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Poor video transfer quality

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bosshu17
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Posted March 14, 2013 at 8:50PM

I am new to transferring from camcorder to pc so would be grateful for any help..

I bought one of those Video-2-PC kits off e-bay which is basically a USB cable and tutorial video. I managed to transfer from the camcorder (Sony Handycam TRV460E) and produce a DVD but have to say, was very disappointed with the results. The video quality was not as good as the original.

I since learned that firewire was the way forward and should expect like-for-like results.

I installed a firewire card (Startech 1394A) into my Dell Inspiron 660s tower. The results are pretty much the same as with the USB cable.

I have read that I should get a perfect digital picture using firewire.

Can anybody point me in the right direction please. I have spent about £60 already and am getting nowhere fast......

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Ian in Northampton

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Posted March 14, 2013 at 8:59PM

What was it that was poor about the quality? Fuzzy? Washed out colour? Jerky movement? And: I assume what you're importing is an .avi file? What are you using (software) to transcode it to DVD format?

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Ian in Northampton

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Posted March 14, 2013 at 9:00PM

By the way: historically, in the days of USB 1.0, Firewire was indeed superior to USB. With USB 2.0, that's now much less the case.

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woodchip

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Posted March 14, 2013 at 9:10PM

Its not the Wire, its the Camera and software used that makes for a good Video

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bosshu17

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Posted March 14, 2013 at 10:12PM

I'm using Arcsoft showbiz software to capture and transfer. The picture does look 'washed out' and grainy. The results from the Sony camera on Digital8 tapes before transferring are really outstanding so there is something not right. The cable used to transfer from camera is a dv to firewire.

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woodchip

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Posted March 14, 2013 at 11:13PM

Then Software must be Altering the file, changing it to more compressed file. So its loosing Quality

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Number six

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Posted March 15, 2013 at 1:32AM

I believe your camera records to MPEG-1 format? Your problem is likely to be in the encoding to DVD process - i.e. MPEG-1(camera) to MPEG-2(DVD).

If you can play the files can be played on your PC in good quality, but look bad when transferred to DVD, then this is definitely the case. You need to look for better DVD burning/authoring software.

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Lazarus The 2nd

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Posted March 15, 2013 at 3:27AM

Number six, I think you will find that MPEG-1 files are saved to the Memory Sticks, The Main Video is saved onto Hi8/Video8 Digital Tapes..

bosshu17, Try this little program, WinDV Click here it will make Very Large .AVI Files..

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Lazarus The 2nd

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Posted March 15, 2013 at 3:46AM

User Guide for Sony HandyCam DCR-TRV460E, Click here

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bosshu17

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Posted March 15, 2013 at 6:36AM

Many thanks for all your help. I will get back to you after your advice is implemented.

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bosshu17

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Posted March 15, 2013 at 6:44PM

Just checked a video clip I saved on Arcsoft showbiz and it is a TMS file. What does this mean and is this the reason I am getting poor results?

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