What will it look like on my TV?

[Guest]

I imported my Hi8 video using the S-VHS connection. I used the High Quality
setting which had a resolution of 720x6??. When finished I saved it in the
DV-AVI format. When I play it back in full-screen mode on my computer it
looks fuzzy and pixilated. What will happen when I burn it to a dvd then play
it on my 36" tv? Will it be even more fuzzy and pixilated? I am very
concerned about this and need to know before I invest in a dvd burner. Thanks
in advance for any help.

 

[Wojo]

If it's fuzzy now in DV-AVI format I wouldn't think putting it on a DVD
would make it less so.
The first thing that comes to mind is that it's fuzzy and pixilated because
of the S-Video connection.
Firewire is the best option for capturing to WMM.
Otherwise maybe try capturing with the software that came with your camera
and import that file into WMM and see if that works any better.

 

[Guest]

Wojo,
It's very clear in the preview window. Only when I view it full screen does
it get pixilated. Just like when you enlarge a digital picture. I don't
understand why everybody doesn't have this problem. I capture at 720x6??, my
computer monitor is set to 1024x768 so I can understand that it would be
pixilated when I play it full screen but what about a huge 36" tv. I'm sure
very few people have a computer monitor as big as their tv.

 

[KDE]

It's very clear in the preview window. Only when I view it full screen does
it get pixilated.

have you actually saved the file as a movie and played it in windows media
player, or are we just talking about full-screen preview in moviemaker???
the preview function is no-where near the final copy of the movie, it is
simply a preview.

 

[Wojo]

I only just thought of this because of another thread bringing it to mind
but I recommend you capture at 720x480 since you are going to be creating a
DVD that should hopefully solve your fuzzy and pixilated problem.

 

[Wojo]

He stated in the first post that he played back a DV-AVI file full screen on
the computer.

 

[John Kelly]

Right On Dude.

I only just thought of this because of another thread bringing it to mind
but I recommend you capture at 720x480 since you are going to be creating a
DVD that should hopefully solve your fuzzy and pixilated problem.

 

[Guest]

Wojo and John,
I captured at 720x480 and created the DV-AVI at 720x480. Maybe my question
is a result of my ignorance about T.V.s. Are televisions set at a resolution
of 720x480 regardless of how large they are? It just dawned on me that the
resolution and the physical size of the screen are two different things. If
my DV-AVI video is set to 720x480 then it would make sense that playing back
full-screen when my computer monitor is set to 1024x768 would make it fuzzy
because it has to increase the resolution which is like a digital zoom on a
camera. So if my 36" tv has a resolution of 720x480 it should still create a
clear picture. What do you guys think?

 

[Wojo]

Yes and no. There's high def etc...which I believe is not 720x480 but DVD's
are recorded at 720x480.
Somebody correct me here if I am wrong.

 

[John Kelly]

Hello,

If Wojo will permit me,

I can understand your confusion...it catches out many.

Pixels on a TV screen do not have a width to height ratio of 1:1...they
are not square. More than that some of what you refer to as pixels are not
displayed at all. In most good DVD creating programs you will see two
rectangular boxes on the composition screen...one is called the action zone
and the other (smaller) is called the safe zone and outside of that is an
area of video that may or may not show on a TV. The area is sometimes
refereed to as Overscan. its where the three beams in a CRT type TV stop and
scan in the opposite direction....this path is called a scanline. In the UK
you can sometimes see individual scan lines if the TV is not set up
properly...you can see a series of small dots moving at the top edge of the
picture, this is where the data for TELETEXT is stored and its also the area
where MacroVision copy protection is stored (and thats why its not
protection of any kind as its very easy to remove)

Anyway, back to the plot.....the way to think of how these pixels are
displayed on a TV screen is to go back to the days of a slide projector. If
the slide was very small but you moved the projector away from the screen
you could get the image to fill the screen but the image would not very
good. But if you widen the aperture and use a larger image, you could move
the projector nearer the screen so as to get the same size image and the
picture would be better because there was more data in it. This example
assumes the same density of pixels per square inch for each image. You will
have noticed that I did not actually mention things like 720 x 480. As a set
of numbers they are not terribly relevant when talking about size of the
final picture as viewed on a TV screen...CRT style TV's use Scanlines. I
think the standard is still the same in the UK...we have 625 horizontal
lines to our TV pictures and some of those are not meant to be seen
(Teletext etc)

So, if you are going for DVD then using "home user" software etc you
would aim for the DV standard that applies in your country and thats the
standard just about all DVD creating software works too. Unless you are
using programs like Nero or Dazzle DVD Complete. Both of these programs are
able to create DVD's to a much higher resolution than the DV standards in
our domestic Digital cameras. I have discovered though that the cheap and
nasty DVD players can't handle the data rate and you get pixelation (Spit)

Hope that helps a little

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

 

[Guest]

Hi guys....I have the same problem as Jeff when I save to DV-AVI. It plays
in windows media player and is very clear as a tiny square in the player, but
at full screen looks fuzzy and pixelated. However, I don't ever use that
format to play on my computer, but for DVD's only. The large DV-AVI file
authors and burns more efficiently in my software, and I think is the best
for quality. I also save my movie's in 'high quality -ntsc' and use that to
play on my computer (in media player or real player etc).....when I have
burned the DVD I then can go and delete the large DV-AVI file. Jeff, if you
could play the file ok in movie makers preview, I think your saved movie will
be fine on your burned DVD, to play in your DVD player for your TV. If not,
you can always save it in 'high quality- ntsc' at 720 x 480 also and burn
that with a pretty much imperceptible quality loss. If your player won't
play it correctly try another dvd format...i.e. -R or +R or +RW -RW .
I have a new home theater project with a built in DVD player and accepts all
the various media cards and sticks...however, it will not play any -R dvd's
that I make for some reason. I ignore that since I just make mine in +R
then.... ha ha Actually I think it is more a problem with my software.
Anyway, I digress.....I am fairly certain you are seeing your DV-AVI file as
i see mine, and you will get a good DVD burned from it. I wouldn't let the
possibility of not playing something you can't make out of a DV-AVI file from
Movie Maker stop you from buying a DVD player though. Buy a 'progressive
scan' player and you will be set......good luck.

 

[Guest]

Oh, I just noticed you meant to buy a 'burner' not a DVD player.
Sorry for the misunderstanding, but for sure don't think you won't be able
to burn a good dvd because your DV-AVI file looks different. Check out
your movie in the smallest size in your windows media player....i'll be it is
perfectly clear as a huge uncompressed file. good luck again... Burner
and Player do look alike right? ha ha ha ha

 

[Guest]

How far off in quality is DV-AVI from "High Quality-NTSC"? I see you dump the
original DV-AVI file and save the smaller file on your pc. As overkill, I
burn my DVD, move my Dv-AVI file to back up drive, copy it to a data to
DVD(all clips under 5GB), and keep the original tape. Major overkill, but
they are of my infant daughters so I am taking no chances.

However I thought I saw a post some months back commenting you could burn a
DVD from a High Quality-NTSC file and it would be comparable to the average
person with one burned from a DV-AVI file. ALthough lower in quality, not
noticeable on a simple project.

I am keeping all the DV-AVI files in case I ever need to reburn the DVDs, or
mix and match all the videos to make new DVDs down the road. But if I could
reduce the file size without losing 'noticeable' quality, that would help.

Maybe I should have started a new post, but its related to your previous post.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Wojo]

You are correct the difference between a high quality NTSC file and a DV-AVI
file is not a noticeable difference IMO. The size difference however is
great.

I ran a test using a 2:16 video. I created a DV-AVI and a High Quality NTSC
video and compared the size and quality here's what I got:
DV-AVI 471MB
NTSC-WMV 14MB
There was no noticeable difference in quality and in fact the audio was
better with the NTSC-WMV file.
To tell the truth this is the first time I did a test such as this and it
has made me rethink my position on using DV-AVI for my movies. I need to
burn them to DVD and see what I get there to decide for certain.

I don't blame you at all for the overkill, those pictures of your kids can't
be replaced. Personally I don't actually save the videos I create as you are
but I save al the pictures and every time I have enough to fill a DVD disk I
burn them to disk. I also date the disks so when one reaches 5 years old I
will burn them to a new disk again to not take any chances with losing any
of them. Saving the pictures and saving the project files, since these two
things are considerably smaller than the finished video, is a good way to go
since you will eventually have so many of them. You can always copy the
project and clips back to your hard drive and create another video and then
another DVD should something happen to the original.
Another thing I have started doing with my more important DVD's is using
those new covers that are in stores. They are clear and the disks play with
the covers on them so if anything happens it happens to the cover and not
the DVD.

 

[Guest]

I find the same thing....that there is little difference in quality between
the two. Its pretty much not noticeable at all. However, over time I have
found that the DV-AVI format responds much better to the authoring and
burning of dvd's. Although I don't get many 'coasters' anymore, it seems
that NON DV-AVI formats produced a lot of ruined blanks for me. Its just
taking the easy route for me to save the movie in the big DV file for burning
(usually 2 dvd's), and then I can delete it later....and then save the 'high
quality-ntsc' to my computer and also send it to a cd if i feel the need to
keep it. As far a pictures, I have over 7,000 or so....and have a rather
vague and mind boggling system to keep track of them... ha ha However, they
are in 'broad' category file folders that I keep backed up on cd's also.
So, when you talk about overkill, you made me wonder if there is any
possibility that I can catch scanners elbow from doing old family albums?
LOL

 

[Guest]

To all of you who replied:

That was a very thorough discussion and much appreciated. I hope to be
answering some of these questions for new users in the future - after I have
become proficient with MM.

 

[Wojo]

Well as I said I wanted to burn them to DVD before making my final
assessment and after doing that I agree with you. I never get coasters but
the difference between the DV-AVI and the high quality WMV on the DVD was a
big one. There were a lot of small anomalies in the WMV one and the AVI one
was perfect so I guess I will stick with the advice I give to use DV-AVI.

 

[John Kelly]

Hllo Wojo,

Steady....you are now in direct contradiction of the paid MVP (he who
cannot do wrong but tels as many lies as he can get away with) I seem to
remember beinng told by another that PJ was now asserting no difference in
quality between WMV and AVI...I am not certain without checking, but I think
its in one of his recent newsletters that people payy for....can you believe
that???

So, watch out

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

Honest Boss, Its not me thats the INSTANT EXPERT !!!! and thats no LIE

 

[Wojo]

Contradiction breeds controversy.
Controversy breaks monotony IE:keeps me awake.

 

[John Kelly]

Like it.....LOL

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

Me cause Controversy???? Nah, I would not tell lies about how many
newsgroups I post...a la 52 or was it 63...no it was 8 LOLOL But don't tell
anyone ... Oops LOL