Sony Vegas Quality

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Once again, I'm learning a new program. This time, it's Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Edition.

I've captured a bunch of clips from my Sony TRV-18. I’ve edited, applied transitions, titled, etc. I then created a DVD using Sony Architect. I played it back on a TV, a Projector, and on several computers.

The quality is horrible! (And I'm not just talking about my sucky video flying skills.) The video shudders and flickers. There is considerable video "Noise" for lack of a better term. There is some ghosting or shadows around objects. And, there seems to be little skips or missing frames. My questions for ponder are...

What might I be doing incorrect. I've seen good video using these technologies. Am I capturing wrong? Using incorrect settings or formats? Do I need to create the video file differently? Any suggestions how to clean up the video quality are appreciated. thanks....

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[Laszloimage 0]

As you descibed the problem it seems to me you have saved (rendered) your project into a well compressed file format. The "ghostly" stuff is the sign of the very high compression (maybe some kind of internet file format). The skipping frames tellig me there are problems with the frame rate as well. The TRV18 captures NTSC 30i field order "A" video. Make sure you render your project with the same settings. Also make sure you chose MPEG-2 (for DVD) with at least 4000MBS constant data rate (6 or 8000 would be better though). I'm not using Vegas so I don't know the "exact clicks" in that software, but I'm sure if you find those setting I mentioned the froblem will be fixed.
Ultimately as we know already DSE is the guru of Vegas (and other video stuff too)
-Laszlo-

[DSE 5]

Coupla things....
you SURE you rendered to MPEG 2 or perhaps it was MPEG 1?
Laszlo mentioned the important things...
You can't really capture incorrectly with Vegas, unless you're using an analog card device.

The ghosting suggests a framerate resample (bad thing), the noise suggests low compression (bad thing).

When you Make Movie, you want to choose DVD/NTSC, and the bitrate should default to 6500Mbps.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

I'll let you know how it goes. So far, I really like vegas!! I have a dozen copies for my students to work in. I'll turn them loose on it as soon as I'm up to speed. We'll see how they do on it. Thanks again for your help.

Liveiri

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[DSE 5]

If you run into some real problems and need some live training, we have a guy in Fargo, not terribly far from you.

What is the source of your vid? AVCHD, HDV, DV, MPEG camera? Importing from tape, card, or HDD?

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Source is Sony trv-18 mini dv tape.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[DSE 5]

OK, so you can't really capture this incorrectly; Vegas capture will see it's SD over firewire, and will open the correct capture settings.

Next, you'll edit/create as desired. Then to go the "Make Movie" button, and in there, select DVD, and you should be done. There is a Custom Tab there, you can set the bitrate as high as 8,500,000 Mbps. This should be as high as you want to go.
hopefully this helps you get through it.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Well, I'm baffled. (of course that doesn't take much). I'm going to attach a screen shot of one of the clips from the Media file for you to see. I think the problem is either in the video capture or the camera?? Altough when viewed on the camera or from camera to TV the quality is vrey good.

This is from a captured clip, notice the quality around the subject. This is before the rendered file.

[indyz 1]

Are you using USB to capture? If you are, you need to switch to Firewire.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Yep. I figued that out about 15 minutes ago. So, back to the drawing board.

This kept me guessing until I opened the clips in the media folder. If this was a rendering problem, those clips should have been good. They were not.

I had my students do the captures. I think they used the usb instead of the fire wire. (Although they swear up and down they used fire wire)

I'm going to recapture this weekend and completely redo the project. Bummer. But, I'm learning Vegas as a result and it was a good experience for my students.

Thanks everyone for the help. I learned alot.

and.... (in my best Swartzanator voice) I'll be back"!

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[PharmerPhil 0]

Your students didn't use USB. It is impossible to capture video from the TRV-18 using USB.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

I have several cameras available to them. I think they used one of the other (Cannon) cams....

However, it is indeed possible (in a round about sorta way) Pinnical Studio comes with a USB converter box that we have used. But, not in this case.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[PharmerPhil 0]

Quote

I think they used one of the other (Cannon) cams....

No camera (that I am aware of) will export MiniDV video over its USB port. Yes, you could theoretically use a USB/video converter, but then you still aren't capturing the video through the camera's USB port, but through its analog output ports.

[DSE 5]

Nothing exports DV over USB, nowever, a few cameras do support 640 x 480 streams, but I've yet to see one work properly.
Vegas itself only supports capture of tape media over:
-firewire
-HDMI (intensity)
-SD/HD SDI (Black Magic or AJA)

Nothing else.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

OK. Here are two pics I just took real quick...
One of the cord I was using
One of the computer using Vegas in capture mode and the TRV-19 that was in playback mode.

As you can see, Vegas is capturing this clip using a USB port???? This laptop does not have a fire wire port.

The clip will capture, but, very low quality. As experienced in my project.

Keep the feedback coming!! I'm learning tons.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[DSE 5]

and therein lies your entire problem. You're capturing using the USB port, which uses windows codecs to feed the system, and it's 360 x 240. Not good stuff.
You NEED a firewire port to do a direct Xfer. Using Firewire/1394, the transfer is all digital, and is 720 x 480 pixels.
Vegas will capture via USB, simply because Windows will feed it, but it's not a supported format. It's a "maybe get lucky/maybe not" thing with old drivers left over from an old web-cam system Vegas once supported.

If your laptop doesn't have 1394 port on it, you'll need a PCM/CIA or Xpress card adapter. They're very inexpensive, and will give you the quality you're looking for.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

This laptop doesn't have a USB. But, my lab at school has 34 brand new machines that do. I'll just have the kids re-capture on Monday. They love doing anything with Skydiving footage. They learn, I reap the bennifit.

Now it's just a question of wether to completely re-edit, or try to drop in the new clips??

Anyway, thanks for all the help!! = : }

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[DSE 5]

you can easily replace the USB-captured clips with the Firewire captured clips, in the Vegas Media Pool/Project Media window.
Put all the old files in one folder (don't delete). then when Vegas asks to search for the old files, point it to the new file location. All files should replace in one shot.