Raised this issue before but still confused!

[tonyjer]

Hi Everyone

I use VS8 along with DVD shrink to burn large projects onto 4.7Gb normal capacity DVDs. I use the recommended workflow and never have a problem burning.

I know they are never going to be perfect due to the "squeezing" of 3-4 hours using DVD Shrink etc but:

There is always a sort of grainy (best word I can think of to describe) effect on the picture which seems to be worse when the background is darker-indoors etc. It is not constant and oftern reverts to a much better quality between and sometimes within the same clip!

I have cleaned the Camcorder head/don't re use DVD RW disks/Dont re use mini DV tape/made sure the lens is clean etc etc.

I capture DV and then create video file at PAL DVD resolution using 6000bps.

This is annoying as much of the quality is first rate but then it just deteriorates to this sort of grainy/dirty/grubby picture.

Can anyone help?

Thanks for your patience.

Antonio, Anna y Eduardo Felipe

[GeorgeK]

I too find video looses it quality below 6000 bit rate.

However as a suggestion, use UVS8 to create the final DVD. I do it this way, see if it works for you.

Transfer the DV video from camera to computer as DV AVI type 1 (I prefer type 1), Then create the Video Project in Ulead as DV AVI Type 1, do all editing and transitions, etc, in this DV AVI Type 1 project, then when you go to create disk, change the DVD MPEG settigs to the highest value, and still fiit it to a 4.7 GB disk. For example, you may have to set the bit rate to 4000 or lower. Then create/burn the DVD. This means that only one render will occur, presumeably with the least amount of loss.

BTW, I have had no problems creating DVDs on DVD-RW or DVD+RW, except that my DVD Player does not play them leaving only my PC to play the +/- RW DVDs.

I have not tried this, but UVS9 is supposed to have "fit project to disk" feature which I gather automatically adjusts the compression (bit rate) to what is required to fit your video onto the selected disk size. A great idea.

UVS9 also has a two pass Variable Bit Rate compression, which should provide a higher quality output than a single pass encode. I have tried this and the output was good, but I was using 8000 Bit Rate so it was going to be good anyway.

I would like to try a highly compressed (4000 or lower) DVD encode but have not yet had the spare time.

[THoff]

I'm currently in the process of archiving four episodes of "Deadliest Catch" from the Discovery Channel on a single-layer DVD.

Each episode is one hour long, and after using the multi-trim feature to remove the commercials and then inserting transitions, I am left with about 45 minutes of the actual program. Thus, I need to put about 3 hours of video onto a 4.7GB disk.

I'm using 2-pass VBR encoding at 3900Kbps with 128Kbps AC-3 audio, and while I haven't burned the final DVD yet, I have viewed the MPEG files that UVS 9 has rendered, and the quality is not bad at all.

[GeorgeW]

What are the properties of the original videos? How were they captured? You might get even better results going with HalF D1 at that bitrate -- depending on the original video source and how you captured...

[THoff]

The video is from a DirecTivo. Unfortunately most Tivo hacks don't work with DirecTV's customized hardware and software.

DirecTV broadcasts the SD signal using MPEG2 encoding, and their DirecTivos lack the usual MPEG2 encoders and recording quality settings found in regular Tivos. Since the signal is already in MPEG2 format, it doesn't need to be encoded by the DVR.

Since I can't transfer the video directly to my PC for editing, I capture it using a S-Video connection through a Canopus ADVC-300 analog-to-digital converter, which gives me a DV AVI file.

The quality of the DV transcoded to Full D1 at 3900 VBR is definitely superior to Half D1 or VHS quality.

[tonyjer]

Thanks for your help.

This is food for thought indeed.

TJ