Pan & zoom on still photos flicker when burned to DVD

[dougsci]

I have VideoStudio 23.3.0.646 (64 bit Ultimate) 2020 and have worked with it for over 7 months.
I have created a number of projects combining still shots and some video clips. In many of the still shots I have used the Pan & Zoom tool to pan around the still photo. When the project is previewed in VideoStudio from the VSP file, everything looks great.
If however I use the Share feature from VideoStudio to create a DVD from the VSP files, the resulting DVD shows a lot of flickering during the many of the photos where I used pan and zoom.
I have also tried creating MOV or MPEG-4 files from these projects - these files play fine on a computer with no flicker.
I am new to video editing but I expect that the flicker may to do with frame rates?

I have created both MOV and MPEG-4 files with different frame rates as well as Full Frame, UFF and LFF encoding to see if anything would work. Nothing does.
I have also tried using these same MPEG-4 files to create a DVD with MyStudio MyDVD (program that came with VideoStudio) with the same results.
I would like to be able to burn these projects onto a DVD that has a menu as I have a number of slide/video projects from a trip I recently took.
As on now, my only option is to save each individual VSP project to MPEG-4 or MOV files individually and then have to play them individually.

I would welcome any ideas.

[tletter]

In many of the still shots I have used the Pan & Zoom tool to pan around the still photo. ... VideoStudio to create a DVD from the VSP files, the resulting DVD shows a lot of flickering during the many of the photos where I used pan and zoom.

What are your project properties, e.g. 720x480, 60i, 8Mbps?

If you are either zooming or panning excessively, then the O/P is not going to be smooth unless the fps is commensurate. An easy test would be to simply disable P&Z, and see if you still get flickering in your O/P.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[Ken Berry]

A DVD uses mpeg-2 format, and VS will convert any other format in the project to mpeg-2 during the Share process if it is in another format. So one thought is to convert any other format first to mpeg-2 before putting it in the project and thus, before applying pan and zoom. I would convert it in a third party converter like Handbrake before inserting it in VS. If your original video is mp4, check whether it is Upper Field First or Frame Based and make sure the mpeg-2 has that same field order.

You would need to make sure the mpeg-2 properties are within normal DVD parameters. So if you think your eventual DVD project is going to be an hour or less long, use a bitrate no higher than 8000 kbps. Use 6000 kbps if it's going to be a 90 minute project; and 4000 kbps for a 2 hour project. The frame size would need to be 720 x 480 for an NTSC project and 720 x 576 for PAL. You would normally use Upper Field First, but frame based would also be acceptable. I would use LPCM audio which is standard .wav format, though dual channel Dolby should also be acceptable if you have Win 10.

Then when you burn the DVD, you would need to make sure the properties are the same as those of your mpeg-2. To make it easier when you are in the burning module, make sure you have ticked the box beside "Do not convert compliant mpeg" which, from memory, is in the little Settings icon in the bottom left of the burning screen.

By the way, if your original video is mp4, it is likely these days to be high definition. If so, you will lose a lot of quality in down-converting it to DVD-compatible mpeg-2.

[dougsci]

Hello Ken,
Thank you for your quick reply to my post. I finally was able to get time to return to this project.

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I basically have created a number of slideshows (25 in total of about 3000+ images) of still photos in VS. I have applied Pan & Zoom to some sill pictures in a number of these in an attempt to make the slideshows more interesting and not just a presentation of static images. I have also included a few video clips among the still photos. I have not used the pan & zoom tool on any of the video clips. The flickering problem is with the still photos with pan & zoom, not any of the videos.

I do not know how VS studio renders the pan & zoom on a still picture. I assume it converts it into a video clip with the frame moving over the original still image. It is with these "clips" that the problem occurs. I preview the project in VS and do not see any flickering. I always appears when these projects are converted and burned to a DVD.

I think it may be some mismatch with the original frame rate and scan type that is used by VS to create the pan & zoom effect and converting it to the format for the DVD. I see no way to control frame rate, etc in the VS project for Pan & Zoom and assume it is fixed and built into VS. I do not know what the rates are.

When I just use the built-in share tool to create a DVD directly from a VS project, the flickering is clearly seen, especially with images where there are hard vertical or horizontal edges in the image such as lettering and signs.

In an attempt to correct this problem, I created files from the projects using the share tools. I was successful creating files in a number of formats,a t deterrent frame speeds. scan rendering (full frame, UFF, LFF) in various formats - mpeg-4 and MOV - these showed no flickering when played back directly.
However when they were used to create a DVD the flickering was very visible in some (not all) if the sill shots that had pan & zoom.

At your suggestion, I did create some files in mpeg-2 format and again these resulting files when played directly showed little to no flickering. They, while poorer in image quality, when used to create DVDs the flickering came back. I have spent countless hours trying to solve this problem and am ready to abandon trying to create DVDs from these shows. I had hoped to be able to use the menus available on DVDs to help with the playback.

I originally selected VS since it had this pan & zoom tool and I thought it would make my slideshows much more interesting. It have been very frustrating that this seems so difficult to achieve.
Thank you again for your time and thoughts. I do not know what else to do.

[Ken Berry]

OK -- since these are mainly slideshows of still images, you would need to use Frame Based as the field order when making the DVD. If possible, while assembling a slideshow, make the project properties match what you want to produce. So for a PAL slideshow, it would be 720 x 576, 25 fps, Frame Based, bitrate of 8000 kbps for a 1 hour or less video, and LPCM audio.

When you have finished editing, go to Share and choose DVD as the output. Now have a look at the screenshot I have attached. In the bottom left corner of the Share screen the second icon has a cogwheel on it. That's where the first green arrow is pointing. Click that, and the second box appears over. That shows the project/disc properties in the top window. But normally it would include Upper Field First, which you need to change to Frame Based. So click on 'Change MPEG settings, and the third box appears. Go to where the red arrow is pointing and choose Frame Based. Then OK out, build your menu and burn.

Hopefully this time there will be no flickering...

[lata]

Dougsci
Can you give a little more info regarding the Project Properties
With your project open and showing on the timelines go to Settings - Project Properties (Alt + Enter)
What do you see in the properties panel to the right? You can copy and paste those details to your post.
The frame rates here should be for NTSC 29.97fps as that rate has to be used to burn a DVD.

[dougsci]

Hello Trevor & Ken,
Thank you very much for your help.
Yes the problem was with a mismatch between my project settings and the conversion to DVD settings. As you pointed out matching the frame rates and how the frames are displayed (Full, UFF or LFF) were key to eliminating the flickering issues. Once these were set to the same settings most of the flickering cleared up.
Alas, as you mentioned as a possibility at the start of our conversation Ken, the resolution suffered quite a bit from the higher resolution MPEG-4s I was working with.

The whole reason I wanted to put these clips of slideshows with a few video clips on DVD so that they could utilize the menu features of DVD. I wanted to send some DVDs to friends so they could play them on their DVD players and watch on their TVs. But since the resulting resolutions were so fizzy this would not work. Many of the slides are of art work and resolution is important.
I have resigned myself to make MPEG-4's of these shows and then people can view them via their computers. Many can then cast them onto larger screens for viewing if they wish.

Again thank you for all your help and suggestions. I learned much more about video and all the various formats than I originally knew.
Regards,
Doug