Surprising quality worsening of video files

[mikkelthoegersen]

First of all, I would like to say hello everbody, since I´m very new

It is like this:

I was editing my WMV-files on my pc (notebook) some weeks ago on Windows Movie Maker in the Vista-version, and the quality was just fine, not as perfect as the DV-tapes of course, but nearly as good (which was acceptable and expected).

But after to weeks or so, without "touching" the videos at all in the mean time, I opened them again, when I decided to finish them, but only to experience that the quality of my WMV-files was worsened. And those files were not the only to be worsened; all the other video files on my pc, such as some AVI-files etc. had (and has) the same lack of quality now... It's like all my "good-quality" files are converted to a sort of VCD/VHS quality if I may say so..

Several weeks ago I made a copy of the most important files and transferred them to an other Vista-pc; they had a good quality back then (also), then I checked them for the quality today, and yes; the same problem is there also, the quality of the files has worsened in that other Vista-pc, also..

What could be the problem? Is it a Vista-update related problem or...??

Has it a solution? I certainly hope..

[edDV]

If all the files worsened then something was/is wrong with your monitoring.

For DV (high quality) source, you should not use wmv except as a final step for distribution. Keep the originals in DV format. WMM can export your edited work as DV-AVI format (see "other"). Don't let it export to WMV until that is what you want.

[mikkelthoegersen]

Monitoring? Well perhaps, but as I wrote, I have the same problem on an other Vista pc; the quality was also very fine on that weeks ago, and then.. Now, it seems that the quality is just an amatuerish thing right now on BOTH of the pc´s.. Maybe it's not just the monitoring, but something else?

[mikkelthoegersen]

Nobody who can help??

[edDV]

Nobody who can help??

Did you dump WMV and export DV-AVI from WMM?

The WMV files didn't get worse. They were poor from the time of export.

If you must export WMV, use the recommended high quality setting

[mikkelthoegersen]

edDV; thanks fot the answer..

Well, I give up and I'm going to format and reinstall Vista, then I hope that codec problem is solved. But surely it must be an idea that I export to DV-AVI format at the very beginning, that was your suggestion, wasn't it(?) Is the quality difference really that big??

[edDV]

edDV; thanks fot the answer..

Well, I give up and I'm going to format and reinstall Vista, then I hope that codec problem is solved. But surely it must be an idea that I export to DV-AVI format at the very beginning, that was your suggestion, wasn't it(?) Is the quality difference really that big??

Why reinstall Vista?

DV-AVI will be bit identical to DV source for cuts. Some report WMM converts 720x480i DV to 640x480p square pixel if you use filters. WMV requires a deinterlace and a major compression even for "recommended".

See here for DV export from WMM

[poisondeathray]

all the other video files on my pc, such as some AVI-files etc. had (and has) the same lack of quality now

While edDV is correct, the worsening of all other untouched videos suggests to me other problems - probably system wide: perhaps display driver, graphics card, decoder and/or overlay issues

Maybe mikkelthoegersen can describe the quality loss in more detail? Is it blurry, color issues what? Are you sure it affects all videos , not just the re-encoded ones? e.g. does DV or blu-ray look bad too ?

Try using another video player eg. MPlayer , KMPlayer or VLC. Try updating your graphics drivers. Check your display settings, and software playback settings. Try playing a few files on a friend's or co-workers's PC with XP

[mikkelthoegersen]

Why reinstall Vista?

I've installed (and uninstalled) many codec packages now, and now I can't get rid of the even more quality worsening my video files suffers right now because of the hotchpotch caused by these packages... The only solution, I think, has to be clean up the mess with reinstalling...

As regard the transfer from DV-tape to pc, as I understood, you recommend DV-AVI?

[guns1inger]

If the source is DV AVI then transfer as DV AVI, edit as DV AVI, and only convert to a highly compressed format at the very end of the process.