Hi,

I'm very new to video editing etc but recently purchased a JVC GR D230 EK digital camcorder. I went for the 1.33MP CCD to ensure I got slightly better picture quality. The quality when I play it off the mini DV tape is excellent but when I transfer it to my PC and burn a video CD and play back on my 32in TV the quality is very poor!! Can I burn onto a DVD (I have a DVD + R writer) and get better quality? If so what package do I need? I have sonic my DVD? Is this okay?

Any help please??

[Kevo]

Why are you burning to CDs and not DVDs?

A video CD WILL be of pooq quality as it uses the out of date mpeg1 format which at best is on a par with VHS, so you're doing your recordings no justice at all.

Use DVD+Rs (mpeg2) with beginners software like TMPGenc DVD Author, available as a trial demo from HERE or Sonic should be OK.

[MarkE19]

Yes, you should be burning your video to DVD & not VCD. If anything, VCD is worse than VHS, so you will never get good results from them.
I don't know Sonic software, so don't know what it can/can't do. I use and would recommend Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3 as a fairly cheap and easy to use package. It will do everything including adding a menu & chapters to the DVD. It will cost you about £30 or perhaps less online and a free 30 day trial can be downloaded from www.ulead.co.uk

Mark.