Translation trouble

[andrewb]

I'm trying to dub off some video from an older Pentax Optio MX4... Looks fine on my computer but it looks terrible on my tv, a Sharp Aquos. Is this a widescreen issue and is there anything I can do to fix it? I use Vegas Movie Studio 9 if that helps.. hopefully someone can!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I think that camera records MPEG-4 at 640 x 480 pixels so displaying it on a TV at a higher pixel count (e.g. 1920 x 1080) will degrade the image.

If I am correct on this, can you use the clip in native size, say as a picture in picture?

[Bob]

Could you be a little more specific by what you mean by "it looks terrible on my tv". That could be any number of things. Is it streatched, is it pixelated, is it grainy, are the colors wrong, are the colors too saturated, not saturated enough and on and on.

It looks like that camera can record at three movie resolutions: 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120. Which one was used on the movies you are working with?

[andrewb]

Sorry for not being more specific. Picture looks pixelated and grainy on the Aquos. I shot the video in 640x180.. of course my tv is high def.. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

[Chuck Engels]

Does the TV have a mode for viewing photos?
That might work as it would shink the size of the viewable area to less pixels.

It's just like a 640 x 480 photo that you try to blow up to a 22 inch poster, doesn't work very well.
The larger the image gets the more pixelated it becomes.

Still, I would think that the TV would be able to compensate for Standard Definition material.

[Chuck Engels]

Oh, and Welcome to Muvipix Andrew

[Bob]

Another thing you can try is to create a standard definition dvd and play it on the TV using an upsampling dvd player.