Different quality same resolutions?

[Teddybaby]

I'm new here and I have been searching for a few answers to some of my questions. I have a Sony DCR-HC32 DV camera. I'm capturing video of my son's hockey games. I am using a firewire connection to speed up the process. I started capturing using Nero and burning with nero @ 720x320 or 480 I forget. The end result is a very poor dvd that is grainy and washed out. I then tried to capture using Cameramate pro pix dvd to capture, and nero to burn, the result was a little better. Last I used windows movie maker to capture(since I'm using fat 32) it only allows 20 minutes of video per part. A 60 minute video eats up 12 gigs. I then burned that with nero and the picture was alot better. My question is what capture program will give me the cleanest results? Also what other than nero program is good for burning. Thanks

[gadgetguy]

All capture programs will provide the same results as long as it doesn't try to encode while "capturing". It's actually a data transfer as opposed to a capture so the file that gets built on the computer is exactly the same as the data on the tape. I personally use WinDV to capsfer. What you do with it after that (editing, encoding) determines how it will look when played on a DVD player.
Nero is a decent burning tool, but most of the other things it does are not that great. Another excellent burning tool is ImgBurn.

And by the way, welcome.

[edDV]

It is possible to get high quality with Nero but it's MPeg2 encoder and features are far from the best.

The process is

1. IEEE-1394 transfer from camcorder at full DV quality
2. Edit in DV format
3. Encode the DV format result to DVD MPeg2 at 720x480 8000Kb/s or better bitrate.
4. Author the DVD (menus and file conversion)
5. Burn the DVD

You would get better results with one of these entry level products.

Adobe Premiere Elements 2
ULead Video Studio
VirtualdubMod + TMPEGEnc MPeg2 Encoder + TMPEGEnc DVD Author

[Teddybaby]

Thanks for both your answers. I learned alot already! The only other question is that when I capture with windows movie maker it put's it in some strange file type. Nero can handle it but that program which was Imgburn won't recognize it? Does imgburn need a different format to work? Thanks again

[redwudz]

Since your final product appears to be DVD, you might want to look to the upper left for 'What is' DVD. That will give you information on the DVD format and the DVD structure.

Since you are in the US, you would use the NTSC format of 720 x 480 pixels, which is the same size as DV, so no changes needed there. But you will need to convert the DV format to DVD compliant MPEG-2. That is what the encoder programs are for. The audio is usually converted to a more compact format to take up less DVD disc room, such as AC3 or MPEG-1 Layer2. When this is done, you author the two files. This converts the files to the DVD format and adds chapters and menus. Then you burn the resulting DVD format files to a DVD. You should be able to get about a hour of high quality video on the DVD.

That's the short version. Editing is another step, done when the file is still in DV format. You can do all this with the programs you have, but it's good to understand the process. The tools edDV mentions are about the same I use.

There are guides for the individual parts of this process are covered to the left in 'CAPTURE, EDIT, CONVERT and AUTHOR.'

If you really want to try Windows Movie Maker, set the output to DV and encode that to MPEG-2 after editing. Then you can author and burn with Nero, ImgBurn or other programs.

[edDV]

You can force WMM to keep it in near DV format depending on effect used.

Capture as DV
Edit
Then the crucial steps
1. "save to my computer"
2. ooops reboot

[edDV]

Resuming -- Windows Movie Maker locked up but thankfully didn't crash my long encode.

OK we are at the "Save Movie Wizard".

Choose "other settings" then "DV-AVI (NTSC)" then next.

It will save your edit as a DV-AVI file that you can take to a DVD authoring program.

[Teddybaby]

Great info, thanks for all your help. Looks like I need to read a few guides. After I spend a few days learning I might need a few answered. Hope you don't mind..Thanks again

[mats.hogberg]

a DV-AVI file that you can take to a DVD authoring program.

Errr... I'd suggest an mpeg encoder between "DV-AVI" and "DVD authoring program".

/Mats

[edDV]

a DV-AVI file that you can take to a DVD authoring program.

Errr... I'd suggest an mpeg encoder between "DV-AVI" and "DVD authoring program".

/Mats

True, I should have included all the steps but popular commercial packages like ULead Movie factory, Cyberlink, etc. include an MPeg2 encoder.

[Cornucopia]

Beware of that little "gotcha" of WMM--Type1 DV-AVI files. Not all encoding or authoring apps will accept them.
Do a conversion of Type1 to Type2 with DVDate (it's freeware, too!), and you'll be able to get around that hurdle.

Scott