Loss of quality in capture

[marmasatt]

Hi All,

I have a Samsung SCD 103 Mini DV and I used Firewire to capture to my HD using Intervideo WinDvd software. With the exception of having another dedicated HD, I think my system has the juice to easily capture/convert/author and burn w/ no problems. So........ A + B = C. If I'm having problems it, must be user error eh?

If I'm not happy w/ the quality of the burn, how do I troubleshoot and try again? I actually wasn't that jazzed about the capture either, but the finished product looked like a VCR tape for pete's sake. So where to I start? I shut down alot of background apps, do I need to shut down more and try it again. Is there something I can do to correct/convert the MPG file I already have? I don't even really know what resolution it is, 320 x 280 I guess? Where do I find that, in my camcorder manual somewhere or is it standard? I'll take any advice or even a smart a$$ line with a link to something that would help . Thanks.

Oliver

[guns1inger]

MiniDV should transfer at full PAL/NTSC (pick your poison) resolution. If you play it back in WMP, be aware that by default, it will play back at reduced resolution (To fix this, open WMP and go Tools->Options. Open the performance tab, click the advanced button and push the slider for Digital Video all the way to Large).

Looking at Intervideo's site, it appears that WinDVD captures to mpeg-2, not DV. This may also be the cause some of your quality loss problems. My preference is to always transfer as DV, edit as DV, and only at the very end encode as mpeg-2 using a 2-pass VBR encode.

Try transfering with WinDV or DVIO and see if you are happier with the quality (don't forget to tweak WMP as well)

If you have ended up with a 320x240 file, check your encoding settings, as you now have a VCD resolution file, not full DVD, and this will look like VHS.

[marmasatt]

Thanks. Well let me clarify a few things.

If you play it back in WMP, be aware that by default, it will play back at reduced resolution

Why would I be playing it back in WMP? I'm usign intervideo's Windvd for playback and capture/author/edit? What do you mean by this? I'm not even touching WMP. Should I be?

Looking at Intervideo's site, it appears that WinDVD captures to mpeg-2, not DV. This may also be the cause some of your quality loss problems. My preference is to always transfer as DV, edit as DV, and only at the very end encode as mpeg-2 using a 2-pass VBR encode.

So does this mean I have to scrap Intervideo all together if I'm not happy? If I have an MPG file, then I'm not actually capturing in DV you're saying? So this is an automatic loss in quality? I'm not sure I'm following you.

If you have ended up with a 320x240 file, check your encoding settings

How do I do this exactly? I don't know what Res I have. I'm just assuming. Where do I get encoding details?

And now that I've captured it, there is nothing I can do to improve this captured file per se?

Thanks again.

[Thomas Anderson]

With DV you transfer the files onto your PC, not capture them. If you are doing it directly to MPEG it is encoding it as it transfers the files, so it is an all in one process, but probably not the best for quality.

You can use something like WinDV or DVIO to transfer the DV AVI files to your PC, and then use a seperate program for encoding to MPEG, which would allow you to change settings for the best possible quality. I use TMPGEnc for mine.

[DVD_Ripper]

Your quality issue is occuring when your authoring program is 'converting' the raw DV (avi) file to MPEG (DVD) format. Use a good program to do this and then let your authoring program create the menus etc

My choice would be MainConcept MPEG Editor to convert AVI to MPEG ... IMO.

[marmasatt]

With DV you transfer the files onto your PC, not capture them

Ok thanks for clarifying that. So I guess I am being told that its the conversion that is actually degrading them? And back to the last question of my 2nd post, there is nothing I can do to rerender or change resolution (don't know how else to explain it) to get the file I already have in better quality? Either way, while it worked, if I don't like it, I'm starting over....right?

[Thomas Anderson]

And back to the last question of my 2nd post, there is nothing I can do to rerender or change resolution (don't know how else to explain it) to get the file I already have in better quality? Either way, while it worked, if I don't like it, I'm starting over....right?

You cannot take a low quality file from your PC and increase the quality, you will have to transfer the files again from your DV.