dvd burn: wmv is clearer than avi. Why?

[Guest]

Hi, I've been reading so much about burning a video file to dvd and
everything says to save the wmv file to avi and then burn the avi to dvd. But
when I do that it's not clear on any of my televisions and its also more
pixelated and also the image seems abit jumpy. However if I leave it as a wmv
and burn to dvd the output is much better on TV, text is not as pixelated
images are better and no jumpiness. Still, Im not that happy with the
quality. Should I try to save the Windows Movie Maker file in a different
format other than avi? I am using MyDVD vers.8 to burn.

Overall I just can't seem to understand why i have to change the wmv format
to avi and then burn to dvd, when if i just burn straight from wmv to dvd its
better?

 

[John Inzer]

Hi, I've been reading so much about burning a video file to dvd and
everything says to save the wmv file to avi and then burn the avi to
dvd. But when I do that it's not clear on any of my televisions and
its also more pixelated and also the image seems abit jumpy. However
if I leave it as a wmv and burn to dvd the output is much better on
TV, text is not as pixelated images are better and no jumpiness.
Still, Im not that happy with the quality. Should I try to save the
Windows Movie Maker file in a different format other than avi? I am
using MyDVD vers.8 to burn.

Overall I just can't seem to understand why i have to change the wmv
format to avi and then burn to dvd, when if i just burn straight from
wmv to dvd its better?

============================================
Maybe using a custom profile
would give you better results:

Movie Maker 2 - Saving
Movies - Custom WMV Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/s2vgu
:
Creating Custom Profiles
for Windows Movie Maker 2
http://tinyurl.com/cuny7

Even more info
Windows Movie Maker
Custom Export Formats
http://tinyurl.com/dnylc

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

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]

For best results you are better trying to use an original dv.avi file rather
than wmv. Once in wmv there is no benefit really going to dv.avi, apart
from if you are using an app which doesn't accept wmv.

Where does the file come from? If captured from a cam using MM then opt for
the dv.avi option on capturing
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorials/MovieMaker/HowToCaptureDV-AVI.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your response. Not sure exaclty what you mean by your first
sentence, but i think i may have been unclear. So, to be exact, I used
Windows Movie Maker 5.1 to capture the video directly from Mini-DV tapes in
my Panasonic video camera (model NV-GS15) which I had connected to my
computer. Once captured in Windows Movie Maker I saved the PROJECT which is
saved as MSWMM file. Then I did all the editing and then went to FINISH MOVIE
and selected SAVE TO MY COMPUTER, I chose 'OTHER OPTIONS' and saved as avi
file but it plays back slightly distorted and trembly on my televisions and
plasma. Image is also more pixelated on the plasma. When I play it back on
the computer the music and the image/video is sometimes not in sync. I saved
the same project 2 or 3 times as an avi file. The last time I played back the
saved avi file on my computer the picture was ALOT slower than the music.
Previously I when I saved the same project as an avi file and played it back
on my computer the music was in sync with the picture but both the audio and
picture seemed jittery and it was worse where there was text, credit or
titles. Alot of picelation and the motion seemed broken up sometimes.

 

[Guest]

Ive been reviewing your advice and suggestions, and had a look at
myvideoproblems.com tutorial, and Im starting to believe that maybe i did not
capture the video as avi! I cannot remember if I chose avi or not. Is there
any way of me finding out this information? can I check this out from my
project file?

If this is the case and I have not captured in avi format is there any way
of me changing it now?

God help me! Now, Im really starting to worry that if this IS the problem,
and there is no other way but to go back and do re-capture the whole video
again, well then WMM is not user friendly in this section. It would be more
logical for the program to select avi as the default, since it recognises
that the video being captured is avi format. That makes more sense.

Im very worried because its a very very long file and it's almost 3 hours of
video and I HAVE SPENT MONTHS editing and now Im ready to burn to dvd.

I can't do this ALL OVER AGAIN. If this is the mistake made, well its a very
BIG MISTAKE, and I can't possibly scrap the whole project and just start
again from scratch. What a horrible thing! It's abit ambigious when the
options to capture come up the first one says 'recommended' and it's selected
by default, and then you have to do the whole thing and you get to the very
end and you find out that it was th wrong selection at the beginning. If this
is the case then I can't trust or rely on WMM. No way!

....Just the thought of the worst case scenario which I have probably copped
is killing me! Where is the nearest cliff?

arrrrrrrrrrr

 

[John Hanley]

I think that if you right click a clip on the WMM Timeline, the Properties
box will show the Location of the Source File; put your mouse on the line
that says Location, and it should show you the complete path of the source
file; and the file extension will be right at the end of that location
information. You can get better advice from this web site:
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/forums/ These guys are experts.

 

[Guest]

Thanks John, ....I did all that and the end of the file name is .wmv

I will go to the experts.

 

[PapaJohn]

your check of the clip properties in your project file shows .wmv... so
that's what you started with.

 

[Graham Hughes]

You could carry on here, as it'll be the same people answering your
questions

I'd start by doing a short 10 minute capture to avi, recreate very quickly a
section of the movie as you made it earlier and then save to dvd again using
the same settings.

Check this on the tv.

How does it look?

If better, then we know it's the wmv - dv.avi capture.

If not, we could be looking at several intermeiatte things, including
settings used on the dvd making side of things.