output doesnt look good on TV

[barant]

I have a spec commercial that looks great in my full resolution quicktime movie on the computer (720x480 QT w/ no compresssion) but when i burn it to dvd (I use iDVD, not sure if that makes a diff.) and play it on my TV, it doesnt look like I hope. I dont know if there are "interlace" lines on the tv but it looks a tiny bit jagged and all of the colors pop out alot making it look very digital. Watching it on the computer though looks pretty smooth and clean. Any ideas whats going on here or is this normal. (Link the the commersial in flash format at : http://www.brandonwho.com/BudLight.htm )

[David Jimerson]

A computer screen isn't the same as a TV screen. What looks fantastic on a computer screen might look horrible on a TV, as you've seen, because a computer screen is capable of displaying much more resolution and many millions more colors.

When you edit, you need to preview out to a monitor or a TV to see what you'll really be getting.

[katapulse]

Hi David,

I'm completely new to this world, so forgive me, i have a basic question:

When you say that preview should be made on a TV screen, can this be also a flat screen TV that looks pretty much like a computer monitor? I have one with a VGA input, will this work or will the image be displayed like on the Computer screen since the input is the same?

Cheers,
Kat

[David Jimerson]

Definitely don't do it through VGA.

Most NLEs let you preview out through firewire (1394) to the camera, and then from the camera to a TV. A flat-screen TV is OK as long as you input through S-Video or the yellow composite input.

[mburgh]

You might want to compress your file into MP2 using Sorenseon or other compressors, although you will still have some problems. My compressed files look ok on a tube television, but when I use a projector or flat screen, they are far too dark. I end up lightening the file in Sorenson to improve the contrast.

[bherr]

I used iMovie and iDVD for a quick throw-together of clips and had the same result. It looked like junk with all the jaggies on a regular DVD player/TV setup, and fine on a computer's DVD playback. I haven't found the solution, unfortunately. Which NLE were you using?

[Beat Takeshi]

Most video cards have an S-video out that you can hook up to a TV as you edit.
If you are seeing bad combing on your footage on an interlaced TV then you have the wrong field order(lower field first thing).