Quality Difference?

[rajking86]

When I play my burnt DVD recently on someone's computer the quality was pretty damn horrible- very pixelated and grainy, etc.

When I play the DVD on my computer- the quality's noticeably worse than the original AVI file that sits right on the Hard drive.

Yet when I play the said DVD on my standalone DVD player, the quality seems to in fact surpass the original file's look- meaning it's on the same par as the original file that's on my hard drive, but I guess the TV makes everything look...better and bigger.

So...would the factors of quality be due to the:

1.Computer's codecs and ability to read the disc.
2.TV for standalone DVD players.
3.BRAND of DVD-R

Thanks,

[monzie]

Without going into a fifty page report:

1) The limitations of the human eye at seeing detail at distance (ie normal TV viewing distances compared to close up monitor distances) the human eye cannot see fine detail at say six feet and above (on a normal sized TV)............... VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!

2) Monitor resolutions are generally much higher than a TV's ( the number of pixels displayed) which doesn't help when viewing a DVD (as they use TV res's) so how does a 576 high PAL DVD (or 480 NTSC) fit into a typical 1024 X 768 display (or higher) when played full screen........the answer is IT DOESNT the picture is 'blown up' to the higher res and loses detail in the process.......this is also compounded by the fact that you cannot SPLIT a pixel so some detail is discarded to make it fit on a monitor AND TV pixels are not square (a monitors pixels are) which DOUBLES the problem as the horizontal also doesnt fit correctly regardless of the vertical....end result: DVD's look naff on a monitor and the higher the res of the monitor the worse the problem. A good software DVD player can help a lot here.

3) TV's (normal TV's of normal size that is) use THE SAME low resolutions (regardless of their screen size).. AND...they use techno wizzardry circuits to BOOST the colour/contrast and sharpness of low res video.....the end result (remember point 1) is that even VCD's (or new VHS tapes) can look excellent at normal viewing distances.................just try and watch them at distances of less than 2 feet....which you cant because they are too big for your eyes (unless using very small screen TV)....see point 1...the loss in detail (resolution) DOES NOT equate to the full drop in resolution (to the human eye/brain) which you may think it does...this is ONLY true at close distances...yes some detail will obviously be missing (compared to a DVD res) but not 75% (as seen by the eye/brain) only around 30%. So a typical avi transcoded to DVD can (to the human eye) look better on a TV screen than it may do on monitor.

4) These are the ABSOLUTE basics you need to know about the human eye, TV's and PC monitors.....I cant simplify it any furthur.


Whats codecs or brands got to do with your question?

[ZippyP.]

In simple terms, TV is lower resolution and has a smoothing effect to it...especially if the video isn't that great a quality. If the video is interlaced then that would make it worse on a PC monitor as well.

[rajking86]

Hmm, I see...
But why on different comps I get different results on the quality?

Is it because of the DVD software/codecs installed on that computer?

[indolikaa]

Hmm, I see...
But why on different comps I get different results on the quality?

Is it because of the DVD software/codecs installed on that computer?

It could be the video graphics card driver and settings, too.