Bad video quality

vcalder wrote on 2/6/2009, 5:02 AM

I'm using VMS9 and DVDA4.5 (packaged together). I've noticed that the dvd video quality when played on both a regular player and standard definition tv and an upconverting player to a HD tv is worse than the preview quality video (the mpg2 file) I see on my computer screen prior to burning the dvd. I'm wondering if I have my settings wrong (either in the VMS project file or the DVDA file). I just used the default template in both programs. Should I be using something else? I realize my dvd probably won't be as good quality as the original DV tape from the camcorder, but I would expect it to be better than what I'm seeing. Seems to be a lot of video "noise", meaning it looks pretty grainy.

Comments

warriorking wrote on 2/7/2009, 10:53 AM

Does your VSM9 have a option to render it as a DVDA template, If so do not let DVDA convert the footage at all, it should only render your menu setup and burn the DVD, you should let VSM9 render your footage before bringing it into DVDA........ Also check the bitrate of the render in VSM9, the higher the better.....

vcalder wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:41 PM

I always render my videos within VMS9 before taking them into DVDA. I looked at the "render as" options and I see that there are many choices. I usually select MPEG-2, which shows video characteristics of: 29.970 fps, 720X480. I'm not sure where to check for other file characteristics, like bit rate. Sorry for my ignorance here. Should I be rendering in a different file format, such as .avi?

vcalder wrote on 2/7/2009, 7:52 PM

Sorry. I didn't finish my thoughts. On the template drop-down box (in "render as"), I can choose a file type of Video For Windows (avi file), then click the Custom button and it will let me select a higher video quality. Looks like my default is Good. I could select Best. On the other hand, if I choose a file type of Windows Media Video V11 (wmv), I can select bit rates from 28.8 kbps up to 3 mbps. Which of these would be the best approach?

TOG62 wrote on 2/8/2009, 12:01 AM

If you choose anything other than MPEG2 DVDA will re-render, which means you will lose time and quality. From reading earlier threads I don't believe that you can set the bit rate for MPEG2 in VMS. I'm guessing that VMS sets it automatically to fit on a DVD. If that's the case the only ways to improve quality are to reduce the length of your video or burn to a higher capacity disc.

Mike

vcalder wrote on 2/9/2009, 9:20 AM

I think I'm getting things confused between what is happening with the editing & dvd authoring software and my playback devices (dvd player and TV). I looked at a previously burned dvd (using VMS6 and DVDA4.5) on a standard def TV and the picture looks pretty crisp. However, when I view the same DVD on my upconverting player and HD TV, it noticeably looses quality. I'm thinking that even this upconversion to near HD quality only really works with commercially produced dvd movies, or that maybe my use of the default templates doesn't produce a high-enough quality video that such upconverting players can improve upon for HD TV viewing. Also, I still need to fiddle with my player and TV settings a bit more to make sure I've optimized everything there.

I don't want to waste everyone's time chasing rabbits on this, but if anyone wants to continue to weigh in on the subject, I'm all ears.

warriorking wrote on 2/9/2009, 2:04 PM

Just about any SD video looks crappy on todays HDTV's. ...I Hate having to convert my Video footage from HD to SD for people...But what can you do....Thats why all my personal video footage is burned to Blu-ray so I can enjoy the footage as it was suppose to be seen....I even have problems viewing Commercial DVD Movies on my HDTV since watching them on Blu-ray, thats why I am replacing most of my favorite movies with the Blu-ray version...But thats just me.....One does get spoiled.....