Jerky video after editing files from a DVD camcorder

[Guest]

I have a problem with video quality degradation. Hope someone can help

I use a Sony DVD camcorder. If I put a recorded mini-disc straight from the
camcorder to my home DVD player, the video quality is excellent. In
particular, footage with a lot of movement appears smooth.

However ... I then use the bundled Sony application (Picture Package) to
download the files to my computer as MPEGs, import them into WMM and create a
movie (DV-AVI), which I then burn to a DVD using Nero Vision Express. The
video quality is not as good as the original mini-disc version -- in
particular, footage with a lot of movement appears somewhat jerky.

Any ideas why is this happening and how can I fix it?

Thanks,
MJ

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

When you save the DA-AVI file, what other applications are running on your
PC at the same time? Did you do a disk cleanup and defrag before you
started saving the file?

Encoding is very CPU intensive..... close out your email application, stop
surfing the web, stop listening to music/videos with WMP, even TEMPORARILY
disable your antivirus application.... Step AWAY from the PC and go make a
cup of coffee, do the laundry, the vacuuming, the ironing, the dishwashing,
change the oil in your motor vehicle... do anything else but touch the PC
until it's finished.

Any better?

 

[dnickels]

I have a problem with video quality degradation. Hope someone can help

I use a Sony DVD camcorder. If I put a recorded mini-disc straight from
the
camcorder to my home DVD player, the video quality is excellent. In
particular, footage with a lot of movement appears smooth.

However ... I then use the bundled Sony application (Picture Package) to

download the files to my computer as MPEGs, import them into WMM and
create a
movie (DV-AVI), which I then burn to a DVD using Nero Vision Express. The

video quality is not as good as the original mini-disc version -- in
particular, footage with a lot of movement appears somewhat jerky.

Any ideas why is this happening and how can I fix it?

Thanks,
MJ

It looks like you are compressing the video into an Mpg file twice. Once
when the video is originally recorded to the DVD and a second time when you
burn the DV-AVI movie onto a DVD with Nero Vision Express (I am assuming you
are burning it as a DVD). If this is the case, it could be the reason for
the reduced picture quality and jerky movement. I would suggest finding an
editor that will edit mpg files directly so you do not have to make the
DV-AVI to mpg conversion.

 

[Guest]

I am generally pretty careful to minimise any other activity on the PC. I
tried again doing all the things you suggested, but no better result

 

[Guest]

Yes, I am burning it as a DVD, so you are right -- I am compressing into MPEG
twice.

I have not tried an editor that edits MPEG directly. Any suggestions of
which ones do?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

WinDVD Creator v2 or 3 (www.intervideo.com), PowerDirector any version from
2.5 upwards (www.gocyberlink.com), Roxio, Nero etc.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows

Yes, I am burning it as a DVD, so you are right -- I am compressing into
MPEG
twice.

I have not tried an editor that edits MPEG directly. Any suggestions of
which ones do?

 

[dnickels]

I haven't tried an MPEG editor either. I use Pinnacle Studio 9 to edit uncompressed AVI files and only convert them to MPEG's as I burn the DVD. I don't know if Pinnacle Studio will edit MPEG files but you might visit thier web site (http://www.pinnaclesys.com) and see what they say. There may also be a trial version to download.

There are also the products that Cari mentioned. I haven't used any of them, so I can't compare them with Pinnacle, but there may be trial versions of some of them you can download. PC Magazine recently did a short review of Version 8 of one of the Roxio products (I have forgotten which one) and they were not impressed.

D Nickels
Yes, I am burning it as a DVD, so you are right -- I am compressing into MPEG
twice.

I have not tried an editor that edits MPEG directly. Any suggestions of
which ones do?