DV video quality

I've read through this thread twice, but I'm too new to the process to understand it all. So here's my situation: I have over twelve years (maybe a couple of hundred hours) of DV tapes that I'd like to put onto a large external HD for editing. Now after reading all this, I'm concerned that I need to change my plans.

I've now invested a great deal of time learning '09, I'd strongly prefer not to have to go to '06. I have a large project which I'm about 30 hours of labor into. Do I need to re-import all my DV tapes and start over, or can I fix the problem now before I export the final project?

Unless I missed it, I don't see any step-by-step instructions for converting my already-imported DV material. For that matter, I still don't see a step-by-step on how to fix the problem when importing from my DV camera. What exactly do I need to do?

There are step by step directions in this book:

http://www.mindspring.com/~d-v-c/

Bottom line: If you are working with DV tapes into imovie so that you now have a digital version. You then need to turn these clips into a different format to avoid quality loss. You need to do this before editing, but after import. If you haven't edited yet....you have not lost anytime, but if you spent thirty hours editing.....you have to pick your pain!

Hello Deborah, thank you for replying!
the setting Project Properties.../Timing/Initial Video Placement is set to "Fit in frame". However, the other option ("Crop") produces the same (cropped / zoomed in) result. My camcorder is set to film with the aspect ration 4:3, and the Project Properties.../General /Aspect Ratio is set to "Standard (4:3)". I use the last version of iMovie '09: 8.0.3
Are they any other settings I missed?

You can set MPEG Streamclip to deinterlace top field first or bottom field first. It sounds like you have the setting backwards.

bbarzu wrote:
Hello Deborah, thank you for replying!
the setting Project Properties.../Timing/Initial Video Placement is set to "Fit in frame". However, the other option ("Crop") produces the same (cropped / zoomed in) result. My camcorder is set to film with the aspect ration 4:3, and the Project Properties.../General /Aspect Ratio is set to "Standard (4:3)". I use the last version of iMovie '09: 8.0.3
Are they any other settings I missed?

No... that should theoretically work... not sure what's wrong...

I do know (& I can't remember exactly how to do it right at the moment, you might have to search this forum) that when weird things happen with iMovie in general, to trash the plist & repair the disk permissions & restart computer --- at least I think that's the order of troubleshooting 🙂

If I understand correctly, the aspect ration is fine (no cropping/zooming) when you play back from the IM09 Events Browser? This problem only pops up once you put your clips from the Event Browser into the Project?

Deborah

I'm concerned with the number of times that a specific question in this thread is answered with the advice "buy a book". (I'm a surgeon. I often respond to medical questions on various forums. I can't imagine telling people to "buy a book" when the answer is sitting there in my brain. It violates the spirit, though not technically the rules, of the forum.) A quick search shows that Sheryl Kingstone alone has recommended this book at least 17 times on the iMovie 09 forum, so I'm sure it must be excellent. I'll probably take a closer look at it as I finish learning the basics.

But does that book really contain proprietary information regarding file conversion that no other brain on this forum has elucidated? I don't need a book. I'm simply looking for step-by-step help for one specific task: I've got thirteen years worth of DV tapes that I'd like to edit and preserve in iMovie '09 without any quality loss.

Since my last post, I talked to the local "video genius" at the Apple Store who walked me through MPEG StreamClip. Here's where I am now, and I'd love to have your thoughts:

1. I download my dv tape into iMovie
2. I open MPEG StreamClip.
3. I select List > Batch List > Select Files...
4. I go to iMovie Events (in the Finder) and select all recently downloaded clips.
5. "Please choose a task" > Export to QuickTime
6. I select a destination folder
7. Adjust settings: Apple Intermediate Codec
8. I increase quality to 100%
9. Frame size: 854x480
10. Frame rate boxes are both unchecked.
11. "Deinterlace video" IS checked.
12. "Field Dominance" is left at "upper field first".
13. After converting, I go back to iMovie and re-import all the clips as a new event. (Allowing me to delete all the QuickTime files, but I've been too timid to do that yet. Or I guess I could select "move" instead of "copy".)

First, is there anything blatantly that I'm doing wrong?

If not, then I have a few questions:
#5. Do I really have to export everything out of iMovie and then back in again? (Again, I stress, I'm very new to video editing.)
#9. Is this the right frame size?
#11. This took me a while to figure out. Deinterlacing makes it look much better. Is it possible to explain to me in a couple of sentences why this is?

I'm concerned that the test file size actually shrunk from 64 MB to 48 MB after converting through AIC. The new file looked noticeably better on full-screen. Seems too good to be true. Am I losing information?

I've not yet tried to export anything yet to DVD, etc. but I feel like I'm heading in the right direction. Any thoughts to the contrary?

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, to turn those DV tapes into edited DVD's I import them into iMovie, then out of iMovie (using Streamclip), then back into iMovie (to edit), then back out of iMovie again (using iDVD). Quite a gestalt.

cvw2 wrote:
I'm concerned with the number of times that a specific question in this thread is answered with the advice "buy a book". ..

I remember well, when Mr Mullen made his first appearance on this board, his sig was a direct link to his book, and most of his 'advice' was a vague murmur that he, and only he knows the truth.

now I notice a 'campaigne' of his satisfied followers customers, who testify, these 25$ are best investment since invention of warm water ...

for sure, he has knowledge and skills.
but, I do have a diff. ... attitude, how to participate in a user2user board ..

soccer rule #2:
+as long as the referee doesn't blow his whistle.. it's no foul+

Here is the reason why i don't give step by step directions from his book. It is because i did buy his book. I give enough information as I legally can without giving step by step directions as stated in his book. It is the rules of the forum to not give away information from books.

People spend their time and energy consolidating and offering advice. I don't feel its my place, so i recommend the book instead of just quoting someone else's. I will find those rules and repost.

Here is the information that makes me uncomfortable, besides, innapropriate, to give away information that people make a living from.

Material submitted must be your own work or work to which you have a license. You warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the information contained in your Submission.
License to Use Submission. By sending a Submission to the Site you agree to grant Apple a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive worldwide right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, make available to the public, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to the Submission. If you do not want to grant to Apple the rights set out above, do not send your Submission to the Site.

Now if you made a living from writing a book and giving step by step directions. How would you feel if someone just reposted the steps.

First, is there anything blatantly that I'm doing wrong?

If not, then I have a few questions:
#5. Do I really have to export everything out of iMovie and then back in again? (Again, I stress, I'm very new to video editing.)--yes. you are using a better tool to de-interlace vs imovie's de-interlacing which seems to be problematic.
#9. Is this the right frame size? 854 x480 is for 16:9 ie widescreen. I assume you are shooting widescreen vs 4:3
#11. This took me a while to figure out. Deinterlacing makes it look much better. Is it possible to explain to me in a couple of sentences why this is? It looks better for a few reasons, from what i have gathered....imovie does an awful job at de-interlacing, but also it depends on what you are viewing it on...such as a computer screen or web which looks better with as progressive. The other reason why it might look better is that imovie strips out or line doubles as it deinterlaces which reduces vertical resolution.

I'm concerned that the test file size actually shrunk from 64 MB to 48 MB after converting through AIC. The new file looked noticeably better on full-screen. Seems too good to be true. Am I losing information? To be honest, i am confused about AIC--some people say its highly compressed format...others say it not. I am confused. Steve's workflow in his book (sorry--but i need to state that) suggests a different codec to export in mpegstreamclip, but if you are happy using aic--then use it! I will go try that and compare the results and let you know, but i don't know if i have any raw DV material left. I might have to reshoot, which will take some time. I am also not sure if you are suppose to use upper field or lower field first on the dominance. Since mpegstreamclip says to use lower field for DV.

cheers

Xena Deb wrote:
If I understand correctly, the aspect ration is fine (no cropping/zooming) when you play back from the IM09 Events Browser? This problem only pops up once you put your clips from the Event Browser into the Project?

Exactly.

Thanks you! Using exactly your steps I was able to deinterlace my .dv correctly. The only problem now remains the color difference, it's somehow darker, but someone already noticed it on this thread. I shall need to go back and search for the solution.

You can make adjustments to brightness, saturation and contrast by hitting the adjustments button in streamclip.

Xena Deb wrote:

I had also heard from a friend that when he shared to iDVD his still pictures and titles came out fuzzy/blurry in comparison to what he saw in the IM09 preview window playback and was disappointed. I wonder if THAT is the dealbreaker for sharing to iDVD?

--

I've been looking for info on just this effect. It appears that whoever raised this thread from the dead did me a favor.

I've noticed that the general picture quality of the DVDs I've made has gone down slightly. One issue I've run into is that using pics from a still camera results in a weird pixellation of some areas of the photo, which I find immensely distracting. Fumbling around with different photo sizes solved some of the issues, but it isn't a standard fix. What works with one photo doesn't work with others. So I can't say, "Resize from 3300 pixels to 1500, problem solved!" Especially when you are using multiple photos in a project.

Also, some of the titles seem to render slightly blurry no matter what you do (Boogie Lights, Lens Flare), so I avoid those now. But the real annoyance is that there's just a general downgrade in picture quality when the iMovie project is burned to DVD.

Does anyone know if there is going to be an update to iMovie so we don't have to jump through hoops in order to output a decent looking DVD?

Doug

bbarzu wrote:

Xena Deb wrote:
If I understand correctly, the aspect ration is fine (no cropping/zooming) when you play back from the IM09 Events Browser? This problem only pops up once you put your clips from the Event Browser into the Project?

Exactly.

Hmmm... you have me stumped. It really should be a Project setting gone wrong then. Or maybe a setting in the iMovie (General) Preferences.

Did you try trashing the iMovie plist & Repairing Disk Permissions and STILL no luck?

Wish I could be of more help.

Please let us know how things work out though.

Deborah