Video Quality with ArcSoft Showbiz

porcupawn · #1 (**permalink**) 12-07-2003, 11:53 PM

Hello, when I bought my computer it came with ArcSoft Showbiz. I can burn a DVD and get good video quality as long as I don't edit the footage. Once I edit I lose some clarity. Is this normal, or is it cheap, crummy software? Can anyone help me out? Thanks.

Marc Peters · #2 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 12:53 PM

Editing the footage shouldn't give you any (noticable) loss in quality if your source format is DV and the destination DVD. If however your source is a lossy format such as MPEG, editing and therefore re-encoding will give a slight drop in quality but again this won't be noticable!

So, in sum, yes it seems like "cheap crummy software". Try the free trials offered by Ulead (www.ulead.com) and Adobe to get an idea of what more expensive software can do!

porcupawn · #3 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 03:40 AM

Thank you Marc. I'm using mostly DV format, but I also have the same problem with JPEG stills that I mix in sometimes. The stills look good on my computer monitor while I am doing the editing, but after I finish the editing and click on "Make Movie", there is a noticable loss of resolution in the stills when viewed on the computer monitor. And when I burn the movie to DVD and play it on a 32" TV screen, the results are disappointing.

I am putting together a DVD of home movies for the year 2003, and I plan on giving copies to a number of relatives and friends. It will basically be crap, but it is too late now for me to go through and re-edit the whole thing with different software. But thank you for pointing me to the free trials; I will try them for next year's DVD. Hopefully I will be able to afford one if it works out good.

---Yours Truly, George

porcupawn · #4 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 05:58 AM

Ooops--When I clicked "Make Movie" after editing, I didn't notice that my software gave me choices on resolution. The default is "AVI", but there is a drop down menu that includes the choice of "DV". You wrote that my quality should be good as long as my source format was DV. Well I tried the "DV" option in "Make Movie" and got results I'm happy with. It turns out the "AVI" option is only 320 X 240. Anyway, your reply gave my brain the jolt it needed to find the solution. Sorry for using up your time on this.

Marc Peters · #5 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 06:09 AM

No probs! Glad you were able to sort out your problems and welcome to the forums