Losing quailty

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Guest

I'm using a Canon ZR500 which has a tape (DVC). When I view the tape on my
TV directly from the camera, the picture is fine.

Using the Windows Movie Maker to edit and make (save) the movie. If I save
the movie on my computer or onto another blank tape through the camera, I
loose quality when viewing on the TV.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?
 
I should have stated that when I save to the computer and view it on computer
in small screen mode it looks ok. It's when I view in full screen that the
quality get bad.
 
koi said:
I'm using a Canon ZR500 which has a tape (DVC). When I view the tape on my
TV directly from the camera, the picture is fine.

Using the Windows Movie Maker to edit and make (save) the movie. If I save
the movie on my computer or onto another blank tape through the camera, I
loose quality when viewing on the TV.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Several possibilities, the obvious ones:
You could be taking it through too many processes.
When you edit and then save, is it as a DV-AVI
or as a WMV?
If as a WMV, this is highly compressed. If then
reconverting to copy to DV tape, it cannot reconstruct
anything lost during compression to WMV. You will have
DV-AVI footage but at WMV quality
Or, was original footage PAL, and edit/save converted
to NTSC?
 
OK, Thanks for getting me on the right track.

I tried capturing from the tape to the computer using the DV-AVI option and
the quality is the same as the orginal tape, thanks.

There are many other options to capturing the video and then saving the
edited movie. Do you have any suggestions on which ones I should use? My
final product will be burned onto a DVD.
 
OK, Thanks for getting me on the right track.

I tried capturing from the tape to the computer using the DV-AVI option and
the quality is the same as the orginal tape, thanks.

There are many other options to capturing the video and then saving the
edited movie. Do you have any suggestions on which ones I should use? My
final product will be burned onto a DVD.
 
koi said:
OK, Thanks for getting me on the right track.

I tried capturing from the tape to the computer using the DV-AVI option
and
the quality is the same as the orginal tape, thanks.

There are many other options to capturing the video and then saving the
edited movie. Do you have any suggestions on which ones I should use? My
final product will be burned onto a DVD.
Click to expand...

Always capture/save as it's original DV-AVI.
Edit and again save as DV-AVI.

The DVD standard will only accept a specific type of MPEG2
at 4mbps.

All full authoring/burning software will accept the footage
in it's native DV-AVI and will convert/burn to the disk as a
compliant MPEG2, you do not have to do any conversion.
The burning software will do that.

The only thing to be wary of is, DV-AVI can take up huge
amounts of disk space. In the real world it will require an
extremely efficient PC to convert/burn a large DV-AVI file
to disk "on-the-fly" in real time.
So rather than burn direct to disk, burn as an image to HD.
Then when complete, burn the image to DVD.
 
OK, let's see if I have the process down right.

I know now to capture in DV-AVI when using Movie Maker, edit and save in
DV-AVI format again. Usin Nero Express that came with the drive I then
"Export" the file to the HD. Nero save in the "mpg" file extension.

Then using Nero again I load the exported file and make the movie allowing
Nero to burn to DVD as it see fit.

I only using a small movie now to experment with, but my project coming up
will probably be a movie 1-2 hours long. Will the process stated above work?
 
koi said:
OK, let's see if I have the process down right.

I know now to capture in DV-AVI when using Movie Maker, edit and save in
DV-AVI format again. Usin Nero Express that came with the drive I then
"Export" the file to the HD. Nero save in the "mpg" file extension.
Click to expand...
OK, you seem to have the basics, but with computers we are not
yet in the "near instant result" realm of other domestic electronics -
want to listen to music, we just select the input on the amp, put a
disk in the cd player, press play and music is heard!
But with computers, operating systems, software blah blah etc....
An element of trial and error and learning by experiance is required.
Unknown the efficiency of your PC, the processor, the bi-directional
FSB, input and bus speeds etc etc.
So as blank media is very cheap, and you have the original footage
on DV tape. What have you got to lose by just trying it?
Use a DVD-/+RW, if it dosen't work out, format and start again.
Capture footage in it's original format of DV-AVI
Edit such footage in WMM, and save as an DV-AVI
Open your burning software
(Not all OEM preinstalled versions of burning software is
the *full* version.)
DV-AVI footage contains data that all full authoring software is
configured to identify - so the file size will not be pertinant, authoring
software reads the data and knows how much DVD space it will
consume when converted to MPEG2.
In your burning software opt to create a DVD-Video then import the
DV-AVI footage.
All authoring software will indicate how much disk space the DV
footage will consume when burnt to disk. So play safe and opt for
a length of DV footage of approx 60 mins.
Place a blank disk in burner tray.
Then click "Burn".
If the whole process is too complex for the
hardware, it will fail, thats not a problem.
Just start again, this time opt to "burn" to a HD folder.
then when complete, burn that image to disk.
Just try it and learn as you progress!
 
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