Highest Quality Settings When Using No Captured Video

[susantexas1]

Ulead Friends,

I'm utilizing the boxed, full version Video Studio 9 program w/all updates (on a Dell XPS 500GB HD / 2GB memory / superior nVidia dedicated graphics machine) to put together a short promotional project for a neighbor's small business. The project consists of inserted .jpg still images, text and VS9 program-included / default video and audio clips only (no captured video).

My aim with the finished product is to:

1) Burn direct from VS9 onto DVD for playback on computers and TVs / DVD players, and separately, to

2) Convert the project to a Flash file (utilizing Swishvideo, a product recommended on this board - thank you!), then burn the Flash file to CD, for clients needing the ability to click in the presentation itself and be taken directly to a web page. (BTW, I'll use Swish Studio to accomplish the Flash file burn to CD)

When producing a Video Studio 9 project devoid of any 'captured' material, what would be the absolute highest quality and correct settings, please, to use for:

* Project Settings while editing (Edit file format? Perform non-square pixel rendering? Frame type & size? Display aspect ratio? Two-pass encode? Audio format & type? Etc.)

* Create Video File settings, for saving (Save as Type? Perform SmartRender? Two-pass encode? Etc.)

* Burn (Create Disc) settings for playback on CD/DVD (Perform non-square pixed rendering? Resume all confirmation dialog boxes? Clear cache? Frame type & size? Etc.)

* Burn settings for playback on PC (VCD)

I have, of course read through all the recommended procedures related to project / saving / burn settings; however, to be fair most everything discussed refers to projects containing captured video. Clear setting recommendations for highest quality output when utilizing only VS9 program-included materials + a few inserted still images would be helpful for me (and perhaps others?).

Finally, regarding the VS9 video file conversion to Flash, would someone be willing to provide me simple, clear step-by-step instructions about how to program Swishvideo / Swish Studio for highest quality settings during the conversion to Flash (Swishvideo) and burn to CD (Swish Studio)? Currently, there is a substantial loss of quality when I convert my VS9 video to Flash that I don't know how to remedy.

Someone suggested, "try creating an uncompressed DV .avi file, then have Swish resize it 50%" but I confess I don't know what that means. Which Swish product would I have resize the file, and how?

Many thanks in advance for suggestions.

Sincerely,
Susan in Texas

[Ron P.]

Hi Susan,

So you became a Swisher..,

I'm going to attempt to answer as many questions as I can.

1) Burn direct from VS9 onto DVD for playback on computers and TVs / DVD players, and separately, to

The only difference would be having a Field Order of Upper or Lower for analogue or digital video clips, that would be playing over the TV. Frame-Based is used primarily for video clips that are going to be viewed on a PC. Now comes a question of your content. Since it is going to be composed of images and Default video then the capture method need not be considered. However the format does. The video clips included with VS9 are largely MPEG-1. They are of lower quality then MPEG-2.

Code: Select all

MPEG-1 Video, 24 bits, 352 x 240, 4:3

. Those are going to re-encoded in order to produce a DVD. There probably will be some quality loss. The down side is that due to the low quality to start with, the quality loss will probably be noticable. There are some AVI clips and it would be better to use those in your production.

2) Convert the project to a Flash file (utilizing Swishvideo, a product recommended on this board - thank you!), then burn the Flash file to CD, for clients needing the ability to click in the presentation itself and be taken directly to a web page. (BTW, I'll use Swish Studio to accomplish the Flash file burn to CD)

For what you are going to do, this seems like a good approach.

Project Settings ie, Project Properties, should match the properties of your video clips. However if you are going to have images, while it can be done, you should create a seperate video file for them. The reason being is that your images should not be interlaced, and Frame based to get the best quality. Going down the line here.. Perform non-square pixel rendering should be checked when you are creating your video files. The Two-pass encoding is only useful when using a VBR (Variable Bit Rate). On the first past VS analyzes the video for the fastest and slowest movements. The higher bit rate will be assigned to the fastest and the lower to the slowest, like static images. I would go with the CBR (Constant Bit Rate) and ignore the 2-pass encode. Your Audio Format should be WAV files, and the video file created should be either LPCM audio, Stereo 4800khz, or Dolby AC3. Now a problem you may run into when converting to flash format using Swish is the audio. Swish likes the Lame mp3 codec, while VS does not.

Creating your video files, they should of course be DVD compatible. Given that, the Save as Type is answered. Check the Smart Render, however there have been recent reponses where it was found that Smart Render was somewhat dumb, and would cause some problems re-encoding MPEGs. Two-pass is answered above..

When you burn to disc, I would first opt to Create DVD Folders. This way you can check the finished product using Ulead's (or another) DVD player. If everything went well, you can then burn the DVD folders to disc.

The Resume all confirmation... is to reactivate warnings that you may have checked the box that says Don't show me this again.

Frame size for DVDs should be 720 x 480, Frame Rate:29.97fps, 4:3 (aspect ratio), Frame Type depends on what your project properties were, which if you recall should match your video clips. So for analogue video it should be Upper Field First, Digital Video (DV) Lower Field First, and finally for disks that are to be played on PCs and Image Slideshows--Frame Based.

For VCD, which you should opt for SVCD, the settings are about the same except they are MPEG-1, and the Frame Size is smaller. When creating video files for these, select a template and go with it.

Now the Swish things.. I wish I could provide you with a step by step tutorial on this. However I don't own Swishvideo or Studio (yet). Your best bet is to wander over to the Swishzone support forums. There are forums for both products. Look around and don't be afraid to post questions. That forum has the same degree of Pros hanging out there, that are found here.

Hope that helps ya'

Ron P.

[susantexas1]

Thank you for the detailed and great info, Ron. I really, really appreciate your taking the time to respond so helpfully

I confess I am just LOST over at the Swish forums! And, unlike our aimed-at-the-total-beginner Ulead product tutorials, Swish doesn't provide much beyond the Help file that comes with each product, instead referring even licensed users like me to the different product forums.

My experience of the Swish forums is that they're way too advanced for a total beginner like me. I usually don't even understand the lingo they're using, and can rarely find topics related to my specific questions. I feel as though I speak English in a forum where everyone else is speaking a foreign language, tee hee

I will, however, take your suggestion to go ahead and post my Swish-based questions there, even if all I speak is plain English! I've only done it once, which is how I came to purchase Swish Studio after already owning Swishvideo. My one and only responder made the suggestion, though with no instruction on steps to make it work, here I still sit with my VS9-rendered video file converted in Swishvideo to a Flash file, but unsure how to proceed in Swish Studio to get it in high quality onto CD.

Assuming I do learn the basics I'm on the war path for I'll be sure to post them on our forum, in case there are other VS users who may find the products and info compatible and useful.

Thanks, again.

Susan in Texas