Hi Rob, welcome to the forum.

Could you be a little more specific regarding the steps you took to produce your DVD? Firstly, is it a standard DVD rather than a Blu-Ray disc? If a standard DVD the resolution will be 720 x 480 pixels (for USA, you stated 1080 - 60p so I assume it's NTSC standard. For PAL it's 720 x 576 50p or 50i). This is never going to look anything like HD but the quality can still vary depending on the settings.

When creating discs in PD you have the option of importing project files or video files into the Create Disc module. If you import projects the module encodes the video as part of the authoring process whereas if you import video and choose the same encoding used to produce it 'Create Disc' can skip the encoding step and only generate the menu structure. If you've gone via the projects route you may find you can get better results by Using the Produce module to encode the video and then importing that into Create Disc. The Produce module will allow you more control over the encoding settings.

I think, having been a reader of these forums for quite a while, that the general experience is that better quality is obtained by unchecking the Enable hardware video encoding box and letting the CPU do the encoding although it will take longer. For a standard DVD the best quality will be obtained using the MPEG2 DVD HQ 8Mb/s default setting which will give you about 1 hour on a single-layer 4.7GB disc. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Hi Mr Fenman

I am very sorry that I have not replied sooner to the write up you have taken time to think about and type out, very sorry but I am up and down to the hospital at the moment as my Mam is not very well and it's the first chance I have had to switch my PC on and guess what I am just about to go again the very minute, I'll write a few notese down to day.



Regards

Rob.

Crikey, I have a little more time now to type a little slower and more accurateley now, where do I start, I can see I'm doing something wrong so here goes.

The little Sony HDR-AS15 sports I set at 1080 30p and also 1080 60p eithar at 120 or 170 degrees both setting can be set as PALs, these are Mp4s

My Sony Alpha 580 DSLR can be set as either Mp4s or AVCHD.

My Panasonic is standard AVCHD Progressive.

My Panasonic HC-V500 I set at either 1080/50p or HA1920 1080/50i (for better quality). MTS files.

All equipment when played through the HD telly directly through a HDMI lead are HD sharp as a pencil, lovely......

Don't go to just sleep yet :

I load my video footage via the PCs card reader and they go into 'My Pictures', I'll use the Panasonic HC-V500 in my explanation and save the video once finished back into 'My Pictures'

1. Open PD10 in full edit.


2. Click 'Import Media Files'


3. (Opens in 'My Pictures) Click on MTS video file, click open and this take the file into PD.


4. Drag MTS file onto timeline.


5. Multi trim video.


6. Click produce.


7. Click MPEG-4. (Standard 2D, Fast Video Rendering Technology (Ticked) Hardware Video Encoder (Blue Highlighted) Enable Preview During Production (Ticked)


8. Click 'Start'. (I have just rendered a short video of a Cicada on a branch whilst in France 2 years ago. It is 26.22 seconds long, time taken to render = 15 seconds dead.) Click play whilst still in PD and the quality is super, great colours, contrast, no pixelation, no jumping, super smooth and lovely as would be expected.


9. I would normally press the 'X' upper right hand side of the screen and save it as EG: CicadaInFrance (I will do this right now)PowerDirector Script *PDS


10. Click save. I can now either upload to Youtube or put the file back into PD and burn as a DVD (I do not have a Blue Ray Burner - maybe this is the problem) One thing that I have noticed a box comes up saying: Cyberlink CLQTKernalClient32 has stopped working. I will now make a DVD using the original MTS file.


11. I have now clicked 'Create Disc', Title 1, My Video, 00:00:26, disc used is Maxwell DVD+R DATA/VIDEO, 106MB/4700MB, Click: Burn In 2D. Recording Drive BDDVDRW CH20L - Recording Speed 16.0. OK - Start Burning. Authoring and burning until ejection 2:43secs.


12. Tested video in front room on a DVD player (not a cheapo model + Panasonic HD telly) and does not look bad to be honest but at 16:9 the little Cicada has put on weight (he's fat) and the top and bottom has become cropped. It seems to me that it is the length of the video as 5 minute video is terrible, a 12+ minute video turns into a psychedelic colour extravaganza drug induced party.

Do you suggest buying a Blue Ray burner to get better quality?

It amazes me that even though I've spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds on quality cameras, video gear, decent software, tripods, fast cards, etc, the video quality is dare I say it, complete crap, I don't understand and I hope that you can help me.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Rob

I cannot find the 'Enable Video Encoding Box' to disable it. I did burn a DVD last as per your instruction but still no difference, blotchy and crappy still.

I don't have PD10, only PD9 and PD13 but these don't differ much so I imagine PD10 will be similar. The Hardware video encode checkboxes are as shown:-







Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Hi Mike

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my queery, I will now give the above another go.

Many, Many thanks

Regards

Rob