dvd quality

[cragg]

I tried to transfer a couple of miniDV to DVD using 1394 cable. But for some reason, the dvd quality is too bad even when I pick the highest quality and resolution. I know there must be something wrong. But what is wrong? Thanks,

[erayboul]

In order for this group to provide some assistance, you need to provide more details. What did you use to encode the MPEG-2 file? What were its settings? What audio did you use: LPCM or Dolby Digital? What application did you use to author the DVD and burn it? What player are you using? Your PC, or a standalone?

[jasenko]

One of the reasons why many poeple never backup up their footage on DVD's is the low quality comparing to DV.
DVD's use MPEG2 compression setting which is a lot more compressed than full quality DV file. You should be aware of that next time you are backing up your stuff.

[Richard_G]

If you are doing it correctly, you shouldn't be able to pick quality or resolution settings as they are fixed. You are obviously encoding to mpeg on the fly rather than transferring as a DV avi file and then encoding later. It is the encode settings (or encoder itself) that is destroying the quality.

[guns1inger]

I high quality encode will give you quality equal to, or at least visually indistinguishable from, the DV original. A DV transfer is a file transfer. A Richard_G stated, resolution and bitrate are not alterable until after you have it n the PC. Then it is up to you. If you want to keep the quality the same as the original, don't put more than 60 minutes on a disk, and encode at the highest settings using AC3 audio.

[takeshi]

I tried to transfer a couple of miniDV to DVD using 1394 cable. But for some reason, the dvd quality is too bad even when I pick the highest quality and resolution. I know there must be something wrong. But what is wrong? Thanks,

Are you using a set top DVD recorder? If so, there's really not much else you can do in that situation.