Poor quality after rendering/burning

[flahagan]

This is my 7th or 8th project with the Pro X2 program and I've always been very satisfied with the finished product.

However, this time my DVD has significantly reduced still-image quality, and the picture is "stretched" into distortion on the TV.

Two things are different - I had to get a new digital camera during a trip last month when my sony cybershot broke, and we have a new HD flat-screen TV. I don't know if these are adding to my problems, but here's my info:

A 31 minute video consisting mainly of still images, transitions, pans, music and about 7 minutes of video shot with the digital camera.

Camera: Olympus fe 4020, 14 MP

Project Properties:
NTSC drop frame 29.97fps
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
lower field first
DVD - NTSC, 4:3
video data rate variable (max 8000 kbps)
LPCM Audio 48000 HZ stereo

I did Share - Create Video File - Same as project settings, saved the project file, cleared the timeline and went to Share - Create Disc.
I had Do not convert compliant MPEG-2 files checked in the settings for the burn module.

No problem with the burn process, but the finished project is disappointing. These were very high quality images in the preview window, and now they're fuzzy. Do I need to change any settings? Should I have changed the aspect ratio to 16:9, or would that really mess things up?

Thanks for your help and patience.

[Ron P.]

Does the digital camera record the video in DV (avi)? I question this because if not, the first problem I see is the field order. DV is about the only video format that uses Lower Field First. I suspect that your video clip is actually an MPEG, or MOV file, and used Frame Based. This would have an affect on the quality. Next if your Flat panel TV does not automatically adjust for the input ratio, 4:3 vs 16:9, then you may end up with your video being stretched out and squished.

Check your video clip's properties to see if they are frame based, or one of the interlaced (LFF or UFF). Then see if it records the video in widescreen (16:9) or 4:3. Since today's digital still images are high quality, having frame sizes exceeding that of most video, they may work better using a 16:9 ratio. Photos can take on any field order, the video clips however must maintain the same order they were recorded to.

[flahagan]

Ron,
It records in AVI, at 640 x 480, 30 fps. But looking at my project properties, MPEG files was selected instead of Microsoft AVI - would this account for part of the problem? In properties, it also says its lower field first.
The strange part is, the stills were more affected than the video clips. They are pretty huge images. I had to buy this camera on a cruise (mine broke) and the instructions were on the CD, which I couldn't access until I got home! I didn't even think about the size unfortunately, just started shooting to make up for lost time.
The max shots are 4288 x 3216 (JPEG), so I'm sure they far exceed the video. Should I retry using 16:9 and leave everything else the same?
Thanks,
Joyce

[flahagan]

Anyone? I'd like to try again with 16:9 ratio, but don't want to keep degrading the film quality. Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

[Ron P.]

Ok, first understand that AVI is not a video file format itself, it is a container format, a wrapper. It can hold any one of 800 different file formats, commonly called CODECs (COpression DECompression). Some the more common CODECs used with digital still cameras that record video, are MJPEG, and MOV. MJPEG is most often included in the AVI wrapper, and is not as it may appear one of the MPEG codecs. You can right-click on one of the video clips in either the timeline or library, and select Properties. It should provide you with the file format used.

So long as you do not delete your original video files, or render your project to the same name and format of that of your original source files, then there will be no degradation. You can simple start over using the same original clips. That's one of the great aspects of digital Non-linear editing, it's non-destructive. The loss in quality occurs when you render your project to a video file, then edit that new file and render again.

The frame size of 640 x 480 used, is not one accepted by the International DVD Standards, so if you're going to burn to disc (DVD), you will have a loss in quality. VS will create, out of thin air, the remaining pixels required by the DVD standards, which for NTSC areas is 740 x 480 or PAL is 756 x 480.

Since you are wanting to burn a DVD, in the Share step, select Create Video File>Custom. Then in the Create Video File dialog window, you should see MPEG files (*.mpg) in the Save as type. If so, press the Options button. In the Video Save Options on the Corel VideoStudio tab, uncheck Perform Smart Rendering, then go to the General tab, and for the Frame type select Frame Based. You will also notice that in the Frame Rate it will show 29.97 frames/second (NTSC) or if you're in a PAL area 25 frames/second. You can change that, however it must be one of those to comply with DVD standards. What this means is that since your video clip(s) are recorded at 30fps, you will have .03fps or 5fps (NTSC, PAL respectively) cut off. This is just a fact of life when using digital still cameras for video, and wanting to create video dvds.

Ok now to your 16:9 ratio issue...

On the General tab, of the Video Save Options dialog, at the very bottom you will see the Display Aspect Ratio. The default will probably be 4:3, you can change that to 16:9. Also go back to the Corel Video Studio tab, and see if the option to Perform non-square pixel rendering is checked. 4:3 ratio uses square pixels, 16:9 would use oblong pixels.

Now open the Preferences for VS, (Settings>Preferences or press F6 on your keyboard), go to the Edit tab, and try unchecking the option to apply anti-flickering filter... Then above that change the Resampling quality to Best.

In the Burn Module you will find it will have it's own Project Settings and Preferences, they are located in the lower-left. The Project settings being the Gear-looking icon. In the Project Settings, check to see if the Field type is set to No Fields, this is the same as Frame based. Also make sure there are checks beside the Do not convert compliant MPEG files and Treat MPEG audio as non-DVD compliant. To the right of the Project Settings icon (gear), you should see either 16:9 or 4:3. This is the aspect ratio settings, change it accordingly.

NOTE: After typing the above, I looked back at your first post and realized that you're using VS X2, and was referring to VS X3 when I typed this. Hopefully I've caught and changed all the differences in the 2 programs.

[flahagan]

Thanks, Ron, for the detailed instructions - exactly what I needed. I had already rendered another version in 16:9, but had left all other parameters the same, and it did well on my wide screen but had wavy edges on my regular TV.
I tried a third time following your instructions and the images were VERY clear. It also looks better on my HD TV than on the standard one. I guess during this time of technology transition, I just need to render each project in both 4:3 AND 16:9 to be safe!
Thanks for your help - I've printed out your instructions and am saving them for future projects.

[ronstew]

Ron P, please confirm that NTSC DVD resolution is 740 x 480. I am seeing 720 x 480 on my VS 11.5.

I am having trouble with my settings. Source Canon: HV30. I accidentally recorded a clip in DV, and the rest are in HDV. When I play the DVD on my HD tv, the first clip is pretty sharp, but the stuff recorded in HDV is fuzzy. You can watch it, but it is not good. Watching the source clip from the camera via HDMI shows nice, sharp video.

I removed the non-hi-def part and burned another disc, but had the same results.

I'll dig away some more before asking more questions. Except this one: Project Options: Compression. The slider setting is 70. Would moving it to 100 make a big difference?

[Trevor Andrew]

Ron P, please confirm that NTSC DVD resolution is 740 x 480. I am seeing 720 x 480 on my VS 11.5. This is correct

I am having trouble with my settings. Source Canon: HV30. I accidentally recorded a clip in DV, and the rest are in HDV. When I play the DVD on my HD tv, the first clip is pretty sharp, but the stuff recorded in HDV is fuzzy. You can watch it, but it is not good. Watching the source clip from the camera via HDMI shows nice, sharp video.

I removed the non-hi-def part and burned another disc, but had the same results.

I'll dig away some more before asking more questions. Except this one: Project Options: Compression. The slider setting is 70. Would moving it to 100 make a big difference?
If theres a problem with the video file then increasing this option will not improve things

Are you intending to create a standard DVD?
What are the original properties of the video file(right click a clip and select properties, what are they.
If you share create video file , make sure the field order is correct, same as original.

[ronstew]

Thank you, Trevor. As far as I can tell, the settings match - lower field first, and all that. I did this successfully a couple of years ago, and I can't tell what has changed.

Gosh, but troubleshooting takes a long time! I need to create a small test clip so I can try different settings with a turn-around cycle of 10 minutes instead of 2 hours.

I am at work now, so cannot post all the details. This will probably have to wait until next week. Again, thanks for the advice.

[Ron P.]

Correcting my typo of NTSC 740 x 480, it should read... 720 x 480..

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi ronstew

I don’t have the Canon: HV30.
You mention that you accidentally recorded to DV format, I did a search and found:-
“The Canon HV30 also offers a standard definition in traditional DV compression”
that’s DV-Avi format, it is Lower Field first.

Most if not all High Definition use Upper Field, I would be surprised if the camera did mix field orders but you never know.

You need to check the Field Order of both types HDV clips and DV clips.

Right click a clip in the library or timeline and select properties.
Do this for both types DV- Avi and HDV files.

What are the field orders.?

Added Info
I’m reading between the lines here and trying to make sense of it.

How did you capture your video?

You have two types of format on the same tape.

DV to start with then continues with HDV.

Did you capture the tape in one go?

Or did you capture each format separately?

If you captured in one go, then the HDV will probably resemble Dv-Avi , that’s not good and would cause this quality issue.

I think you need to capture each section of tape separately.

[Ken Berry]

Just for information, HDV cameras, including the HV30, film HDV as Upper Field First mpeg-2; whereas they film (and down-convert) DV/AVI in the standard Lower Field First normally used with that format. It also seems counter-intuitive to me, but I have the Canon HV-20, and it certainly does that.

As a footnote, I would also note that if you use either HDV or AVCHD and burn a Blu-Ray disc (Share > Create Video File > Blu-Ray) the resulting file is Lower Field First (but plays perfectly) regardless of the UFF of the original video. But that is not a VS template 'thing', but a Blu-Ray standard... Yet creating an AVCHD 'hybrid' disc produces UFF video embedded in the BDMV folder... "I just do 'em ... I don't explain 'em!"