Is quality loss inevitable post-DVD burning?

[ac37174]

I've been using Videostudio for about three years, and have noticed that no matter what settings I try, the quality of the picture of the DVD I make is quite lower than the original captured MPEG video. I usually don't add titles or use transition effects, I only set chapter points when creating the disc, and always match my captured settings to the burn project. Is this just a fact when it comes to the final project, that it will drop in sharpness and clarity when burned to DVD? It's comparable to copying an original VHS tape to a blank tape. My results are always 2nd generation looking.

[DVDDoug]

Under Project Settings there is a checkbox: Do not convert compliant MPEG files.

This should work as long as Video Studio "thinks" your files are truly compliant. If it's been re-coding your MPEGs, your rendering/multiplexing/burning speed should also improve dramatically!

[2Dogs]

Hey ac37174,

your DVD quality should be as good as the MPEG-2 clips themselves, especially if you strictly follow the recommended procedure.

I trust you are viewing both the files and the DVD on the same device - i.e. a pc - it's possible the DVD might not look as good on a TV screen.

The latter situation could also result from not using the correct settings, so all the more reason to familiarise yourself with the recommended method if you don't know it backwards already! Make sure you have lower field first for captured DV footage or upper field first for captured analogue, and NOT frame based.

The only time I see any noticeable degradation in the DVD quality is if I've been messing with looped and reversed stuff with slo-mo and filters etc that I've re-encoded a couple or three times when I've been working with MPEG-2 clips rather than avi.

[teocuitlatl]

I have studied the Recommended Procedure. Somehow, I have managed to use the "add project" button during the Burn Phase and burn a DVD with three projects, but it took so long (6 hours) that I thoughtI should try out the recommended procedure and get all my properties aligned as I go along.

But how do I proceed? I have four VSP's that I want to combine on a DVD with four main menus and submenus under each of the four main menus.

Is it as simple as combining them under the Share/Create Video File step? and NOT doing that under the Burn DVD phase? Would that fit the Recommended Procedure?

Let me know and thanks again.

[jchunter]

Teocuitlatl,
Each of your projects should have a final video file. Just select all the video files from the different projects in Share/Create Disk. Be sure they all have the same DVD compliant properties and set the burn properties to match.

[Ken Berry]

John -- I think that teocuitlatl's problem is precisely that he does NOT have a final video file for each project. In other words, he is not at all following the recommended procedure which suggests that after he has finished editing each project, he should be then going to Share > Create Video File > DVD. That is why I think he is asking whether he can join several projects (VSPs) together, and use Share > Create Video File to produce one DVD-compliant mpeg-2 which can then be burnt to disc.

So teocuitlatl: with each of your four projects you need first to produce four separate DVD-compliant mpeg-2 files using Share > Create Video File > DVD. Each of these processes will take some time, so be patient.

Then when you have done this, clear the timeline and start a new project (though don't bother giving it a name). Then go to Share > Create Disc > DVD, and the burning module will open. Then use 'Add Video Files' and NOT/NOT 'Add Project', and add each of your four new DVD-compliant mpeg-2s. That way, you will have the four separate videos showing up in your main menu, and you can also, if you want, further sub-divide each of those four videos into chapters by pressing the 'Add Chapters' button on the first page of the burning module. You can also choose whether or not to display these chapters as a separate sub-menu. Then, as DVDDoug has already said, "Under Project Settings there is a checkbox: Do not convert compliant MPEG files." Make sure you check that, and then the process should not take so long as it will not be converting, but only building the menus etc, multiplexing the video and audio, and then actually burning the disc.