Quality of Still Images in VS X2 is Dreadful!

[mitchell65]

Ron
You are a genius. Just turning off that one item solves the poblem completely. I've just created a Blu-Ray video and it is brilliant! Pray tell how you arrived at that answer.

[Bytheseaside]

Thank you Ron P.

I had tried that, but the image stayed fuzzy. However, since your posting, I realized that I hadn't tried to render the project in that mode. I didn't realize that the preview image would still be poor. I have done a quick render on the map alone & it's now lovely & sharp!!

I will now try rendering the full project with the anti-flicker un-checked.

Fingers crossed...

[Ron P.]

Ron
You are a genius. Just turning off that one item solves the poblem completely. I've just created a Blu-Ray video and it is brilliant! Pray tell how you arrived at that answer.

John,
I got there by trial & error. I looked at everything that was set in the Preferences and Project Settings. If the quality was bad then I guessed that adding any filters would not help. So the next thing to do was start removing things. I would check the quality each time to see if there was any improvement. When I removed the anti-flickering filter, the quality was back.

It didn't seem to make much difference if I was using interlaced or frame-based. However when using just images, and the clip is going to be viewed only on a PC, then framed based should be used. I might also add that if you're going to produce a DVD that is going to viewed on Progressive Scan TVs, frame based would be much better. The next item is non-square pixels. PCs use square pixels, so I set my projects accordingly.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Big thanks Ron

[mitchell65]

For what it is worth, turning off the anti flicker greatly improves all images whether they have text in them on not. Seems that if you have images in a video and you intend pan and zooming then it would seem worth while to turn off anti flicker. Will this harm video clips in the same project, though. must test this out tomorrow. Will come back here with result. Note how you got there, Ron. Job had nothing on you

[Black Lab]

So what, pray tell, does the anti-flickering filter do?

[MatthewJ]

It didn't seem to make much difference if I was using interlaced or frame-based. However when using just images, and the clip is going to be viewed only on a PC, then framed based should be used. I might also add that if you're going to produce a DVD that is going to viewed on Progressive Scan TVs, frame based would be much better. The next item is non-square pixels. PCs use square pixels, so I set my projects accordingly.

Thanks Ron! I'm going to try this out with a new render tonight. Since I'm eventually hoping to view this on a TV via a DVD disc, I'm not going to change anything except removing the anti-flicker filter and see if that fixes the problem.

I saw this is an option in the VS File-->Preferences, but I couldn't find it anywhere else (e.g. specific project preferences) so I'm hoping I applied the change correctly ... I'll see how it goes.

[MatthewJ]

Still didn't solve the problem for me -- there must be some other setting I have that differs from what you guys are using?

Again, quick background: I'm trying to create a video including still images that will ultimately be played on a TV from a DVD.

About the non-square pixel rendering -- is it possible that the images would look like crap on my PC (which has a good quality display) yet look BETTER on my TV once I burn these to DVD? The only reason I could think so is that, as I try to enlighten myself by reading all your posts on the subject, it seems that non-digital TVs (like I have) use non-square pixel rendering, while my computer monitor uses square pixel rendering ... so might it look like crap on my PC but look good on my TV?

Here are my settings:

File--->Preferences
(Edit Tab)
Apply color filter: ON
NTSC radio button enabled
Resampling quality: Best
Apply anti-flickering filte in image clips: OFF
Image resampling: Keep aspect ratio

(Capture Tab)
Captured still image save format: JPG
Image quality: 100
Image capture deinterlace

(Smart Proxy Tab)
Enable Smart Proxy: ON

File--->Project Properties
(Corel VideoStudio Tab)
TV Standard: NTSC Drop Frame 29.97 fps
Perform non-square pixel rendering: ON

(General Tab)
Data track: Audio and video
Frame rate: 29.97 fps
Frame type: Lower field first
Frame size: 720x480
Display aspect ratio: 4:3

(Compression Tab)
Media Type: NTSC DVD
Quality: 100
Video format: MPEG-2
Video data rate: 8000 kbps

When I got to render, I click "Create video file" and select the NTSC MPEG-2 from the DVD/VCD/SVCD/MPEG group.

Under the options tab for the render, I have
PerformSmart Render: ON
Perform non-square pixel rendering: ON

[mitchell65]

So what, pray tell, does the anti-flickering filter do?

It makes text in maps fuzzy

[mitchell65]

Still didn't solve the problem for me

I found that just setting the anti flicker to off didn't immediately solve the problem. I had to delete the image from the timeline, turn the anti flicker off then re-import the image and do the pan and zoom again. Can you give us the properties of one of the still images that is causing the problem. Also can you upload one of them to a site for us to download and test for you?

[Ron P.]

Here's what the User Guide says about Anti-Flicker Filter:

Apply anti-flickering filter in image clips: Reduces the flickering that
happens when using a television to view image clips.

So I wonder why it makes a difference when viewing on PCs too?

MatthewJ,
In the Preferences, try changing the Capture Still image from JPEG to BMP. This really should only apply when you're saving an image from a video frame. However I've always used BMP here, since it is a loss-less format, where JPEG is lossy. I don't know if it has any affect on all images, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Also try turning off the Non-Square Pixel rendering. A PC uses Square Pixels, so you don't want it to render your project using Non-Square Pixels. This could very easily cause distortion. However when you are ready to create your video file to be burned to a DVD, and since your TV uses non-square pixels, remember to go back in and check it..

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

If you are working with standard 16:9 and uncheck Non ¡VSquare Pixel Rendering then your video clips will distort back to approx 4:3, ie the actual frame size 720 x 480
If you are working with 4:3 video this will also distort the frame.
In both cases your video will look thinner.

[ragemaker]

Hi guys, I had posted a while back on the same problem, and one of the answers I got was that Videostudio was a video editor and designed more toward video than pictures, which if that's the case then don't give the option of putting pictures in your project. I think this is definitely something that NEEDS to be addressed in an update for sure, or at the least in their next full version of videostudio. Anyway enough of my little rant, I have figured out a workaround that worked for me. Instead of creating a DVD directly from my project I clicked on Share, then Create video file. Then I saved it as a mpeg2 file with a 1280x720 ratio (I was creating a 16:9 project), then took the mpeg 2 file and used Nero (or any other DVD burning software) and it came out just fine. It does take longer but it's the only way I could get my project to look good. Again Corel absolutely needs to address this issue!


Eric

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Eric

The Create Video File first option is something I have done since I started video editing.

I have run my problem image project through using 1280 x 720 Mpeg HD settings with the same poor results. ( a little awkward as the image is 4:3 ratio, suitable for a test though)
Only when I disable the Anti Flickering Filter does the rendered video improve in quality.

But if it works for you then that¡¦s all that counts. It will of course cause Nero to re-code the file back to DVD compatible settings prior to burning, assuming you are creating a standard dvd.