More details please - what's "changing quality?"

Please define what is happening, makes it much easier to help you that way :)

Dave

the problem appears to be that the video quality of the DV footage is crystal clear when viewed in vegas during editing, but when written to DVD the quality seems slightly washed or grainy. The video was created w/ a vx2100 dv cam and imported into Vegas 6. I hope this helps.

Thanks. I will try this.

Just to elaborate on what Sab recommended: Do NOT use the "Default" template when encoding MPEG-2 in Vegas. It will create lousy looking video. I wish Sony would get rid of this template or change the defaults.

ALWAYS use one of the "DVD Architect" templates as your starting point. If you use an average bitrate of 6,000,000 or above (you'll find this control if you click on the Custom button in the Render As dialog), you'll get great results, just like Sab said.

Just remember, EVERY time you render, you always have to make sure that "Default" is NOT selected (Vegas seems intent on steering you towards making the wrong choice).

You should be very happy with the results. I've done extensive testing over the years, and in most cases you should see only extremely subtle differences between your original DV footage, and what you see from your DVD.

Great!!! I had no idea. Thanks for all the help.

Hello,

I tried using the DVD Arc setting and for some reason I get the same results. The problem is more noticeable in the black areas of the video. Again, when I view the video on the screen at the BEST FULL seting in VEGAS it looks sharp and the dark colors are very vivid. However, once I render using the settings suggested and then create a DVD in DVD Arc the colors (especially noticeable in black color) are slightly washed/cloudy. Another thing I noticed is if I play the rendered MPEG file that was created in Vegas using MEDIA PLAYER the video looks great. My guess is the problem happens in DVD Arc. Are there any special settings that I need to be aware of in DVD Arc?

Thanks,
tdsilk

You must be using the DEFAULT setting. DO NOT USE THE DEFAULT SETTING IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. From the TEMPLATE section, open the drop down and scroll down until you get to the DVD NTSC template. Once chosen, open the "Custom" button and then go to the video tab. Change Maximum bps to 8,500,000, Average bps change to 7,000,000 and Minimum bps change to 4,000,000. Be sure you use 2-pass VBR. (not sure where setting is in Vegas 6 for that, but should be in one of the video tabs) This should give you high quality mpeg2s that will work for about 85 minutes of video.
Now erase the name DVD NTSC at top and put in your own title and save it for future use (Icon just to the right). Everytime you render an mpeg, you'll have to choose the right template, so naming it a saving it makes it easy.
Do not make the changes in the default setting, use the DVD NTSC as a lot of other settings are already set right there.

What are you viewing the finished product on? TV, Plasma, LCD, Monitor? If you are rendering in Vegas and it looks good in WMP, DVD Architect isn't the culprit. Any other details you can share?