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General discussion

MiniDV to DVD Quality issues

Jan 6, 2005 11:52AM PST

I've read the numerous posts on transferring miniDV video -->hard drive-->then to DVD. I'm having success getting the video from my camera to my hard drive...but the quality takes a big hit. My software (I've used ArcSoft Showbiz, and Windows Movie Maker) only lets me capture at like 640 x 480, whereas my camera's resolution is much obviously muchhigher than that. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Or am I expecting too much? I was thinking digital to digital meant no loss of integrity...
Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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No! NTSC or PAL is not more than 640x480.
Jan 6, 2005 9:46PM PST

New to camcorder people often complain about how ratty the video is.

Well, it is!

PC screens are far better than the TV so we see up close how bad it is.

Bob

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Re: No! NTSC or PAL is not more than 640x480
Jan 7, 2005 2:27AM PST

Thanks for your response...Hmmm...in the specs for my Sony HC40 it says that the effective movie (not still) resolution is 690,000 pixels. 640 x 480 = 307,200, less than half of that. Is it just that capturing multiple 690,000 pixel frames would create such a massive file that the video capture software limits the resolution to something more manageable (i.e. 640 x 480?)
Plus...when I run the video straight thru my TV, it looks great. I don't just think it's a matter of being up close to my PC screen...any other thoughts?
Thanks!

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Please tell where we get NTSC at 600+ thousand pixels.
Jan 7, 2005 4:48AM PST

You may be using some streaming USB to watch on the PC which further knocks it down.

Don't worry too much, it's a catch up course about video many have to go through.

Bob

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Re: Please tell where we get NTSC at 600+ thousand pixels
Jan 9, 2005 10:54AM PST

So when the manual says "effective movie resolution=690,000 pixels", what are they referring to?
Thanks

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I'd like to know too.
Jan 9, 2005 11:17AM PST

NTSC is ... not that high...

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DV resolution
Jan 15, 2005 8:00AM PST

is 720 * 480 for NTSC video.
Consumer handycams are not capable of that high a horizontal resolution, usually from 450 to 600 lines, though always 480 vertical. PAL has a slightly higher resolution, but at a lower frame rate.
Always capture and edit in the DV format then make the DVD (mpeg2) video. DV files are huge at a datarate of 25 MBits per sec. The highest standard DVD rate is 8 Mbits, the other datarates for DVD are 6, 4 and 2.

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690,000 pixels. 640 x 480 = 307,200,
Mar 31, 2005 3:27AM PST

Be carefull of terms here. Sometimes they say "total of pictue elements" remember it takes 3 picture elements to make 1 pixel. The spec looks normial for a 1 ccd imager that your Sony has. John

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What a waste!
Jan 18, 2005 2:02AM PST

If NTSC or PAL is not more than 640x480 (or 720x480, I think), then why should people buy camcorder better than Digital 8? I made a few DVDs from my D8 camcorder videos and they are pretty good. I plan to buy another MiniDV camcorder and from what I read here that seems unnecessary now.

By the way, if you use the right program (not Movie Maker), you should burn decent DVDs from your camcorder videos.

Abry

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Part of the confusion is this. Digital cameras.
Jan 18, 2005 2:40AM PST

In the digital camera realm we have no "standard" for what a picture size is. However to make a DVD that plays on the average NTSC/PAL DVD player, a 50 year old standard severely limits what can be done. On top of that, NTSC/PAL is not "pixel" orientated. This leads to all sorts of games that marketing can play with.

I highly suggest research and reading be done about the NTSC or PAL standards be done if one thinks some multi-megapixel imager will help.

Bob

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Part of the confusion is this. Digital cameras.
May 6, 2005 1:48AM PDT

Thats for sure!! The standard analog NTSC TV image format that was developed in 1940's. If we express this in computer terms is 320x240. The DVD format is 648x480 but you can only see this resultion on a computer with DVD software or a HDTV monitor using the componet connections. So when you watch a DVD on a regular analog TV your watching it at 320x240. John

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video quality on DVD
Mar 21, 2005 9:19AM PST

I've been looking for an answer to the exact question you have about not losing any video quality when transferring to DVD. What answers do you have for this.

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about not losing any video quality when transferring to DVD.
Mar 21, 2005 10:38AM PST

"an answer to the exact question you have about not losing any video quality when transferring to DVD."

This is not how the current state of this technology is today. Your requirement of "not losing any..." makes nothing made today except HD-DvCams and items such as Final Cut HD your only solution. Even then, something will get lost.

Hope you understand that zero loss to DVD is not possible if said DVD must play on common players.

Bob

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about not losing any video quality when transferring to DVD
Mar 31, 2005 3:39AM PST

And if your watching this DVD on a standard TV you will not be able to get the full DVD quality. A standard TV picture in computer terms is 320x240 pixels! Schoked! John

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More on this subject...
May 4, 2005 7:37AM PDT

Ok. Another scenario for you.

I've just bought a Canon XL1s and have made my first film, albeit a family christening. I've bounced the DV down into both Studio 9 and Premiere, have edited and spliced and added a 44.1 soundtrack.

Now, when it comes to transferring it into some kind of distributable medium I'm having a really hard time maintaining quality. I've bounced it back onto tape but video seems so CPU intensive that I'm suffering drop-outs in both audio and the odd freeze as well; fuse-blowingly annoying after spending so long working on the project.

The quality of DV firewire <=> firewire transfers seem lossless, yet when I play the captured footage on the computer (as an enormous 4 Gig avi) it's awful - this is the surely the same file?

I'm presuming a lot of these symptoms are down to what codecs are used whilst capturing/viewing.

I can preview the Camera's output directly within ChrisTV via the firewire port - and it looks stunning -full screen with virtually no artefacts at all.

My cam is PAL and I'm capturing at 720 x 576 pixels.

Questions:

Does anyone know of a good resource that can enlighten me about such issues?
Should I consider a Mac? I'm currently on a 2.4Ghz geniune intel with 512 ram and a radeon 256mb dual header.
Once again, is there a way to get my DV quality footage onto regular (4.7g) DVD without any loss?

MiniDV > PC > DVD

You'd have thought it was simple.

Many thanks.