked perfectly.

If I captured 60 dv tapes today, then I won't wait for a fix from anybody. I would install the older software on an older pc and start editing right away. That is my opinion only. I assume that you are not new to dv and have all that older software. Love dv. It's great sd.

Quote: Tape media will not last forever

yes, it'll not last forever. like you said the reason for the time code is to facilitate faster editing.
just picture this, going back and forth on the timeline on that tape...
digital you don't need to rewind, fast forward, etc... puts a lot of wear and tear on the tape.
besides the camcorder's pinch rollers going bad, too...
once it's gone it's sayonara!

most of my Beta and S-Beta tapes are un-viewable and I'm really glad I've backed everything
decade ago. I still have Sony DCR-TRV740.

some of the toy cams are inexpensive like Samsung HMX-W300 which it takes 1080 30p FHD.
it'll blow and sink your decade old camcorder.
Samsung W300($150) did blow away my Sony DCR-TRV740($785)!!!

Quote:
to learn what all you guys(and gals) like best and use to store you digital video source files (if you do), so we all learn something

I like H.264 .MP4 Progressive files.
final output to DvD, AVCHD DvD disc or Blu-ray disc
I don't use thumb drives.

I use 3TB external HDs(100 peanuts) and Blu-ray disc to keep original source RAW video files.
everything that is made by man doesn't last...
DvD, Blu-ray disc about 20 years. glue and the plastic goes bad.
Hard drives, when it feels like it hence the Blu-ray disc back up.

happy editing.

p.s.
looking at your avatar, you'll be, happy happy joy joy,
using your DV-AVI for a very long time!!! 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

In order to avoid loss of quality, an editable video format should be comprised of as many I frames as possible - ideally all I frames.
DV is one example of that, but fit just for SD.
Formats that are I-frames only are:

MJPEG
JPEG 2000 intra frame video codec
Apple ProRes 422/4444
AVC-Intra
DV
VC-2 SMPTE standard (a.k.a. Dirac Pro) Schrödinger
VC-3 SMPTE standard
Avid DNxHD
CineForm
REDCODE RAW - used by Red cameras
Grass Valley HQ (8bit) and HQX (10bit) Codec

Unfortunately, from those, only DV is supported in PD.

Thanks for the info PepsiMan.

H.264 .MP4 is the output format I used for the first few videos I created in PD

I think I will try your suggestion of burning a Blue-ray, for an extra backup of my footage in addition to the HD backup I have.

My avatar shows my 12 year old Sony TRV60E (PAL) camcorder – that’s what I used for this project
Now all my S-VHS an S-VHS-C tapes (Camcorder died a long time ago), MiniDV tapes and my Panasonic S-VHS VCR are all in storage – to hopefully never be used again

And yes, a new camcorder and computer is on my wish list
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

if you have one of the camcorder-phone then it takes an excellent videos.

I have Galaxy Note 3 as noted below, takes excellent 4K videos,
PD10,12 & 13 doesn't have any issues,
matter of fact it takes so good of 4k video, video trumps everything Note 3 has.
stills from the 4K video is far better than 4K still photos!!! can you believe that???

Note 3 cost me 600 peanuts last year and looking at a NX1's little brother NX500 due in March.
I don't have any lot of peanuts to spend on 3K camcorder...
I remember spending $1500 on the Sony CCD-TR101 Hi8 camcorder and kicked out of the
house in to the garage! LOL
I am a King in my own castle, you know.

yup, good ole-days. 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

PepsiMan you are spot on.

I have a Samsung SIII and the video I took on it is not bad (not at the Note level but ok).
PD 13’s new image stabilizer helped a lot to savage my shaky phone footage and with some funny PIP, a title and soundtrack – I created a nice short sport video - the players where happy
The only reason the Sony DV camcorder is still better is because it has an optical image stabilizer and optical zoom and no I will NOT admit how much $$ I paid for it 12 years ago.
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

I would be careful about the mp4 progressive format created from your interlaced DV-AvI format. What works for your eyes may be bad for someone else watching the same produced video. Other people's eye may see mice teeth and hard coded interlaced artifacts while others don't. It depend on each individual's eye perception on motion. See this link from a woman who shot interlaced video and then complained about the progressive mp4 video that she produced: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/42245.page . Her eyes were that sensitive.

Yes - that is also a good point tomasc (and and interesting post).

I like to use Handbreak (vs 9.9 – I have issues with 10) to convert DV-AVI files for a quick review on my TV (viewable via a DLNA media server that transcodes it again for me). The Handbreak files (default settings) are good quality and much smaller size than the ones I produced in PD. The important part for me is to set the Deinterlace option to Fast on the Filters tab in Handbreak (else I see issues).

For my MP4 format output from the DV-AVI source I use a custom Profile and my Frame type is "Top field first" not Progressive (to avoid the "mice teeth" and hard coded interlaced artifacts you are talking about).
SVRT also finds this profile now when using the produced MP4 in other projects (making for faster renders).
My custom MPEG2 profile produced better quality output for me, and SVRT works perfect with it also. Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate

Glad that you found ways of doing things that work for you. DV-AVI is bottom field first. I do things the way that works for me.

Thanks for the response tomasc.
My idea with this tread was to find out what others use as a good source format to keep their footage on HDD or DVD’s, but it is quite clear that it all affects the full video production life cycle.

The source is tied to what your camcorder/phone/gizmo supports and what you have it configured to create.

To save time during production and to use SVRT you need a source format that is supported and your output format to match.

The output format is critical depending on what you want to show your video on (TV/Web/other gizmo)

I captured a bunch of PAL videos from my camcorder in DV-AVI format (to get them off tape and edited) – just to find out that SVRT doesn't really work for that format (although it should). So now my “produce” time is going to be slow in any case. Next stop finding the best output format for my stuff
Win8.1 Pro x64 / Dual x5670 / 24GB / GTX960 4GB / 240GB SSD + 640GB HDD / PD13 Ultimate