Newbie question on mov files and how to watch on Dvd player

[helper]

Hello,

I shot some video using a kodak z712 digital camera in 640x480 and it saves it as a mov file. I want to be able to view them using a dvd player attached to my TV. What is the best way of going about this and still keeping the best video quality possible. I tried to covert to DVD using nero and it looked horrible, all boxy and digital noise galour. I am new to trying this so please be patient. I know my dvd player can play, Divx as well as vcd, svcd and dvds.

Thanks for any help on this...

[guns1inger]

I would try FAVC, DVD Flick or ConvertXtoDVD. The first two are free, ConvertXtoDVD is not.

Burn the results with Imburn.

[helper]

Hello,

Thanks for the info. Do I need any codecs or anything else, I also want to edit them together and add effects, will any of these programs be able to do that? I am really new on this, and I dont care if they are dvds, svcd, vcds or even just a divx file, just so they look really good like they do on the computer as mov files.

Thanks again for any help

[helper]

Hello,

Another newbie question here, if I try to convert the mov files which are 640x480 to DVD which is 720x480, isnt this going to make the video look bad because they are not the same size? As I said I am really new to trying this... As for the effects, I have played with AVS video editor 3.1 and nero make a movie and the results are okay, it is just when I burn them they look blocky and get noise to them, is there any way to filter the results before burning or a better way to do this?

Thanks again..

[Supreme2k]

There are plenty of tutorials on the left, under "How To". That's your best bet on learning the process, rather than waiting for someone to respond to your question (which has been covered enough times to get its own tutorial).

640 to 720 will look just fine.

[jman98]

You have a LOT to learn. I'm not saying that as any kind of criticism, I just want you to understand that you do have a lot to learn.

You can encode the video and add borders to bring it up to 720x480. This will help to reduce quality loss over resizing up to 720x480. AviSynth is a tool you can use to add borders and to send the MOV file to HCEnc (freeware) for encoding to MPEG-2 valid for DVD. High bit rates will also help to reduce quality loss. You'll have to do some research to learn how to write AviSynth scripts and to use HCEnc to encode. Or you could try guns1inger's suggestions, which require a LOT less learning on your part to use them.

Nero is easy to use, but it sucks as an encoder, so I'm not surprised you didn't like what it produced.

[helper]

Hello,

Thank you all for the info. Supreme2k, I have been reading them and the one I found that was very similar to what I was doing is 3 years old, I was hoping there would be better programs and advances by now.

jman98, I agree there is a lot to learn on this. I have been trying to learn it but I am getting easily frustrated trying to get something that looks decent enough to waste the time on editing and adding nice effects for my friend who was in the races I am trying to make a dvd or svcd or what ever of.

I know it is not going to look like a professional DVD. I am wondering what would be the best format for this, is dvd the best or would a svcd work better? I want a good picture without a lot of noise and pixilation in the dvd. I watch them on the quicktime player and they look good even in full screen, but no matter what I do to change them they look blocky and messed up. I know I am doing something wrong, just no idea what. That is why I came here for help.

Thanks again...

[helper]

Hello,

I have been playing around with super to convert the files to avi and they are acceptable so far. Now for the next 2 steps. The first is what is a good program to add the transitions inbetween the videos, as I have a lot of videos. The camera does not pause it stops and writes a file. So, my question is what is best to use. I have AVS video edit vs 3.1 and if I use that should I convert them to avi, mpeg2 or some other format first or just use mov file as it is and how should I save them after adding the transitions? AVS did not put out as good of a file as the super is so far. Any advise is welcomed.

Thanks in advance..

[jman98]

SVCD is inferior in every way to DVD. Some DVD players don't even support it so you are wasting your time in doing that. Also the quality is quite a bit below DVD, although with very careful encoding and pristine clear source video you can get SVCDs that approach DVD quality.

Super is a "jack of all trades, master of none" type video converter. It's easy to use, but it won't give you the best quality. If you can learn how to write AviSynth scripts and use HCEnc, you'll get better results.

I don't do transitions, ever, so I better let somebody else advise you on that and what format you should use, but do note that if you want effects that you're going to have to pay for software to do that.