How to get good quality from my DV tape

[FBCoach]

I have a Sony Handy Cam DCR-HC32 camera and it uses DV tape.

I use it to tape all my son's football games. I have been capturing the Dv tape with Roxi Media creator and it captures it in Mpeg-2 format.

I then use Ulead DVD movie factory to chop it up into pieces, cut out slow play , etc. It's a pretty extensive process.
I then output it to Mpeg-2 format and bring it back into EMC 10 add music and make a season highlight video.

I have found that the quality of the video is grainy and just not that great. Its OK.. but its not as good as the DV-Avi on the tape.

I then tried and experiement where I can capture the DV-AVI with EMC-10 into full AVI. The quality seems better, but I have not cut it up yet either.

Am I on the right course?

Thanks for any help
FBCoach

[JohnnyMalaria]

Capturing as DV-AVI is the right thing to do. You end up with a bit-for-bit copy of what's on the tape. You can't get any better than that. Editing is a lot easier and faster, too. MPEG2 requires a lot more processing power. Once edited, convert the DV to MPEG2 for DVD creation.

Note, when you play the DV file on your PC, it won't look as vibrant as on a TV. This is normal. Don't feel tempted to increase the contrast etc. When you create the final DVD (I assume that's what you'll be doing), it will look fine on the TV. Also, if you come across options to 'deinterlace', don't(!)

[FBCoach]

John, thanks so much for the tip.

The process I use is very lengthy and time consuming to process a game let alone a whole season, so this really helps me head in the right direction.

Ok..so maybe you can answer this as well...

Once I capture the file in Avi, I will then use the Ulead MovieFactory to cut it up as its so much faster than EMC10.

Now, do I then convert it out of Ulead MovieFactory to Mpeg-2 and then open it in EMC10 and add my music.

Or...

Should I leave it in AVI out of the MovieStudio, copy it into EMC10 , add music, and then burn it?

Would EMC 10 automatically convert it to Mpeg-2?
Would I gain any quality advantage?

Finally, I have heard that if you use higher quality DVD's that can make a difference. I tend to use Maxell DVD+RW.

Thanks for any help!

[JohnnyMalaria]

Always do the conversion to MPEG2 as the last step if you can. I'm not familiar with the software you are using so I don't know the specifics. I would hope you can add the audio within MovieFactory. Cut the video as needed and then drop the audio on the timeline.

Re blank DVDs - asking that is a hornet's nest! If you search the forum, you'll see what I mean. A well-known brand name ought to be a good bet but it doesn't necessarily hold true. Personally, I'd be happy with Maxell but others would (will?) berate me for saying so!

[FBCoach]

Thanks JohnnyM!

I had not considered dropping the audio in before exporting. That might help a bit, but it would probably put it on the Native music track. Probably not a bad idea from a space standpoint, but it may not help with the quality.

I see what you mean by blank DVD's and preferrences. I searched the forum... Lots of different opinions.

Is there anything else I can do to get a better picture. It used to use Sonic to burn my DVD's and they really came out clear. I am wondering if the Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 (EMC 10) has problems rendering.

Short of putting two identical TV's and two identical DVD players next to each other... is there any way to tell if a DVD has better quality than another? Meaning software that would look at two identical productions, burned with different software to determine if and where the quality issues might be?

Thanks for all the help!

[bb]

Just to make sure you didn't misunderstand: different brands of DVD blanks can make a difference regarding reliablility and long term storage, but there will be no difference regarding the video quality - it's all digital.

If you want great reliability, then Verbatim archival grade DVD blanks might be for you. They've been tested recently in the German c't computer magazine, and they were found to be even more reliable than promised - whereas some competitors turned out to be awful (e.g. Kodak Gold).

If you want to get great quality video, then the most important step right at the beginning of the whole process: use a tripod if applicable, make sure your scene is illuminated well enough, don't move too quickly, etc. There is nothing you can gain while copying the video from your camcorder to your PC, provided that you follow the DV path via firewire. Then you can use good filter chains (using AviSynth), but this requires a lot of time experimenting (and forum reading, of course). Finally, a good MPEG-2 encoder helps with keeping as much quality as possible.

Hope this helps.

bb

[FBCoach]

There is nothing you can gain while copying the video from your camcorder to your PC, provided that you follow the DV path via firewire. Then you can use good filter chains (using AviSynth), but this requires a lot of time experimenting (and forum reading, of course). Finally, a good MPEG-2 encoder helps with keeping as much quality as possible.

Hope this helps.

bb


Thank you BB..
I did not understand the quality vs. reliablity, but I do now!
Thanks

When you say nothing can be gained by the capture process , does that include capturing in AVI vs. MPEG2?

And... what if anything could I gain by using AVISynth?
(Guess I need to read up on what that does!)

Thanks in advance, this is all very helpfull:helpful:

[bb]

[...]When you say nothing can be gained by the capture process , does that include capturing in AVI vs. MPEG2?
A DV camcorder records DV encoded video onto the tape, and when you "capture" it as a DV AVI file, then this is a lossless process - it's just copying the data to your PC. If you capture to MPEG-2, then that means you still copy the DV data from your tape, but convert it to MPEG-2 on the fly. That's a lossy process, and more than that: realtime MPEG-2 conversion is never as good as an offline multi-pass conversion. So don't do that: capture DV, not MPEG-2 (if you want quality).
And... what if anything could I gain by using AVISynth?
(Guess I need to read up on what that does!)[...]
AviSynth is a so-called "frameserver", i.e. it reads a video file and serves it to an application, so that the application believes it reads a regular AVI file. AviSynth input may be an AVI file or anything DirectShow can read. The great thing is that there are many excellent filters AviSynth can apply to the video before it feeds the frames into your video application (e.g. an MPEG-2 encoder). These filters can greatly improve your video - if you use them correctly. For instance, the grain can be reduced, or the colours can be corrected, and there's much more - a whole new world to explore!
And yes, you guessed right: you need to read up on AviSynth... There are two forums about AviSynth anlone here at Doom9 - take the time, it's worth it.

bb