Output DVD Quality Poor

[Helen]

Hi Everyone
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.

I have a bit of a problem. I have a friend who is using PE7 and when he outputs his project, the quality of the dvd is not very good in places.
His original project is 2 hours 23 minutes long and I have suggested that he split it in two for a start, which he has done and the quality did not improve.

I have also suggested he get firewire as he imports his video of a dvd he has made. He connects his tape camera to his dvd player/recorder and makes a dvd which he then imports into PE7. After he has finished editing his files, the playback on the computer is fine, but after using Nero to burn his dvd (Verbatim) the quality is unwatchable in places. We have burned the dvd at a maximum speed of 4.

Should I now suggest he select Reverse Field Dominance on his clips to try and fix the problem. If so, is there a way you can set it on all his clips in one go, or does each clip need to be selected individually? I am hoping there is a way to set it in one go as there are heaps of individual clips.
I am not sure if this will fix the problem and does anyone else have any other ideas.

I have tried burning the project on my computer and it did not make much difference.

Thanks
Helen

[Bobby]

Helen, that is certainly not an optimal way to import the video. What is the connection between the camera and the DVD recorder? Unless it is HDMI, which I would doubt, it is probably analog which is certainly going to lower the quality level drastically. Not to mention the double conversion from analog to DVD and then imported into PRE.

I agree - it sounds like he needs a firewire card, assuming the camera has firewire output.

[Helen]

Bobby
I am not sure what the connection is between the camera and dvd recorder, but I assume it is analog.

Since I posted, I have picked out two clips that were badly affected and tried the Reverse Field Dominance on them and then exported these two clips. I notice no difference after exporting, it is still bad.

Helen

[Helen]

I have attached a copy of the Gspot output on one of the clips in case that will be of some help

Gspot.jpg

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

....I have also suggested he get firewire as he imports his video of a dvd he has made.....

Helen, that is certainly not an optimal way to import the video......it sounds like he needs a firewire card, assuming the camera has firewire output.

Agree with Bobby. Capturing into an editing program from a DVD means that he is using video that has already been compressed and could likely be the root cause of the problem. What media does the camera record onto? Can he capture directly from the camera?

[Helen]

John
His camera uses tape and I think it is Mini DVD, but I am not 100% sure. (He lives about one hour from me, so I cannot just pop over and see).
At the moment the only way he can get the video onto his computer, is to hook his camera up to the tv and record it onto the dvd and then import the dvd. Definitely not the best way to go.

To make matters worse, he has no internet connection at the present time, so I can only help him over the phone.

[Bobby]

...His camera uses tape and I think it is Mini DVD...

Probably tape (i.e. miniDV). If it were mini DVD your friend should be able to read a finalized DVD directly on his PC and get the video into PRE using Get Media.

Again, going to analog, then writing a compressed DVD, and then reading it into the PC will introduce significant loss of quality. He or she needs to get a better connection.

[Bill Hunt]

Helen,

Unfortunately, your friend is doing a double-compression of the source footage. First, going to the DVD transfer disc, the material is being Transcoded to MPEG-2. Then, that material is brought into PrE, edited and then Transcoded to MPEG-2 a second time. The quality will suffer. It will be especially evident where there is any rapid movement, either the subject, or the camera.

Doing a Capture from the camera into PrE will be the best route. Then, the footage only has that one MPEG-2 Transcode.

I think that others have tracked down that the camera is minDV tape and this can be connected via FireWire - one will need an appropriate cable and possibly a FW card, if there is no FW port on the computer already.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Helen]

Thanks everyone, I will try and convince him to get a firewire card and cable.
Happy New Year to all and happy video editing.

[Bill Hunt]

Helen,

Happy New Year to you, your family and your friends!

Hunt