Video Quality After Transcoding Disappointing In CS4

Question

To All,
I am new to Encore so my situation may be as a result of my ignorance.  I have come to appreciate HD video so I purchased a Hauppauge HD PVR to capture programs in HD.  I have captured multiple HD video clips in a .mp4 format. I bring those clips into Premier Pro CS4 and when viewing them individually, they look great - crisp, clear video that looks fantastic.  Once I have put my video together (consisting of several clips that is about 1 hour long total), I then select Adobe Dynamic Link and send the project to Encore to burn onto a 25GB blu-ray disc.  I have tried 2 or 3 different settings in Encore and the result is a video that is 1920 x 1080 full screen but the video quality is disappointing.  It's as though a "soft filter" is used in the video effectively taking away the crisp, clean video I see in the original clips I imported into Premier Pro - the very thing I have come to love about HD (ex: beads of sweat on faces, seeing individual strands of hair on someones head, etc.).  Am I being unrealistic to expect the same quality video after being transcoded in Encore that I see in the individual clips I originally inported into Premier Pro or I am I just doing something wrong?  Thanks for the help in advance!

Answer 1

It sounds like you are familiar with Encore.  Let me ask this general question.  Can one expect to achieve the same video quality after transcoding in Encore as the video originally imported or is some loss inevitable?
Actually, this should answer both questions.
What happens first is that your capture device/card will compress the signal originally. You then Import this footage into PrPro for editing. It will not be edited in it native format, as it is compressed and is also GOP (Group of Pictures) format, i.e. there are not real Frames to edit. These must be created for Frame editing. Now, you're working pretty much in a good replication of your initially compressed files. Here comes the problem: you now wish to Export to a BD. You need to re-compress and Transcode this material in PrPro to a format that can be used on a BD player. A second compression and Transcode will need to take place.
As an example, lets use FAX machines and desktop printers. You create a document in Word and print it out with your 1200 dpi desktop printer. This is a pretty high quality document. It's like the HD TV signal. Next, you run your original document printout through your copy machine. This still looks pretty good, but not up to the original. This is what your capture card has now produced. Then, you take that copy and FAX it to a friend. It now starts to show degradation. This is like that second compression and Transcoding.
Not sure what a better workflow would be for HD TV capture.
Good luck,
Hunt