Looks better on the tv

S

SinJinQLB

Member
I noticed that most of the footage I record looks better when I simply connect the camcorder and playback via standard A/V cables on the tv (standard definition tv from about 5 years ago) than when I capture it on the computer and start editing it. Does this sound right to anyone? I would think it would look just as good, if not better, on my computer, since my computer is brand new with a great graphics card... as compared to the 5 year old tv...

Or is it because the tv plays the raw video files, whereas when I capture it on the computer it's converting it to a digital file and therefore one generation degraded?
 
One generation is hardly noticeable. Your graphics card has little or nothing to do with this, your monitor and it's calibration does. A proper editing setup needs an output monitor that matches the final delivery (like a TV) in addition to computer monitors, if you did you'd see the same results coming straight out of your NLE. There might be more that I or someone else will think of later, but that's pretty good for a just waking up answer.

[edit] Try this sometime: Capture, edit, capture back to tape and play that tape on the TV through the camera. That should prove that it's what you watch it on.
 
Hmm, yeah that makes sense. I need to get an output monitor for both editing and also while I'm recording. The LCD display on the camera is so small I can never tell if the image in perfect focus or not.
 
SinJinQLB said:
Or is it because the tv plays the raw video files, whereas when I capture it on the computer it's converting it to a digital file and therefore one generation degraded?
Click to expand...

Cassius said:
One generation is hardly noticeable.
Click to expand...
There is no "generation" in the digital world. The computer is not "converting it to a digital file," since the DVX records digital to tape. It's all 1s and 0s. Period. The 1s and 0s are simply transferred from tape to hard drive.

Now, once you start adding effects, your computer may re-compress the DV stream (rendering), which will affect your end product.

As for your viewing woes, Cassius at least headed in the right direction. It's your computer monitor and not the actual video that you are dealing with here. I don't know what OS or NLE you're working with, but in the Mac world the desktop color reproduction isn't accurate to video and Final Cut's color space is a proxy... both lead to really bad picture on the desktop when it comes to critical monitoring. Quicktime Player is even worse. But none of those will show you what your video actually looks like.

You need to have a calibrated production monitor hooked up to your capture deck/camera, and you should monitor your video there during your edit. And in the DV world, audio follows video, so whatever source you use to monitor video should also be used to monitor audio.
 
Ok let me ask you this then - if my final method of delivery is Youtube, and only Youtube, then do I not need to worry about what it looks like on any other output other than a computer monitor? Should I just try to get it as good looking on my computer monitor, since everyone will be viewing it through a computer monitor?
 
SinJinQLB said:
Ok let me ask you this then - if my final method of delivery is Youtube, and only Youtube, then do I not need to worry about what it looks like on any other output other than a computer monitor? Should I just try to get it as good looking on my computer monitor, since everyone will be viewing it through a computer monitor?
Click to expand...

There's a law of diminishing returns at play here. YouTube compression is not going to be nice to your signal, which you will already have compressed a little bit to upload, and it can expose problems that would otherwise be subtle or hardly noticeable. Get your signal to the best specs you can, so that there's less apparent damage done in compression for Internet.

And the truth is, just because you think you've gotten it looking good on your particular computer and with your particular NLE doesn't mean that it will look the best for everyone else watching via the Intertubes.

And hang on to full-rez copies of your edited projects. Who knows? You may want to make a DVD of it some day.
 
C2V said:
There is no "generation" in the digital world.
Click to expand...

This is true; I used the OP's wording to refer to encoding, which or may or may not have happened when he viewed it. It's important to note both that video is encoded in at least slightly lossy formats in almost every situation, and that the NLE may scale down the quality of the image for enhanced playback, even without effects being added in depending on the settings.
 
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