AVI Compression and Quality

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Guest

Hi All

I am trying to put together a demo for a trade-show which will consist of a
movie (WMF) produced by WMM. The movie will play continuously using Windows
Media Player in full screen mode.

I am using a freeware tool called CamStudio which allows me to capture
screen activity (region or full screen) and save it to an AVI file. I am
doing this in 'logical sections' so I have multiple AVI files. In WMM I
insert each AVI clip I as well as some still images with a graphic and some
text to create my storyboard/movie.

Seems a simple requirement but I am having serious quality problems. When I
view the AVI files in CamStudio's internal viewer the resolution/quality
matches what I originally saw on the screen during the capture process.
Similarly when I view the AVI in Windows Media Player the resolution/quality
once again matches the original screen contents.

When I view the imported AVI clip in WMM the quality is disgusting it is the
same even when I create the movie to hard disk (with highest quality
selected).

I have a 3.0GHz Intel with 2GB RAM, 256MB nVidia GEForce 6600GT graphics
adapter and a 250GB dedicated 'scratch drive'.

In CamStudio I am selecting quality of 100% and have tried the following
compression codecs (Iam unable to set no compression).

Cinepak Codec by Radius
Intel Indeo® Video 4.5
Intel IYUV codec
Microsoft Video 1

Any ideas to my small dilemma would be most welcome.
 
Hi All

I just noticed something else which I did not pick up on before which may
help.

When I add an AVI file to the collection in WMM and play it in the internal
player it appears as to be expected i.e. almost the same as the original
screen I recorded. The same clip when dragged into the storyboard and played
the same way looks really bad so I can only assume that something is
occurring when and AVI is being added to the storyboard.

P.S. Creating a movie does not improve as I thought is might just be a
viewing issue.
 
the quality of the project when viewed on the timeline is a rough draft
320x240 at 15fps.... enough to edit by, but not the quality aligned with the
source files or your intended saved movie.

saving the movie as a DV-AVI file will give you the quality comparable to
the files on a digital DV camcorder. If you need higher quality than that,
you would need to use a custom profile. See my Saving Movies > Custom WMV
Profiles page. If you're going to be playing it directly from the computer
at the show, the custom profile is probably your best choice.
 
PapaJohn thanks for your prompt reply and helpful information
(www.papjohn.org).

Problem resolved. I downloaded your sample profiles and hey presto it is now
looking as good as I would expect it to look.

Well done on an informative web site that is very easy to navigate with much
useful information. I will be referring back to your website in the future
to learn more.
 
That was quick... and should impress those at the trade show, whatever
you're showing them. Good luck with it.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn

Craig said:
PapaJohn thanks for your prompt reply and helpful information
(www.papjohn.org).

Problem resolved. I downloaded your sample profiles and hey presto it is
now
looking as good as I would expect it to look.

Well done on an informative web site that is very easy to navigate with
much
useful information. I will be referring back to your website in the
future
to learn more.
Click to expand...
 
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