Digital Video Quality

[Vince Salupo]

I don't have anything to add to the discussion of improving quality today
but there is a consideration that I haven't seen mentioned. The technologies
we use today will be different than those in 5 years. 9Gb DVD dual layer
burners will probably be popular in the near future. Other technologies will
enable putting the original DV footage directly onto media for display. It
is only a matter of time before a disc that can handle 1 hr of DV (1:1
compression) is developed.

 KNOWING that compression will become less of an issue with time, keeping
your edited DV on a tape will allow you to recreate a higher quality
viewable media in the future.

At the moment, I am stuck on a G3 iMac using Toast 6 to make DVDs. This is a
step up from the VideoCDs I was making just 6 months ago. I plan on being
able to pull out all the edited DV footage (made in iMovie) and recreating
these movies when I get a new Mac with iDVD and a SuperDrive. The menu's
will get better and the compression should be better.

So.. Those exports to camera give you the ability to recreate a higher
quality viewable media in the future.

Vince

> Message-Id: <B042464E-AFEF-11D8-8127-00039388D012 at tidewaterbaptist.org>
> From: Charles Pearson <pearson at tidewaterbaptist.org>
> Subject: Digital Video Quality
> Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:08:19 -0400
> 
> Ladies and Gentlemen,
> 
> That sensation that you felt was the collective IQ of this list=20
> dropping about 100 points when I joined. Dwayne informed me over at=20
> Applelinks that the fine folks over here were quite knowledgeable and=20
> that I may well learn a thing or two. So it's his fault that you have=20
> to put up with my less than brilliant questions.
> 
> My question has to do with digital video quality. I use a dv camcorder=20=
> 
> to record the life of my family (sports, special events, kids doing=20
> what kids do <smile>) and I use my powerbook to make movies of this. I=20=
> 
> have noticed a substantial loss of quality from what the original dv=20
> tape looks like to what I get on the other side of iMovie. I think I am=20=
> 
> setting every =93quality=94 setting to as high as possible, yet iDVD 4,=20=
> 
> Toast 6, and even back to dv tape seem to produce less than DVD quality=20=
> 
> images; especially my children=92s sports where the action and my=20
> camcorder are moving (on a quality tripod by the way). If I watch the=20
> original recorded dv tape directly from the camcorder to my TV the=20
> images are remarkable. I have often thought, =93Wow, that picture looks=20=
> 
> great!=94 Yet, once I use iMovie to well=85make a movie of it, the =
> result=20
> is not so =93wow, that picture looks great=94. I am currently using =
> iMovie=20
> 4.0.1 and iDVD 4.0.1. I have importing directly into iMovie using the=20
> firewire import onto my 667 Powerbook with a gig of ram. Am I doing=20
> something wrong? Is a loss of digital quality to actually be expected?=20=
> 
> Can you give me some advice or direction? Thanks in advance.
> 
> Chuck Pearson
> John 17:3