Why do movies come out so awful with Windows Movie Maker?

When I first tried it, I transferred movie from camera to computer, edited it in Windows Movie Maker, and then transferred it to DVD. Quality was awful and non-existent. I then transferred direct to DVD and the quality was perfect but doing it this way I cannot edit. Any suggestions?

Holy Crap. You did what???? Used windows movie maker to make a DVD?

Here's what you need.

Get a copy of Ulead MediaStudio Pro. Get a trial version or whatever copy that you can download. This is real editing dude!

Windows Movie Maker compresses the video so much, you get crap quality. Almost good enough for YouTube, but that's it.

Ulead has the Video Capture software that will capture video as a raw non-compressed AVI video. Then Ulead has an amazing editor that gives you real professional tools and results, so easy, even a caveman can do it.

Then you can create the MPEG-2 file. This is the standard file that all DVDs use, and any DVD movie-burning software, like NERO, can handle that.

Good Luck. You are probably compressing the video to such a great extent that the quality is virtually ruined. Windows Movie Maker only offers a VERY limited number of options for compressing your videos, so if you don't know exactly what you are doing the video will come out choppy, grainy, noisy, and/or simply horrible. I recommend using a more advanced program, such as Adobe Premiere or Avid, that will allow you to choose more compression options for output onto your computer's hard drive.