IPod video fuzzy/blurry and juddrey when played back on video editors

Question

i have recorded many videos on my ipod before but the most recent videos have become fuzzy/blurry when i have uploaded them onto video editors i have tried many different editors but all of them made the video qulity poor, fuzy and juddery. when i play them back on my ipod or PC there absolutly fine but as soon as they are in a video editor the become fuzzy.

Answer 1

(PAL would be less than 768x576 pixels)
BUT...why do commercial DVDs (i.e. the ones I rent from Blockbuster) look ok on my laptop? Do they use better compression or something?
A little "better compression" and a lot of "something".
Yes, commercial DVDs are produced by better compressors, but the primary reason for better quality is better original content. Commercial DVDs aren't shot with consumer DV camcorders, while they are shot using a tripod and carefully lit.
MPG-2 works by looking at image frame to image frame variations - things like camera shake and noise due to poor lighting can cause major frame to frame differences in the video stream causing MPG-2 artifacts.
In addition, the commercial content is just a lot sharper to start with - better lenses, 3 chip cameras with more pixels than DV camcorders, as well as no compression of the shot footage (DV stream content is compressed about 4:1).
It the old computer saying: GIGO
Garbage In - Garbage Out
Now I'm confused! If a monitor has more pixels shouldn't it give a better picture?
Only if your source image has the same number of pixels. Your DVD only has (PAL) 768x576 pixels and if you 'blow them up' to something like 1280x1024 (or larger) on your computer monitor the image with 768x576 pixels will look very soft.