Degredation of Quality

griffinmill · #1 (**permalink**) 11-26-2009, 03:26 PM

Bit of a newbie here. (I can hear the collective groan).

I am using Sony Vegas Plat 8 and a PD150. Did my first bit of editing last night, watched the finished product and was quite happy with the result but when I went to publish it as a movie, there was some serious quality degredation in the .avi file. Is there any quick and easy fix to this? When I have uploaded the footage it looks beautiful - as sharp as anything, which is why I am quite upset about this loss in quality in the final movie file.

Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

P.S I haven't attempted to burn it to a DVD yet as I am convinced the degradation will be even worse.

Archie · #2 (**permalink**) 11-26-2009, 04:55 PM

What settings did you use to render?
Also, if you're intending to put it on DVD, you'd be better off rendering to MPEG2 rather than AVI. In Vegas, you've got more control of the render settings than DVDA (which I'm assuming you'll use to create the DVD?)

griffinmill · #3 (**permalink**) 11-26-2009, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Archie

What settings did you use to render?
Also, if you're intending to put it on DVD, you'd be better off rendering to MPEG2 rather than AVI. In Vegas, you've got more control of the render settings than DVDA (which I'm assuming you'll use to create the DVD?)

I just used the default settings to render - I am guessing there are specific render settings to achieve maximum quality.

Archie · #4 (**permalink**) 11-26-2009, 06:23 PM

Well there's lots of defaults, depending on what you want to output to.

If you're intending to burn to DVD, and in PAL land. Select MainConcept MPEG2 in file type, then in the template drop down list below, choose DVD Architect PAL video stream (If the original is 4:3). Then click on 'custom'. On the project tab, change rendering quality to Best. On the Video tab tick 'two pass'. And on the Audio tab tick 'include audio stream'. (If you want audio attached.) You should get good results from that.

If you're in NTSC country, just choose the NTSC equivalent.

TimStannard · #5 (**permalink**) 11-26-2009, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Archie

If you're intending to burn to DVD, ....

Extremely concise and clear instructions Archie.

Griffinmill - just in case this isn't obvious - don't expect the results of the files created this way to necessarily look good on a PC. These are the best settings for creating a DVD

griffinmill · #6 (**permalink**) 11-27-2009, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Archie

Well there's lots of defaults, depending on what you want to output to.

If you're intending to burn to DVD, and in PAL land. Select MainConcept MPEG2 in file type, then in the template drop down list below, choose DVD Architect PAL video stream (If the original is 4:3). Then click on 'custom'. On the project tab, change rendering quality to Best. On the Video tab tick 'two pass'. And on the Audio tab tick 'include audio stream'. (If you want audio attached.) You should get good results from that.

If you're in NTSC country, just choose the NTSC equivalent.

Thanks very much for all this brilliant advice. I have been tinkering away at the settings and have noticed that the settings for uploading your footage have a lot to do with the end product too. There is just one problem:

When I choose MainConcept MPEG2 in file type, it doesn't allow me to adjust CUSTOM (the custom button becomes inactive) which means that I cannot make further adjustments and when I render it, the video is without audio. I have noticed that the CUSTOM buttom becomes active when choosing MainConcept MPEG1, allowing me to attach audio, but - as I said - not with MPEG2. Find that quite odd...

TimStannard · #7 (**permalink**) 11-28-2009, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by griffinmill

When I choose MainConcept MPEG2 in file type, it doesn't allow me to adjust CUSTOM (the custom button becomes inactive) which means that I cannot make further adjustments and when I render it, the video is without audio. I have noticed that the CUSTOM buttom becomes active when choosing MainConcept MPEG1, allowing me to attach audio, but - as I said - not with MPEG2. Find that quite odd...

I've just tried this with my Movie Studio Platinum version 6 - you're right. It appears to be a limitation of Movie Studio.

I must admit, when I use VMS, I just used the "create DVD" button which did all this stuff automatically.

Since using Pro, I render the audio and video separately - the audio as ac3 (which VMS doesn't give me).

I suggest you do the same, but you'll have to render the audio as something other than ac3, assuming you don't have that, (I'd go for wav and let DVD Architect - or whatever you're using for your authoring - re-encode it).