Picture quality in VS vs MediaStudio

janingem · Post by **janingem** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:38 am

Hi!
Is it only features that are different between VideoStudio & MediaStudio, i.e. is the picture quality the same or does MS produce better output (mpeg2)?

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:36 am

I haven't used VS for a long time and can't say for certain but, AFAIK, MSP and VS up to version 10+ use the same MainConcept encoder for the generation of the mpeg file. Hence, there shouldn't be any noticeable differences as long as you use identical settings. VS 11 on th other hand is using a different encoder and results could well be different.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:21 am

Interestingly I find that I can do far more with MediaStudio than VideoStudio after all it is the more expensive program.
However....... I find that it is easier to convert videos for viewing on the internet with VideoStudio. I have even gone through every single setting I can find to set the MediaStudio video output to the exact same format as one I developed in VideoStudio for uploading a video onto VEOH or YouTube etc.

What I tend to do is create my video in MediaStudio and export it in the same format as the source material to a hard drive folder. I then use VideoStudio to convert it to DivX or MPEG4.

I am not saying this is the correct way to do things and I am sure that the more experienced MediaStudio Users would cringe in horror at doing things this way. I have always said that there are several ways to do something and you need to find a method that works for you. Remember also that if it works for you, it might not be the way another user does something but that is the whole point of a Web Board like this.
Experienced users can share with other users different ways of achieving the same goal.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 4:40 am

Since I do not participate in the YouTube craze and have no need for anything else than proper mpg2 for DVD creation, it never occurred to me to use anything else than MSP.

MSP 8, being a little older than VS 11 or even VS 10, it might well be that conversions to highly compressed formats may be easier to achieve in VS 11+

janingem · Post by **janingem** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:58 am

This was my first posting and I'm amazed by the quick replies, thanks.

I'm only interested in DVD/mpeg2 quality.

heinz-oz wrote:VS 11 on th other hand is using a different encoder and results could well be different.

Are we talking about improvements here or does VS 11 create worse copies than VS 10.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:25 am

As far as I am concerned, they are indistinguishable. I am also not sure about the comment that VS11 is using a different codec. It is certainly using a different capture plug-in. But that does not necessarily mean that there is a different codec involved.

That being said, I don't know for certain which mpeg-2 codec VS1 *is* using -- though I agree with Heinz's comment that previous versions used the MainConcept mpeg-2 codec. And I for one had no trouble with that, or for that matter with the one used in VS11/11.5. I get quite excellent results. And after all, it all depends really on the quality of the original video!! If its rubbish, then no amount of good codecs is going to change the situation...

janingem · Post by **janingem** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:29 am

Ken Berry wrote:It is certainly using a different capture plug-in.<cut> And after all, it all depends really on the quality of the original video!!

The quality of the video depends also on the capture plug-in. Is the one in VS bad compared to MS? Or is that a reason to chose MS?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:51 am

The quality of captures with VS11, to me, is indistinguishable from that of its predecessor. The new plug-in (an InterVideo one) had some problems with capturing DV format from analogue source material, though that has largely been corrected by the 6 November patch.

But digital DV captured via Firewire was, I repeat, indistinguishable from that captured using the previous plug-in. And the DV codec used by both Windows Movie Maker (which I assume you are referring to as MS) and VS is indeed the MS one installed with Windows.

The current plug-in is also the same used for all other formats, and in turn is dependent on codecs already installed or installed by VS. That is why I think the codec is the important element. The plug-in just determines whether the codec is used properly and well enough...

janingem · Post by **janingem** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:01 pm

Ken Berry wrote:But digital DV captured via Firewire was, I repeat, indistinguishable from that captured using the previous plug-in. And the DV codec used by both Windows Movie Maker (which I assume you are referring to as MS) and VS is indeed the MS one installed with Windows.

With MS I meant MediaStudio, sorry for not being clear enough. I'm interested in the difference between MediaStudio 8 (8.00.0028) and VideoStudio 11. I'm not sure if that is what you refer to as previous versions or if it is VS before ver 11? MediaStudio is more advanced but I was thinking that VideoStudio as a newer product has improved so that VS is enough.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:50 pm

Ah! Sorry for the confusion!

We usually refer to Media Studio (Pro) as MSP here...

Yes, I mean that (standard) video captured with the single InterVideo capture plug-in in VS11 looks, to me at least, identical in quality, to video captured with the variety of capture plug-ins used in previous versions of Video Studio. (I don't yet have a high def camera to capture from -- only a high def TV capture card, and it uses a format [.tp] which VS and MSP cannot "see" until it is converted with another program to mpeg-2. But that means I cannot comment on the performance of the VS11 InterVideo capture plug-in for HD capture...)

I don't know for certain exactly which capture plug-ins were used with MSP, but suspect they would not be much different, if at all, from those used in VS versions prior to VS11.

As for the sufficiency of VS11/11.5 over MSP, as I understand it, the question is moot if you are using Vista since MSP may not function under Vista. In particular, it has been my understanding that the Direct Show capture plug-in (used by VS in VS10 and previous versions, and of course other video editing programs) does not function properly if at all under Vista (thank you M$!) So if you have Vista or are planning to move over to it, MSP has already gone the way of the dodo...

And if that were not enough, Corel has also decided to ditch it as a product into the bargain...