[stonfiesta5]

Hello everyone, my first post, I hope someone can help......

I have had a JVC GZ-MG20 HDD Camcorder for just over a year now and im getting very annoyed with the juddery playback when transfered to the pc. On the camcorder screen the clips look ok.....but when i have transferred them to the pc, i am not happy with the quality. It only generally happens on clips where i am recording scenery, moving from left to right, even when not moving fast.....its like the camcorder cant keep up with what it should be recording. I have played around with all the settings (shutter speeds etc..) but have not had any luck. I could possibly upload a clip of what i mean tonight so you can see what i mean. Can anyone give me any advice to solve the problem?

cheers for any help.

[redsox_mark]

Because of the small size of the camcorder screen it can be hard to notice problems... I suggest watching video from the camcorder displayed on a TV to be sure the original footage is OK.

When you copy the files to the PC it is just a digital copy (or should be), so that shouldn't impact the quality. How are you copying the files, and how are you playing the files? It could be an issue with your PC not being able to keep up with the framerate during playback.

If you are doing a slow pan, you can get issues with the image stabilisation, as it is trying to keep the image still. So you move a bit and it "fights" you, trying to stabilise. Eventually it realizes you really want to move the camcorder and lets you, but this may cause a jump. But if this was the case you'd see it when viewing from the camcorder directly.

[stonfiesta5]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

I suggest watching video from the camcorder displayed on a TV to be sure the original footage is OK.

Yeah, ive done that although im happy with the general quality of the video, its just when moving recording that i get the problem.

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

When you copy the files to the PC it is just a digital copy (or should be), so that shouldn't impact the quality. How are you copying the files, and how are you playing the files? It could be an issue with your PC not being able to keep up with the framerate during playback.

i just copy the files over to the pc, when i enter them into the editing software the problem is there(when preview the video) and when the video has been put onto disk and finalised the problem is there. so Basically the problem is there at every stage. Also the Pc is definatly not the problem, i used to edit older camcorder footage on it without this occuring.

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

If you are doing a slow pan, you can get issues with the image stabilisation, as it is trying to keep the image still. So you move a bit and it "fights" you, trying to stabilise. Eventually it realizes you really want to move the camcorder and lets you, but this may cause a jump. But if this was the case you'd see it when viewing from the camcorder directly.

The problem is there whether panning slow or fast...i done a test the other day using all the different shutterspeeds possible, and it was there on every test.

cheers redsox_mark.

[redsox_mark]

Originally Posted by stonfiesta5

i just copy the files over to the pc, when i enter them into the editing software the problem is there(when preview the video) and when the video has been put onto disk and finalised the problem is there. so Basically the problem is there at every stage. Also the Pc is definatly not the problem, i used to edit older camcorder footage on it without this occuring.

But was the older camcorder footage also MPEG2? Editing/viewing MPEG2 is much more CPU intensive than DV.

It sounds like an issue with the editing software. Copying the files to the PC can't impact the quality. But when you open them in the editor the preview you see is a function of the editor, as is the rendered result (I assume you are creating a DVD?). What software are you using?

[stonfiesta5]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

But was the older camcorder footage also MPEG2? Editing/viewing MPEG2 is much more CPU intensive than DV.

It sounds like an issue with the editing software. Copying the files to the PC can't impact the quality. But when you open them in the editor the preview you see is a function of the editor, as is the rendered result (I assume you are creating a DVD?). What software are you using?

the quality in the editing sotware is (seems) exactly the same as when displayed on the TV. so i would say that its not anything to do with the pc. I have no slowdown or problems with the software.

The older camcorder footage i used to plug into the pc using the yellow(video) input and a seperate sound cable.....so it wasnt a direct file transfer.

thanks again.

[redsox_mark]

I'm confused as you have said:

when i enter them into the editing software the problem is there(when preview the video)

Then later

the quality in the editing sotware is (seems) exactly the same as when displayed on the TV. so i would say that its not anything to do with the pc

If the footage on the camcorder itself is fine then the problem has to relate to the PC or software, what else could it be?

[stonfiesta5]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

I'm confused as you have said:

when i enter them into the editing software the problem is there(when preview the video)

Then later

the quality in the editing sotware is (seems) exactly the same as when displayed on the TV. so i would say that its not anything to do with the pc

If the footage on the camcorder itself is fine then the problem has to relate to the PC or software, what else could it be?

doh!! im confused now. i try and make things clearer......

When i preview a clip on the camcorder screen there seems to be no problem.
when i connect the camcorder to the TV using the scart the problem is there
and then the problem is there every stage of editing and when finally put on dvd.

heres a funny thing though.........

when i converted the original file into Mpeg2 widescreen format.......and played on my ps3, and play the video at 1.5x speed the juddering disappears, but everything is also moving at 1.5x speed though. so its not like the video is played too slow or something.......thats just an odd thing i noticed once when i tried fast forwarding.

[redsox_mark]

Ahh.. Ok, the problem is on the original video. (I assume the reason you don't notice it on the camcorder LCD is simply down to it's small size).

Unfortunatly the MG20 isn't a very good camcorder (see this review for it's brother the MG30)
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm
It could be that this is down to the camcorder and the way it applies the compression. It is movement which challanges MPEG2 based compression.

If you haven't already you could try turning off the image stabilisation and see it that helps.

[stonfiesta5]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

Ahh.. Ok, the problem is on the original video. (I assume the reason you don't notice it on the camcorder LCD is simply down to it's small size).

Unfortunatly the MG20 isn't a very good camcorder (see this review for it's brother the MG30)
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm
It could be that this is down to the camcorder and the way it applies the compression. It is movement which challanges MPEG2 based compression.

If you haven't already you could try turning off the image stabilisation and see it that helps.

ok, i will try that image stabilisation thing tonight and see if there is a good enough improvement.......also i will still try and get a clip on tonight so you can laugh at how bad this camcorder seems to be........hey mark......wanna buy a camcorder (in a delboy voice)

cheers for that.

[stonfiesta5]

well heres the clip........cant really see the problem as much as it normally stands out.

[youtube]31wHi9dVt1w[/youtube]

[stonfiesta5]

Whoops........also forgot to mention, i done that stabilization thing.......it didnt work. Thanks again Mark.

[redsox_mark]

As you say it's hard to tell given the low quality needed for YouTube anyway...

I think it's just the camcorder, and there isn't anything you can do about it. Unless owners of this or similar models have found some settings to improve it.