- Joined
- Dec 12, 2008
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 6
- Location
- Nova Scotia Canada
- Your Mac's Specs
- MacBook (white) 2.4Ghz 4GB RAM OSX 10.5+, iPod Touch (2G) 16GB, iSight iMac G5, iPod Nano (3G)
Recently I bought a Mac, I also bought a iPod Nano, then I bought a Touch... totally convinced that these are better machines/products and until I started in with my home movies ... I had no preference to go backdown stairs for the PC. I bought a 1TB back up drive and I am still (despite the setback) really impressed with the Mac. I am looking at getting a MacBook for work as well.
Here is the BUT.
I shoot video on my Canon Elura 90 in Mini DV tapes and have been downloading the footage to the PC and using Pinnacle Studio 9 to produce whatever file size/quality I want (and type) and burn DVD's (I might add this is old now as Pinnacle Studio is in v12!). I bought a couple upgrade keys for it and really it does a really good job (PIP) and despite the crash once in a while from the pig PC - I have no issues with it. Hey... PC's running Windows crash that is part of the fact of having Windows, and when encoding Video in reality I expected it to crash a LOT more than it does.
However - since I got the Mac (iSight 17" G5 @ 1.85GHz and 2.5 GB Ram) I have not done any video on it - been too busy - so last week I started to transfer three 1hr tapes to the Mac, shot in widescreen (not HD).
(I beleive the iMovie and iDVD version is 06, I have not upgraded the Mac to iLife 08.)
Transferred the raw DV without issue. Three projects in line to be edited, transitioned, etc.... a lot of work to do for sure.
Created a single 26 min movie (in iMovie) - which I would normally call a 'project', and I think Mac calls it the same. Then when I go to burn the project to the DVD - in iDVD, er.. it says you cannot because it has "not been published"...? What? I do not want to convert the file - I want to burn the DVD.... ??
So fine - I publish the project (or movie) to the media browser and that takes forever at the suggested LARGE file setting for later use on a TV. Then when I go back to iDVD and then burn it - I think it converts the file ... back?? It takes forever. (My reference to time is relating to the PC running Pinnacle).
So this happens last night and I finish the Verbaitium DVD and play it back and if looks like crap on my 52" Plasma - again this is compared to the previous DVD's that I made on the Pinnacle software on the PC. After all the work I placed into it.... I am pretty angry at being 'duped'. I thought Macs are supposed to be the Mutlimedia Best-in-Class and IF so why would they make a software package like this...? I am confused.
Really the difference in quality is quite noticable. Although I use the term 'crap' - it is just to point out my frrustration at the fact my PC does a much better job using the Studio 9 package and faster. (PC has 3GB Ram, 2.5GHz I think or 2 maybe, running Win XP SP2 and the Pinnacle Video Capture Software through the Video Card that it came with).
I then did some digging to figure out what I may have missed - in that I know this process on the Mac is converting the file twice(?) - has to be - to be taking this long... and in the Studio 9 - it does not convert anything until you finish the project and then you can convert to avi, mov, stream, or whatever - or burn a DVD directly! Boom, done.
I then set the video quality in iDVD to "Professionial" and remade the DVD in iDVD. Maybe marginally better, but I do not think so.
This Canon Elura 90 DV I have takes remarkable footage in full light - not so much in darker settings, and the video it produces is CLEAR. Studio 9 on the PC produces this one-to-one in the final project and on the Mac in the iMovie/iDVD combo it looses a great deal of the quality, as it looks compressed. This compression may be good for most devices that are showing a smaller resolution, but the .mov file format that is viewable in uneditied footage of iMovie - is lost along the way when I end up with the DVD.
Does anyone have a solution as to what is up or is this 'just the way it is' for this combination on the Mac....? I have QT Pro, is there something to do to get a DVD Set Top Box playable DVD to look as good as it should?
What is/are my alternative(s) to get the quality I want using the Mac without spending a pile of money on software? (Studio 9 for the PC came with a card, cable and software for $69.00 USD). Or do I just clam up and go use the PC?
I am new to this - but again - referencing the Studio 9 experience - it certianly did what it is supposed to do without me having to log on to forums.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks guys and/or gals.....
Jared
Here is the BUT.
I shoot video on my Canon Elura 90 in Mini DV tapes and have been downloading the footage to the PC and using Pinnacle Studio 9 to produce whatever file size/quality I want (and type) and burn DVD's (I might add this is old now as Pinnacle Studio is in v12!). I bought a couple upgrade keys for it and really it does a really good job (PIP) and despite the crash once in a while from the pig PC - I have no issues with it. Hey... PC's running Windows crash that is part of the fact of having Windows, and when encoding Video in reality I expected it to crash a LOT more than it does.
However - since I got the Mac (iSight 17" G5 @ 1.85GHz and 2.5 GB Ram) I have not done any video on it - been too busy - so last week I started to transfer three 1hr tapes to the Mac, shot in widescreen (not HD).
(I beleive the iMovie and iDVD version is 06, I have not upgraded the Mac to iLife 08.)
Transferred the raw DV without issue. Three projects in line to be edited, transitioned, etc.... a lot of work to do for sure.
Created a single 26 min movie (in iMovie) - which I would normally call a 'project', and I think Mac calls it the same. Then when I go to burn the project to the DVD - in iDVD, er.. it says you cannot because it has "not been published"...? What? I do not want to convert the file - I want to burn the DVD.... ??
So fine - I publish the project (or movie) to the media browser and that takes forever at the suggested LARGE file setting for later use on a TV. Then when I go back to iDVD and then burn it - I think it converts the file ... back?? It takes forever. (My reference to time is relating to the PC running Pinnacle).
So this happens last night and I finish the Verbaitium DVD and play it back and if looks like crap on my 52" Plasma - again this is compared to the previous DVD's that I made on the Pinnacle software on the PC. After all the work I placed into it.... I am pretty angry at being 'duped'. I thought Macs are supposed to be the Mutlimedia Best-in-Class and IF so why would they make a software package like this...? I am confused.
Really the difference in quality is quite noticable. Although I use the term 'crap' - it is just to point out my frrustration at the fact my PC does a much better job using the Studio 9 package and faster. (PC has 3GB Ram, 2.5GHz I think or 2 maybe, running Win XP SP2 and the Pinnacle Video Capture Software through the Video Card that it came with).
I then did some digging to figure out what I may have missed - in that I know this process on the Mac is converting the file twice(?) - has to be - to be taking this long... and in the Studio 9 - it does not convert anything until you finish the project and then you can convert to avi, mov, stream, or whatever - or burn a DVD directly! Boom, done.
I then set the video quality in iDVD to "Professionial" and remade the DVD in iDVD. Maybe marginally better, but I do not think so.
This Canon Elura 90 DV I have takes remarkable footage in full light - not so much in darker settings, and the video it produces is CLEAR. Studio 9 on the PC produces this one-to-one in the final project and on the Mac in the iMovie/iDVD combo it looses a great deal of the quality, as it looks compressed. This compression may be good for most devices that are showing a smaller resolution, but the .mov file format that is viewable in uneditied footage of iMovie - is lost along the way when I end up with the DVD.
Does anyone have a solution as to what is up or is this 'just the way it is' for this combination on the Mac....? I have QT Pro, is there something to do to get a DVD Set Top Box playable DVD to look as good as it should?
What is/are my alternative(s) to get the quality I want using the Mac without spending a pile of money on software? (Studio 9 for the PC came with a card, cable and software for $69.00 USD). Or do I just clam up and go use the PC?
I am new to this - but again - referencing the Studio 9 experience - it certianly did what it is supposed to do without me having to log on to forums.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks guys and/or gals.....
Jared