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Hello,

Once again I have an issue that I can't find specifically addressed. We just completed a video and have found a few issues that I'd like to resolve. These issues seem to be exagerated by burning to DVD. The video consists of many clips from multiple sources, all capture as DV-avi video. No issues with any the video clips either during edit nor during playback. They are all sharp and clear. There are several issues around the jpegs inserted into the project. All Jpegs were taken with a Canon S5-IS 8mp camera (3264 x 2448). All pictures appear sharp and clear when viewed at any magnification on the computer monitor in any other program. They are also perfectly clear and sharp when displayed on a 65¡¨ large screen TV when the camera is connected directly to the TV. I am rendering the project to MPG 24 bit, 720 x 480, 29.97fps, frame based, DVD NTSC, 4:3, variable video data rate, audio rate 256kbps, no fields, and ¡§do not convert MPEG complaint¡¨ selected.

1) When a picture is included as a full screen picture it is sharp when editing. Once the project has been rendered, it appears slight fuzzy (out of focus) when the rendered video is played back in Videostudio or when played back after burning to a DVD. Why does a perfect picture become fuzzy ¡V even on the small VS edit/playback window? I do note that when you view the properties of the imported Jpegs, the pixel count is always the same (3264 x 2448) however the DPI could be 72, 180 or 320. I never did anything conciously to change that either so why does that differ? Doesn¡¦t seem to effect the clarity issues.

2) Whe a picture or series of pictures are used on a single screen as portions of the screen rahter than full screen, or are zoomed a bit and used in a partial screen window, the fuzzy issues above appears aggravated even further. On top if that, the pics develop a slight pixelated appearance even with ¡§white¡¨ or ¡§blank¡¨ pixels inserted randomly throughout the picture. Once again the issue gets worse when rendered and even worse when burned to a DVD as described above regardless of the playback device. SO ¡V how do you preserve the quality of the picture in VS? This really renders the inclusion of still pics a mess. There must be something I¡¦m missing here¡K.

Thanks,

Todd

I'm not sure why VS is producing the fuzziness on your images, other than VS is very poor at resizing. I have a camera very similar to your Canon, a Kodak Easyshare P880. Most of the time I only shoot images at 5MP, not 8. I have inserted them as is into VS and applied Pan/Zoom and do not have the fuzzy issue or pixelation.

You might try resizing your images using your photo editing program. If you are going to use any zooming, then don't resize down to the actual frame size of the video. For some details on this please read This Post by Steve.

I do notice that if I do not have the anti-flickering filter enabled in the preferences, I will get some flickering while panning on images that have horizontal lines. I also have Keep Aspect Ratio checked in the Preferences. That way I don't have to worry about the images being distorted.

You don't state at what bitrate you're using, just Variable. It needs to be at the highest possible. Generally I use 8000kbps. Of course you need to keep in mind the duration of your video, but it should allow for about 1 hr to fit onto a SL, SD DVD.

I use a lot of pictures in my videos, and I had the fuzziness problem. The cure for me was to turn off the "anti-flicker filter" in Preferences/Edit. Distorting an image will reduce sharpness, so keep the original aspect ratio.

As for "instant" playback in VS, images will look fuzzier than in the rendered project displayed by a dedicated media player.

backert1 wrote:
1) When a picture is included as a full screen picture it is sharp when editing. Once the project has been rendered, it appears slight fuzzy (out of focus) when the rendered video is played back in Videostudio or when played back after burning to a DVD.

I have the same problem and am trying to work it out. The stragne thing is if the project is rendered as AVCHD the pictures look fine. The same exact project as DVD compliant has the jaggies.

I'll try the anti-flicker thing and see if it helps.

Any luck with finding a setting or some other trick to eliminate the DVD jaggies on stills?

I'm wondering if there is any answer to the JPEG jaggies problem.

I'm using VS X2 and have the same problem. It appears more pronounced on the overlay tracks, and the main timeline track seems okay.

The Project Playback under share shows perfectly. An AVCHD rendering shows good JPEG quality, but the overlay track jpegs are squatty (I'm outputting to 4:3 for display on a projector). MPEG rendering has a poor JPEG quality on the overlay tracks and is worse when burned to DVD.]

Interestingly some of the JPEGs on the overlay tracks are very good, while some make the person unrecognizable.

I've tried anti-flickering off and on, and all pics are original aspect, just resizing (which may be part of the problem).

Any updates on this or ideas are appreciated. It's a wedding video for the reception and the wedding is this weekend. It's been completed in project form for awhile now, but I'm having difficulties with the final product.

Thanks.

Larry

Larry,

We still haven't found anything new to fix this and I'm really frustrated to the point of dumping VS and getting ..... gasp - a MAC with imovie. I just happened to be in an apple store to ask the "experts' a iTouch connnectivity question and saw a staff person demoing iMovie on a big screen. I watched for a few minutes as he assembled a move from a collection of pics and video. Guess what - no issues with jaggies or white pixels in the pictures no matter what he did to them zooming or resizing in the video - they still looked perfect even on the 120" screen that was used for dosplay. in fact, if I recall correctly, the effects even show in the placeeholders in the timeline so you really know what is the vidoe will look like without having to remember what you did to each one... Now, I'm a PC all the way but this has really got me thinking becuase I am frustrated!

Todd

Well, I don't think it's related to VS or PCs in general. I sometimes use pics in my projects. I usually do nothing to them. I don't resize them, I don't touch them up. Just import them straight from the camera. I have never had a problem with fuzziness, pixelation, etc.

I'm sorry I can't provide an answer to your problem.

Thanks for the repies. I was afraid that might be the answer. I'm presently on hold with Corel support hoping for something I've overlooked.

It just seems odd that some are good and some are not, with the worst ones being on the 2 overlay tracks I'm using.

I downloaded the trial version and was immediately baffled by the fuzzy (out of focus) photos, while the video's were fine. I had set my preferences to MPEG2, 4:3, bitrate of 15000, Frame-based, resampling=Best.

Then I noticed that if I clicked on SHARE and tried to create a video file, only AVCHD would produce clear photos (but only at 16:9). For any other selection (NTSC DVD at 4:3), Videostudio ignored my preferences settings and always did Lower Field First, and bitrates of about 6000 variable.

Then I noticed the option "Same as project settings" and when I selected this, it created a perfect slideshow (MPEG2 file) with no fuzzyness.

Now, all I have to solve is my problem of a Videostudio crash (no warnings, no errors, just closes) when I try to write to DVD unstead of a file. Really, not too big of an issue for me since I can use NERO to write the MGEG created by Videostudio to DVD.

One thing you might want to try is to make sure Resampling Quality is set to Best in Preferences.

philakid wrote:Then I noticed the option "Same as project settings" and when I selected this, it created a perfect slideshow (MPEG2 file) with no fuzzyness.

I'm using VS X2 and am looking for the "Same as project setting" option. Where do I find that?

And Black Lab, where do I find 'Best' setting for Resampling Qualities? I found an option for quality that is set at 70% and moved it to 100% and set to 2 pass (same page). Is that where the Resampling settings are?

Thanks,

Larry

As I stated, the Resampling Quality box is located in Preferences, specifically the Edit tab.

As for the Same As Project Settings option, when you click Share>Create Video File it is at the top of the list.

I looked all over for those two settings and coudn't find them. Yep, they're there. Thanks. I'll try that.