poor quality video

[wadsapple]

just a quick question. I record on a mini DVR motorsport video footage and when I down load from recorder to lap top the quality is very good and crystal clear, however when I edit the video using an editing suite such as video pad or windows movie maker the quality is reduced by quite a bit. can some one suggest what is going wrong, as my you tube video's are now lacking the original quality of the source.

[Simpo Two]

Reduce the compression I'd say.

[andrewrob]

Does it let you set a bit rate or anything on those programs at all?