A client just provided me footage that was stored on his laptop. This was originally shot on a consumer-grade camcorder that saves its footage to a hard drive.

The files on the lap top have the ".MPG" extention. When I right click and select properties, the type of file says "Movie Clip."

I need to take this footage, edit it and then burn to DVD. Will rendering this to MPEG 2 further degrade the quality? What workflow will allow me to output this to DVD with the least amount of quality loss?

When I play the raw files in Windows Media Player they look fairly decent. However, they look a bit worse when I drag them to my Vegas timeline. Even with preview on best, the look much more grainy.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I would think to do a two-pass render at 32 bit if possible. There isn't much you can do otherwise, unless someone else has an idea. You must render to mpeg 2 for DVD, so I just can't imagine any other options.

What number should I type in to the bitrate window? The total length of this project is only going to be about 15 minutes.

I would simply render to Mpeg2 DVD Archtitect Template then two pass, I wouldn't bother with changing the bit rate. The 32 bit setting won't really make much diff, but it won't hurt anything. You know that 32 bit setting is in the properties menu (drop down from the File menu) right?

I am NOT an expert, those are just the highest quality settings I know. I also know that raising bit rate can make DVD incompatible with some players or just generally difficult to read, without much if any benefit.

There is also the "best" setting, but I don't think that is beneficial unless you're using stills.

Good luck!

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the info.