I just purchased a new DCR-VX2000 and recorded a couple clips of my newborn baby. Well, when I got home I hooked the camera to my computer so I could send video footage to family members and when I did a pop up came up asking what program I wanted to use to edit the footage. I chose Windows movie maker, because I haven't purchase a program that's specifically for what I want. After doing a little editing I saved the application to my computer and noticed that after I saved the footage the quality of the film was terrible. Maybe it's just the program I'm using, but I wanted to see if anybody else has had this problem before. Maybe I should try another program that keeps the quality of a 3 CCD camera. That's why I bought the camera is because of how awesome the actual footage looks after recording. Could somebody possibly explain as to why the footage looks a little distorted after editing? And anybody has any suggestions on programs that doesn't affect quality of an edited film...please let me know! Maybe it's just that I'm saving the film to my computer and that messes it up? Who knows, but any imput will be greatly appreciated. This site is the best! Keep it up! Take care and GOD bless!

David Ellis

David, when you say the quality of the edited footage do you mean footage transfered back to tape or what you see in the edit window of the NLE you are using?
I know iMovie HD 5 (or any iMovie version before that) does not display imported footage at maximum resolution so that the program will not devote all of its memory to displaying/editing high res video. Once exported, however, you retain maximum quality. (unless you've cc'd or graded of course).
So the question is, which are we talking here? on the NLE window or exported footage?

I believe Windows Movie Maker does has to be set to capture DV format, the format that streams off your camera. If you don't set it up, you will be capturing in a window media file designed to play best on your computer system. The resolution will not be as good. I haven't actually used Movie maker to capture DV, but I would suggest that the lack of any real discussion from DV users would indicate there isn't a lot of support for its use in that format. Get Movie Studio + DVD (includes Vegas) , Pinnacle Studio 10 plus, Adobe Premiere Elements, or another consumer based editor to start off with.

You have a great camera- VX2000. I am surprised there are new ones out there still. Curious as to where you bought it.

Chris Barcellos

Well, after transferring footage from tape to computer the footage looks great, but after I take the clips that were transferred and apply them to the storyboard the quality isn't to great. I sent some of the video, which was edited to family and when I previewed the edited footage it looked a little distorted...especially when I clicked on the fullscreen icon of quicktime player. Now if I buy another consumer program that's specifically for what I want...will I encounter this problem again? I really want to burn the footage to a DVD, so maybe I'll try that to see how well the footage looks. Like everybody that uses 3 CCD chips we expect great images and that's what I'm hoping for. Let me know what you think.

David Ellis
Active Duty Air Force

You will likely loose quality in the video unless you capture in DV capture format. It has to be reencoded unless you capture in DV.

All DV editors capture in DV, so you won't loose the quality.

Here is quote from help file in Movie maker that tells you how to capture in DV mode. You'll find it under the help files in the Movie Maker program:

Choosing a video setting
This page of the Video Capture Wizard lets you choose what settings you want to use when capturing video and audio. The video setting you choose determines the quality and file size of the captured video file. Video display size and video bit rate increase with higher video settings, and so does the file size. Consider file size along with the main purpose for your captured video when choosing the video setting.

For more information about issues to consider when capturing video and audio, see Understanding video settings.

The following is a listing of the options displayed on this page of the Video Capture Wizard.

Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended)

Specifies that you want to capture video at the recommended video setting. This video setting encodes the captured video at a higher quality setting. The specific capture profile that is detected and used by Windows Movie Maker for this video setting depends on the selected capture device and the audio and video it can output to the computer, as well as the processor speed of your computer.

This setting is well-suited for a majority of the video you capture in Windows Movie Maker and plan to edit in Windows Movie Maker, and then plan to save to your computer, to a recordable CD, as an attachment to an e-mail message, or to the Web using the Save Movie Wizard.

Show more choices

Click to see additional video settings. Therefore, if you do not choose to use the Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended) video setting, you can choose from a listing of other capture options.

Digital device format (DV-AVI)

Specifies that your captured video will be saved as DV-AVI file with an .avi file name extension. This capture option is only available if you are capturing from a DV device, such as a DV camera or DV VCR. This video setting is designed to be used if you want to edit the captured video on your computer and then later save it back to a tape in a DV camera or VCR using the Save Movie Wizard. The quality of the original video is retained when you choose this setting, so the movies you record retain their original video quality when recorded back to DV tape.

However, video files saved with this setting can be quite large. For example, each minute of video saved at this setting can consume as much as 178 MB of disk space. Therefore, verify that there is enough available disk space on your hard disk to accommodate the amount of video you want to capture.

Other settings

Provides a list of additional video settings you can choose to capture for your captured video. When choosing a setting from this list, consider how you plan to ultimately use and share the video in your final saved movies. This list ranges from settings suited for video on a Pocket PC to video for local playback.

Setting details

Displays additional information about the video captured at the current setting. The following details are provided:

File type. The type of file the captured video is saved as on your computer. Possible file types include Windows Media Video (WMV) or Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI).

Bit rate. The total bit rate of the captured video and audio. Typically, a higher bit rate will result in higher-quality video with smoother motion. However, as the bit rate increases, so does the size of the captured video file.

Display size. The dimensions of the captured video picture, in pixels. The first number indicates the width of the video, while the second number indicates the height of the video.

Frames per second. The number of frames that are displayed per second in the captured video. Typically, a higher number or frames per second will make the motion of objects or persons in your video appear smoother.

Video format. The video standard for the saved movie file. The two possible formats are NTSC and PAL. The specific video format depends on the selected video capture device and the video format it uses. This value is displayed when capturing video as a DV-AVI video file.

Video file size

Provides the estimated file size of the saved movie and disk space available to store the captured video file. The estimated amount of disk space consumed by one minute of video is displayed in this area for many video settings. For other video settings that are based on the quality of the captured video and audio, such as the recommended setting, a file size estimate is not available.

Related topics
Capturing video

Chris J. Barcellos

To get quality DVD, you need be encoding from a file that can provide DVD quality. The standard setting on Window Movie Maker does not do so. So you have to switch it to DV in capture. You can actually edit that file in Movie maker too, just as you did the other one, but I am not sure how fast Movie Maker is in the editing of DV. Once you get your edit done, you then have to save it again in edited form. Again you have to save in DV format. Now you have a high quality finished product. You have to select save on your computer, and then select that you want to choose another format. You then go to DV NTSC format. Save tht.

You can then have that encoded with a DVD burning program. To DVD. That encoding process can takes some time, hours even in a larger one hour project.

Given your the novelty of this process, I would recommend you get Pnnacle Studio Plus 10. It has a fairly easy to follow process to get you in one program from capture to DVD.

Chris Barcellos

P.S. The camera is great. I've shot the VX2000 for years and made some great DVDs. You just have to get the footage in top form to the DVD encoder.