I can't help with why you can't play the DVD on your player, but others on this forum will be able to. I can tell you that if you are burning a standard DVD (not BluRay), you'll never get the 4K quality you've seen elsewhere...standard DVD quality is 720 x 480, not high definition at all. Regards,
Dan
Power Director 21-Ultimate
v 21.0.3111.0
XPS-8940, Win-10 64-bit,
Intel Core i9-10900 processor
(10 core, 20M Cache),
32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

Whether or not your DVD Player can play a homemade disc is not determined by PowerDirector. It's a combination of the burner software (are you using PowerDVD?) and the burner hardware in your PC, and the quality of the blank media. It is a separate topic than image quality.

As for the quality; you can only see the resolution that the hardware can display. What is your PC monitor resolution set to? (mine is 1080p, fyi) and DVDs can only display 480p, BluRay can do 1080p. To display 4K (2160p) you need a 4K monitor or TV and something to drive it using HDMI-2.0.

So, first, determine how you want to display the video and the maximum quality of that device. Then produce it with the appropriate settings. First choose the file format, then choose the output resolution. (The default setting in PD for a H.264 video production is 720p, and the default for Windows Media format is 240p, so you need to adjust that.)

The reason that I shoot in 4K is so that I can zoom into the frame without loss of quality. A 4K frame contains the same amount of data as a four 1080p frames. When you are editing use the crop/zoom tool to focus and pan on the best part of the shot you are editing. Then render it (produce it) to output as 1080p.

PD also has image tracking and stabilization that are perfect for 4K raw footage that will be produced at a lower resolution.

Let me know how it goes.

Quote Hi All


I am a nooby to video and PowerDirector 15. I was able to purchase (thanks to my Christmas bonus), a DJI Phantom 4 Pro quadcopter. I was knocked out by the 4K videos I saw (and the stills too). I was a commercial photographer in my younger days, but know practically nothing about video.

So I shot some 4K video today. When viewing the footage in Windows Media player, it looks OK (actually no where near the quality I saw on the DJI samples). Nevertheless, when I imported the footage into PD and rendered a simple movie and burned it to DVD, it doesn't even look nearly as good as the original clips. I realize I have a lot of learning to do. I need some guidance.

Also, when I attempted to watch it on my TV, the DVD player stated that it could not read the DVD. Windows media player can play it though. I will state some specs (don't know whether this will help or not).

Computer: Intel quad core, 16GB ram. Nvidia video card with hardware enabled (and supported by PD). Over 600GB free space on primary HD.

Phantom 4 pro: 16.9 aspect ratio at 30FPS., 4K enabled.

I would like to know why I can't play the DVD on my TV. I thought that if I could, I might see an improvement over what I see on my computer monitor.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Zeldon50

Hard to tell what you know and what you do not know... since you've described yourself as a 'noob'.

If you understand what Pasta and Dan have stated... then good. I'll just reiterate - a 'STANDARD' DVD ... will NOT ALLOW 4K... I don't think! If it does allow it to be rendered to it... I think it will be an awfully short (as in duration) video clip. But, a 'standard' DVD... like previously stated... limited as to the resolution or quality of the video sharpness will be allowed.

If you burn to a BD disc... then I know they can handle 1080p video. I have done this in the past.

Your DVD Player... ok.. now if IT is JUST a DVD player.. then it will probably NOT ALLOW a BD DISC... to be played on it. A BD (BluRay Disc = BD) allows 1080p video. THe 4K guys that make 4k videos... please chime in and let Zel know if that can be burned onto a BD disc please.

If you have a BD (BLuRay Disc) Player... Zel... . then I know THAT will allow you to create and burn onto a BD disc.... 1080 p video. I am NOT sure if it willl allow 4K to be burned or not.

Hope some of what the others have stated helps... and that I have not been too redundant. (I've known how it felt to be a 'noob' though... as I am still one.. but with slightly more information now... lol)

Ask questions, try to be paitent - as those here are volunteers and can help you if you hang in there and are paitent to work through the communications aspect to resolve your questions.

CS PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive

Hi Zeldon50 -

We were all noobs once. I became a noob when I was already getting old.

On image quality, other members have offered sound advice but I'll offer some visuals.

I took a sample UHD clip shot on a DJI Phantom 4 & produced it to UHD, using SVRT, then to DVD HQ (what you'd get on your DVD).

The attached image contains two snapshots from the produced files, with the DVD HQ snap planted on the UHD one to show the comparison in resolution.

It actually is worse than that because your DVD player then upscales the image.

If you'd like to compare the produced files... here's the UHD produced file & here's the DVD quality produced video. It's quite an awful thing to do to clips from your DJI P4.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Tony,

... if you look at this again... was/am I right in that a produced video in PD .. produced to 1080 in PD or whatever the clip may have been processed in - if this is burned on to a standard DVD, will this clip/video STILL just look like a 480 or 720 resolution video? ... (I forget whatever the highest resolution that a standard DVD allows - its one of those 480 or 720 I think)

Is UHD with SVRT 1080, or 2.7, or 4K TOny? I think it stands for Ultra High Definition but I'm not sure if that just means it's a BluRay disc or what.

CS

p.s. just saw this... nm.

"High definition has meant 1080p (1,920 by 1,080) resolution for
years now, and it's ready for an upgrade. That's where ultra
high-definition, or UHD, television comes in. You might have heard it
called 4K. It's technically UHD according to the now-Consumer Technology Association,
but the two terms have become interchangeable. And now those terms
finally matter a lot to your television buying decisions, since 4K is
finally a mature, accessible technology."

from this site:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412174,00.asp PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive

Hello All, I am also having a simular issue with image quality. I am making slideshows in PD15 and noticed a significant drop in picture quality/resolution after exporting a slideshow. The images all appear much softer to the point where it is hard to tell who is who. Should I resize the image size and resolution before I make the slideshow? I also noticed the worst quality when using the slideshow creator instead of adding the images to the timeline and inserting my own transitions, although both outputs are bad. I am thinking the poor output may come from the way PD is processing (downsizing) the images and combining animation. I shoot high resolution images, have a high speed computer and have made many video DVDs over the years. I also used PD14 with a little better success. I am exporting using MPEG2 Best-HQ. The DVDs are just not up to par with my other DVDs I burned over the years. Also, when using PD15 and exporting a video to Facebook the video is totally unrecognizable. I am NO facebook expert, but I just selected "export to Facebook" in PD15. I suspect I am doing something wrong to get the poor image quality. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Your issue sounds.... somewhat different.. maybe. Might want to start a separate thread... just for this issue.. ok?

CS PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive