I have to create a series of software presentations on DVD. I am doing a video capture of my screen while speaking into a microphone and using Snag-It video capture with the Xvid MPEG-4 codec. The captured video is 1024x768 and with the Xvid codec is near perfect quality and relatively low file size. The problem comes when I convert this to DVD. Because there is a lot of text in the software and that the 1024x768 video needs to be converted to PAL DVD resolution, the resulting DVD is blurry. At worst the text is illegible, at best, it may give you a headache after a while. I have tried a few video editing packages to convert the video to DVD. Pinnical Studio does the worst job with whatever codec I choose. Don't know why. Very blurry. Corel Movie Factory 7 does a much better job, but still not as good as I believe it can be. Can anyone recommend software that can convert a largely text based (software GUI) video to DVD while keeping the output as "crisp"/sharp as possible? Any particular settings I need to be looking at? Should I be initially captuing the video with xvid codec? Any help much appreciated. Thanks.
Are you capturing at 25 fps? Many times programs of this type default to a low framerate. Can you try a more PAL/DVD friendly 720 X 576?
MysticE, I have tried 5, 15, and 25 fps. They all produced more or less the same result. Why do you think capturing at 25 fps should improve the result? Because the encoder doesn't have to "fill the blanks" when it converts to 25 fps? Unfortunately the software I am demonstrating runs at a minimum of 1024x768. If I make it smaller I will end up with scrollbars on the GUI and missing menus, items, etc.
Perhaps HCenc, and you can play about with the AQ setting to see if it improves the situation. Another option would be to post a short clip of the source and let the afterdawn regulars take a look.