Hey Steve thanks for the quick reply.

The camcorder shoots the following recording Modes 1080 / 50p (28Mbps / VBR) , (1920 x 1080) / HA (17Mbps / VBR) , (1920 x 1080) / HG (13Mbps / VBR) , (1920 x 1080) / HX (9Mbps / VBR) , (1920 x 1080) / HE (5Mbps / VBR) , (1920 x 1080)

Im shooting in HG1920 and importing to vegas as a new dvd project ( 4:3 non-widescreen format (Video: 720x576, 25.000 fps interlaced.) I then render a mpg4 to my hard drive as I thought that would be better than the Mpg2 on a dvd.

Depends on the bitrate. At similar bitrates mpg4 is likely to be better than mpg2. However, without you specifying what bitrates you're using, you face situations such as 8Mbps mpg2 being MUCH better than 2Mpbs mpg4.

It's not the codec that matters as much as the compression level.

Thanks Chienworks

Takes me back to my original question.

Can I achieve a noticeable improvement in quality by tweaking the standard settings like bitrate in vegas I can customise most of these

Not if you're outputting to a DVD (which is, of course, standard definition -- not high-def like your original footage).

DVD quality is usually virtually as good as the original footage -- but not even the original footage is high resolution, of course.

You will also see some reduced quality if you're shooting 50p, which Vegas does not work well with at 1920x1080 AVCHD. Does that camcorder offer a 50i option?

[It does. I checked. So I'd recommend you shoot in 1920x1080 50i if you plan to edit in Vegas Movie Studio HD.]

Thanks Steve

And render to DVD rather than mpg4?

I don't understand the question.

You should get excellent quality on that projector if you create a DVD from your project. There's no value in creating a DVD-quality MP4. But your video will be standard resolution. (Which should still look fine on your projector.)

If you want to create an output that maintains the full resolution of your original hi-def video, you'll need to create a hi-def output like a BluRay disc or a 1920x1080 MP4. However, if your project only projects standard def video, this may not be the best solution.

Will you be playing your video from a computer or a disc player? And do you want full hi-def resolution or DVD resolution?

Sorry for causing confusion.

The projector takes HDMI but the old laptop can only do VGA. So the challenge is to render so something SD that I can project. MPG4 has worked in the past but I hear your advise re DVD

"The projector takes HDMI but the old laptop can only do VGA."

Woops, wrong choice.
Beg, borrow, or buy a laptop that will give full HD to the projector. Call your rich auntie.
End of discussion.

No, the advice isn't to go for DVD. The advice is to use the best quality rendering that will work with your playback/projection system.

Let's assume that your laptop's VGA supports 1024x768, or possibly even 1280x800. Let's also assume that the projector handles the same resolution. Let's also assume that your laptop is recent enough vintage to handle pretty decent playback demands. In that case, rendering a 1024x576 or 1280x720 (whichever your system can handle) at a rather high bitrate will do the job. MPEG4 will give a better result than MPEG2 at the same bitrate. However, it's also possible that an older laptop can more easiily play back an MPEG2 file with a higher bitrate than a similar quality MPEG4 file at a lower bitrate because MPEG2 requires less decoding.

So, try making several versions at different resolutions and different bitrates both in MPEG2 and MPEG4 and see which one looks the best while still playing back smoothly. You won't even need to connect to the projector to make the tests, since anything that plays back ok on the laptop screen will be fine on the projector as well.

The only reason DVD is suggest is that, without knowing the details of your hardware, we can always recommend that a DVD will work, whether it's he optimal quality solution or not.