Problem with transferring (capturing) from DV camcorder.

[shmyak]

I use Panasonic PV-GS65 camcorder.
When I transfer my digital video from camcorder to computer (capturing, even only display it without transferring),using whatever program(Canopus, Ulead, ) I see loosing quality (sharpness, color, brightness, contrast). Firstly I thought there are differences between TV and computer display.
But I tried everything, I connected my computer to TV by S-video cable, I burned DVD disk, but quality still be worse then, when I connect my camera to TV by regular RCA cables.
What is wrong?

[indijay]

How about giving a try to free utility WinDV??
I have Panasonic GS-250 and happy with WinDV, although I recently noticed that it doesn't transfer 16:9 video properly (This is when I play video in VLC, it plays as stretched 4:3)
Its hard to understand how worse the quality is but don't compare the TV screen sample or PC sample with what you see on your LCD screen of camcorder. Its never as sharp as you see on camcorder LCD.

Keep a watch on thread at https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=298908, he has posted similar issue

[shmyak]

I compare TV screen, with TV screen.
In first case from camcorder by Firewire to computer and from computer to TV by s-video, and in second case as I expained, from camcorder to TV by RCA cable. I see a big diffirence .

[guns1inger]

How do you transfer - USB or Firewire ?
What do you do with it once it is on the PC - filters etc ?
Using a PC to display video on a TV isn't going to give you much in the way of quality anyway.

[indijay]

guns1linger, he is using firewire.

Here everything is relative because, you mention the quality loss but nobody else than you can judge it. You compare it on telly with LCD and PC screen. You are the only one who knows settings of your telly and LCD of camcorder for brightness, contrast etc. I have sort of brightness burst for my LCD and if I view shot video in this mode, it looks sharper than the other normal mode, so may be its not making any difference but the different settings of the different equipments are giving you this feeling.

So, you can try,
1. transfer this video using WinDV, say first 8-10 mins,
2. Watch this same video on your telly after making it sure that colours, brightness and contrast are pretty much matching to your PC screen, use some some DVD for rough comparison. (PC screen will always by sharper and crispier than telly screen)
3. Even if you get a feeling that quality is bad, take this transferred video to another machine, friend's and play same on his telly using same cables.

I know its too much of work but then I can't see any other way that you can convince yourself that something is indeed wrong.

[guns1inger]

Transfer a sample of the video to your PC using WinDV. Now transfer it back to tape using the same software. Watch the two tapes on your TV. If all you have done is transfer down and back, they should look the same.

[shmyak]

guns1inger, by firewire.
I don't use any filters.
I don't use pc to watch video on TV, I just noticed that DVD I burned had bad quality, and compared it to picture I resived by connecting camcorder to TV by RCA cabels, so I tried to understand where is my problem and connected computer by S-video to TV and notised that DVD with my movie has same bad quality as picture from camcorder through camputer to TV by s-video
I try to describe the problem and try to be clear.

[guns1inger]

What process did you use to convert the DV to DVD ?
What software, what settings etc. ?

Quality can be affected by the software used, any filters applied, the bitrate used when encoding, the encoding method. Without knowing these it's hard to point you at a possible cause.