video capture, what to use???

[alecsputnik]

i just got a new sony vaio, and i hooed my sony camcorder to it. the quality of the picture on the camcorder is great, and when i preview the picture in windows explorer it looks great, but when i capture it using windows movie maker, on the high quality setting, it sucks! what can i do to make it better, or should i use a new program, which one, if so. thanks a lot!

[Floppyman]

Hi,

Could be that windows movie maker is only capturing the video at preview quality? HTH

[alecsputnik]

i have it set to the highest quality, but it still comes out looking kinda crappy. any hints anyone?

[SonicVanguard]

MovieMaker's best quality is 320x240 @ 15 frames. Yes, that is 'crappy'.

The VAIO is designed for audio and video by it's nature. Didn't Sony include something a bit better for editing? I know DV Gate is great for capture, but I do't know enough about Sony's other software to know what they might include with a VAIO. But MovieMaker just sucks.

If they didn't, Sony just purchsed all of Sonic Foundry's Media software including ScreenBlast Movie Studio It's a very good product that has a great user interface. You could also look at Avid DV Free. It's a very stripped down version of Avid XpressDV - a prosumer editor. It's user interface isn't nearly as nice or easy as ScreenBlast Movie Studio's, but it is free.

Dave.

[Hi Ho]

A sony Vaio should come with some excellent software for capturing and editing video. If your's didn't I don't know why. I went through the same thing with Windows Movie Maker. I don't get why they would put such quality limitations on the video. It doesn't make any sense. It would be a great free program if the video capture was better.

[SonicVanguard]

Microsoft's intention with MovieMaker has always been to allow you to create multimedia videos - not full frame, full motion video. Unfortunatly, they don't come out and tell you that.

Dave.

[mystvearn]

Then use pinnacle softwares. I'm not sure you can use it on a laptop. Then there is always Adobe primier. Win movie maker=edits videos, not capture them.

[SonicVanguard]

Pinnacle Studio software is bug-happy and Premiere is a bit expensive for a home user. That's why I suggested the software I did - proven, proficient, easy-to-use (in the case of ScreenBlast) and high quality. Others in that price range include ULead's VideoStudio, Roxio's VideoWave, and of course Studio from Pinnacle. But in my opinion, ScreenBlast is the best choice for basic home editing.

Dave.

[Strider]

FYI - Sony which bought Sonic Foundry's Media flagship video editor is Vegas 4.0, which is comparable to Adobe's Premier, it's nice but a little pricey.

[SonicVanguard]

Originally posted by Strider FYI - Sony which bought Sonic Foundry's Media flagship video editor is Vegas 4.0, which is comparable to Adobe's Premier, it's nice but a little pricey.

They bought all of Sonic Foundry's media titles - including ScreenBlast Movie Studio. Which is why I suggested it - it's the old VideoFactory supped up quite a bit. And it's fairly bug free - something uncommon in consumer editors.

Dave.