Is there a way of improving the Light or Contrast in VideoSt

[Chris Barton]

Is there a way of improving the Light or Contrast in VideoStudio 8?

I am working on an extremely important project for my daughters dance and drama club who performed "The Wiz" this weekend in Milton Keynes.

I decided to set a lot of short (15 seconds Max) AVI clips to music, but sadly several clips are of an Orchestra in the pit - Hence they are very dark images.

I have no chance of filming this again SO wondered if there was a setting or method for Increasing the Light or Contrast of these clips

I have both the original AVI clips and MPEG-2 files to work with

Anyones help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED

Yours in painful anticipation!!!!!!

Chris

[sjj1805]

Use the "Brightness and Contrast Filter"

[Ken Veal]

Hi
Try using one or more of the video filters .Select area in timeline then click the filter
tab in the options panel .Click one of the Video filters in the library and drag it on to the timeline,click customise to adjust and see how it looks before + after in the
preview window.You can apply more than one filter at a time and change their order
by clicking the up/down arrows
Regards Ken

[Chris Barton]

Gentleman you are truly awesome. I had messed about with the Video Filtering option before BUT always tried to use them by dragging them into the "Transition Effect" field - hence they did not work.

I have just dragged the "Auto Exposure" down onto the Clip itself AND GUESS WHAT - Blooming Marvelous - Perfect Contrast and now much more visible.

1 Last Question for you - If I am not being a pain or too dumb.

Could you offer your advise on the process for Saving, Rendering and then Burning DVD's

I have 5 files
1. Orchestra "Video & Photo clips" (2m.30secs) 200Mb
2. Saturday Show (2h.05mins) 5Gb
3. Sunday Show (2h.10mins) 5.2Gb
4. Photo Montage with Music (3m.30secs) 110Mb
5. Photo Montage with Music (5m.20secs) 184Mb
Total = 4hours and 20minutes or 10.7Gb

Obviously I am unable to get this on 1 Standard 4.7Gb DVD+R Disc.

I have tried speeding up the "Shows" but can really only get away with 105% before it's too obvious.

What I would like to do is make 2 discs
Both start with Clip 1, then the relevant show, followed by Clips 4 & %
But these would still be approximately 2hours and 20minutes each)

If I buy a double layer DVD recorder and relevant discs, will this help??

Yours in anticipation

Chris

[Ken Veal]

Chris,
a lot of your probs will be answered at
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=27 and wil all
be by doing a forum search as I am sure these have been
posted before.Remember the highest video bit rate of 8000
will give you about 1 hours good quality dvd, you can lower
it to get more on the disc but the quality gradually becomes
less.
hope this helps
Ken

[Chris Barton]

Kenneth et al

Thanks for all your advice, it has been truly worth while and very educational for me.

Q? 1 Last Question - I promise.
If I reduce the Data Rate from 8,000 to let's say 4,000
What real effect will this have on Picture or Audio Quality (And does it effect both?)

---
For others reading this trial and responses;

I followed Kenneth and others tips and the URL provided, which inspired me into checking lots of other web sites about my PC settings etc etc ect
Which is WELL WORTH DOING!!

What I am presently doing is writing the file with various settings being changed, to see which is suiteable but retains as much quality as possible.

What I have already noticed is that changing some settings have very little effect;

Compression PAL-DVD @70% to PAL-DVD@50% = Very little (1mb) difference
Audio Settings from 242Kbps to 192Kbps = Insignificant change

However - Changing from CBR (Constant Bir Rate) to VBR (Variable Bit Rate) and also the Maximum Data Rate from the max of 8,000 to lower ratings Really do make a difference.

I have made 3 copies so far and am just rendering the 4th

When I have completed this "I will publish the results"

Cheers
Chris

[Chris Barton]

As per the above Topic and suggestions, below is a list of settings, changes and the results of doing so;


Duration 2h.01m.38s 2h.01m.38s 2h.01m.38s 2h.01m.38s
Type of project Video only Video only Video only Video only
File Size 7.45Gb 5.4Gb 4.62Gb 3.73Gb
Entire project YES YES YES YES
Play after creating NO NO NO NO
Perform SmartRender YES YES YES YES
Perform Non-Square pixel rendering YES YES YES YES
Create Video with a Specified Duration NO NO NO NO
Apply Anti Flickering filter YES YES YES YES
Encoder Driver Ulead MPEG.Now Encoder Ulead MPEG.Now Encoder Ulead MPEG.Now Encoder Ulead MPEG.Now Encoder
Data Track Audio & Video Audio & Video Audio & Video Audio & Video
Frame Rate 25 25 25 25
Frame Type Upper Field 1st Upper Field 1st Upper Field 1st Upper Field 1st
Frame Size 720x576 720x576 720x576 720x576
Display Aspect Ratio 4:3 4:3 4:3 4:3
Media Type PAL DVD PAL DVD PAL DVD PAL DVD
Quality 70% 70% 70% 70%
Video Settings (DVD-VR Compliant) TICK TICK TICK TICK
Video Data Rate Probably VBR VBR VBR VBR
Video Data Rate 8,000 5,000 5,000 4,000
Audio Format MPEG Audio MPEG Audio MPEG Audio MPEG Audio
Audio Type Stereo Stereo Stereo Stereo
Audio Frequency N/A N/A N/A N/A
Audio Bit Rate 224Kbps 224Kbps 224Kbps 192Kbps

If this file is unreadable or ilegible - You may email me at chris.barton@hotmail.co.uk and I will send you the Excel file itself

Regards

Chris

[sjj1805]

Chris,
Why not place the excel file on your website and place a link to it
Alternatively hit the "print screen" button on your keyboard, open up an image editor (MsPaint, Photoshop, PhotoImpact etc) and paste.

Trim, resize and then save the pic on you website, then use the IMG button to display the picture.
Just a suggestion.

Steve J

[GuyL]

Q? 1 Last Question - I promise.
If I reduce the Data Rate from 8,000 to let's say 4,000
What real effect will this have on Picture or Audio Quality (And does it effect both?)

I have found that it will vary from project to project because most projects vary in video content and variable bit rates adjust themselves. The best way is to render the files using different settings and view the end result to see if it is acceptable.

This project does sound like a very special one and the investment in a couple of dual layers would be well worth it in my opinion. These are priceless memories.

[Ken Berry]

Guy is right on both counts. First, about the variability of the original quality of the input naturally being reflected in the output, and the fact that this will inevitably affect one's perceptions of the final quality. But trying to make that sound a little less than gobbledegook, even with high quality input, a DVD produced at 4000 kbps will at best have the output quality of a decent quality VHS tape. This of course may be acceptable to you. I personally find it difficult to detect any significant differences visible to the naked eye between high quality mpeg-2s burned at 8000 kbps and 6000 kbps, but there is a perceptible difference when the bitrate drops to 4000 kbps.

But that brings us to Guy's second point: if your projects are really important to you, I would be going for the higher bitrate/higher quality product, and not worrying about the extra costs involved in putting them on dual-layer DVDs or more than one single-layer discs.

(By the way, there is no point here in comparing home video with commercial DVDs, which you will see have a low bitrate, since the production process for commercial DVDs is quite different to the one we follow at home.)

AFAIK, changing the video bit rate does not affect the audio, which of course has its own bitrate which you can also vary up or down, as you know.

[Ken Veal]

Ello Chris,
From one learner to another- If u halve the VBR you will get approx twice the time on the disc but as Ken B said it depends on what quality u find acceptable.If you r using a dv cam and firewire it is usual to use lower order first and same when burning.I have seen a dvd recorded at a wedding, 2.5 hours on 4.3 disc at 2500VBR,
not too clever in places but its all in the eye of the beholder.
Ken

[Chris Barton]

All (Now too many to mention)

Words are sometimes easier said than meant, but in this case I offer you all my sincerest thanks - it has been a pleasure to hear all of your opinions, take your advice and see what happens

Sadly I will have to go with the VBR4,000 solution as at this time I do not have the budget for a Dual Layer DVD Burner.

I will also take the advice and post the results of various setting changes and the effect that it has on Quality

END OF FORUM - THANKS TO YOU ALL