Resampling Quality

[rckowal]

Preferences>Edit tab says:

Resampling quality: Specifies the quality for all effects and clips. A higher quality results in better video reproduction but takes longer to render.

I want to get the best possible video quality on a DVD Movie that is less than 30 minutes. If it matters, the capture file is a 90 minute avi. To be sure, should I select "Best"? Can some one estimate how long it might take to render?

[Black Lab]

That is impossible for us to guess. It is all a matter of computer power, and what and how much (filters, audio, transitions, etc.) is being rendered, and to what format.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

As you want the best quality, which I assume that goes for everybody, then the render times should not be an issue.

As Jeff said it really depends on your pc¡¦s efficiency/power, along with the project content¡K¡K¡K

As for the Best option, to be sure - yes select it.

But I am still unsure what effect this option has, whether it relates to playback or rendering.
I¡¦ve never run any tests to compare these settings, but I normally select Best.

Rendering times¡Xwell my first pc took 12 times to render Avi to Mpeg 2.¡XI just went to bed---
Now with a quad processor I get about if not better than real time.

Rendering Avi to Avi (same as first clip) is super fast.

Its all relative¡K¡K.

[rckowal]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Trevor, I also find the VS manual & online "help" to be vague about resampling quality. That's why I posted here, hoping that some one might know what this really means.

Rendering time is not a concern - I am just curious. I didn't mean to expect an accurate "guesstimate" how long rendering would take - just a order of magnitude - even +/- 100 percent is more than good enough. My PC has substantial horsepower but it's only a dual core Pentium 4 with 500MB HDD & 1GB RAM. The few occasions when I've rendered to MPEG 2 it took a bit more than "real time" with resampling set to better.

[Black Lab]

The few occasions when I've rendered to MPEG 2 it took a bit more than "real time" with resampling set to better.

I would not expect that changing the setting to "best" would substantially affect the rendering time.

[rckowal]

The few occasions when I've rendered to MPEG 2 it took a bit more than "real time" with resampling set to better.

I would not expect that changing the setting to "best" would substantially affect the rendering time.

Jeff,

Thanks! Any idea whether this just works for playback - or rendering - or bothl?

[rckowal]

I just found this "Googling". It's a really enlightening discussion of VS resampling quality.
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3099 ... ideoStudio

[Black Lab]

An enlightening discussion? I didn't see where anyone really had an answer.

[Ron P.]

This is one setting that's been around forever, and for some reason the description/explanation has been dropped from the help or user guides of the more recent versions. I dug up the manual/user guide for VS9, and it has the following explanation:

Resampling Quality
Specifies the quality for all effects and clips. A higher quality results in better video reproduction but takes longer to render. Choose Best if you are preparing for final output. Choose Good for fastest operation.

Now that should make it as clear as mud...

[rckowal]

An enlightening discussion? I didn't see where anyone really had an answer.

As I read it, there will probably be little or no difference if the video is sharp to begin with or you're not changing aspect ratio, but they didn't talk about avi to mpeg 2 rendering..

[philip_l]

Hi

Preferences>Edit tab says:

Resampling quality: Specifies the quality for all effects and clips. A higher quality results in better video reproduction but takes longer to render.

I want to get the best possible video quality on a DVD Movie that is less than 30 minutes. If it matters, the capture file is a 90 minute avi. To be sure, should I select "Best"? Can some one estimate how long it might take to render?

Some tips for the best quality to DVD:

1) Choose create video file then Custom.
2) Save as type: MPEG Files
3) Click options
4) General tab, make sure field order is correct
5) Compression tab, set quality to 100.
6) Set audio to Dolby Digital and 256 bit rate for stereo.
7) Set video data rate to Contant and 9800 (VBR doesn't improve picture quality, it only helps cram more on the disc so if your total video is less than an hour long you can use the maximum bitrate at constant).

Click OK and encode. Then use the clip to create a DVD, make sure the check box is set to "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" to avoid re-encoding it.

Some observations I have found:

Even doing the above you are not getting the best settings from encoding to DVD in VideoStudio, it is possible to enable hidden settings and up the quality a little bit.

If going from HD to SD the resizing that VideoStudio uses is crude and so the end result can look worse than you might expect.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Phil

[rckowal]

Hi Phil, Thanks for replying.

Wow, that's really great insight that I've never seen mentioned before (but I'm still in the Newb class so what do I know?).

Please help me to understand:

4) General tab, make sure field order is correct

. What would you set it to?

Even doing the above you are not getting the best settings from encoding to DVD in VideoStudio, it is possible to enable hidden settings and up the quality a little bit.

Can you expand on this a bit?

No HD capability here so that's of no concern (yet).

[philip_l]

Hi

For field order it needs to match the source.

Typically for DV video this is lower field, most other things are upper field. If you right click the video icon shown in VideoStudio of imported clips and select properties it will tell you the field order, make sure your output matches, otherwise this can cause some nasty jagged edges and odd motion when played on a TV.

The advanced settings gives you access to the Mainconcept (the company who supplies the DVD encoding to Corel) property pages. This is rather complex but can be used to up the settings a little bit. It really is only of use when trying to get more than hours worth onto a DVD. You need to edit an ini file to get these settings. I'll see if I can find a link to some instructions.

Regards

Phil

[rckowal]

Phil,

Thanks to your helpful advice, it's all coming together for me. Being a retired Engineer, I have a passion for understanding how things work when I start to use them.

I've re-read the manual, then tinkered with the project settings options, so their functions are becoming much clearer now.

I don't anticipate much need for tweaking home movies longer than an hour. Most people fall asleep in less than 30 minutes of watching them so I'll try to keep them shorter than that.

[Black Lab]

Some tips for the best quality to DVD:

1) Choose create video file then Custom.
2) Save as type: MPEG Files
3) Click options
4) General tab, make sure field order is correct
5) Compression tab, set quality to 100.
6) Set audio to Dolby Digital and 256 bit rate for stereo.
7) Set video data rate to Contant and 9800 (VBR doesn't improve picture quality, it only helps cram more on the disc so if your total video is less than an hour long you can use the maximum bitrate at constant).

Some of these are really of personal choice and should not be taken as absolute. Yes, the field order must match the source video. As for compression, show me the quality difference between the default setting of 70 and a setting of 100. As I stated, using Dolby Digital is just personal preference. LPCM works too. As for a bit rate of 9800, that's fine if your video is less than an hour long. Any longer and that bitrate must be reduced to enable the video to fit on the disc. Also, some DVD players may choke on a bit rate that high.