Premiere Pro DVD Quality

[ian-in-northampton]

Hi guys. I've searched the site but can't quite find what I'm looking for. It's probably there, so if anyone wants to direct me, that's be great.

I'm capturing VHS home movies via a Canopus ADVC-55 (I was, until last week, using a Belkin 'dongle' to do the AD conversion, but wasn't happy with the quality, so upgraded to the ADVC-55). I'm capturing, editing and exporting to DVD using Premiere Pro.

My problem is that the quality of the resulting DVD is very disappointing. When I compare it with the original VHS, the image is soft rather than sharp; it lacks detail; there is some 'blooming' of the colour; and mostly, the colours are much less vibrant than in the original. I think I can also discern a small amount of judder that's been introduced into pans and zooms.

I'm using all of Premiere Pro's 'default' options: I haven't changed anything for capture (other than specifying PAL and the audio rate) and I haven't changed anything for the export to DVD function.

I've looked at the captured .avi files and, to me (difficult to compare AB with the original VHS, but...) they look to be of excellent quality.

So, my question is: can anyone help me with what I'm doing wrong (or could be doing better) that's resulting in this suboptimal quality.

Fyi, system is a 2GHz P4, 512MB with a fully defragged 80GB drive for capturing.

Many thanks in anticipation. Cheers, Ian.

[Capmaster]

Sounds like your capture bitrate is too low. The jerkiness is a dead giveaway for a low bitrate setting.

What is it set at now? Are you using VBR or CBR? Always use VBR.

You want to use something in the range of 5000 Kbps avg. 9800 peak. Also, experiment with turning off the input filter. Somewhere in the capture setup it's likely to have an option called "Input is VCR" or "Input is VHS". THis is a noise filter that usually gives the capture a softening effect. It works very well if it's designed right, but many are heavy handed and the effect tends to be similar to a defocus.

But ...try changing the bitrate first. See if that doesn't clear up the problem.

[ian-in-northampton]

Capmaster: very many thanks. I'l need to check out the capture rate setting - I can't do it here from work, so it'll be a 'this evening' job. I suppose you don't know where I can check this/change this in Premiere Pro? Something that interested me - I may even have read it here - is that, on the project in question, I currently have over an hour of footage on the DVD with about 1GB to spare - whereas I've read somewhere that, at maximum capture bit rate, I should expect the resulting files to get me no more than an hour on the DVD. Does that make sense to you? And, pardon my ignorance: am I right in thinking that CBR = Constant Bit rate, VBR = Variable Bit Rate? What does VBR give me? Again, many thanks. I feel I may be getting somewhere here...

[ian-in-northampton]

Capmaster: I just realized. I have a copy of PPro on my desktop here (I read the help file in quiet moments...). I looked at the manual and can find no reference to changing the bit rate setting for capture. Plenty of opportunities, it seems, to change the bit rate on transferring to DVD, but nothing on the capture. Would that surpise you in a high end program like PPro? Or did I misunderstand what you meant by 'Capture'? Sorry to be dense...

[Capmaster]

Capmaster: very many thanks. I'l need to check out the capture rate setting - I can't do it here from work, so it'll be a 'this evening' job. I suppose you don't know where I can check this/change this in Premiere Pro? Something that interested me - I may even have read it here - is that, on the project in question, I currently have over an hour of footage on the DVD with about 1GB to spare - whereas I've read somewhere that, at maximum capture bit rate, I should expect the resulting files to get me no more than an hour on the DVD. Does that make sense to you? And, pardon my ignorance: am I right in thinking that CBR = Constant Bit rate, VBR = Variable Bit Rate? What does VBR give me? Again, many thanks. I feel I may be getting somewhere here...

Your capture device (card or USB box) will have somewhere to set the parameters for the capture like I, B and P frames, average bitrate, peak bitrate, format of video, audio format (LPCM, AC3, MP2). Always choose DVD MPEG2 for the video format.

Yes. CBR = Constant bitrate. This is the type of capture used for MPEG1 (VCD). VBR is variable bitrate and is the only sensible way to capture for DVD creation. VBR allows the bitrate to slow on static scenes (like sitting at a table and talking) and ramps up the bitrate for action scenes (explosions, flashing lights, car chases, crowd scenes with movement). The net effect is that you get a much higher quality capture in less space because it intelligently changes the bitrate as the demand changes.

You would be wise to choose a compressed audio for your capture, like AC3 or MP2 (MPEG1 Layer 2). Remember - always use 48KHz for the audio when capturing for DVD

The capture settings are probably set in the codec options in Premier Pro. It will probably be eeasier to find on the machine that has the capture hardware installed, and is probably grayed out or not even available to see on a machine with just PPro and no cap hardware. Check it when you get home. The settings are there somewhere. Maybe someone who uses PPro (I don't) can advise you on that

While you're waiting, check out the "How To" section ..and the "Capture" information in the upper left. Lots of good stuff there you will need to know.

[ian-in-northampton]

Capmaster: very many thanks for taking the time - I so much appreciate it. The capture box - the ADVC-55 - comes entirely without software or drivers - it's about the most plug & play thing I've met. (Just fyi, in case you're not familiar with it, it's connected to the PC via a Firewire cable/card). It has a series of dip switches, but none for setting capture bit rate. So, I'm hoping you're right when you say that PPro will give me some options that aren't there when it doesn't detect a capture device. Else - I guess I'm looking at reducing the length of my movie and increasing the bit rate at which it encodes to DVD....

[tdan]

I also have the ADVC-50. It does A/D in hardware and gives you DV directly to the firewire port. You can't adjust the capture settings. I would suspect that your quality issues are in the MPEG encoding and would look at optimizing the settings there.

[ian-in-northampton]

Thanks tdan. Do you output to DVD, and do you use PPro? I know I'm asking the earth here... But if 'yes', what settings do you use? I assume you're happy with what your ADVC-50 is doing for you?

[Capmaster]

I also have the ADVC-50. It does A/D in hardware and gives you DV directly to the firewire port. You can't adjust the capture settings. I would suspect that your quality issues are in the MPEG encoding and would look at optimizing the settings there.

Ahhh, that explains it. I thought he was hardware capturing analog to MPEG2. He's actually capping DV and software encoding. Thanks for clearing that up.

Then you definitely need to change your encoding bitrate, as that is the only control you have. Bump it up there. Try a small sample at one-pass encode and another at two-pass encode. Usually two-pass gives you much better results, but you may choose a faster encoding time and one-pass. It's all in how you perceive it.

[ian-in-northampton]

Thanks again Capmaster. Right: in about three hours - i.e. when I'm done with the PC for the evening - I'll be setting this off again. I note that it looks like, the last time I encoded a DVD, the setting I chose was PAL Progressive 4x3 High Quality 4MB VBR 2 pass. I have a feeling that progressive may have been a wrong choice. Would that have given rise to the symptoms I described? Looking more closely, I see I have an option for PAL DV 4x3 High Quality 4MB VBR 2 pass (or 7MB CBR 1 pass). Does the former sound right? Or is there something else I should be looking for?

[Capmaster]

Thanks again Capmaster. Right: in about three hours - i.e. when I'm done with the PC for the evening - I'll be setting this off again. I note that it looks like, the last time I encoded a DVD, the setting I chose was PAL Progressive 4x3 High Quality 4MB VBR 2 pass. I have a feeling that progressive may have been a wrong choice. Would that have given rise to the symptoms I described? Looking more closely, I see I have an option for PAL DV 4x3 High Quality 4MB VBR 2 pass (or 7MB CBR 1 pass). Does the former sound right? Or is there something else I should be looking for?

Yeah. Normal DVD playing requires "Interlaced" and not "Progressive". Try that setting, and leave it always on VBR. 4Mbps ought to get you in the ballpark with quality once you have the interlacing option selected.

Progressive is for PC viewing and for progressive player/TV combinations. The vast majority of TV equipment out there is interlaced, with each frame consisting of an "A" field and every other line makes up the "B" field. The player and TV display first one, then the other, so your eye gets the impression of smoothness and continuity.

Also, don't forget to select AC3 (DD) or MP2 audio. Don't go with PCM or else your audio will eat up a huge chunk of space, with no perceivable benefit For a trial, set it to MP2 audio, 224 Kbps, 48 Khz. That's a standard setting for MP2 and yields good sound.

It sounds like you're juuuuust about there Ian Don't forget to let us know how it works for you with the new settings.

[ian-in-northampton]

Capmaster: you wouldn't believe how grateful I am - not just for your help, but for the timeliness of it. On the question of sound, I don't seem to have that option (either for capturing or for encoding) - but I'm not using any sound other than the soundtrack that came with the video when I captured the original VHS. I'll leave the project encoding tonight, but won't - frustratingly - be able to view the results till tomorrow evening - so, just because you haven't heard back from me doesn't mean I don't care... I'll be back for sure, whether it's good news or bad news. Just out of interest: the timeline in question currently runs at 78 minutes. With the encoding option set as discussed, would you expect that would fit on a DVD?

[Capmaster]

Easily At VBR 4 Mbps avg. you should be able to fit about 2:30

I'm glad you're getting close, but it is a bit frustrating leaving for work while it's chewing away on the encode ..not knowing if you'll have a good video, or just interesting junk when you get home and see it the first time.

But, with experience, you'll get so good at it and so confident, you'll just click and walk away ....with no concerns. It'll happen

I meant the settings for the original audio. At some point there is a place to select the audio format you want in the output file ...regardless whether it came with the video, or you edited it and added a different soundtrack. It still needs to be encoded/multiplexed with the video in the output MPEG. Selecting the wrong one means doing it over ...and wasting all that time

Don't forget that once you encode and save the new MPEG, you still must author the files before you can burn them. That's fairly quick and it generates the VIDEO_TS folder with the .VOB, .IFO and .BUP files that must be present on the DVD before a set-top player can play it.

You can burn the DVD using the authoring app, or what I do is burn the files to HD and then burn as a separate step with Nero. That allows me to review before committing it to disc.

[ian-in-northampton]

Capmaster: yes, frustrating. I was able to check on my way out of the house this morning that the encode had actually completed, so that was OK. On your other points: not sure I can set audio compression etc. given that I'm capturing audio the same way I'm capturing video - hardware conversion by the ADVC-55. I looked for the options to change audio capture, but didn't find them yet. I took the opportunity with my third encode of this project to a) insert chapter markers (a facility I haven't used before), and b) increase gain on the audio by 15dBa as the first couple of times through, I had to whack the volume control way up on playback. Yeah, I've done some bits and pieces of authoring. Right now, because I'm concentrating on getting the quality right rather than the useability, I'm authoring direct to DVD using Premiere. However, I'll eventually be using Encore for menus and authoring, and, given my growing coaster collection, I definitely want to try out the idea of authoring to the hard disk first before committing to DVD. Hopefully, a progress report later (unless I'm told that I'm decorating again this evening... )

[ian-in-northampton]

Well... I think it's better. For sure, the judder has gone from the pans and zooms. The colours seem more vibrant (although still suffering from 'blooming' - is that the right term? - where a particularly vivid colour (orange in this case) seems too bright, with no detail in it and apparently going beyond the boundaries of where it should be). What I haven't had time to do this evening is to do an AB compare with the original VHS. It could be that I'm just setting my sights too high - perhaps, in expecting that the DVD will be as good as the original VHS, I'm expecting too much. A project for the near term may be that I'll capture something from my digital camcorder and encode that to DVD - something I haven't done before. That should isolate whether it's a transfer problem or an encoding problem. I guess there's also the question of whether the encoder that comes with Premiere Pro is the best you can get - I certainly see people swearing by a lot of others. More in due course... But thanks again Capmaster. It makes a helluva difference knowing there's an expert resource on hand.