Camcorder DV to DVD -- Motion quality Vegas/Mainconcept

[Clint Clovis]

I have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder and a Pioneer A05 DVD burner. To make DVDs from my Hi8 (DV) recorded tapes tapes I use to transfer the tapes to the HD thru the firewire conexion and process the takes in Vegas Video to add titles, effects and so on (I use the standard NTSC DV --720x480 interlaced lower field first settings). Then save the the DV file and convert to MPEG-2 with Mainconcept encoder (standard DVD template - NTSC)

The overall quality is very good (color and resolution) but the motion seems blurred (there is a ghost when recording cars passing thru for example).
Seems to be an encoding issue since the original tape looks great when seen in TV. Also it is not a pure interlacing issue because I can see the ghosts both in the TV set and computer monitor.

I need some help to improve the motion quality. Perhaps "search method" and "search range" encoding settings can make some effect on this?

[DJRumpy]

Your not deinterlacing your avi during the encode process are you? It should remain interlaced if your target audience is for television alone. The ghosting affect your describing sounds like a deinterlacing artifact.

Your field order should be correct. You should also be using an 'alternate' block scanning order, instead of zigag for interlaced video (your encoder may not have these options).

Hopefully someone with experience using the main concept encoder will repond. I don't use that encoder, adn have no idea what options it has.

[Clint Clovis]

No, I´m not deinterlacing. Also the field order is correct (bottom field first -- DV).

What do you mean by "block scanning order"? Is that related to "quantize matrix"? If yes the Mainconcept encoder supports this option but, unfortunately, it is too advanced for me (so far...). Is there any help guide for this?

Anyhow I´ll run some tests with Mainconcept and TMPG over the weekend and update the post... Thanks.

[troyvcd1]

I would like to see how the new $58 CCE basic program would do for this???????????????

[DJRumpy]

Alternate evovled with MPEG-2 to handled an interlaced source.

CCE is an excellelent encoder. If your curious, just download the demo (your output will have a logo stamp on it). It should at least give you an idea of whether CCE is right for you.

[Xesdeeni]

Clint Clovis

Try viewing the DV file before you encode. Does it have the problems you see in the MPEG?

If the encoder gives you a choice, be sure to choose interlaced instead of progressive. Both will play fine, but a progressive encode will share information between fields when encoding. The DCT and color subsampling used in MPEG-2 will cause some problems as these two fields interact, when there is motion. Interlaced encoding will be better.

Try encoding the video with TMPGEnc (see Tools on the left).

Can Video Vegas output through AVISynth? And will your encoder take AVISynth input? If so, use this to avoid the recompression of the processed video. Cut edits will (probably) not be recompressed, but any video to which you add titles, transitions, or process in any way will be recompressed back into your DV file. This introduces another compress/decompress cycle you can avoid if you can use AVISynth.

Xesdeeni

[Clint Clovis]

Xesdeeni, I think you got the point. When I see the paused DV file it shows the "ghost" effect. So, the encoder has no responsibility, it just processes the garbage...

Now I know were the issue is but the cause is still unclear. The paused tape in the camcorder when seen in TV is perfect. Need to take a look closer on the capture software.

[BJ_M]

the vegas video DV codec has been tested to 10+ generations with no visable loss of quality .. that shouldnt be a problem ..

you can increase quaility in Vegas by selecting max (31) as quality level (its a motion detection algor.) and/or also selecting "best" instead of default good ..

if you want utmost in quality -- set supersampling to ON ..

[racer-x]

I use Mainconcept encoder with premiere. I don't use standard NTSC DVD. I always use custom setings. When you go into custom DVD, there is a Quallity slider. Slide it all the way up to 50 for the best Quallity. It will encode more slowly though. The latest version is 1.3 and is available for downloading. You'll have to remove old encoder in "add remove programs" befor you can install new encoder. Good luck.

[Xesdeeni]

Clint Clovis

When I see the paused DV file it shows the "ghost" effect.

Yes, that means it's either the camera or the codec.

The paused tape in the camcorder when seen in TV is perfect.

When you pause in the camera, it only shows one field, or the "still" would appear to jump back and forth if things are in motion. So you can't eliminate the camera yet.

Grab the MainConcept DV codec (http://www.mainconcept.com/archive/DVDemoCodec_v2.1.exe) and install it. Then load the AVI into VirtualDub. Take a look at the stills there and see if the ghosting is there. If not, it's probably the Microsoft DV codec. If they are there, then your camera is apparently doing something screwy. (I recall that PAL DV uses 4:2:0 instead of 4:1:1 like NTSC. But I believe the camcorder can decide whether to encode frames or fields on-the-fly. If it's always encoding frames, that might explain what you are seeing.)

Xesdeeni

[Clint Clovis]

I´ve made some experiences...´
The DV file captured thru Firewire port is almost the same as when captured from TV via capture card. So, I believe that it is OK.

Rendering best quality and adding a little blur effect improves the overall quality for motion scenes.

Thank you guys for the help.