Quality of digital video camera recordings

[garybeck]

my old analog VHS-C camera finally bit the dust. I did quite a bit of research and ended up buying a Canon digital video camera, that uses the DV tapes. I was told the recordings would be about the same quality as my old VHS-C recordings. I believe the resolution is 640. I decided that "as good as my old VHS-C" camera is good enough for me. having the videos in digital format and being able to make dvds from them is a real plus. and, the model I chose has A/V input so I can make DVDs from my old VHS recordings.

After finally getting the firewire cable (which didn't come with the camera) and upgrading my computer, I just burned my first DVD. I have to say I am not happy with the quality. The resolution is NOT as good as my old VHS tapes. the lines appear jagged, digitized, or pixelated, whatever you want to call it. And if I look closely there is some noticeable "jumping" in the in the video, like some of the frames are lost.

I'm wondering, is this pretty much the way it is with the 640 resolution video cameras? Was I misled when the salesperson told me it would be "about the same quality" as the VHS tapes?

It definitely should not be the computer - it is also brand new, 2GHz Athlon 64, with 512MB memory.

the videos look pretty good when I view them on the tiny screen on the camera. but when I put it on to my computer and view it on a larger screen it's not so good. I admit, I'm looking at it closely and if you're sitting back on the couch a few yards away, it's not terrible. But I still think the VHS tapes are better than what I'm getting out of this new camera.

I'm thinking about taking it back and springing for a better camera with better resolution. But I thought I'd check with other folks, because I know a lot of people have digital cameras like mine (it seems the higher res models that burn directly to DVD or a hard drive are pretty new). If you have a "mini-dv" camera, what do you think of the quality of the output? Is the resolution satisfactory when you burn a DVD? Any thoughts? thanks....

[hobbit709]

1. Some of that

could be in the software settings when converting the tape format to DVD format Check the settings on the conversion-of course the better the resolution, the longer it will take to process the data.

[garybeck]

2. every setting I can find is set to the highest quality n/t

[Jersey Devil]

3. There are a lot of possible issues here

The first thing I would try is burning the same recording on another computer because it could be your DVD burner.

The next issue is what format the files are on your computer and what software you might be using to convert them to a DVD burnable state (for instance, TIVO has its own proprietary type files that can only be converted using certain software - some work, some don't work), such as an .mpg file. Are you using the software recommended by the camera manufacturer?

Finally, it wasn't clear from your post exactly what you mean. Did you shoot a new video or are you converting your VHS tapes to digital? If you are converting the digital might just be picking up all the imperfections in the VHS tapes you never saw before because digital is so much sharper. In that case you might want to try reducing the quality rather than using the best quality settings.

[garybeck]

6. it is new video from the camera.

the computer is brand spanking new. the DVD burner is way better than other burner I have.

I have tried two different conversions - one is the Sonic program that burns directly from the camera to a DVD, through the firewire. I also tried the "windows movie maker" that popped up when I connected the firewire cable, which created a WMV file, which I then used Sonic to burn a DVD from. IN all cases I made an attempt to be sure everything was set on High Quality. Both got similar results. Not bad, but when I look close I see jagged edges on lines.

note - I see the same jagged edges on the WMV file that was created. so that tells me the problem is not in burning the DVD from the video files, it's coming from the camera that way.

[Jersey Devil]

8. I suspect Sonic is the culprit

I tried Sonic with my TIVO since it is the recommended program for TIVO, but it works like crap, produces DVDs with distortion as you describe. If you can save/convert the video from your camera to your hard drive as an .mpg file try burning it with Nero (use Nero Vision), CloneDVD or another burning program besides Sonic, which is a POS.

[blitzburgh55]

4. defrag

your hard drive. If your disk is fragmented, it will affect the quality of the video when you capture it to your pc.

[garybeck]

5. it is literally a brand new computer with a 160GB HD

90% of the hd has never been touched. I don't think that's the problem.

I might be overstating the lack of quality in the recording. Most people wouldn't notice it sitting back in their couch. But I am looking closely and the the lines are jagged, something you wouldn't see with analog.

[charlie]

7. I don't know much about digital video,

or video cameras, for that matter, but I won't let that stop me from yammering a bit :)

I think your problem is likely that you've bumped up against the difference between digital and analog mediums. A 640 resolution video is technically more refined than NTSC's 525 scanlines, but the results won't necessarily look better or "as real" as your VHS. Digital is hard-edged, each block in the 640 matrix is well-defined. If the color and intensity captured in a block is distinctly different from its neighbor, you'll see the border between them, hence the jaggy geometric look. Analog is a measure of signal strengths without hard boundaries, and creates softer, more pleasing smears between "points" on the screen. Analog is like a painting done with a brush and can hide lack of resolution with smooth transitions. Digital is like an image made with stamps, if the stamps aren't small enough you'll see them.

You've got all your settings set to high quality. Capture a few test snippets at lesser quality. Fool around with the settings, see if you can't get something that doesn't create hard definitions in the images. Does your camera have NTSC or analog emulation? How about the software? You can get a degree of VHS-like softness post-production with software. It won't be exactly the same and will require some tinkering to get something that doesn't look like a Renoir painting, but maybe it can get close enough for you. Visit digital video sites and search for phrases like "interpolation", "anti-aliasing", and "sub-pixel rendering."

Another thing to think about -- are the videos you're making going to be keepers and do you see an HD television in your near future? In other words, is this the camera you're taking to your kid's graduation or will it be for stuff like filming the cat napping on the mantle? When you have an HD TV in your home, the videos will probably look as harsh as they do blown up on your PC screen (an analog TV itself adds a further step of softening, with its "tri-pixel" colors embedded in a sea of black). If this camera is for weddings, First Bath, communions, and the like, you might want to consider trading up to something with a higher resolution.