Newbie Question

[Grave Maurice]

I've looked at the various guides etc. but it's still all above me I'm afraid.

Some simple questions hopefully.

I have a 1.4ghz processor running Xp 512mb ddr ram memory - is it just not up to standard to used VideoStudio8 to make decent dvd from digital camcorder footage?

I fluffed my way through capturing some footage from dv but it is skateboarding footage and when figures move there is horizontal lining break up on the outlines of the moving figures.

I recorded to mpeg2 format as advised in the Ulead tutorial for dvd. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your patience.

[Grave Maurice]

I went and saved the same footage via the same Firewire to Windows Movie Maker and made an excellent movie in a few hours.

The problem seems to be that it doesn't matter how or what format i use to save the movie files using VideoStudio the picture is poor.

I must be doing something really simple wrong - everyone says this is a great programme so I can't understand why it suck so much for me other than I'm just not doing something properly.

[BrianCee]

Have you read this post :-

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=27

..

[Grave Maurice]

I have but didn't understand most of it.

I was hoping someone else might have encountered the same issue when first using the software and managed to resolve it.

I've reloaded the software but it's just the same. Can't understand why the dv is transferring well to moviemaker but not with this programme.

[Ken Berry]

It has been a very long time since I used Movie Maker, so my memory is fuzzy, but I seem to recall that it captures in DV/AVI format (which would be natural since DV is a Microsoft-developed format). And that is in fact the format which most of us would recommend you always capture in and do your editing in. It is only in the final stages of producing a DVD-compatible file and burning it to disc, that you need to worry about converting your project to MPEG-2 format.

When you used Video Studio to capture, however, it seems from what you say that you captured direct to MPEG-2. If this is correct, then I would have to say that your computer resources were probably not up to the job. Video capture is a resource intensive process at the best of times, and capturing in DV/AVI format is the least demanding on your computer resources since in effect it is really only transferring your video from the camera in its original format and quality. Capturing direct to MPEG-2 on the other hand means that your computer is in fact first capturing in DV/AVI format and then having to convert it to MPEG-2 on the fly during the capture process. This puts enormous strain on less well-endowed computers and manifests itself in a variety of problems.

So basically, I would suggest that you first choose 'DV' as your capture format when you are about to start capturing. (If you choose 'AVI', it should change automatically back to 'DV' so don't worry about that. DV is just a specialised version of AVI.) The downside is that the capture files will be very much larger than MPEG-2 files, but the up-side is that it will be less stressful on your computer, and your will be able to maintain the original quality throughout the editing process.

While I now have quite a powerful computer, I used to do all my video editing, using Video Studio 7, on a computer with a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM, and using the above method, I had no problems in producing quite effective VCDS, SVCDs and eventually DVDs as well when I invested in a DVD burner. So give it a try and good luck!

[Grave Maurice]

Thanks for the reply Ken but I tried that but it's still rubbish. Serious motion blur/lines.

The only thing I can try before bunging this on Ebay is that my processor isn't up to the job so I'll get a 4:4 f/w ire cable tomorow and try it out on teh wife's laptop which is 2.6Ghz.

[rwindeyer]

This sounds like it may be a field order problem. If you are capturing from digital camcorder via firewire, the convention is Lower Field First. If you change it around somewhere to Upper Field First, you can get all sorts of motion artifacts.
Check out the project properties, capture properties, and right-click on something you have captured to see if there is any inconsistency.
Your computer should be up to the task, Good luck.

[burgo]

I am by no means an expert on VS and am still learning my way around, however what you describe could sound like VS normal behaviour (well for my system anyway). When I capture video and play it back, I also get flickering lines around moving objects. Once converted and burned to DVD however these are gone and the DVD is nice and sharp.

If you haven't already I would try burning a copy of your project before binning the software.

Hope this has been of some use

[Grave Maurice]

Well you might be no expert but you solved it for me mate.

Once burned it was fine - it was just lined in the preview. Thanks.