[Help] Newbie: improving video quality

[Fredje81]

So I bought this video camera (16 Megapixels) but the quality is quite poor, so I want to edit it and improve the quality (if possible). I am very new to this so where should I start? I have been trying some conversion programs but it didn't help very much and I have know idea what program to use to improve the quality and how. Pls help! Tnx!

[Baldrick]

Give us more information about the camera. What camera? A HDD camera? In what format does it capture in?
Can you post a short clip or a screenshot from the video?

[guns1inger]

16 megapixels sounds like a still camera. However very few of those megapixels actually get used for video. In fact, still cameras only take very average video, and there isn't a great deal you can do to improve it.

Quality video comes from using a video camera, with good lighting, a tripod or stabiliser (steadicam type rig) and planning.

However, if there is anything you can do to improve what you have, it is difficult to point it out to you as you have really given us nothing to go with. Your question is akin to phoning up a mechanic, and saying "my car doesn't go, how do I make it work ?"

So let's start with some basics.

What type of camera is it ? (Make, model for starters)
What type of video is it ? (Try g-spot or mediainfo to find out what you have)
What sort of quality issues do you have ? (posting a minute of footage would help)

Then, maybe, we can offer some useful advice.

[Fredje81]

Sorry for giving not much info but I didn't know where to start.

Anyway, it's a Fujioptics FF-1700 16MP camera with HDD quality. It has JPEG for still image and MPEG4 for motion image. I have a 4GB SD HC card in it. The file format is AVI with XviD codex (checked with MediaInfo). I posted a short movie which was shot during the night, don't know if tells you anything. Hope this helps a little bit, pls say if you need more info.

pict0033.avi

[guns1inger]

I would start with Virtualdub, colormill for colour correction and brightness adjustment, and some denoising filters for the low light noise. You will never get DVD quality from it, but you should be able to clean it up a little. Don't go too heavy with the filters though.