Re: DVD quality noticeably lower than original tape
- From: "Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:29:36 -0500
"sy" <sck.young@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:538e9a9d-c169-4434-99bc-962a7b642a33@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi -
Just started making DVDs of all my old DV camcorder tapes (is it time-
consuming or what??!!)
I'm using Pinnacle Studio 10 software
I've noticed that the quality of the DVD is noticably poorer that the
original tape (when played back on the same TV through S-Video). Main
degradation is in color (looks washed out), but also some in
resolution.
What I've been doing is this: Capture the video into the MPEG2 format
using the DVD quality setting in Studio. Then I edit the movie and
make a DVD disk image, again using DVD quality settings. Then I burn
the DVD from the disk image. Then I make an MPEG of the completed
movie in case I want to re-edit in the future. Then I erase and reuse
the DV tape.
Anybody got any answer for me as to why the quality is noticebly
lower? Given that MPEG2 is compressed from the AVI on tape, I guess
some degradation is inevitable but I wouldn't have expected it to be
noticable. Would it help if I captured to AVI? - (I would assume
not, since the conversion to MPEG2 has to happen sooner or later.) If
this is a known problem with Pinnacle, what other amateur-type (i.e.
not expensive) software would you recommend? - Premiere Elements
perhaps? I would prefer not to change from Studio because I have
learnt to use it, but would change if I had to.
Thanks for any response - pleas bear in mind though that I am a
relative newbe.
First you have your video on its original tape and that is the best
format to keep it in. DO NOT reuse your DV tape. They don't
cost that much, so feed your camera only new tape. The DV
digital tape is a much more durable media than any burned DVD.
The video on your "DV camcorder tapes" is best transfered to
your PC for editing purposes, through the "Firewire/IEEE1394
connection. NLEs like Pinnacle Studio should have a function
to "capture" and control your camcorder via the firewire
interface. It should create an .avi file with a DV-25 video
stream, as well as placing the video on the editing program's
timeline. The tape should be saved in case you want to use
the video in another project, at some time in the future.
As you are starting with DV25 video, which is an easily
edited format, broadly supported, by many editing tools,
you should use that to build your movie project. Once
you have compleated your editing and have your finished
movie, then and only then, is it time to consider the
encoding required for distribution.
Also consider that your camcorder has captured its
video and compressed it using the same DCT algorithm
that is the basis of MPEG, as well. And that where
DV25 has a fixed data rate of 25Mbps, DVD max's
out at 10Mbps and the video stream is often under
8Mbps. So, to put it simply; the DV25 video has a
great deal more video data than is directly used by a
"DVD Quality" video stream or that a DVD can hold.
Now that is a good thing, for you want your source
video to be as high a quality as possible. You want
to give the compression algorithm in the encoder as
much data to work with as you can. While many
editing functions cause no loss of data, some do and
some work much better the more data they have to
start with. Processing of the color and "sharpness"
data, in a digital stream (you have no access to the
original analog data, as it was digitized in your
camera before being compressed to DV25) is a
process that needs as much as it can get.
You should be able to convert your DV25 video
into MPEG2 video that makes for a very good
DVD, once it has been processed and edited.
You might even look to trying projects that
result in video clips that use more of the 25Mbps
than is used by "DVD Quality" video.
Luck;
Ken
.
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