Slideshow - Video Quality

I wish there will be some improvement in the video quality for "Export Video" from the Slideshow module of LR4. One of the main reasons I upgraded to LR3 was the Export Video feature. When I noticed the 'too-much' loss of image quality, I was disappointed but still have hope for future enhancement in the new version of LR. At least, it will be nice to offer an option to have higher bitrate or video quality in the LR4. So far, I did not see any changes in the Slideshow module at all. Hopefully, I just missed seeing it.

Sean, were you thinking of the EXPORT PDF feature when you mentioned about user preset? I was talking about the EXPORT VIDEO feature. If LR4 can offer similar setting (that can be changed by users) for both EXPORT PDF and EXPORT VIDEO, I think it will be a big step forward.
Another area in the slideshow module that needs some enhancement is the limitation of selecting ONLY ONE music file under SOUNDTRACK. Currently the only workaround I am aware of is to use an audio editor to link multiple sound files and create a much longer sound file in order to accumulate a relatively long slideshow.

Similar Messages

How to fix slideshow video quality (iPhoto export)

Like many others I mourn the loss of iDVD support in iphoto. For many years I created sideshows in iphoto and exported them to iDVD and burned very acceptable DVDs. I still have iDVD, thank god, but all links and references to iDVD have been purged from iphoto. The only option I could see was to use the export function whichi I did and chose 720p. I imported the resultant quictime files into iDVD abd burned a DVD. The vidoes were contrasty, dark and soft. Seriously inferior to DVDs made back in the day when there was a direct "export to iDVD" function. What can I do make the best quality DVD from my iphoto slideshows?

If you have fewer than 99 slides in the slideshow create the slideshow with iDVD. I find that I get better quality resuts that way.
However, if you have more than 99 use iPhoto and export as 480p only.
The gamma you're referring to is in regards to the monitor calibration.
If you have access to an older version of iMovie, i.e. specifically iMovie 6 HD I strongly recommend getting it and using. It and iDVD 7 were the best combination for created iDVD video DVDs. iMovie 6 HD was also the best for adding multiple audio tracks to a movie and editing their start and stop points:
With iMovie 6 HD when you've completed the movie all you need to do is drag the iMovie project file into iDVD for import. The top iDVD users in the iDVD forum recommend iMovie 6 HD as the best to use.
Regardless of the iMovie version you use follow this workflow to help assure the best qualty video DVD:
Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.
To check the encoding mount the disk image, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is good.
Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.
OT

Video quality of burned DVD way inferior to content viewed in iDVD program

I notice the video and menu quality on my burned DVD is VASTLY inferior to video and menu quality when viewing menus and content in the iDVD program while building the presentation.
Having encoded at "Professional Quality" to a single layer DVD which didn't look so good, a number of posts in this forum suggested that "Best Performance" actually renders the best video quality.
I'm using high-quality media from Verbatim so that's not a problem. The DVD's burn fine.
The content -- all high-quality QT movies with great resolution, color and crisp text and animation, look great in and of themselves, and when viewed in the iDVD program. The menus and clips embedded in the scene select buttons, all look crisp and clean.
Burned to DVD however, the video looks noticeably "worn" and the clips in the buttons lack any kind of crispness or resolution. Definitely disappointing. The animations look herky-jerky.
Anyone know what the problem is?

Hi
No iDVD has a fixed quality - as old time TVs
• PAL 625 lines (720x576)
• NTSC 520 lines (720x480)
so Your Mac screen are way higher resolution.
There are NO HD version of iDVD - yet
*DVD bad quality*
copy of an answer on a similar question - may be of help
the iMovie 08 & 09 don't apply
There are two problems in this question.
• iDVD
• iMovie'08 or 09
iDVD - can only handle Standard definition TV quality - NO version can handle HD !
SD-TV
EU - PAL system = 625 lines analog display (no pixles) 25fps
US - NTSC system = 520 lines and 29.97 fps
That's the best iDVD can do.
iMovie up to version HD 6 - could handle interlaced video (displaying every second line
first then start over with the rest - 25fps = 50 frames of interlaced video
less flickering.
iMovie'08 and 09 has destroyed this by deleting every second line
Result a resolution of
PAL 312 lines
NTSC 260 lines
So photos displayed this way will look crappy.
Improvment
Use iMovie HD 6 or FinalCut Express or Pro
Else only way I know of to get "full" quality is by using other tools all together.
Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro (incl BR-component) and here the included FotoMagico™ for SlideShows.
Toast™ also can burn Blue-Ray - even on standard DVD (but much less eg 20 min movie)
These BR-DVDs Can only be playbacked on a Blue-Ray Player (eg PlayStation 3)
But they look super.
A more specific part reg. FinalCut
I do in FC-Express or Pro
• Export out as a QuickTime .mov file
• Not selfcontained (not important but saves time and spaces)
• NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION (Important)
I use
• Verbatim DVD-R disks
• Burn at a reduced speed x1 or x4 recommended by many)
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on internal boot hard disk for 4x3 SD video
and my guess is that I would secure 5 - 6 times more for 16x9 HD
(Still no version of iDVD can do HD)
Yours Bengt W

Apple tv video quality vs hd tv and high def dvd's

ok...i know it supports 1080i, but does the video quality of video in itunes really look good compared against say a blu-ray disc, or hdtv signals? i'm sure it will get better (with a hardware or software upgrade?) if its not close to high def quality but want to know what i'm in store for if i buy appletv now...thanks. PS: i currently have directv HD and a ps3 for blu-ray, and my tv's are all HD...

Based on my own testing, the distinctions between an HD-DVD movie (which are true 1080) and an Apple TV video converted as its own maximum settings (which is 720) is actually quite noticeable if you have a 1080 TV set, but at the same I don't consider it a show-stopper. I watch a lot of HD broadcast content that's only 720p, and it's still very good.
An HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD will normally be in 1920 x 1080 resolution (1080p or 1080i, generally depending on your equipment). The Apple TV's maximum resolution is 1280 x 720 (basically 720p). Therefore, even an original HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD converted to Apple TV will need to be scaled down to 720p for display on the Apple TV.
Further, Elgato EyeTV actually scales these down somewhat lower, so HDTV recorded content could be even worse-off, depending on the original source. The standard Apple TV export settings use a 960 x 540 frame in order to keep the bit-rate and frame rate within tolerances (since a 720p signal is approximately 60fps, and the bitrates will generally exceed 5-6 mbps, which pushes the limits of the Apple TV).
Even more interestingly, Elgato's new turbo.264 dongle will only encode in "Apple TV" format at a maximum resolution of 800 x 600 (and if you do the math you will realize that this will be considerably less for a 16:9 aspect ratio video).
The result is that videos converted from an EyeTV Hybrid are technically much worse off on the Apple TV than viewing the original source material. Whether this is significant enough to be noticeable will depend on your output medium, but on my 62" DLP, the difference is quite apparent (although still far superior to an SDTV signal).
You can get 1280 x 720 content to play back at 60fps at 5mbps bit-rates on the Apple TV by using ffmpeg-based encoders and manually selecting higher settings, although it's been hit-and-miss in my own testing, and of course it creates gargantuan files. Elgato and others have obviously tried to stay with the more conservative settings to ensure that they can guarantee the broadcast possible range of support.
In fact, although most of the standard encoder settings max out at 2.5-3.0 mbps, I've successfully pushed up to 6 mbps through the Apple TV, although such content has to be synced rather than streamed, since even an 802.11n network has a hard time keeping up (it worked, but there were some drop-outs and glitches in the process). Of course, 6mbps content is going to fill up the Apple TV hard drive pretty quickly as well (you'd only be able to fit around 11 hours on the internal 40GB hard drive).
The other thing to keep in mind with DVD movies is that they come from film, which is a 24fps source (based on the physical nature of film). As a result, the distinctions between a 720p and 1080i signal are less prevalant when dealing with film content, since you won't get the full 60fps HDTV capabilities anyway. Interlacing can still create some nasty side-effects, but it's far less of an issue when you're dealing with less than half of the normal frames.
In my own experiences, I have an Apple TV that is connected to a 1080p upscaling DLP TV (native 1080i input, internalized de-interlacing), and a second Apple TV that is connected to a 720p LCD TV. With the first Apple TV, I can notice the difference between 720p and 1080i output settings only when viewing photos, since the remainder of the standard content doesn't exceed 720p anyway. Further, because my TV de-interlaces a 1080i signal to 1080p, I don't get the flicker that is normally associated with a 1080i signal.
On the second Apple TV, I leave the setting to 720p, since that's the native resolution of the second TV, and I get noticeable interlacing-based flickering on the 1080i, particularly with photo slideshows (mostly in the transitions).

Having problems with video quality in iDVD 09

I have created a slide show in iMovie with audio. When saved it is in a .mov format. I burned it to DVD using the burn folder option. It has great video quality in that format. Since most DVD players won't accept the .mov format or some PC's, I wanted the most common format for viewing. I exported the movie to iDVD and used these settings..
Video Mode-NTSC
Aspect Ration 16:9 widescreen
Encoding-Professional Quality
DVD Type-Single-Layer (SL)-4.2 GB
When going from the .mov format to the MPEG-2 format ( I think this is the output format for iDVD)
The quality is very poor. It seems to have wavy lines throughout the file, especially when someone is wearing patterned clothing.
Anyone know how to get the same quality of the .mov file to something that will be viewable across multiple platforms???
Would using moviegate conversion software be an answer????
Message was edited by: inthecards

inthecards wrote:
.. Anyone know how to get the same quality of the .mov file ..
a mov can contain all kind of codecs and esp. resolutions..
a videoDVD, by standards, has a 720x480 res, and is interlaced.
=> quality HAS to be 'lower' than any 5Mpix on a HiDef computer screen..
but, I did tons of slideshows with iMHD6 and iDVD.. for me, quality is superb.. for sure, tiny 'checker patterns', 'sub pixel lines' etc. HAVE to flimmer..

IMovie 11 Slideshow image quality issue

Hi,
when I am creating a slideshow with iMovie from still images, I have a severe loss of image quality. I have tried to search forums up and down, but did not find any help or solution for that. The loss of quality is kind of dramatic. Any ideas, suggestions or solutions?
Regards
HEnnisch

Hi!
I'm loosing a lot of video quality when I transfer movie clips from my Iphone 4S to Imovie11.
Did you find an answer to your problem?
If so, maybe you could help me out?
Thanks!!

IPod Nano Output to Projector: Video Quality

Hey guys,
I'm looking to buy a few iPod Nano's to use when we play video montages to our clients via LCD projector. Before I buy a bunch of these, I'd like to know what the output video quality will be. These are simple slideshow's created on iMovie and currently, we burn a dvd and simply connect the video out from the dvd player to the projector.
I'd like to simplify this by putting the video on a Nano, then connecting it to our LCD projector. Will I get similar results as with the DVD?
Thanks!

The audio/optical out port will accept the tonslink miniplug for digital out only. You can also use the port for 1/8 " headphones without the miniplug. The video out is on the otherside, its the DVI port. The macbookpro comes with a DVI to VGA adapter. You should hook up your projector to the DVI or the VGA. If you projector does not have DVI or VGA you can adapt from VGA to RCA.
Pete
MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Exporting To GarageBand and Final Video Quality

I need to export a Keynote slideshow to Garageband to add a soundtrack and I need to have the best quality video possible. Does it matter what size slide I start with when creating the presentation?
I would create the slideshow in iPhoto or iDVD for better video quality, but I need to add titles, graphics, etc to some of the slides.

because it is rendered, i have clicked on "sequence -> render audio" and nothign happens, it just plays through like it would once it has finished rendring.
like i said, it plays fine in playback, most of the time, just not after it has been exported

Slideshow's quality

why my slideshow have a terrible image's quality? My photoes have big resolution
What can I do?
Scuse me for my terrible english...

Welcome to the forums.
If you do a search, you'll see there are a number of complaints about slideshow image quality -- some because the DVD format is natively lower resolution than your computer, some because the DVD standard is compressed video (mpeg-2 format). You'll see a variety of solutions, including downsizing your images for the slideshow, so you do the image size reduction rather than iDVD.
John

Poor Audio and Video Quality

Using IDVD to burn iMovie containing pictures and music and am getting very poor quality audio and video. The video is very low resolution, lacking clarity and definition, and the audio comes out really flat with over-saturated vocals that is unpleasant to listen to.
The content was made from iMovie 11, importing photos from iPhoto and iTunes music.
I exported the movie via Share->Export Movie-> HD 1080P
In iDVD 7.1.2 I imported the movie (actually several) into a slideshow menu item.
I used the iDVD encoding preferences set at 'Best Performance' and 'Professional Quality' with no difference between the two
Then to ensure it wasn't the DVD disk causing the problem, I used the 'Save as Disc Image', and validated the file image saved to disk had the same quality issues as the burned DVD.
Then to eliminate the iMovie as the problem, ran a test and used an iPhoto slideshow in place of the iMovie, and it also has the same low quality issues.
I have observed that using the iDVD viewing capabilities, the A/V quality is fine. Its after the burn to disk the problem occurs.
At this point I'm not sure what to try. I'm viewing the DVD on my 50" widescreen TV using Sony DVD player.
A year or so back I did similar steps and the DVD came out fine... the sound quality was excellent and the video quality while not outstanding, was reasonable.
Any ideas -- I'm really stumped.

Hi
In iMovie'11 - I do (not use Share to iDVD)
• Share to Media Browser - AND AS Large - NOT HD ! (result will not be better but rather WORSE)
• In iDVD I import from Media button and Movie tab.
Yours Bengt W

Comparing video quality of AVCHD BluRay discs using Final Cut Pro Share vs Compressor

Up front, I will admit to being a newbie when it comes to using Final Cut Studio 3 and would appreciate some feedback from the Apple forum experts.
I have spent a lot of time trying to determine how to achieve an optimum group of Compressor 3.5.2 settings so that the playback video quality of an AVCHD BluRay disc is equal to or better than one created by using the simpler auto settings of FCPro Share, version 7.0.2.
When using Compressor’s auto/default maximum settings, I experienced the same error message reported in:
Error MessageDuring Creation of Blu-ray Disc in FCP and Compressor 3.5
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12073794#12073794
I have since made some Compressor AVCHD Discs with smaller bit rate settings and compared video quality with a single FCP Share AVCHD disc. Both seem to be equal in providing a very good video when viewed on my new Panasonic DMP BDT 310 BluRay player. However, the Compressor AVCHD discs show some motion artifacts not present with the FCPro Share version, especially when scrolling text or when objects are moving through the field of view, and visible artifacts are seen from a stationary chain link fence and other lattice work in the background of the video sample.
My sample video used for the comparisons between Compressor and FCP Share discs is a 21 minute duration home movie, originally captured from a mini DV, Canon HV30 1080i camcorder using ProRes HQ encoding(1440x1080), and dragged into FC Pro 7.0.2 timeline where 10 chapter markers have been inserted.
To create an AVCHD disc using FCPro Share, Markers are used to set the IN and OUT points, Select IN to OUT from the timeline, pull down File Menu Share, Select Create BluRay from options in pop out Share pane, and designate output device along with picture files for Background, Logo, and Title options. When these are completed, click on Export. My 21-minute video required almost two hours for encoding including about 10 minutes for burning. This accomplished on an iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
To prepare this same 21-minute video for use with Compressor, I again Select IN to Out from the FCPro timeline, but this time use File Export as a QuickTime Self Contained movie including Chapter markers. Then Open Compressor, choose Create BluRay from Template pane, right click on the down arrow in the Batch window and load the QT self contained movie file. From there I went to the Inspector window and tried various combinations of bit rate settings along with Frame Encoder options such as Better or Best motion parameter controls.
I have tried the following combinations of Bit rate settings along with varying Frame Encoder controls and burned an AVCHD disc for each example:
Example A
Compressor set to 6 Mbps Average and 8Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings OFF. Approximately 4 hours to encode although the time remaining estimator indicated a larger value of ~7 hours; not an accurate estimator at all.
Example B
Compressor set to 6 Mbps Average and 8Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motionadaptive)” settings. Approximately 4 hours to encode, not the 13 hours that were estimated.
Conclusion: Comparing A & B Compressor versions, Disc B showed some improvements in reducing motion artifacts over Disc A.
Example C
Compressor set to 13 Mbps Average and 15 Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motion adaptive)” settings. Multipass checked. DeInterlace was checked. Unknown hours to encode; about 8 hours done overnight..
Conclusion: Disc C showed some minor improvements reducing motion artifacts over Disc B
Example D
Compressor Auto settings,i.e., 15 Mbps Average and 17 Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motion adaptive)” settings. Multipass checked. Approximately 12 hours to encode, done overnight. Inserted disc next morning after the overnight encoding was completed, and a few minutes later an error message pane appeared that the maximum bit rate had been exceeded. This message was consistent with the Apple posted thread referenced above. Unfortunately the long overnight encoding was wasted.
It seemed to me that the best Compressor settings for suppressing the motion artifacts were displayed by the disc burned in Example C, i.e., 13/15 Ave/Max Mbps with“Better” Motion settings in the Frame Encoder.
However, when this disc was compared to the AVCHD Disc burned using the FCPro Share, the latter still seemed much better. I do not know what the auto bit rate values are as set in FC Pro, but for me, the quality is quite good AND the motion artifacts are significantly reduced, especially evident with the scrolling text.
Sorry about this long post, but I thought the detail would be necessary for the experts, and maybe helpful to others trying to get started in this BluRay arena. Did I misuse Compressor? I think the sample video exported as a self contained QT movie was the right thing to do? Not sure where I went wrong.
Thanks in advance for Feedback and Recommendations. For now, I’m going to stay with the simpler process using Final Cut Pro Share function.
BoBo

Thank You, Brad, for responding; glad to hear I'm not the only one having similar Compressor issues.
You may have hit on something. Perhaps Compressor's use of H.264 encoding was the reason for my motion artifacts? And perhaps Final Cut Pro Share retains the 1440x1080 quality as it burns the AVCHD BluRay disc?
I had Toast 10 for less than 30 days a couple of years ago, and was lucky to get a refund.
What version of Toast do you have? Wondering if new Toast 11 has improved previous bugs, especially upgrading its Chapter text, pictures, music. I would go back to Toast if it came close to mirroring DVD Studio Pro, or even iDVD capabilities.
Thanks,
BoBo

MacMini - LG 32" (32LB75) Problem - Poor video quality and now no picture.

Hi there, apologies for the length of this post....
I purchased a mac mini 1.8Ghz with 2Gb RAM yesterday with a wireless keyboard and mouse and hooked it up to my 32" LG 32LB75 using VGA. On startup the display looked ok, I managed to click through the various Leopard initialisations. I bought the machine for use as a front room media player for mainly DivX movies and the occasional bit of music.
Once I had installed the DivX codec I opened a DivX file in Quicktime and selected "full screen mode." As soon as the movie started I became quite disappointed. The picture quality was quite pixelated ("noisy") and certainly not as good as when I play the same movie file from my old dell PC on the same LG tv (the dell PC has a 64Mb PCI radeon 7000 which connects to the tv using the same VGA port as the mac).
Anyway just to give the mac a fair go I thought I would try out some genuine quicktime video samples from the itunes store (this time viewed from front row)....again not brilliant.
So I thought I would investigate the screen resolution to see if I could improve things. It appeared the resolution was set to 1900 by 1200ish I say "ish" because I can't remember exactly. I then attempted to reduce the resolution and eventually I settled on one that looked quite clear with the font size big enough to be easily read. Again I tried the movie and there wasn't much (if any improvement). Whilst changing resolutions the screen would go blank for a few seconds but on one particular setting (can't remember exact numbers) the display went blank and never came back. The tv now just displays "no signal".
I despaired and connected the mac to a 17" Iiyama montior that I use with a PC and it worked ok. However each time I tried to "hot swap" back to the television I would end up with no picture.
I'm really disappointed because everything else about the mac I really like. Particularly the remote for frontrow which is precisely what I wanted it for. The problem is I've spent over £500 and now seem to have a lesser quality picture than I had to begin with (ignoring for the moment that I don't have any picture!!)
Anyway my questions are these, answers to any or all most appreciated.
1) what is the easiest way to get my mini to start displaying on my tv again?
2) what would the optimum resolution be? My television mentions 1366 x 768 in the manual
3) If the mini doesn't offer this resolution in the pick list is it advisable to "force it" using some alternative software (ie 3dexpress.de)?
4) Is the video quality affected by the software player? ie would VLC give better picture with DivX over quicktime/itunes/front row?
5) How likely is it that the video resolution of my new mac mini isn't "as good" as my old dell machine with its PCI graphics card?
6) Finally if I don't get results as good as my existing PC setup, how accomodating are apple with refunds? I bought it from a UK high-street apple store. The back of the receipt mentions a "14 day not satisfied" return policy but then goes on to say something about being "unopened"...which seems a little confusing. Ie how do you know if you're satisfied until you've actually used it?

Hi there
the solution was to remove the various display config files in leopard and then restart the machine, this got my display back on the tv (albeit off centre). To fix the "off centre issue" I used the LG "auto correct" feature from the remote control "menu > screen" options.
The apple support site describes how to remove the affected leopard display files here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2213?viewlocale=en_US As you will see their resolution consists of 2 main steps, the first one involves starting your machine in safe mode, if this doesn't work then you proceed to the second step where you remove the files using a terminal prompt.
I didn't bother with the first step mainly because I don't think I can start my mac in safe mode since my only keyboard is wireless (bluetooth). So I connected the mac mini to a 17" LCD monitor (which thankfully did display the video signal ok) and removed all the listed files using terminal. I then shut the mac down, swapped the VGA cable back to the LCD tv restarted the mac and it detected the tv and set a resolution that worked. I then very carefully reduced the resolution down to one that was recommended by my tv (1300ish.. x 768ish??).
At this point I was back to having an acceptable signal but still a little off centre. So I used the TV remote, pressed menu, went into screen options and chose "auto correct". Picture then filled the screen perfectly.
The problem seems to be, leopard lists a bunch of resolutions that it believes your tv/display can handle but it would appear that in fact some of these resolutions are not supported by your TV and if you choose one of these your signal disappears and you can't get it back.
I would still say that I'm not 100% convinced with the mac mini's onboard graphics (I have a 1.8GHz version). I'm going to download some HD content and see if that improves things, but certainly my existing DivX collection looked a little sharper and clearer and better coloured using my old dell PC with its radeon PCI card. But the difference in picture quality is outweighed by the convenience of its size and the font row interface. I might tinker with putting Windows Media Center on it one day, perhaps that might improve things.

Macbook Pro to VIZIO LCD TV via HDMI Grainy Video Quality?

So when I bought my MacBook Pro back in July 2010, I purchased an assortment of accessories to go with it including a special third-party Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter device off of eBay. The HDMI Adapter device works mostly the way I expected it to. That is, the video and audio signal coming out of the MacBook is channeled into the LCD TV display properly so that I can see the computer video display on the LCD TV and sound is also coming out of the TV too.
Just one minor annoyance: video quality. Actually, the picture is perfectly fine and beautiful, except for some reason I get weird video artifacts that are basically tiny specs that quickly fly across the screen very rapidly and they are all over the video display. Almost like the video signal is partially grainy or fuzzy or something.
I've tried to Google to see if anyone has reported any similar problems, but no luck. I wish I knew exactly what device in this process is the culprit of this behavior; i.e. either the MacBook, the HDMI Adapter, the HDMI Cable, or the LCD TV (Vizio SV470XVT 47" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV).
If anyone can help to possibly instruct me how to fix this problem or how to further diagnose the problem, I would greatly appreciate it.

For a 2010+ MBP you can connect with a Displayport to HDMI, which will include Audio.
With older MBP you will need a displayport to HDMI, if you want audio to the actually TV, then you will need to get a cable with either digital out from MBP to the HDMI, or USB audio mixed into the HDMI
eg
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/CBLMDPHDMID/

FCP Novice needs help with video quality and FCP 5!!

Hi,
I have a real problme that I cannot seem to fix. I think its because I am doing something really wrong!
I have a Sony HC42E MiniDV Camcorder which by default records video in full widescreen. I recorded several tapes this way and have now begun trying to edit them in FCP 5.04 (Tiger 10.4.6). Whenever I log and capture my clips they appear to be fuzzzy and unclear on the Mac monitor whilst being totally crisp and sharp on the camcorder viewfinder. I tried capturing using the DV PAL 48Khz Anamorphic Preset which keeps everything the right size (the final output needs to be true widescreen and not with black bars added) but the resulting video on screen is blurry and bitty. I then tried capturing using the DV PAL 720 x 576 normal preset and the video is a little clearer on the screen (for both presets I have chosen lower field dominance) but when I play back it plays back in widescreen on the mac canvas window but at 4:3 on the camera's viewfinder.
I then assumed that maybe this is just becuase the mac screen (CRT by the way) doesn't use fields. So I exported the sequence as a QT movie using DV PAL 16:9 and used quicktime (OS9 Classic - my compressor has never worked because of the dreaded "unable to connect to baackground process" problem which I've never managed to correct) to convert it to MPEG2. When I import this as an asset into DVD Studio pro 4 and set the track size to 16:9 it comes through at the right aspect ratio. However it looks blurry on screen. Thinking that this will be fine on a TV I burned the disc - inserted it into my DVD player (a good one!) and watched it on my new 32" widescreen TV (a good one!) and the picture qualitty is poor. Its so much blurrier and bittier than the original footage looks when played through the camcorder's viewfinder!
The final footaage looks like an old VHS recording that's a year or two old!
Does anyone know how I can capture my footage in FCP with the maximum quality, edit it without quality loss and the export it for DVD again without such significant quality loss whilst all the time keeping it at proper 16:9 widescreen?
Is there some presets I should be working to?
I'm tearing my hair out! Help!

Hi Guys,
thanx for your replies.
here's the latest:
Brian, I followed your instructions and the DVD burned successfully. However the video quality of the dvd when viewed on my TV ('ve tried on all 3 of my tvs now) is still a lot poorer than the quicktime movie that was imported into DVDSP4. When I play the original QT Movie on my Mac CRT monitor it looks a little blurry and grainy because I guess its non interlaced however when viewed on an external Video monitor it looks great - very sharp.
When I view the burned DVD on my television the picture quality looks like the non interlaced version of the original QT Movie that appeared on my Mac CRT and not the sharp interlaced (lower field) version that appeared on my external video monitor.
Its almost like taking a sharp jpeg into Photoshop and applying a gaussian blur of about 0.3 followed by jepg compression compressing it down to 5% quality!
I'm totally mystified. Can the conversion to Mpeg2 be removing all interlacing so that you get the less sharp computer monitor look? I just want the video on my final DVDs to be as good as the original source footage! I appreciate that along the way there might be loss of some quality but surely not that much?
Does this make sense to you guys or am I still doing something very wrong?
Robert: I have tried setting all manner of drives including a fresh external firewire HD with nothing on it (clean out of the box) but it doesn't seem to help.
Brian: I tried the no network suggestion a few months back but I'm not sure if I got it right. At the moment I have broadband through an external speedtouch usb modem and am also connected (occasionally although not for the last 3 months) via a crossover cable to my PCs ethernet card. When I last tried the No Network solution I had immense trouble getting my internet to work again! Can you please help me by directing me to the best ay to do this while protecting my internet settings?
any more help guys would be greatfully appreciated.

IPhone 6 Plus video quality is extremely poor when on Facetime and when sharing via text/message

I upgraded to the 6 plus from the 4S. Everyone that I facetime with and send videos to via text/message tells me how incredibly horrible the video quality is....especially in comparison to the way it was before I upgraded from the 4S to the 6Plus. These are people that I have always sent videos to and Facetimed with before, and they all say they can really tell a difference. So frustrating that my three year old iphone 4S is better than the new 6 plus 128gig that I just paid $500 for. We have little ones at home and this is one of the main things we use the phone for....to send vidoes and to Facetime with grandma and grandpa.
I'm on the same carrier (Verizon) that I have always been and have not changed anything. Is there a setting on the phone I can change that will help with this? I love the phone otherwise, but if it can't do this right, I'm going to return it and get my money back.
Can anyone help? Anyone experiencing this???
Thank you.

I have the same issue!! Why isn't there any answers to this problem? I became the laughing stock who owns a $1000 iPhone that can't share videos with family and friends. Please help!!!

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