3 quality questions

cheroxy wrote on 4/20/2005, 6:12 PM
I have three questions that could possibly effect the quality of my videos.

1-Is there a limit to the number of times I should use a tape?

2-Does it improve quality if I go over a tape that was previously recorded and "black it out" ie - record with the cap on or print to tape a black background?

3-If I understand this correctly, when I render to mpeg-2 I lose some quality that I had on my minidv tape. If I were to render that out as HD (even though it isn't HD source video) and burn it to an HD disc (blueray or HD-DVD) would that look better than the traditional disc, or will it make no difference at all since SD is not HD?

Thanks for your help,
Cheroxy

Comments

craftech wrote on 4/20/2005, 6:22 PM
1-Is there a limit to the number of times I should use a tape?

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Practically speaking the answer is yes, but re-using it will work although sometimes removing and re-inserting can screw up the timecode. I wouldn't recommend re-use for serious footage though.

2-Does it improve quality if I go over a tape that was previously recorded and "black it out" ie - record with the cap on or print to tape a black background?
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No, not with DV tape.
That does work sometimes with VHS and 8mm tape though.

3-If I understand this correctly, when I render to mpeg-2 I lose some quality that I had on my minidv tape. If I were to render that out as HD (even though it isn't HD source video) and burn it to an HD disc (blueray or HD-DVD) would that look better than the traditional disc, or will it make no difference at all since SD is not HD?

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Most of this depends upon the camera you used and the available light.

John
busterkeaton wrote on 4/20/2005, 6:30 PM
2-Does it improve quality if I go over a tape that was previously recorded and "black it out" ie - record with the cap on or print to tape a black background?
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No, not with DV tape.
That does work sometimes with VHS and 8mm tape though.


Was this a question of improving quality or did people do this to ensure that there would be no breaks in timecode on that tape.


I would guess rendering SD to HD would not be worth it. It may introduce its own issues. I haven't tried this, but you could take some SD footage and render it to HD and compare it the original. It will not look better, but it may look worse.

As John points out best source footage yields best end result either way you go
cheroxy wrote on 4/20/2005, 6:33 PM
Thanks guys! Later, when I get vegas 6, get my had camera, and get my hd burner I'll do the test and let ya' know ;)