CompuServe Thread

I don't have specific answers but some general advice based on your description of the problem: Firstly, make sure you don't have too high a color saturation in the image. If you have colors which are too bright (A good stopping point being about 3/4ths of the way towards maximum…) they *will* bleed, especially when recorded onto VCR. Secondly, if you aren't already in Interlaced mode, switch to it. VCRs are generally terrible at handling an odd NTSC signal, which non-interlaced mode is. Finally, use good quality tape and tape in SP mode. If you do all that you ought to end up with something relatively close to what you get on the TV direct. (But don't expect miracles. Getting a VCR to match the direct TV connection is impossible, while getting a close match is only nearly so…) –>Steve Bennett

Jim: Last year I asked the same question, i.e., my images look great on RGB, VERY good on my TV or composite monitor, and absolutely AWFUL on VHS/ S-VHS tape. That same tape records great images from camcorder or cable TV. The answer given was that 1/2" tape (VHS/S-VHS/Hi-8) is not all that great and it requires substantial care to get good results. I won't begin to tell you that I understood the technical explanation; frankly, it still seems illogical to me. However….. I started a trial and error process of defining the color combinations and computer resolutions which produced the best image on my equipment. It was a long process, but I have been able to significantly improve the quality of the images I transfer to videotape. It does have quirks (I still get better images with non-interlace). It is very time consuming (let's see, 4 resolutions times 4096 colors = lots of trials). It is not much fun. Why not try to transfer the DCTV frog image to tape. Does the color seem good, is it stable? That image looked great on my system. What about the chess set ? If those two images look good on both TV and videotape then your system would seem to be working just fine. If those two images look fine, what happens when you create an animation using the exact same palette. Do reds look better next to dark colors or light colors, what about weak pastels? I found a program like PIXMATE to be a great help because it allows tremendous global color changes to be made easily, thus easing the experimentation process. Lastly, don't set your expectations too high. My experience (admittedly limited) has been that great images require a lot of care and effort to produce on 1/2 inch videotape. – via Whap!…….from Chicago

Try to keep Color Saturation Down to 75% of max IE don't set the color sliders any higher than 200 or so that should help with the bleeding Also Red's and Blue's are the WORST offenders Ya might try adding a green tint to it and that may help as well.Yellow is also a good color for Video use.Hope things work out for ya