Please help with capture/playback quality

[lsparks1966]

My digital camera records AVI(Motion JPEG) in VGA(640x480 pixels @ 30 fps). When I playback on the camera, or through the camera on the television, the quality is fantastic. The problem occurs when I download the video to my computer. When I playback on VCD or various media viewers the quality deteriorates significantly. The audio and video both become jumpy and sputtering. I expect that the problem might be a deficiency in my computer equipment. But, I am not sure if it is a capture problem, playback problem, or an adjustment that could be made on my computer. I am admittedly mentally challenged in respect to computer technology, but I am trying to learn. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Camera: Fuji FinePix S602Zoom
Download Software: FinePix Viewer EX 3.0
Media Transfer: USB Cable
Processor: Pentium II - 400 Mhz
Memory: 64 MB RAM
Video Card: NV3T VIDEO
I hope that this is enough information for a proper diagnosis. If not, I will try to provide further details after a response.
Thanks, Larry

[Tommyknocker]

Since you are not happy with the quality of your USB captures, you may want to consider using a capture card. And if your camcorder has firewire support, definitely consider capturing in fire wire as well, by getting a fire wire card.

[FulciLives]

Hello Larry

Can you explain the process of how you capture or import the video into the computer? I assume your camera came with some sort of software to make this happen. Please give us much detail as possible.

Also, what format is the file in when it gets to the computer? I'm assuming it is an AVI file. Do you have problems playing that or are you trying to convert it to VCD (or whatever) and THEN having playback problems?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
No offense but your computer is VERY slow so perhaps it can't handle playing back the imported file. Maybe try converting it into a VCD, SVCD or DVD and then play it back on a stand alone DVD player. My guess is that it will play back just fine that way, assuming you do the conversion properly. I'm guessing, based on your computer, that you probably don't have a DVD recordable drive but if you have a CD-R/RW drive I would try turning it into a VCD and see how it plays back on a stand alone DVD player (since most can play back standard VCD 2.0 format CD-R discs).