Quality: HDD camcorder (MPEG-2 -> DV) vs. MiniDV

Question

Level 5

4,307 points

Quality: HDD camcorder (MPEG-2 -> DV) vs. MiniDV

I have to replace the MiniDV camcorder I'm using (which was damaged beyond repair) with a new one, but I'm not choosing the new one. The owner of the current, MiniDV camcorder would like to replace it with an HDD-based model.

I know I can convert the MPEG-2 from the HDD camcorder to DV with MPEG Streamclip (and import the video in iMovie HD 6), but I know I'll be losing quality in doing so.

However, what I'd like to know, is how much quality I'm actually going to lose?

I read that quality of imported footage (even DV) tends to be lower in iMovie '08 than when imported with iMovie 6. Would the quality of the MPEG-2 transcoded to DV and imported in iMovie 6 be better or worse than DV footage imported to iMovie '08 from a MiniDV camcorder, for example?

Mac mini G4 (original)  MacBook Pro (mid 2007) , Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 4, 2008 2:42 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Will-Hi Author

Level 5

4,307 points

Mar 5, 2008 9:19 AM in response to Will-Hi

I found the answer to my question in these old topics (which did not come up when I searched the forums, but showed up in a Google search):

Poor quality movie with iDVD 08

Poor quality results

While they do not address the quality of an MPEG-2 to DV vs. a fully-DV workflow, they show that with the appropriate settings, quality of the converted MPEG-2 can be decent enough to sustain comparison with the footage viewed on a TV from the camcorder.

Reply