Quality of DVD on TV

svleck wrote on 3/20/2004, 8:35 AM

I am having problems getting half decent quality of a created DVD (using Screenblast and Sonic). Why can I not get the same quality as a store bought DVD movie? Are there certain settings I should be using that I do not know about? (currently using the default NTSC template setting on Screenblast). I realize that there are a greater number of pixels on a computer monitor than a television screen but there should be a way around this, shouldn't there??

Also, what DVD authoring program do people recommend? It seems to me, after looking at this forum, that everyone is all over the map.

Thanks for the help.

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 3/20/2004, 8:47 AM

> Why can I not get the same quality as a store bought DVD movie?

The direct answer to that questions is, “because you don’t have the same high quality footage and perfect lighting that Hollywood is using nor do you have a staff of people who’s job it is to encode each scene separately to get the best encoding.” ;-)

Having said that; you still should be getting a pretty good picture if you start with good footage. You didn’t tell us what you are starting out with. MiniDV tape? Analog capture? MPEG2 from a camcorder that isn’t miniDV? The results will regrade in that order (i.e.,. miniDV should look pretty close to a store bought DVD. Analog will only look as good as a VHS tape, and MPEG2 source that’s re-encoded to DVD looks the worst.

If you tell us more about the procedure you’re using we may be able to help. (garbage in, garbage out applies here)

~jr

svleck wrote on 3/20/2004, 9:01 AM

ok, I apologize for not giving you all of the necessary info.

I have created a "slideshow" movie using scanned in photos set at 300 dpi (probably too low after having read your statement). However, even adding text using MS, the text looks fuzzy to me. The text is a script style which may have someting to do with it as well.

By the way, thanks for the quick response. This forum has always been great in that respect.

ADinelt wrote on 3/20/2004, 11:07 AM

I have been creating some slide shows with music and transitions using photographs scanned at 300dpi. The quality when rendered to DVD is excellent with crisp, sharp images when viewed on our 27" Sony TV.

When you go to Make Movie, make sure you are using MPEG-2 format and not MPEG-1.

The settings I use are MainConcept MPEG-2 format and the DVD NTSC template.

Al

JohnnyRoy wrote on 3/20/2004, 1:24 PM

Text is a problem even for Hollywood. That’s why you never see rolling credits in a script font. There are very few fonts and font sizes that you can use to get clean text. Usually fonts without serifs work best and you have to keep them large enough so that a single stroke of the fonts is more than the interlaced fields of the video.

As ADinelt pointed out, 300 dpi is perfect for slideshows. This is what I use and the photos are crisp. I think what’s happening with your script font (or any thin font) is that the lines are a single scan line in width. This means that every other frame they disappear as the odd lines are drawn and then reappear as the even lines a drawn. That’s what makes them flicker and be jagged (fuzzy) on the screen. (that, and the fact that MPEG2 is compressed at 25:1 doesn’t much help either) Use a thicker font so that the interlacing of the scan lines or the artifacting of the MPEG compression won’t affect it. It’s just how TV works.

~jr

jack221 wrote on 3/22/2004, 6:25 AM

I had the same concerns with video quality when I started using DVD X Maker to author my Screenblast DVD projects. Although I did not expect "Hollywood DVD" results, I was still not satisfied with the quality of the images on my large screen rear projection TV. I do a lot of taping of high school bands and found that diagonal lines were filled with excessive aliasing.

I switched to the DVDLab/TMPEGEnc combo and was AMAZED at the difference in quality. Both programs have 30 day trials so you may want to give them a try and see if it helps improve the quality for you.