XAVC: bad render of animation (image sequence)

[laurentje]

Hello
I have a Sony AX53-camcorder which records XAVC-files(.mp4) with bitrate 50Mbs, 50fps. My idea was to edit these clips in a project with the same properties in VSX10. Beside the clips from my camera I must also insert an animation of about 25": a image sequence, made with Blender (1250pictures). So far so good. But, the render was not. The render of clips from the camera was ok, but the render of the image sequence was terrible.
Then I choose a proper XAVC-profile of VSx10: 20Mbps. The result is better, but there were still artifacts when playing on my computer in the standard player (Movies & TV) and with MPC-HC-player. You can download the file here: https://rolandvl.stackstorage.com/s/EXMEhqME44kvv2a
The only possibility I can see now is to downgrade to AVCHD, but these are .m2ts-files. And I do not like these.

[lata]

Hi

What is the resolution of your xavc video, are they 4K

Your images, 1250 images I assume they are in sequence, what size are the images? Width v Height.
Being the same resolution as the video file may be the better option.
Larger images added to the timeline have the resolution reduced to same as project settings, this reduces quality. Not sure if that have been addressed with 2018?

We can use Video Studio to “Insert Photo for Timelapse/scrobe”
Choose Keep as 1 and Frame duration as 1 frame
Each image will be inserted to timeline with a 1 frame duration, render that to Same as Project Settings, which should be same as your xavs video.

I cannot comment on Blender, not used that, maybe it does a better job rendering images than VS

I have no problems using mts type video but then my camcorder records to MTS.
You are best using the format that your camcorder uses. (.mp4)

[laurentje]

The images are png-pictures 1920x1080 (the same as the video resolution).

I have them inserted following "Insert Photo for Timelapse/scrobe", as you described.

And yes I prefer also to use .mp4(XAVC) as my camcorder produces this format. Bit with this high bitrate the animation clip gives severe artifacts (zie file in download-link).

[lata]

Hi

I did download the sample earlier, maybe I should have commented.
For me it looks good, quite impressed with the map and route details.
The text looks clear with no jagged edges, the plane and jeep are clear / good quality
I do not see any artefacts and no pixelization.

The video is using 50P, there does not appear to be any duplicate or missing frames which gives a smooth playback.
I only played back on the PC at full screen (1680 x 1050), I do not have a full HD screen.
Using Windows Media Player and VLC media player also looked ok?

Maybe others on the forum can download the sample

Video properties
MPEG-4 Files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 50 fps
Frame-based
H.264 High Profile Video: 20000 Kbps, 16:9
48000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo
MPEG AAC Audio: 192 Kbps

[laurentje]

I have tested further with the following players:

Movies & TV: NOK
Photos: NOK
MPC-HC: NOK
Windows Media Player: NOK
iTunes: NOK
VLC player: OK

TV-set: OK

NOK means that there are some artifacts (kind of ghosting), around Amritsar with the jeep and with the plane around Delhi (flying from Amritsar).
iTunes-player played only some 4" and then stops.

OK: no problem on TV-set (Samsung) or VLC-player on pc.

[Ken Berry]

NOK means that there are some artifacts (kind of ghosting), around Amritsar with the jeep and with the plane around Delhi (flying from Amritsar).

I certainly get the same very noticeably playing the clip with VLC on my Philips 32" 1920 x 1080 monitor. I wouldn't exactly call it ghosting around Amritsar. I played it back a few times and could drag the head of the play line manually and slowly with the mouse. It seemed as though each frame of the jeep turning was flickering for a microsecond, combining to make the turn -- when viewed at normal speed -- look flickery and blocky, though there is also a white blocky outline around the jeep.

The plane around Delhi was definitely wonky. It looked almost as though it crashed and partly disappeared! The plane gets flickery when its nose is about 1 cm away from Delhi. Flickering continues and most of the plane becomes transparent but blocky until it gets over Delhi and turns to the south-west. Then it becomes instantly whole again.

The rest of the sequence was fine, and like Trevor, I was impressed by the image quality.

[lata]

Confused, I play the video and it looks ok, I do not see the problem with the plane over Delhi, nor the problem when the jeep turns, it looks ok
I have converted to WMV, looks s bit pixilated, then converted to AVCHD, looks ok, good quality?
I do not see any “fakery and blocky” when viewed
Strange….
If I pause at Delhi the use keyboard “F” and “D” I can move frame for frame and all looks ok.

I think this is a media player playback issue, the video file being ok.

laurentje said “OK: no problem on TV-set (Samsung) or VLC-player on pc.” Seems to indicate the file is ok.

[Ken Berry]

As I said above, I was using VLC Player on my PC which now has a new 32" full HD monitor. Played at normal speed, something seems to happen at both Amritsar and Delhi but it is very quick. It's only when I drag the VLC cursor slowly that I see the effects I described above.

I initially had difficulty playing the clip in VS 2018 -- which crashed just as the plane reached Amritsar and before the jeep appeared. That's why I only described the VLC experience.

I've just put the clip back in VS 2018 again, and dragged the cursor slowly. This time VS did not crash. And surprisingly, there was nothing visible which went wrong either with the Amritsar jeep or the Delhi plane! The VS preview screen is of course small, even on a 32" screen. But there is not even a flicker, much less a block at those instants.

EDIT: I rendered the clip into another mp4 in VS using exactly the same properties apart from the XAVC codec. The resulting video plays smoothly throughout and in excellent quality, both in VS and VLC.

FURTHER EDIT: The original XAVC clip plays fine, with no errors, in Win 10's Film & TV app as well as Windows Media Player. So there is obviously some glitch in VLC which causes those errors I see. Very strange since VLC normally plays just about anything well.