Encoding has gone bad

[headvi]

Hello everyone. I submit the following for your advice:

For my job I capture dv footage into Premiere Pro 2, edit and output a master to dv avi, then convert it to .wmv and .flv for uploading to a website.

I can't be sure when it happened, but at some point the conversions started looking terrible. I use Blaze Media Pro for the .wmv files and the dvdvideosoft Free Studio Manager for the .flv files, and they started out nice and smooth, but now the .wmv's look blocky and strobed, like they were rendered at half frame rate, and they often have a horizontal split halfway up the frame where the fields seem to be off. The .flv's have poor resolution and often lock up and smear.

The dv avi master files coming out of PP2 look fine, and I've changed no render settings for the conversions. Like I said, I can't be sure when it started -- in a moment of weakness I did install a k-lite codec pack a while back, but I think it started later. Other than that the only things I've installed have been some Maxtor software for an external hd and a Garmin program for a portable gps. I've tried re-installing all the programs but the problem persists.

So is this a codec problem or possibly a video card problem (I've also re-installed the drivers for my card)? Incidentally, what I've been doing in the meantime is taking the master files over to my other computer and using the same programs to make the conversions, and they look great.

Any help would be greatly appreciated -- thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Couple of thoughts..

I've NEVER heard of a codec pack that --WASN'T-- bad for your system. Seriously, if you need a whole lot of codecs, use a spare PC (or spare boot disc) and load the pack onto that system, not your main system.
If you don't need a whole lot of codecs, just install them one-by-one ONLY as/when needed.
(I've been prone to codec-variety-greed myself, and learned the hard way, so now use only what I need).

Next, I would never recommend either of those converter apps (or their siblings) for regular/business-use conversion.
Get what does the job consistently well. If you're getting paid for the material, spend the money on a good batch converter app (like ProCoder, Sorenson Spark, Cleaner, etc). If not, there are plenty of free/shareware apps listed here at videohelp that provide infinitely more settings adjustments (as well as much more consistently good quality). Personally, WME is probably it's own best encoder for WMV. For FLVs, I'd use maybe Super, Riva encoder, something like that this is often a frontend GUI to ffmpeg, ffdshow, etc.

Consumer All-in-Ones are usually much more trouble than they're worth.

Also...
Get a file information app like Gspot or MediaInfo to give you details about the results of your conversions to make sure they are actually turning out the way you intended.

Scott

[headvi]

Thanks Scott.

I know...I've "learned" the codec pack lesson myself but I thought 'just this one time...'

I really appreciate the list of apps -- I'll check them out. Question is, will installing one of those take care of my problem? My past attempts at manually fixing codec issues have been truly aggravating and sometimes I just ended up re-installing windows to clean the slate.

[aedipuss]

gspot will list the codecs and allow you to remove them if you so choose, but no it will not fix your problem for you. a format and re-install of windows is still the only method to actually fix a codec pack mistake.

[headvi]

*sigh*

looks like a long day ahead.

[Nelson37]

Also, once you get your mission-critical money-making PC working again, take a small fraction of that time and effort and make a Ghost copy onto another HD, so that if you happen to screw-up again in the future, you will have a guaranteed fail-safe fallback.