Video quality reduced when placed in the timeline

[Beevo-AZ]

I have some video clips made with Freez Screen that I need to title.

My problem is the original captures are nice and clean after importing into
MoveiMaker. When they are dragged to the timeline, the replay is horribly
reduced in clarity.

I have looked through the settings and can not find anything that improves
this. All my keyword searches turned up video capture quality issues but
nothing dealing with an internal loss of quality.

Bill

 

[John Inzer]

I have some video clips made with Freez Screen that I need to title.

My problem is the original captures are nice and clean after
importing into MoveiMaker. When they are dragged to the timeline,
the replay is horribly reduced in clarity.

I have looked through the settings and can not find anything that
improves this. All my keyword searches turned up video capture
quality issues but nothing dealing with an internal loss of quality.

Bill

=======================================
This is normal...especially when viewed full screen.
It does not affect the final saved movie.

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Beevo-AZ]

=======================================
This is normal...especially when viewed full screen.
It does not affect the final saved movie.

In my case it does. While it is not as ugly as when viewed on the
moviemaker the resulting screen is of lesser quality

Bill

 

[John Inzer]

In my case it does. While it is not as ugly as when viewed on the
moviemaker the resulting screen is of lesser quality

Bill

============================
The saved file has nothing to do with the
original complaint that files on the timeline
are lower resolution when viewed.

The quality of the saved file depends on
the choices you make when you save.

Here's some info on saving the movie file:

To save as an .avi movie file...
(and several other options)
Type...Ctrl+P to open the Save Movie Wizard /
Choose...My Computer /
Next /
Enter a Name and a Save Location /
Next /
Show More Choices /
Other Settings /
Open the drop window and choose...DV-AVI /
Next /
Wait while the movie is saved /
Finish...

To save as a .wmv movie file...
Type...Ctrl+P to open the Save Movie Wizard /
Choose...My Computer /
Next /
Enter a Name and a Save Location /
Next /
Tick...'Best Quality For My Computer'
Next/
Wait while the movie is saved /
Finish...

Also, you may find it useful to use
a custom profile:

Movie Maker 2 - Saving
Movies - Custom WMV Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/s2vgu
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

Creating Custom Profiles
for Windows Movie Maker 2
http://tinyurl.com/cuny7
or...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/customprofile.mspx

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Graham Hughes]

The timeline view is a "preview" of the movie, it is reduced in size to a
max of 640x480, it is only every other frame and is designed to give you a
real time "preview" of your movie as you edit. Other apps use rendering
first, so you add a transition, then you render a temp file and then you
look at it to see if it is correct. If not, you do it all again. This is
time consuming.
Speed etc all dependson quality of app, and pc spec, as some use gpu
rendering to preview the files on the fly, which is obviously quicker.


Putting files which aren't compatible with movie maker onto your timeline
then saving them out will most likely lead to poor final movies.

As John has said, choosing a low quality final save option will also reduce
quality.

Using file types that are of a lossy format, mpeg, wmv will also lead to
reduced quality, as each and every save tries to compress the movie so
removes info.

Viewing an interlaced movie on a pc screen will result in a lowering of
viewing quality.

Watching a 720x576 (480) movie full size in WMP on a screen of 1024x768 will
result in a lowering of viewing quality

Perhaps you could tell us your original source file type, the option chosen
to save as and the way in which you are making your comparison.