Am I expecting too much of picture quality?

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

Hi all, I'm not particularly fluent at Ulead but have been using V9, (and now V10) for nearly a year now. I know just enough to get by!
I've had complaints (two) from customers that my DVD picture quality isn't good. Now granted it isn't high-res jpeg quality, but it isn't terrible. Frankly when viewed even in Windows Media Player on my Sony laptop it just isn't what one would expect.

Am I expecting too much? I produce DVD slide shows edited to music from jpegs that appear tack sharp with the Canon 30D on it's lowest setting. That renders roughly 500K in size, photoshopped slightly to bump up contrast and sharpen. But when the dvd is viewed it has about the same quality as playback in UL.

I have followed the instructions in the post of this forum when creating video files and burning dvd's.

I know it's difficult to say without seeing, but any feedback you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated. the one thing i haven't been able to identify is if my properties match. i've done "print scrn" on all preferences windows and can provide whatever you need to see.

thanks all!
david

[Terry Stetler]

Many software DVD players will let you save a frame of their playback, so that would be a good place to start. It would also help to export the same frame from VideoStudio's timeline of the source material for comparison. Also helpful would be the projects MPEG settings, which is what it'll use when prepping the project for burning.

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

thanks! this may take me awhile to get these items together, but i'll work on it and post for your review. many thanks, david

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

i must be an idiot.

i have done a 'prnt scrn' on my preference, now how do i attach to this email?

[Terry Stetler]

If your ISP provides webspace for a website upload the images there, turn on 'remote file linking' in its prefs (a page from the ISP) then use the following command in the forum (minus the quotes);

"[img]http://<your_sites_url>/<imagename.ext>[/img]"

For this purpose I'd recommend 100% jpeg's or *.bmp's so there aren't significant compression artifacts confusing the issue. For user interface pix 70% or so is OK.

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

hi guys,
can someone take a look at this and tell me if this is what terry was asking for? thanks,
david

http://www.virtualtourssell.com/files/file_60.zip

also, does windows media player allow me to grab a frame from the video file? or can i do that in ulead?

thanks!

[Terry Stetler]

I put it on my space for convienience sake;



They certainly look more than adequate. What is the subject matter? Talking heads, medium action, fast action etc.?

You can capture a frame in VideoStudio on the Edit tab. Scroll to the frame you want to save then click the "Save as Still Image" button. The option of BMP or JPG is in the VideoStudio Preferences/Capture tab.

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

thanks terry,
still pics. jpegs that are shot w/ a canon30D near pro-level camera i've made a small five or six meg video file that is a very brief version of what i do. could i post it and let you take a look?

many thanks man!

[Ken Berry]

Though in theory the properties you are using should produce a good result, with slideshows I invariably use Frame Based instead of Lower Field First. And I do so in the project settings, as well, of course, as in the burning module. So give that a try.

[Terry Stetler]

I agree; frame based is worth a go. The DVD player should adapt the progressive content for display on interlaced TV's.

[david@virtualtourssell.co]

gosh, thanks guys. i'll give 'er a whirl. many thanks.