I have a Sony DCR-PC101 and I have recently transfered the tape onto DVD using Pinnacle 9. Now I have come to watch it on our TV which is a 40" samsung the picture is quite poor. When there is any kind of movement either by the camera or the person on the film you can quite clearly see the pixels. Is this because my camcorder resolution is poor or is it more to do with the size of the tv. Any help appreciated.

[johnjackthom]

Before blaming the camera I would view its pictures played back directly off-tape on your TV.

My first attempts at encoding MPEG and burning a DVD were very disappointing with "grain" on movement and what looked like poor/ragged interlacing.

I eventually found encoding settings in the editing software which resulted in DVD pictures virtually as good as the original tape.

Check your video settings, are you matching the capture system with the output system (i.e. is you capture and output both either PAL or NTSC?)

You can fit approx 1 hr best quality video onto a single layer dvd using studio 9, if your footage is longer than that it will be more compressed but not to the point your thread suggests.

Although the camcorder offers superior resolution to your dvd (approx 520 lines compared to 400-450) its still well above vhs and should match commercial available dvds.

thanks for the replies. The quality is the same directly off the camera and the dvd. It tells me I can fit an hour on a single layer dvd. The quality settings while capturing, editing and burning seem to be fine.