HD capture movie file not clear on CS3 export to Encore
 

I have been using CS3 for a year now but have only had the need to work in HD recently as all previous work in 4:3 as per client requirements. I have recently taped 2 days of power point lectures and they are lovely and clear when captured in Premiere CS3, as are the movie clips when viewed with Windows Media Player. When they are exported however, the clarity is lost and the text I have filmed is harder to read. Is this just a result of generational change with export from the CS3 package or are there certain specs I should be entering in to my Matrox Media Encoder. I have been exporting as an Mpeg-2 for DVD. I am recording in 1440x1080 at 25fps. Thanks! Sara

The compression to mpeg-2 probably isn't helping, but be sure your bitrate for the conversion is high enough. IIRC HDV needs a converson bitrate of about 25000mbps, and if CS3's default is like the Encoder default in CS4, it defaults to too low a bitrate..../Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

Are you saying its unclear when you view it on the preview screen in Encore or your final DVD is unclear.

If it is in the preview mode I wouldnt worry about it. I dont think that preview is very high res. it is there for testing the dvd functions. Burn a dvd and see how it comes out.

Sara,

I have had much better luck with the Matrox encoder when I reduced it to 1280 X 720 widescreen best quality ntsc for DVD delivery (non-blu-ray) and used 264 for the Internet and blu-ray delivery. (I know you are in pal land so that may make a little difference)

I just looked at my Matrox media encoder for mpeg2 Pal and found the following:

1440 X 1080 25 high quality and various 1080 hdtv and one 720 possibility. I would start with hd 720 and work up to see the best balance between quality and speed.

Here is a link to a 17 second test video I did for a client:

YouTube - Matrox 1280 264 direct

When it loads it will play in standard definition. After it plays there is a HD button in the lower right hand corner and you can replay it in HD. This should give you an idea about the difference in quality you can expect. the video was shot at 1440 X 1080 and the After Effects flag ending was in 1920 X 1080 so mixing formats is no problem.

Good luck

Dave