a few miniDV questions

[masterjedi73]

Hey guys -

I just purchased a Canon ZR85 and I really like its features. I want to know a few things though....

1. Is there a way to improve the resolution of the video? Sometimes it appears "digitized". Is that standard for most miniDV cameras? (I realize this is a Mac forum, but I thought you might know the answer.)

2. After I imported everything through iMovie, to iDVD and burned it (which was all incredibly easy) the quality of the DVD was not as good as I had expected it to be. It was a step under the miniDV tape itself. Is that normal, or is there a way to fix it?

Thanks

Matt

 

[MGnards]

1) The 'digitized' look may be due to the digital zoom being used-check under your menu options on your camcorder to see if it is on or not

2) as far as iDVD quality goes, it could be the amount of footage on the dvd... the more you put on the dvd (after 60 minutes) the quality degrades to fit on the extra time. also, go into the preferences pain and ensure the encoder settings are on the best option.

hope this helps

 

[Schmittroth]

DV quality

You will see some digitzing with that camera. Keep the digital zoom off and shoot with as much light as possbible. Darkness is a real weakness of digital video. The compression of iDVD mentioned earlier is also a valid point. Commercial DVDs hold twice as much on a side than consumer burnables so they don't have to compress the video to get a 2hr movie on 1 disc.

 

[7on]

They do compress the 2 hour movie to fit in 8 GB. Because DV is like 4GB for 18 min, and I know they shoot in higher res than DV. Howerver, I think:

1. Some programs when you edit give you a lower res preview of the video on the computer to speed up editing, however, if you edit with your miniDV camcorder attached, the full quality should be visible on your camera (dunno if iMovie supports this...). Or it could be the digital zoom or mosaic effect.

2. I found the iDVD to be extremely good quality. Are you viewing on the computer or on TV? I think that standard commercial camcorders record with high interlacing, higher than movie cameras. DV editor are built around hiding the interlacing. iMovie might have a de-interlacing filter, but I wouldn't try it. Because it may make it look badly on a television. Instead, you can play it on a computer with something like VLC and choose "de-interlace) in the menubar somewhere. Also, I've noticed that tv shows usually have bad interlacing too.

 

[LethalWolfe]

1. Assuming you haven't been using the digital zoom, as others have mentioned, you are just seeing the limitations of your camera model. Also there might be a "sharpness" setting you could play around with which may or may not help things.

2. Going from MiniDV to DVD is a step down in quality. DVD, at it's best, has about 1/3-1/4 the bit rate of MiniDV.


Lethal

EDIT: Schmittroth, DVD is a very compressed format. The reason commerical DVDs look so good is because 1. They start out using much higher quality source material than MiniDV shot on a consumer camera, 2. they use high-end compressing hardware and software that is operated by pro's that do nothing but compress video for a living, and 3. Commercial DVDs can currently hold more data than blank consumer DVDs (which is going to change because dual-layer burners will be coming out soon).

7on, Unless you are refering to progressive scan, Hi-def video all video is interlaced, and it is all interlaced the same amount. By "movie cameras" I assume you mean film cameras. Those have no interlanceing.