Poor image quality when imported to Movie Studio.

Splint3048 wrote on 12/13/2013, 2:30 AM
I have some HD video recorded on a Panasonic HDC-SDT750 which looks very good when played on Windows Media Player. When I import it into Movie Studio the video quality drops off dramatically.

I've tried all of the HD templates, some are better than others but none come close the quality of the video as played in media Player.

Any suggestions on how to get the HD quality video?

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 12/13/2013, 7:40 AM
Are you judging it merely by what you see in the Preview panel? That could just be your preview quality settings, and might have nothing to do with the quality of your acutal project.

What level is your Preview set to in the drop-down at the top of the panel?

Usually it's best to leave it on an Auto setting so that it won't waste power creating a high-quality preview. The quality of your preview doesn't affect the look of your finished piece.

Also, have you set your Video Project Properties to match your media? As I show you in my book, this is also a good way to improve the program's performance and output.

This camcorder also shoots in 3D as well at 1080p, which are pretty intensive formats. You don't say what kind of hardware you've got on your computer, but you may well be seeing a reduced quality preview because your computer isn't able to produce a full-quality render preview 60 times per second.

The main point though is that how the video looks in your Preview panel does not affect how it will look when you finally output your finished piece.
Splint3048 wrote on 12/14/2013, 9:20 PM
Thank you for your reply. The main problem is shimmering occurs where there are close vertical or parallel lines such as picket fences, stripes, corrugated iron roofing, spindly trees, power lines etc. I am happy with the rest of the picture, but the shimmering is most unpleasant to watch and I am anxious to eliminate it if possible. I can’t say I’ve noticed it on other home videos, but have seen it very occasionally on television films. I actually work with two screens, so that the preview screen is also on the second screen, and the shimmering is more obvious on the second screen.
In answer to your questions:
1. No, I am not judging only by what I see in the preview panel. I have actually burned the project to a DVD, and because the picture is larger, the shimmering appears worse.
2. Preview is set to Auto
3. Adjust source media to better match project or render settings is ticked. The project template selected is HD1080-50i (1920 x 1080, 25 000 fps)
4. I haven’t tried shooting in 3D, but the camera is set at 1080-50p. The hardware on the computer is as follows:

Rating – 5.4 Windows Experience Index
Processor – Inter(R) Core (TM) 17 – 2600 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.7 GHz
Installed Memory (RAM) – 4.00 GB
System Type – 64 bit Operating System
Pen and Touch – Not available for this display.

I am using Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.
TOG62 wrote on 12/15/2013, 1:34 AM
I have actually burned the project to a DVD

If you are burning DVDs from high def source material you might be interested in these articles:

http://reeltimevideoworks.com/blog/hd-to-sd/

http://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4200147

http://www.bellunevideo.com/tutdetail.php?tutid=12
Splint3048 wrote on 12/17/2013, 12:40 AM
Thank you for all those links. I have read, but not understood all of what I read, but my problem is obviously more than just something in the settings. Looks like I'll need to learn how to take HD back to SD, which seems a bit pointless after taking it in HD, but you do want to be able to watch the DVDs without being annoyed with the shimmering.

Thanks again.