MiniDV to DVD quality

[Stabes]

I'm completely raw at this, so any help will be extremely useful...

I've managed to transfer the contents of a miniDV tape (Panasonic camcorder) to DVD. However, the video quality is not as great as I would have hoped (it appears as if the frame rate isn't high enough, even though it's set, by default, to 25fps) This frame rate thing is just a guess on my part though.
The process I've used for this is from the camcorder through a TV card installed into my PC (Leadtek TV Expert 2000, using the software supplied with it [WinPVR]) which writes the file (MPEG2) onto my hard drive which I then write onto DVD. Also, I'm using a S-Video cable for the video signal.

I had hoped that I would end up with a written DVD which was of the same quality as when I play the miniDV tape from my camcorder directly into my TV. Not really understanding this technology, am I hoping for too much?

Thanks,

Mart

[guns1inger]

If you really want to preserve the quality from your tape, get a firewaire card for oyur PC and do a direct transfer from the camera to the PC. What you get is a 1:1 copy of the tape. From here you can encode at your leisure to a quility that pleases you. Most will suggest a high bitrate CBR encode, probably around 8400kbps. At this rate you would get around 70 minutes to a disc.

[Keitho]

I agree with gunslinger's comments. Transfer the video from your camera to your computer using firewire. It takes about 12 GB of hard drive space per hour of video. Then, use an encoder to convert the avi file to mpg2. I like CCE for encoding, setting it at 8Mb/sec CBR.
Then, import that mpg2 file into a DVD author program. I use Ulead Moviefactory 2.

[Stabes]

Thanks. I managed to get it to work using the firewire connection.

One more small thing - the software I'm using (Cyberlink PowerProducer) gives me the option of writing directly to DVD without going to the hard drive first. I've tried this - but at 16% completed the process fails. I've tried using three different disks, as well as decreasing the writing speed, but can't solve it. Any idea what would cause this?

Thanks again for the help.

Mart

[guns1inger]

You won't get the same quality using this method as you will using a good encoder and only burning form the HDD when you are finished.

As to why it is failing - could be many things;

HDD bottleneck
HDD needs defragging
Both the HDD and the Burner are on the same IDE channel
Other processes taking CPU away from the encoder

Even though it says it is direct to the HDD, it will be using the HDD to buffer. Using this method is the same as burning direct from DVD-ROM to DVD Burner. Yes, it is possible, but the success rate is much greater if you go VIA the HDD.