not impressed with capture from my sony mini dv camcorder

[tunde121oke]

i just got this sony mini dv camcorder ,when i capture using its firewire in vcd mode,the quality is so low,it has no difference from when i capture from my vhs tapes ,sometimes capturing from my vhs tapes have a higer quality than my camcorder,what should i do? i am using pinnacle av dv ,i expect capture from a minidv camcorder to be higher than capture from vhs tapes or s - video or composte sources,please advice.

[Baldrick]

VCD Mode? VCD = Crap, so I wouldn't use any VCD mode.

Can't you choose to just capture/copy the dv stream to your hdd in pinnacle av dv? Or use WinDV to copy the DV to an DV-AVI that you then can edit and convert to any format using most tools.

And this is DV so moving you to our DV section.

[harley2ride]

I agree with baldrick.. Capture as DV-AVI, make any editing changes you desire, then encode at between 8000 and 9000 or select highest or best quality setting for your encoding.

[tunde121oke]

some of my clients request vcd format for job,i captured in avi format but when i renedered to vcd ,the quality dropped

[aedipuss]

click the vcd button up in the left under 'what is" for the specs. it isn't good for anything and you're right it's as bad as vhs. at 1150kbps any motion will be blurred.

[tunde121oke]

i have seen some local hoem videos and the quality of the vcd is awesome ,if i was using an hdv camera would that give me a better vcd result or perharps i need to buy or use a higher editing card ,which will propbably help ?

[guns1inger]

i have seen some local hoem videos and the quality of the vcd is awesome

VCD and awesome in the same sentence - did you keep a straight face when you typed this ?

A better camera will not give you better quality from a low resolution, low bitrate format. The videos my phone shoots give VCD a run for it's money - that's just how it is.

[tunde121oke]

i was drunk wheni typed that sorry,i mean vcd quality is superB

[guns1inger]

I don't think you have sobered up yet

[tmh]

tunde, not sure what your problem is....one place you say you "captured in VCD mode" then you say you captured in avi!?!?!? Which is it? What codec is the avi in when captured (actually, should be "transferred" as said above)? Use gspot to find out codec.

IF it's a fairly short video he should get OK quality VCD, right guys? If not, why? Isn't it just a capacity issue vs. DVD?

Try any other encoding software? maybe a better one is out there for your needs.

[guns1inger]

VCD is one quarter the resolution, and around one eighth the bitrate of DVD, so no, it isn't just a capacity issue. VCD is at best sub-VHS quality. You *might* call it OK quality, but no better.

[jagabo]

The low bitrate used in VCD will give better results with low noise and low motion sources. So handheld footage from a cheap camcorder will give poor results. A high end, low noise camcorder on a tripod will do much better.

[stantheman1976]

Transferring first into lossless DV-AVI and then using a quality MPEG encoder at VCD spec may help. What encoder does Pinnacle use?

The undeniable fact is that VCD is a low quality format that only gained popularity in certain places and serves no legitimate purpose in today's world. I understand you're trying to give people something they've requested but maybe you should try and talk them into a more current format.

[edDV]

Show the client the difference between DV.AVI to DVD MPeg2 and DV.AVI to VCD. They may change their mind.