QUALITY OF VIDEO TO DVD

Ralph413 wrote on 1/28/2004, 4:30 PM

HELLO EVERYONE

I'VE BEEN HAVING A QUAILTY PROBLEM WHEN I BURN TO DVD AND PLAY IT BACK. IT SEEMS TO HAVE A FUZZY LOOK TO IT. MY AVI'S ARE CRISP AND CLEAR WHEN I PLAY THEM BACK THRU MY CAMERA TO THE TV.
I SHOOT WITH A SONY PD-150 3CCD CAM, USING A FIREWIRE TO CAPTURE.
THE PROGRAM I'M USING TO CREATE A DVD IS FROM ARCSOFT(CAME WITH THE HP COMPUTER) I TRIED TO SAME PLAYBACK ON THE COMPUTER AND THE TV WITH THE SAME RESULTS.
ANY SUGESTIONS?

Comments

mbryant wrote on 1/29/2004, 1:23 AM

Can you say a bit more about the procedure you are using?

Are you doing the encoding to MPEG2 in Screenblast, or in this Arcsoft program? I've found the encoder in Screenblast is pretty good. It doesn't allow you to change the MPEG2 quality settings, but the default is good.

If you are encoding in something else, does it allow you to set options, and if so what have you chosen? CBR, VBR, etc? How long is it - i.e. how much are you putting on one DVD?

Mark

Ralph413 wrote on 1/29/2004, 11:54 AM

My current project was only 18min of stills. the still shots are decent but when i use pan/crop and move the pictures around it gets real fuzzy. I first render to avi so I can have a copy on mini-dv for future use and then I render the avi to mpg-2 all done on movie studio 3. I noticed something in the manual a little while ago. Something to do with "FAST VIDEO RESIZING" I NOTICED WITH IT ON IT TAKES LESS THAN AN HOUR TO RENDER NOW IT'S TAKING 5 1/2 HRS. I WONDER IT THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE? (PAGE101) Also project settings at the beginning of the new project is something I haven't tried yet. What do you think? (page 52)

ps: what's cbr,vbr??

thanks again still new to this.

Ralph

mbryant wrote on 1/30/2004, 7:31 AM

Ralph,

So on the rendered avi file everything looks great, and on the DVD the basic stills are OK but where you have pan/crop it is poor?

I haven't done a DVD of stills, but I can't see why this should cause problems. I don't think there is any issue with your initial project settings. If there was I think you'd see problems with the rendered avi as well.

When you render to MPEG2, you select MPEG2 as the file type, then NTSC DVD (or PAL DVD, depending which part of the world you are in), right?

I have never "un-ticked" the "fast video resizing" option, but if you are seeing problems, it is worth trying.

CBR is Constant Bit Rate, VBR is Variable Bit Rate. Screenblast offers only VBR, at a high quality rate. Some encoders let you vary the rates, and if they are too low you will notice poor quality. But if you are using Screenblast this isn't the issue.

Sorry I can't be more help.

Mark

Ralph413 wrote on 1/30/2004, 9:32 AM

Hi Mark

Thanks for the help, I tried the unclicking the fast resizing button and WOW!!!!
what a difference (5 extra hours of rendering ) makes. The quality is unbelievable. Now I have true dvd quality. Everything else for the past 2 months looked like a vhs tape. I hope this helps others.

Ralph

mbryant wrote on 1/30/2004, 11:20 AM

Ralph,

I just saw your other post as well.

I'm glad you are sorted. I've been happy with my quality, but maybe I don't know what I'm missing! I'll have too try it.

Mark