DVD quality has deteriorated in DVD workshop? Any help welc

[script2screen]

Okay, the quality of finished DVDs has shown a marked deterioration. But the point is I have not changed anything significant. I have always used files captured by firewire, editied on Adobe Premier, rendered as DV files, and then used on Ulead DVD workshop. My DVDs have always been around 2 hours or just under and the quality has always been EXCELLENT (the standard quality for up to 2 hours was fine) until now! The change is in the motion, being much more choppy. It was smooth before. Zooms and credit rolls are now jumpy. Sound occasionally stumbles. And movement of, say, a person walking, now goes pixelated and blurred. This did NOT happen before. I have fiddled with all settings like the Kbps thing and choosing constant or variable. I have even just made ten minute samples allowing superduper quality settings but result still the same. This is the funny bit ... today I have tested making a DVD with Sonic (the free one with my PC that is not very good for menus, etc) and it has produced a beautifully smooth result. Just like I always had before from Ulead. I repeated this with Ulead to make sure, and this one was bad. When watching both the difference is really obvious. This makes me think it is not a hardware problem, but not totally sure if this follows. But presumably it shows nothing up with the burner. I am not that technical, so sorry if I have left out any important details. Please try to answer in simple English. Assume I am completely stupid is the best approach and does not offend me!! Oh yes, and I have tried the suggestion from a friend to give Ulead higher priority but that has not helped. I am grateful for any help. Thanks so much.

[sjj1805]

I realise you say that you tried with Sonic and it burned good quality.
If your work flow and adopted settings have not changed then I still suspect a hardware problem.

Before checking that however, sit back for a few minutes and think carefully - have you installed or removed anything recently - hardware or software.
Have you downloaded anything off the internet that may have hijacked your computer by perhaps attaching itself to your start up processes such as the Windows Start menu or the following registry keys
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Next carry out some housekeeping on your computer by clearing out temporary files, empty the recycle bin then defrag your hard drive(s)

If you still see no improvement in performance then please work your way through Troubleshooting your computer

[script2screen]

Very grateful to you for your reply, sir. Unfortunately I am not technical enough to know how to do all these things. I am defragging now, however. Please could you tell me how to access the start menu and the other two things you mentioned. What do I look for when I see them? Could the problem be caused by other software? Recently I have installed Clone DVD and AnyDVD from Slysoft. AnyDVD is running all the time, but it just scans every disc you put in. I can turn it off if that is the problem. I have downloade a few other ripping softwares from the internet, but have removed most of them quickly upon realising that they only work for one week, or the trial version only allows you to copy five minutes of a disc, etc. I could try a system restore to about six months ago (should be log enough) but this does not remove programs or data, so I dont know if this would help the problem. If you can explain how I do what you suggest I would be grateful. If it is too much trouble and I need to pay my regular repair man, I will show him your message as I am sure it will help him find the problem quick and hence save me money. Thanks so much, HOWARD

[Devil]

It sounds to me as if you have changed your field setting. Normally, for a DV input, you should use Lower field first. Please check this.

Also, you have not complied with the thread at the top of this board, entitled "Announcement: PLEASE READ THIS FIRST BEFORE POSTING!!!"

[script2screen]

Hi. Thanks for response. I have not seen anything about upper and lower fields in the burning bit of Ulead. I see it when rendering from Premier, and I have tried upper and lower and no interlacing. (I dont know what it is all about, but I have tried the different permutations) but no improvement. Also, as stated in original message, when I burn with Sonic the quality is perfect. I have diagnosed it must be Uleads processing rather than the actual burning. I say this because Ulead lets you create disc image as well as burning a DVD. I have since tried to burn the ISO image on other software (I have Clone DVD) but the results were still the same. I have defragmented the hard disc, which has helped a little, but still a long way from what I had in the good old days. Regarding reading the first message and doing what it said, I am sorry if I do not really understand it. I thought I had provided all the technical information about file types, etc. Sorry if I forget anything vital. But we are not all that technical, sorry! Any more ideas are of course welcome. Thank you