just noticed that NERO output had a 25 fps, and the original miniDVAVI file was 29 fps. so i'll try to output with 29 fps to see if the original quality remains.
your other comment regarding image quality and speed makes sense. but i'm a little puzzled as to where to find those settings. using Nero Vision 5 and there are only 2 fielsd i need to specify when EXPORTING files on the computer:
Format: AVI, AVI (DV), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Nero Digital, Nero Digital (AVC), AVC
Profile: No compression for AVI
Type-1 , Type-2 for AVI(DV), etc.
i've tested many combinations of these formats/profiles... still not getting the same original picture quality.
Your last question about codec... not sure how to answer it. don't even know what it is. sorry about that.
this message is only the technical stuff for you to read. i will help further in a second post to make life easier for you
sorry, let me clear up. the image quality vs speed thing is probably not in nero but is found generally in most converting software including audio conversion. if you don't have an option, it's fine.
right now for codec. say for example you buy a music cd, each track on there is about 50mb unless you turn it into an mp3. the mp3 is compressed and the cd is uncompressed.
compressed makes you lose quality but lets say you choose the highest option. it'll take approximately 10mb and you would be able to listen to the music crystal clear without noticing any loss of quality.
uncompressed never losses any data and is always at it's best but large file sizes.
codecs are the compressed things. let's take an example mp3. you enCOde it into mp3 and when you play it it DECodes. hence, CO + DEC = CODEC
now relating it to your problem, avi is a video which can have either an uncompressed or compressed attribute.
the audio format wav also has uncompressed or compressed attributes but of sound.