Vegas Render Quality Option (good or best)???

[tarrickb]

Hey guys

I have DV source and am rendering to MPEG-2 in Vegas. This whole time I have been rendering using the "best" render quality in Vegas becasue I have some scrolling text that I find looks better at this setting. However, I have been reading on these forums and a few people are saying that "good" is the best setting. Could anyone elablorate on this for me? What option is best in which situation. THANKS.

[guns1inger]

The 'Best' setting was created primarily for the rendering of stills and generated media. As you have seen yourself, it improves the look of your credits. From what I can gather watching it in action, it does this by applying some form of smart softening or anti-aliasing, which reduces interlacing artifacts and gives a nice, smooth feel. However, this is not generally something you want happening to your general video (aside form the fact that it is substantially slower to render in many circumstances).

In your situation, I would do a render of just the credits using the Best setting, then using this clip in your final video, rendering using the 'Good' setting. Best of both worlds.

[tarrickb]

Ok so you are saying to just create a video of only the generated media and rendering it using the "best" setting, then importing that file in my main video project and then render them all using the "good" setting?

Also, should i apply the "reduce interlace flicker" switch to my generated media ( i read that this was suggested).

Interestingly, when i apply the de-interlace switch to my main video in Vegas (i know i shouldn't need to de-interlace but i was creating something to be watched on PC), the quality wasn't really affected at all. The only thing i noticed was that the video didn't appear as sharp BUT it was able to remove alot of noise from around objects.
Anything that can be elaborated on is appreciated.
THANKS.
- tarrick

[tarrickb]

Just had another quick Vegas question as well.
When do you think "strecth video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)" option.
Should this be applied when going from DV to MPEG2?

[BJ_M]

from sony Vegas:

The simple explanation is to use "Good" most of the time. This is the default setting. If you want more info, read on...

Quality: Best
Scaling: bi-cubic/integration
Field Handling: on
Field Rendering: on (setting dependent)
Framerate Resample/IFR: on (switch dependent)

Quality: Good
Scaling: bi-linear
Field Handling: on
Field Rendering: on (setting dependent)
Framerate Resample/IFR: on (switch dependent)

Quality: Preview
Scaling: bi-linear
Field Handling: off
Field Rendering: off
Framerate Resample/IFR: always off

Quality: Draft
Scaling: point sample
Field Handling: off
Field Rendering: off
Framerate Resample/IFR: always off

------------------------------
Scaling:
------------------------------

These methods come into play when conforming sources that differ from the output size. They are also used when panned, cropped or resized in track motion.

Bi-Cubic/Integration - Best image resizing algorithm available in Vegas. Quality differences will be most noticeable when using very large stills or stretching small sources.

Bi-linear - Best compromise between speed and quality. This method will produce good results in most cases.

Point Sampling - Fast but produces poor results.


------------------------------
Field Handling:
------------------------------

This refers to the field conformance stage of Vegas's video engine. This includes Interlaced to Progressive conversion, Interlaced to interlaced output when scaling, motion or geometric Video FX and Transitions are involved. Skipping this stage can sometimes result in bad artifacts when high motion interlaced sources are used.


---------------------------------
Field Rendering:
---------------------------------

When the output format is interlaced, Vegas will internally render at the field rate (twice the frame rate) to achieve smooth motion and FX interpolation.

---------------------------------
Frame Rate Resample / IFR (Interlace Flicker Reduction):
---------------------------------

Frame Rate Resample:

This kicks in when speed changes are made through Velocity Envelopes and/or event stretching. In can also be used when up-converting low frame rate sources. This only kicks in if the resample switch is turned on _and_ quality is set to good or best.

Interlace Flicker Reduction:

This kicks in if the event switch is turned on and quality is set to good or best. See Vegas' documentation for a description of this switch.

---------------------------------


Lastly, please note that Vegas will bypass any or all of these potentially expensive processing stages if the resulting output won't be affected by the process (e.g. no-recompress pass-through, field render bypass when settings don't change and so on ...). Differences in the output between different quality settings may not always be noticeable, but that largely depends on various attributes of the source media being used. If you want to see some of these differences first hand, trying using extremely large or small sources or high-motion interlaced shots with extreme pan/crop operations.


Please note that you should never render your final project using anything other than good or best when interlaced sources are involved unless the project only contains cuts. If preview quality is used, the resulting video will vary between acceptable to disastrous depending on your project and its media content

[tarrickb]

Thanks for that info, it explains alot.

However, if possible could someone try to respond to the following......????

Ok so you are saying to just create a video of only the generated media and rendering it using the "best" setting, then importing that file in my main video project and then render them all using the "good" setting?

Also, should i apply the "reduce interlace flicker" switch to my generated media ( i read that this was suggested).

Interestingly, when i apply the de-interlace switch to my main video in Vegas (i know i shouldn't need to de-interlace but i was creating something to be watched on PC), the quality wasn't really affected at all. The only thing i noticed was that the video didn't appear as sharp BUT it was able to remove alot of noise from around objects.
Anything that can be elaborated on is appreciated.
THANKS.