I have a digital video camera and use pinnacle studio 8 to edit the video and create mpeg 2 files compatible with DVD and then burn to DVD to view on my TV via my dvd player. The problem is that my quality is less on the DVD when compared to the video on the tape. I.E. I can output the finished edited product after rendering in AVI format to the tape.

Are there any suggestions available to maintain the quality. I believe the loss in quality occurs when compression/converting the original avi files to MPEG 2 format. Remember, I want to watch this on my dvd player via my tv (not on my computer and therefore DivX etc are not options).

I appreciate any help I might get on this matter.

rex

first problem is that most dv decoders have issues with chroma interpolation as it seems, example:
http://somestuff.org/images/galleries/site/dv_compare.png
(only decent decoder seems to be the one in virtualdub 1.6.x, for this to work you would have to disable pinnacles dshow dv decoder)

then there is a mpeg2 problem, from my tests the best encoder for interlaced video is the one that ships with adobe premiere (or adobe encore) - mainconcept (use all the bitrate you can, sometimes cbr 8000 is a good option).

anyway, how to use that knowhow practicaly is another story..., for long clips this would be a boring process.

thank you for your response. If I understood you correctly are you referring to the capture of the video from the DVC to the computer when you refer to the DV decoder? I have several programs that allow me to capture from the DV camera, but Ididn't think the capture resulted in any loss in quality. The loss seems to occur when I convert the AVI to MPEG 2 as required to be DVD compliant. Ideally, I want to edit the footage in pinnacle which is a very user friendly program, and then render to AVI (no loss, no compression) and then take that AVI file and use a program that can allow me to set variable bit rate encoding for scenes with movement, (the real problem areas).

Is mainconcept the name of the program that comes with adobe premier? I am familiar with premier, but haven't purchased it b/c it runs $600.00 or so. I didn't want to spend that kind of money if I am only after the encoder, but if that is the only real option, it may be worth it.

Thanks again.
rex

Good evening,

All shape of compression as it is driven or nearly a loss.
The DV transfer to Video recorder will always be superior than DV to Mpeg2,

Contrary to Smok, I use CCE 2.70 Pro to archive my movies in the "Dvsd" format therefore DV in Mpeg2.
The quality is without call.

Nevertheless, it is "possible" to turn other formats such Wmv9 HD, of preference under Canopus Procoder that palliates admirably to the changes of directions of the DVC and to the frequent artifacts.

nope, DV capturing via firewire is lossless, but you still need to decode the stream before feeding the mpeg2 encoder.

iam just saying that from my limited, subjective testing this seems to be the best option for INTERLACED video.

p.s. something worth a good test would be:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88888

smok3,
Once again, thank you for the clarification.
I enjoyed the link you provided and will try out this encoder in the near future to see if there is a difference.
rex