Export as Mpeg or AVI

[markannab]

Hi all

I know I asked a similar question weeks ago but I need clarification:

EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE
Panasonic NV-GS320 (MiniDV)
VideoStudio 9
NeroVision Express

MY PROCESS
I download my footage to my computer. By default, the footage is saved with an *.avi file extension. After editing in VideoStudio, I've been exporting as an MPEG-2, then burning to DVD.

THE PROBLEM
It may not actually be a problem, but when I compare the on-camera footage (by plugging directly into the TV) and the DVD, I notice a small amount of degradation in image quality. It's just not quite as crisp.

I had been exporting with an *.avi extension but a member of this forum said I should be exporting as MPEG which I'm now doing. Elsewhere, I've read that everytime you convert from one format to another, you're going to lose quality. So, I have two questions:

1. Since I'm importing an avi into VideoStudio, am I losing quality by exporting as MPEG?
2. VideoStudio gives me the option of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. If MPEG-2 is more compressed, won't MPEG-1 give better end results?

Thanks for bearing with me on this! It's all new & I'm having the time of my life learning &, believe it or not, I am getting better! But a couple of small bits like this are holding me up.

Thanks,
Mark.

[redwudz]

If you are making a DVD, you will need to convert to MPEG-2 at some point. If your original format is DV-AVI, that's the best format to edit in, then your conversion to MPEG would be afterwards.

MPEG-1 is a lower quality format used for VCDs mostly.

You would only want one conversion if possible. That would be from DV-AVI to MPEG-2. Any conversion will have some lose in quality. You minimize that be using enough bitrate. A bitrate of about 9500kbps will give you about one hour of video on a DVD and about the best quality. Lower bitrates will give you more playback time on the DVD, but at a lower quality.

You try to make a compromise between the playing time desired and the quality. DV from a camcorder generally needs a lot of bitrate because of 'camera shake' and sometimes poor lighting. Using a tripod and better lighting will help you to be able to reduce your encoding bitrate and keep as much quality as possible.

You can calculate the bitrate by using a bitrate calculator: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/bitrate-calculators

[thecoalman]

It may not actually be a problem, but when I compare the on-camera footage (by plugging directly into the TV) and the DVD, I notice a small amount of degradation in image quality. It's just not quite as crisp.

Depends on how much but overall it shouldn't be that much. Any conversion is going to cause some degradation in the video. The top two screens hots in this thread are DV-AVI and MPEG2, you'll notice a slight degradation in the second one. You can compare you're own footage by eporting a frame from each at the same point and view in a image editor. Also note that video was encoded with Ulead.

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic257651.html

I had been exporting with an *.avi extension but a member of this forum said I should be exporting as MPEG which I'm now doing.

For your situation that would be correct, Nero doesn't have a great encoder. That's providing Nero isn't reencoding your video. Not sure why you're importing into Nero? Whatever the case you need to make sure Nero ins't reencoding the video which is probably the case and the reason it doesn't look so good.