VideoStudio 8 MPEG Conversion Problem - Blocky.

KugarWeb · Post by **KugarWeb** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:50 pm

Hi guys,
I recently made some video footage of a game just recording from my LCD Monitor, which I don't believe is the part causing the problem. Anyway, when exporting as a video file such as WMV, MPEG or RealVideo. I have tried fiddling with some settings but it hasn't made any difference, which I have now restored to default. The problem seems to mainly occur when some form of movement appears on screen, which it registers as fuzzy. Also, I have not only experienced this when recording from my screen but also when recording a music performance and then converting the high quality video into one of these formats.

Possibly the easiest way to explain it is to show you some video footage. The MPEG and WMV formats are pretty much the same in quality, although I think the MPEG footage does seem to be worse (e.g. more blocks when movement occurs). Below is a website link where you can download some short videos I have made for a personal project I am undertaking. Just use the usual method of Right Click and Save Target As on each of them...the video formats that is.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.pgr3movie.com/downloads.html

Camcorder: Sony DCR-HC85E on Tripod.
Software: Ulead VideoStudio 8

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:13 pm

By shooting this footage using a camcorder pointing at an LCD monitor, you are already restricted by the quality of the original footage and the resolution quality of the monitor. Every error will be magnified in the capture process. What settings are you using at the capture stage? I would try both full resolution AVI and MPEG2 capture. Also, how powerful is your video card? This kind of footage needs all the help it can get.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:54 pm

It is also not clear to me what you mean by an LCD monitor. Is it in fact a TV? Or is it a monitor on a laptop computer or a stand-alone LCD/TFT monitor for a desktop computer? If it is in fact a computer monitor of either sort, then I would presume the TV can only play on the computer via a TV capture card. And if that is the case, why not capture direct from the card?

EDIT: After writing the foregoing, I decided to go to your website to take a look at the video. I use Firefox. However, on right clicking either of the TV images that appear, Firefox does not have any setting which equates to the Internet Explorer 'Save Target As". So in fact it would only download the image on the TV screen as 'Download.jpg'!! So, somewhat unwillingly, I opened IE6 on the page. 'Save Target As' was there, of course, but it was greyed out. So in the end I was not able to view your files. I wonder if others have similar problems?

KugarWeb · Post by **KugarWeb** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:00 pm

Ken Berry wrote:It is also not clear to me what you mean by an LCD monitor. Is it in fact a TV? Or is it a monitor on a laptop computer or a stand-alone LCD/TFT monitor for a desktop computer? If it is in fact a computer monitor of either sort, then I would presume the TV can only play on the computer via a TV capture card. And if that is the case, why not capture direct from the card?

EDIT: After writing the foregoing, I decided to go to your website to take a look at the video. I use Firefox. However, on right clicking either of the TV images that appear, Firefox does not have any setting which equates to the Internet Explorer 'Save Target As". So in fact it would only download the image on the TV screen as 'Download.jpg'!! So, somewhat unwillingly, I opened IE6 on the page. 'Save Target As' was there, of course, but it was greyed out. So in the end I was not able to view your files. I wonder if others have similar problems?

Hi,
The way in which my system is setup, I cannot actually record directly from the card anyway. Also, it is not only happening with my monitor but also when converting any sort of recording, including captured from my MiniDV camcorder. The images which are being captured are from my Xbox 360 which is connected via VGA to my LCD Monitor. Also, when downloading the video files, the links are connected according to the filetype text, not the TV Screens, perhaps I should have made that clearer on the website itself

Anyway, to download the video files, please right click and Save Target As.. from Windows Media Player, Realplayer or MPEG text.

By shooting this footage using a camcorder pointing at an LCD monitor, you are already restricted by the quality of the original footage and the resolution quality of the monitor. Every error will be magnified in the capture process. What settings are you using at the capture stage? I would try both full resolution AVI and MPEG2 capture. Also, how powerful is your video card? This kind of footage needs all the help it can get.

There are no problems with the actual capture settings because I have put these onto DVD which has converted and plays on computer screens and DVD players without any problems. The problem only seems to occur when I convert captured files into any video file to save to my computer. I will try and find some other examples as LCD has lines which are recorded anyway. I'll will post these up in a few minutes

The video card I am using is a ATi Radeon X600 Series, 256MB.

KugarWeb · Post by **KugarWeb** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:20 pm

Well, I've converted the following video into PAL MPEG1 352x288 running at 25 frames per second. This is the default setting. Sorry the video isn't of something more interesting, but it's the only one I could find in a rush.

Right Click and Save Target As...

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:10 pm

The strobeing and fuzzy edges during horizontal movement indicate that this is a field order problem -- if the video came from a DV camcorder, then you should use lower-field first when creating your MPEG file.

There are some digital camcorders that record to DVD in MPEG2 format, and they typically use upper-field first. I'm not sure what you use/have, but you must preserve the original field order throughout your workflow -- if you don't, then the two interlaced fields are displayed out of sequence, and the symptoms above are the result.

KugarWeb · Post by **KugarWeb** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:39 pm

So what your saying is, that when I convert to MPEG, it's making the lines more noticeable, and that's why I don't appear to see them when writing the captured files straight to DVD?
Is it just a click of a button to tell the software to get lower fields first or will I need to test video a few times to find the perfect field?

I am using a Sony DCR-HC85E MiniDV camcorder to record the files.

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:02 pm

There are only two choices for interlaced video, upper field first and lower field first.

All MiniDV camcorders are lower field first, and this is the setting to use when you create your output file using Share -> Create Video File. Always click on the Options button to confirm that the settings are what you expect them to be.

That being said, I am assuming you are transferring the video from the camcorder to your computer digitally using Firewire. If you are capturing in analog format using S-Video or composite (I noticed in your signature that your system has that), then you may have to use upper field first -- this depends on your capture card. However, if you ARE using analog capture, you are losing quality by doing two unnecessary conversions, from digital (in the camcorder) to analog (on the video cable) back to digital (in your computer). If you use Firewire, it's a binary data transfer with absolutely no loss in quality.

KugarWeb · Post by **KugarWeb** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:11 pm

That being said, I am assuming you are transferring the video from the camcorder to your computer digitally using Firewire. If you are capturing in analog format using S-Video or composite (I noticed in your signature that your system has that), then you may have to use upper field first -- this depends on your capture card. However, if you ARE using analog capture, you are losing quality by doing two unnecessary conversions, from digital (in the camcorder) to analog (on the video cable) back to digital (in your computer). If you use Firewire, it's a binary data transfer with absolutely no loss in quality.

Yeah I did think about that actually, but figured it was cheaper and easier to use FireWire

Cheers for the advice.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:13 pm

I have now managed to download the files on your site and the guitar one as well (which I rather liked -- but then again, I am an oldie with fond memories of Telstar!) I have to say that I agree strongly with Torsten that it is a field order problem.

I also agree with you that the mpeg-1 is of worse quality than the WMV one. But that is probably to be expected since mpeg-1 is only of moderate quality at the best of times, while WMV is capable of better things. (I did not try to download the Real Audio version as I don't like the invasiveness of their programs and so won't allow it on my computers...)

By the way, is there any way to link your Xbox to your mini-DV camera and either record directly to it; then download the files to your computer as DV format over firewire? Or even perhaps use the camera as a pass-through device which transmits a DV signal from the Xbox to the computer? You will need to consult the camera manual as to the latter. As to the former, I note from the mpeg file that it is 25 fps, and so PAL. If you are in Europe, then for taxation reasons, a lot of video cameras sold there have DV-out (i.e. transmitting a DV signal out of the camera to the computer) but not DV-in (i.e. allowing the camera to receive a signal either from the computer or another source...). So in fact recording from the Xbox to the camera might not in fact be possible depending on where you live and what your camera is capable of doing.

As for the website links, I would also encourage you to change the wording slightly. Something along these lines: "To save a file to your computer, if you are using Internet Explorer, then right click on the link below to your preferred media format (Windows Media Player, Real Player or MPEG) and select 'Save Target As...'. If you are using Firefox, then right click the link and select 'Open Link in New Window' which will then ask you to save it to a folder of your choosing." You might also want to either convert those links to more obvious looking buttons, or at least put a box around each to highlight that they are meant to be buttons. Even changing the colour from black would help in this regard.

I would also drop the reference '...or logo to the left of each section', simply because, as I have said, all that allows is to save the image in the TV screen, rather than a video (whether using IE or Firefox).