DV capture - edge blurry/grainy

[newbie]

I'm trying to capture my DV using both analog and firewire cards and hope to get the best possible capture from one of them but no matter what I'd tried the EDGES of the object always seem to be very blurry even for no motion objects.

I'm capturing with many different resolutions ranging from 352x288 to 720x576 but don't seem to eliminate this problem.

In the uncompressed AVI, the blurry is acceptable since it's only noticable when view in full screen. When converted to VCD with TMPGenc and watch on TV the quality is very poor.

Is this due to the capture hardware or is it normal when capturing? I'm using Swann capture cards (not that well known) and thinking of replacing them win Winfast TV2000XP if it helps.

Are there any TMPGenc settings that can eliminate the blurry around the edges?

[donpedro]

You can't compare quality from DV and VCD. Resolution of VCD is too low. As far as your "blurry edges".... maybe your camcorder is problem. Capturing with firewire from DV camcorder should be lossles. Original compression is done in your camcorder when you shoot and it is stored on your tape. At least that is how I understand DV->FireWire->AVI process.

[newbie]

Surely, VCD quality is no where near DV quality. I think it's the capture cards issue. Since when the tape is played back on TV and record to VHS the quality is fine though. Just when capturing it's blurry around the edges.

[donpedro]

Do you have this when you capture through firewire ????

Try to capture from DV through firewire and then back to tape and play that tape. Do you still see blurry edges ? Maybe you just see in PC much better picture then on TV. Try it. But only with firewire in both ways.

DV->firewire->DV AVI file->firewire->DV Tape->TV

no editing or conversions.

[kitty]

Don't forget that DV is interlaced (ok, most DV is interlaced) and will look different on a computer monitor than on the TV. If you plan to watch on a TV then capture through firewire, edit, then make your final video at the highest res you can display (I assume you are doing VCDs, very low res - try SVCD for better quality, DVD if you can afford it).

If you are going to display on a computer primarily you'll want to try a deinterlace filter to get it to look right.

Hope this helps.

[newbie]

As soon as I capture the DV to hard disk I notice the blurry around the edges already. Converted it to VCD and watch on TV it looks very crappy. So I didn't take any further steps.

When I hook up my DV camcorder to VCR record and played back it's fine on the TV. So I'll have to say it's the capture cards stuffing things up.

kitty,
I'm aware about the interlaced business. I left it interlaced and converted it to VCD. Because the final product will be watched on TV so I didn't deinterlaced it.

I believe this is not interlaced related since the over all quality is fine, just around the edges where they're blurry even for low (or no ) motion objects.

My cam is Panasonic NV-DS15 ... could this cam be crappy then?

[donpedro]

Again.... try this. It will confirm if it is your capture process (it doesn't have to be card) or not.

Do you have this when you capture through firewire ????

Try to capture from DV through firewire and then back to tape and play that tape. Do you still see blurry edges ? Maybe you just see in PC much better picture then on TV. Try it. But only with firewire in both ways.

DV->firewire->DV AVI file->firewire->DV Tape->TV

no editing or conversions.

Of course you don't have to test it. I am just trying to help you. It's up to you.

[newbie]

Thanks guys ... I think I know what the problem is. Well I'd tried to convert the captured AVI to SVCD and the MPEG is much better quality. Although I haven't watched the SVCD version on TV yet but it looks fine with PowerDVD.

So the conclusion (I think) is the resolution. Basically DV -> VCD = CRAP! For decent quality it has to be in SVCD ... the problem now is SVCD taking up so much CD storage and can only fit ~40Mins only!!!

I have no choice I guess ...