G'day TJ -

That is (unfortunately) what happens when files are burnt to DVD... as you say, the original quality of images from your camera (when you plug the card in directly) is excellent.

DVDHQ is the best format to use in PD.

One way around your quality issues is to use one of the HD Media Players. Just produce your file in your selected format, copy it to a USB device (external), plug it into your player & watch it on your 52" screen. Bif (Bruce) write a good piece on one of these http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/4718.page

Of course, that doesn't solve the problem for family members who don't have such equipment.

Cheers - Tony
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The DVD encoding quality in PD has received a fair amount of criticism over the past year. Other posters have said (and posted images as proof) that other MPEG2 encoders are better than what PD offers. From the still images and some of my own testing I've found that to be true. However, I was not willing to spend extra money on a better encoder or mess with the hassle of the free software I found on line.

If you are willing to do some research you can find some free solutions based on the ffmpeg encoder. The process involves encoding in PD using the blue ray profile and then a second program which would encode that file into a DVD compliant MPEG2 file. If all went well you could drop that file into PD and use SVRT to burn the disk without rerendering. I found that that process was a real pain and not worth the trouble. Its difficult to get all the settings exactly right for SVRT to work and I also found that I was getting some disks that would play fine for a few minutes and then all the sudden the entire picture would be distorted. For my needs I just accept what PD gives me since I'm using an old CRT anyways. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

I really wish that CL would reconfigure their Mpeg2 encoding, it seems to be the most basic of needs for most people. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

I'm with James. I've used MPEG2 encoding for Blu-ray and DVD projects, in standard and high definition.

I noticed a real improvement in PQ when I upgraded my graphics card to an ATi 4830HD and used the GPU encoding feature. This plus the fact it was about 30-40% quicker.

I've been very pleased with the final output, compared to other products I've used.

Andrew

Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

PQ? HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Barry wrote:

PQ?

My guess. Picture Quality. BTJAG.
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Apologies, yes PQ does mean Picture Quality.

'BTJAG' Cranston?

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Barry

I couldn't agree more! For the type of work I do the poor quality of PD DVD compliant MPEG2 encoding is rather obvious for video and slideshows. Many have discussed this issue on this forum previously. I do the other method that James referred to after I've finished my editing in PD. I use an alternate product to encode to DVD compliant MPEG2. I then bring this back into PD to add chapters, the DVD menu and burn to DVD folder. In the alternate product I have specified MPEG2 settings that are compliant with PD so SVRT works and a 1hr DVD HQ will burn to folder in ~4 minutes with PD.

I create 50+ DVD HQ compliant projects a year and burn 600+ discs per year and a better MPEG2 encoder would be oh so much appreciated for my TV viewers. At these volumes it's just not cost effective for me to use AVCHD on DVD DL and about 80% of my audience does not have a Blu-ray player anyhow.

I also think it depends very heavily on the type of footage as to the satisfaction with PD MPEG2 encoding. One thing I noticed PD encoder really falls short on is sharp horizontal lines (for example a horizontal wood fence, stadium bleachers, ...) the horizontal lines will start to vertical jitter excessively as well as block artifacts. I have no issues with proper settings in the alternate product.

Jeff

Hi,

When creating photo slideshows have you changed the default setting for 3D Slideshow to BETTER QUALITY ?

The setting is located from:

EDIT > PREFERENCES > PRODUCE

I found that changing the default setting made a significant difference in the quality of photo slideshows and how PD8 handles any still photo used in a production.

See example at:

http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/video/1187

Some of these photos are really old and tiny 5cm x 5cm originals, but they came out pretty good considering their age and size.

They looked lousy before increasing the quality setting though.

Good luck

HARDWARE: ASUS i7 2.6 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, Nivada GeForce 9800GT 1GB, SATAII 1TB, WIN7 64bit

Gardner,

I liked the slideshow. The slides came out nice. Have you tried using magic motion instead of the highlight template? It would be interesting to see of the picture quality decreases when not using one of the templates.

Jim Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

I may burn my latest project using Power2Go.
Another CL product.
Not sure how to go about it, as I do not know if it the same DVD coding.
Now I need to investigate which types of files P2Go will use.
HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Thanks James,

You are correct, the HIGHLIGHT template I used for the old photos does "soften" them, which was good for that particular bunch of old photos.

Another template example (The CELL Template) is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KQ7umEDuQ

and although not using the MAGIC MOTION you can see that the images are reproduced at a pretty high quality - considering the images were scanned using an old scanner many years ago.

I like the new PD8 template's because they are so customisable unlike the earlier versions.

Of course the original file is also much higher quality than the YOU TUBE copy above.

Cheers

Roy

HARDWARE: ASUS i7 2.6 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, Nivada GeForce 9800GT 1GB, SATAII 1TB, WIN7 64bit

What's BTJAG?

I'm not keen on PQ either.

Why?

WWACSWISCYSPD

Translation required?

Well we all could start writing in silly characters you see, please don't.

Dafydd
[Moderator]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I very much want to try some of the recommendations, but have a couple of questions.

Tony: I very much like the idea of using HD media devices, and will definitely look into this further. As these become more common, this does seem like a viable option.

Gardner: Thanks for the tip on using better quality. I had previously made this adjustment, but afraid it didn't seem to help me much.

James, Andew, and JL: It sounds like the approach you've recommended of encoding in PD using a HD/blue-ray setting, converting this to a DVD compliant MPEG2 file in another application, then generating the final DVD in PD. Can anyone offer any tips on other apps to use for the conversion? Also, if there's a procedure written someplace to help me make sure I don't miss anything, I would certainly love to get my hands on this.

One final question. When testing the quality of final DVDs, I have been using Rewriteable DVDs (DVD+RW) to avoid wasting standard writeable DVDs. Is there any problem with this approach? Do the DVD+RWs do a good job of representing final DVD quality?

Again, thanks for all the help.
-------------------------
Hardware: HP Pavilion e91500t, Intel Core i7, Vista 64bit, 6GB ram, ATI Radeon HD 4650
Software: Trial version of PowerDirector 8

I was still hoping to get some tips on the encoding process discussed in this thread, particularly encoding for HD or blue-ray, then converting to DVD compliant MPEG2 in another app. Not sure how to do this or what software to use, so any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd
-------------------------
Hardware: HP Pavilion e91500t, Intel Core i7, Vista 64bit, 6GB ram, ATI Radeon HD 4650
Software: Trial version of PowerDirector 8

Hi again,

I know what it is like to go through the frustration of editing, only to have the final production look average due to poor rendering/compression.

If you are going to use DVD profiles for your final output the customisable MPEG2 settings are accessed from here (see image)

Obviously the higher the settings (bitrate, speed quality etc) the higher quality you would expect - but be aware that once you start straying too far from the "standard" pre-set profiles, you may start to come across compatibility issues with the final file not working on hardware that only supports "standard" settings, or is not as powerful as your hardware.

I have been unable to successfully use the highest settings (for a number of the different profiles) as my hardware is not up to the task.

I note your system specifications are top notch, so you should have no difficulty using any of the extreme settings.

I have found from my mucking around the following to be important:

1. Try to always work with the same profile from start to finish and lock it in if possible or create your own customised profile.
2. Check (and re-check) constantly the aspect ratio, interlace settings, Bit Rate, audio profile etc as if they get out of whack (and they can from time to time) then your final result will be ruined
3. Save your project regularly - to recover from crashes, or to pick up from where you left off after trying yet another profile to try and raise the quality to something close to the source file!
4. The PD8 Ultra version has higher quality and more burning options than the Deluxe version
5. Best results for MPEG2 settings seem to come from:

Select preferred Resolution - I use default 720x576 (DVD PAL) - but your system should handle higher resolutions without a fuss.
Video Rate Control Mode - set to CBR (default is CVBR) 8000 kpbs
Speed/Quality - set to 7 (highest) (default is 6)
Audio - Dolby Digital Stereo 256 (default setting)
Frame Type - Top Field First for Interlaced video (default) or Progressive for Progressive framed video

By setting the Video Rate Control to CBR (Constant Bit Rate) and Speed/Quality setting to 7 you should be able to take advantage of SVRT as you work with your project, (as long as all the elements of of your project share the same settings) and be able to re-render effects and additional edits without losing quality. If the Video Rate Control is left on CVBR then each time you re-render or edit, the quality will drop.

6. Due to my systems poor specifications I have settled on using DIVX 720HD profile (similar to MP4 but seems to be more DIVX certified machines around at the moment compared to MP4 certified players) to get the best quality output vs rendering and file size. Most of my family have some sort of USB/DIVX compatible machine and it is a convienent format for me to work in. The 1080HD DIVX profile is not compatible/suitable for most of the older DIVX certified equipment I have come across in my family.
7. The best tool I've come across with PD8 to improve my videos has been the Video Stabilise option. Note that some of the FIX/ENHANCE tools work slightly different when using analogue captured video versus Digital Video.

I'm curious if anyone has experience with more specialised DVD authoring products - and if they make a noticeable difference when burning disks. I'm only now beginning to appreciate that every little thing you do with a piece of video has the potential to affect the final output.

I am guessing therefore that the basic disc burning function of PD8 is just that.... a basic disk burning solution that could be improved on with a more fully featured DVD authoring product.

Cheers

Roy

HARDWARE: ASUS i7 2.6 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, Nivada GeForce 9800GT 1GB, SATAII 1TB, WIN7 64bit

Hello,

Does anyone know which of these results in the better quality DVD?

1. Select the Produce tab, then create a (HD) MPEG-2, 1080i file. Once you have the file go to the Create Disc and burn with HQ - Best Quality. (importing the produced video file)

OR

2. Skip the Produce tab completely. Just go directly to the Create Disc tab and burn with HQ- Best Quality. (using the PowerDirector project file)

The Produce tab has a lot more quality choices and options than the Create Disc tab, but in the end I have to create a disc anyway so is producing it first just pointless? Especially if the Create Disc process just reduces the quality no matter what you do. If Create Disc always reduces the quality (I'm not saying it does, I'm asking if it does) you have to wonder if it's best to produce the highest quality MPG file using PD, and then burn it with Windows DVD Maker (comes with Windows), would result it a higher quality DVD in the end.

(sorry if this is covered elsewhere, I haven't checked. It seems like a good question for this thread since we're trying to produce the highest quality SD DVD)

From my experimental mucking around, I believe that the Create Disk function within PD8 is a capable but limited disk burning tool - as you would expect. It does what it is supposed to do.... creates good looking menues for disks from edited projects to basic and fairly standard specifications that should play across most hardware. It is not a fully featured and customisable disk burning product, for something like that you will need to purchase a full disk burning/authoring product.

That said you can still get great results from it.

Like most settings in PD8 (and other programs as well for that matter), the default setting is not the extreme quality setting - and neither should it be, but rather the "average" settings most users would begin using the program with.

By fine tuning the customisable settings you will be able to increase the quality of your projects considerably.

For example I note the default AUDIO setting within CREATE DVD DISC on my installed version is MPEG-1. Since most of my Video Files have audio recorded as Dolby Digital, leaving this setting at its default value of MPEG-1 for audio would cause the audio for all projects to be re-encoded from Dolby Digital to MPEG-1 when burning to a disc, with a noticeable loss of audio quality

Same for the Video Files - to preserve quality it is better to keep the video files in their original format whenever possible (resolution, aspect ratio, bit rate etc). PD8's default setting is NOT to do this, but rather apply variable bit rate to processing to improve efficiency and file size. Unless your project is based on uncompressed AVI files - any unnecessary processing should be avoided to preserve original quality, ie upscaling resolution just for the sake of it.

If the source file is 720x576 and the final output is going to be displayed on a 1080i device, then I would argue that the device probably is better suited to upscaling the source file than having PD8 do it. I don't believe it is possible to increase the quality or add detail to a video just by upscaling it to a higher resolution. You will increase it's file size and the system requirements for the hardware that you will eventually be displaying the file on though, for no apparent " added " quality. So if your source file is 720x576 or something else, upscaling it to 1080i will not "add" detail or quality. It may just look better on a 1080i display if the upscaling was done with superior technology to what the 1080i display was going to upscale the original 720x576 file. Similarly if you are archiving 720x576 video, upscaling it with todays technology to 1080i is not going to add any detail to the file.

By setting your project values to the same resolution as your source file and CBR 8000 (Constant Bit Rate) with Speed/Quality setting at 7 (maximun) you will preserve/maintain video quality as you work on your project.

By following the above, when you come to create your disk, you should not have suffered any noticeable quality loss.

If your source file is MPEG-2 resolution 1080i then set your project to that. If something else, set it to exactly what your source file is (both audio and video)

When you go to burn it as a Standard DVD with PD8 it will be rescaled back to the Standard DVD Format specification of 720x576 (PAL)

The PD8 Ultra version allows you to burn to the higher Blue-Ray & AVCHD formats, but of course they will not be standard DVD's nor will they play back in standard 720x576 DVD Players.

If you have a source file that is 1080i, have edited it as 1080i and wish to burn it at that resolution, then you will need the Ultra version, or as you mentioned use another program (DVD Maker) to burn it. Note that it will not be a Standard DVD that will play in any DVD player, but may play perfectly well for you on your hardware and preserves your 1080i resolution. I haven't used Windows DVD Maker, but if it is set to burn a Standard DVD then it must resize the 1080i resolution to the Standard DVD specification of 720x576 (PAL)

Only a side-by-side test comparing 1080i rescaled back to 720x576 to Standard DVD specifications will tell you if DVD Maker creates a better disc than PD8

Cheers

Roy


HARDWARE: ASUS i7 2.6 Ghz, 6GB DDR3, Nivada GeForce 9800GT 1GB, SATAII 1TB, WIN7 64bit

Thanks, Roy, for the detailed response. I'm going to continue experimenting, and I'm sure that your tips will help.

One other update. Based on some earlier posts in this thread, I investigated HD media players, and decided to experiment with one from Seagate. The unit uses one of Seagate's small external hard drives, which I already owned, so the investment wasn't too significant. It has an HDMI outplut, so I can produce a move to a file, copy it to my hard drive, dock it with the player, and just hit play.

So far, I'm pretty impressed. It takes some time to figure out how to configure both the video editing software and the player, but my last test (using PD) was excellent. Similar experiments with Studio were not very impressive, but I'm still testing the settings.

I'm going to experiment with some of the output settings in PD, as discussed by Roy and others, but if anyone has any tips on what to use in this situation, please feel free to let me know. At this point, I'm basically using the best resolution available, since the only impact is hard drive space, which is cheap these days.


Thanks, -------------------------
Hardware: HP Pavilion e91500t, Intel Core i7, Vista 64bit, 6GB ram, ATI Radeon HD 4650
Software: Trial version of PowerDirector 8