Poor Quality ?

Onebag wrote on 7/12/2006, 11:14 AM

I've just used a Sony DCR-HC35, first time of ever using one. The recording/playback picture quality on the lcd screen is excellent and playback via a tv screen equally clean and crisp. I've taken the recording from the dv tape and onto the pc via the supplied USB cable to Sony Vegas but when I view the recording previewed/saved as avi on the pc the image is very poor, vastly different, very very grainy in comparison to the tv image. Is it usual to lose so much quality in transferring from tape to pc?

I've no prior experience of any form of video recording I should add...! I've been through all the obvious things in 'preferences' and 'settings' and the like and seem to have it set up correctly for PAL systems.

Any ideas, or do i have a duff machine somehow?

Comments

JackW wrote on 7/12/2006, 11:18 AM

Try importing using firewire rather than USB. This may be all that's necessary.

Jack

Former user wrote on 7/12/2006, 11:19 AM

USB is normally only used for Still Images. IF your camera has firewire (iLink), this will give you an exact copy of the tape to your computer.

Also, a computer is not optimised for video, so your picture will not look as good on a computer as it will on your camera. There are several issues involved but normally this is due to field interlacing and your computer resolution.

But first I would look into getting a firewire card and cable.

Dave T2

John_Cline wrote on 7/12/2006, 12:10 PM

The USB port on the HC35 is for still images and low-quality "webcam" video. The ONLY way to get full-resolution, full-quality video into Vegas is to use the FireWire (IEEE-1394) port with the appropriate cable.

It is true that a computer DISPLAY isn't optimized for video, but it is incorrect to imply that a computer itself isn't optimized for video. Vegas will run quite nicely on just about anything and produce excellent quality video regardless of the brand, model or speed of the computer.

John

Former user wrote on 7/12/2006, 12:37 PM

Thanks for the clarification. That was what I meant to say, the DISPLAY is not optimized for video.

Dave T2

Onebag wrote on 7/13/2006, 4:41 AM

Many thanks for all your comments.
The Sony Camcorder manual mentions very little of how to transfer to a pc.
I got hold of a firewire cable as suggested and found a firewire port on my Creative Audigy Sound Card - I presume it's okay to use that?

I just tried transferring video from the camera into Vegas and also into Windows Movie Maker via the firewire cable, but to be honest the image quality looks much the same as it did via the usb cable and still clearly shows a big difference to the image as shown via either the lcd or tv screen.

I think I have a reasonable pc setup, Radeon 9800, View Sonic VX912 monitor.

Maybe I'm still getting something wrong?

Former user wrote on 7/13/2006, 4:47 AM

After you capture your footage, put a blank tape in your camcorder and recorder the footage back to your camera from your computer. When you play that on your TV, it should look identical to the original.

Chances are what you are seeing is the compromise of displaying your video on your computer screen from a TV signal.

If you only want to watch your video on your computer, there are codecs designed to make the computer video look better. MPEG1 and Divx seem to be the most common.

Dave T2

AlanC wrote on 7/13/2006, 4:52 AM

If you're viewing the video in the Vegas preview window you need to make sure that you haven't got it set to Draft (Auto) or Draft(Full)

Onebag wrote on 7/13/2006, 5:53 AM

Thanks guys.

I tried print-to-tape of an avi I'd copied from the camcorder to the pc and watched it back via the tv. It did, as you suggested, seem to be of much the same quality. The same avi recorded to a dvd via Sonic MyDVD and viewed on the tv again showed a decrease in quality.

I guess that's about the best I can hope for then? I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the quality available. Just out interest, what's the best format to be recording in if not mini dv tapes?

All the best
Glenn

farss wrote on 7/13/2006, 6:35 AM

Copying from the tape via firewire to an avi file on the HD is a completely lossless process. It'll pretty much either work or not. The same goes for copying back to tape (unless you're applying FX etc).

The same cannot be said for making a DVD. Quality may range from almost as good to really, really horrible and there's many factors affecting the outcome. They start with how well the video was shot and the quality of the camera and end with how much video you are trying to fit on the DVD.

Bob.

Jay-Hancock wrote on 7/13/2006, 8:47 AM

I wonder if some of the lower end consumer DVD authoring programs "automagically" compress the levels down to broadcast color standards, regardless of whether it was already in the right range.. (Not that this is necessarily what onebag was experiencing, but I wonder about it). And there are lots of standalone consumer software apps for making photo slide shows. With "ease of use" being their primary feature, it's unlikely these apps would instruct the user to "go into photoshop and adjust the levels on all your stills", but rather they would either do this automagically or they would just ignore it and hope your TV doesn't care.