Smart Render

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:19 pm

Has anyone rendered to MPEG2 DVD NTSC in VS10 using 'smart render' and then burnt to DVD and had the end result in sync; ie accurate to the frame? Previous versions of Video Studio failed miserably at doing this, and I'm curious if Ulead ever made this work. You'd need a 'talking head' in order to check the frame accuracy and the file would need to be of a reasonable length. I don't currently have any footage loaded in VS that is conducive to testing this.

Thanks,

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:34 pm

It may be worth looking at this link:
output to dvd - shokking display

In particular the response by Ken Berry
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 7002#67002

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:46 pm

Thanks, Steve. Just for a laugh, I'm going to capture about 30 minutes of talking head MPEG2 lip sync footage at the weekend, then I'll edit it and render it to MPEG2 DVD using 'smart render' and see how good or bad a job VS10 makes of it. Should be fun!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:52 pm

PLEASE post the results here. I am sure quite a few of us would like to hear how this experiment goes. Thank you.

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:02 pm

Will do, Steve.

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:15 pm

I found an hour to do this tonight, Steve, rather than at the weekend. The results are as follows:

I captured just under 15 minutes of 'talking head' footage using the ADS DVD XPRESS DX2 capture device. The capture settings were NTSC DVD MPEG2 720 X 480 with uncompressed LPCM audio. The file captured perfectly and was frame accurate with lip sync. I then opened my template DVD project file which has identical settings to the captured footage and I started placing various sections of the 15 minute clip into the timeline with some crossfades between them and a fade up from black level at the start. My project was 15 minutes and 4 seconds long. Next I went to 'create video file' using the 'same as project properties' setting. I created two video files with the only difference between them being that on one 'perform smart render' was checked and it wasn't checked on the other. The end result was that the file with no smart render checked was frame perfect from the first frame to the last, and the file with smart render checked was seconds out of sync from the start of the file and was unstable playing back the file at the points where the transitions were.

Conclusion: Whatever Ulead may say, Video Studio 10 will not render an MPEG 2 file stable and in sync if 'smart render' is selected and transitions are applied.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:22 pm

Terry,
That seems pretty conclusive. Many thanks for your efforts and for sharing the results with the forum

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 11:39 pm

Terry,
I wonder if it could be the ADS DVD XPRESS DX2 capture device rather than VS10+ because I have already created several hours of Mpeg2 with Smart Render enabled - that has perfect synch. (BTW, corrupt Mpeg can sometimes be healed by turning off Smart Render.)

My experience with 10+ has been very positive.
I just finished my daughter's wedding DVD, which was 55 minutes long, captured directly in VS10+ as Mpeg2 with mpeg2 audio. The video was cut in quite a few places (with frame accuracy), to remove shaky footage. No globally-acting filters were used. It had a number of transitions: fades to black, crossfades, flying flips. Music was dubbed in periodically throughout the sound track.

I created the video file for the DVD with Smart-Render enabled at 720x480, variable bit rate 9800Kbps, Frame-based, Dolby audio and burned the DVD with 10+.

The DVD plays with perfect audio-video synch from start to finish. So was the 40 minute reception DVD.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:58 am

John -- as a matter of personal interest only, why did you use Frame Based?

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:21 am

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:34 am

Ken,
Field Order = Frame-Based: I deinterlaced the video because it provides much smoother pans - especially noticeable past moving vertical edges and looks better on my HDTV. The picture quality of the DVD is quite good, if I do say so myself.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:40 am

Thanks John. I had forgotten for the moment that you are into HD now. Still a bit beyond my means, unfortunately... and I don't even have an HDTV as yet...

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:13 am

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:39 pm Post subject:

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Terry,
I wonder if it could be the ADS DVD XPRESS DX2 capture device rather than VS10+ because I have already created several hours of Mpeg2 with Smart Render enabled - that has perfect synch. (BTW, corrupt Mpeg can sometimes be healed by turning off Smart Render.)

That's certainly possible, John, although the device comes bundled with Video Studio 9 SE and was tested using that software. But the fact that my file was unstable to the point of the time code and picture freezing at transition points leads me to believe that you are correct. I'll create a posting called ADS DX2 highlighting this problem.