DVD Quality

[eli]

I have tried the new Beta to create a DVD and it seems that the quality of the DVD is not as good as what I can get from the program on a CD in the computer. I have tried the DVD in the computer and the resolution is still not as good. Is there any way to get a real good performance from a DVD? as to compared to the CD's?

[alrobin]

eli,

Welcome to the Forum!

Unfortunately, the quality of an AV sequence, converted to a video and played from a DVD, even in "high-definition", will probably never be as good as that for one saved as an executible ".exe" file and played on the computer with a large good-quality monitor.

There are several reasons for this, the main one being the restrictions on the capabilities of the TV system. It is designed with motion video in mind, where images don't have to be as sharp since we only see each individual image for 1/25th to 1/30th of a second, (and so the images are greatly compressed), whereas our AV productions are based on still-photographs, which we can stare at and admire for as long as we want.

As an analogy, you know that a good 16x20 print is much much sharper, with better colours, etc., than the image on a TV set, no matter how expensive and modern it is. The same is true for an image displayed directly on a computer monitor.

However, images on TV sets, and DVD's produced from PTE are becoming better all the time, and right now, v.5 of PTE and it's companion, "Video Builder", produces images which, when played back from a DVD player through a good quality TV set, aren't all that bad!

[eli]

eli,

Welcome to the Forum!

Unfortunately, the quality of an AV sequence, converted to a video and played from a DVD, even in "high-definition", will probably never be as good as that for one saved as an executible ".exe" file and played on the computer with a large good-quality monitor.

There are several reasons for this, the main one being the restrictions on the capabilities of the TV system. It is designed with motion video in mind, where images don't have to be as sharp since we only see each individual image for 1/25th to 1/30th of a second, (and so the images are greatly compressed), whereas our AV productions are based on still-photographs, which we can stare at and admire for as long as we want.

As an analogy, you know that a good 16x20 print is much much sharper, with better colours, etc., than the image on a TV set, no matter how expensive and modern it is. The same is true for an image displayed directly on a computer monitor.

However, images on TV sets, and DVD's produced from PTE are becoming better all the time, and right now, v.5 of PTE and it's companion, "Video Builder", produces images which, when played back from a DVD player through a good quality TV set, aren't all that bad!

Thanks Al: That is what I thought would happen. I have a high definition 1080 TV. Regular JPEgs display beautiful on it. Is there another compression that would give you higher resolution on DVD? I wanted to show a presentation to a Bride on a large screen but the quality is just not there. I did use PET Beta 5 and still not great. Thanks again, Eli

[alrobin]

Is there another compression that would give you higher resolution on DVD?

Probably not - the codec used in the latest beta version of VB is probably as good as you'll find without getting into expensive professional equipment and software. But, it would be great if you had time to experiment with a couple of other codecs (e.g. MS MPEG-4, Intel "Indeo 5.1", etc.), using the "avi" route, and rendering with another software, such as ULead "Movie Factory", or Nero or Premiere Elements, just for comparison purposes.

The current PTE beta is still in the experimental stage, so the jury is still out on the way to achieve the best results. Hawk and Ken and I, to name a few, have been attempting to keep abreast of all the recent changes in Video Builder, but it is very time-consuming, especially if one doesn't have all of the latest equipment on which to test it, so it would be great if you had some time to experiment a bit.

Not everyone is using wide-screen, and even fewer using high-def. Of course, HD is not possible yet with Video Builder, but you may see things on your wide-screen HD set that the rest of us would not pick up.