Rendering in sony vegas 6

[badboyz]

Editing and playbacks are fine, but when i start redering it. The file compresses by 10folds which is a good thing. When i ran the file once it completed the quality was unbearable!! From a crystal clear resolution to a choppy blured picture.

I also tried movie maker and it doeses the same thing. Is there a specific setting that you do in vegas to keep the quality? I'd like the files size to be small but not lose 90% of the quality.

Settings i've tried
NTSC DV
Custom set to best

Also tried changing to Xvid codecs and divx6.1

[Baldrick]

are you you resizing? if you want small size use small video size/resolution.
deinterlacing?

[badboyz]

I changed the resolution to 640x480 from 102x768. I know for a fact that this will decrease the qaulity of the video but i didn't think it was that much!

I have no idea what deinterlacing means, sorry heh

[edDV]

Give us an idea what your goals are and the following

- source file format(s)
- project settings
- goal for the output file (DVD, email, VCD, etc.)

[badboyz]

Format AVI
project settings, i've done a lot. I've compressed it with VirtualDub using Xvid.
Now i like to add transition for the clips i've made using vegas.

Output, hopefully under 50meg so i could stream on the internet or let others download it. AVI?

[edDV]

So it was Xvid and you set Vegas project for NTSC 640x480 square pixel uncompressed YUV.

The only built in export format that could compress that tight is WMV.

You could export or fileserve uncompressed to an external encoder of your choice.

[badboyz]

If its a format problem, iv'e tried the free movie maker. It out puts wmv so i don't believe thats the problem. The quality still bad.

Its a fraps file i made. Its about 21GB, so its fairly large. To compress it to about 50MB. Is it normal to lose 90% of quality?

[edDV]

I would think so. You are doing alot of uncompression and recompression.

[badboyz]

Even if i compress it only one time, the results would be the same. I'm definatly doing something wrong.

Whats are the settings in vegas 6 to keep quality the same as original? I would just like to add a simple transition between each clip.

[edDV]

The problem is you are using a highly compressed source intended only for display as it is. You need to go back to the original transfer and restart.

Talk to the owner of the master.

[badboyz]

I thought the file was uncompressed? since i used fraps to record the video. The original gamplay clip was crsystal clear. Was recoreded in 1024x768 Resolution.

What do yo suggest i do first? I have the listed programs on my computer
-Windows movie maker
-vegas 6
-virtual dub

If it isn't too much trouble. I would like to know the settings.

What is an easy way to add transition? I know i'll risk quality but i would like to keep it minimal. Thanks

[guns1inger]

What is the running time ?

[badboyz]

16Min running time

[guns1inger]

If you get the audio down to 128kbps MP3, then you have 298kbps for your video to keep under or at 50MB. At 640 x 480 that may not be enough.

[edDV]

I thought the file was uncompressed? since i used fraps to record the video. The original gamplay clip was crsystal clear. Was recoreded in 1024x768 Resolution.

What do yo suggest i do first? I have the listed programs on my computer
-Windows movie maker
-vegas 6
-virtual dub

If it isn't too much trouble. I would like to know the settings.

What is an easy way to add transition? I know i'll risk quality but i would like to keep it minimal. Thanks

I think fraps is low to no compression but didn't you say your source was first Xvid compressed before decompressing for Vegas?

I'd set Vegas to desired frame size (as project format), then import the 1024x768 fraps file ... wait for conform ... could be days ... then export.

[badboyz]

gunslinger, there is no audio ^^ I like to get this compression done before i do any audio editing which should be a pinch.

eddv, Yea i did, i tried out different settings. Tried importing the uncompressed and uncompressed file to vegas. Both with an exeptionally good quality. After i added some transition and render, BAM can't bare to watch it.

The problem is it doens't matter if its a compressed/uncompressed file, the results are the same for some reason. The problem lies in the rendering. Tried out a lot of custom settings, still no luck.

Maybe the bitrate that it was rendering at? Don't know how to change it though sigh.

"I'd set Vegas to desired frame size (as project format), then import the 1024x768 fraps file ... wait for conform ... could be days ... then export."

Been doing this from the start. Lol this is getting frustrating.

[guns1inger]

The problem lies in the settings you are using. Without audio you can go as low as 426kbps and still fit in 50MB (just).

If you resize down to 640 x 480 and output as uncompressed avi, how does it look ? Just output a few minutes, because it will be a big file. If it looks OK then it is not the transitions and we can move on from there.

[badboyz]

^the output was not as good as the original but that is expected. Its a lot better then the ones with transitions though.

[guns1inger]

can you post a couple of before and after shots ? You should not be seeing such a drastic change unless you are doing something terribly wrong.

[badboyz]

Before


After


If i could get more input from other people, that will be great, thanks. I know i'm doing something wrong, becuase the quality so bad! But i followed every direction accordingly.

[guns1inger]

Are you deinterlacing as well ?

[badboyz]

Tried progressive, same result

[guns1inger]

Don't know if this will help, but anyway.

1. Most of the damage is done during the resize. You can reclaim some detail using the unsharp mask, but you won't make the text readable.

2. When you render out, don't use the Best quality setting, use Good instead. Best is designed for slides shows and titles built with stills, and adds a filter to reduce interlace flicker. Makes the whole thing softer.

I did a couple of tests using your large still and Divx6.1 at 426kbps. It's only a few seconds, and has no motion. It uses a the Sony Unsharp Mask to bring back some of the clarity, and was rendered with the Good quality setting, progressive.

v_resize_test.avi

[badboyz]

^Thanks i'll try it out when i get home.

[badboyz]

Since resizing was the issure, i'm not going to resize it and see how it goes. Thanks a lot you guys. I'll see how the video turns out and update here.

[guns1inger]

If you don't resize it, and still try to squeeze it into 50MB, I suspect it will look a whole lot worse.

[badboyz]

Hmm..
The final output is the same quality as the original which i'm happy with. But its still fairly large 250MB. Its a lot better then the uncompressed file which is 20GB hehe.

I'll try out other settings and see how it goes. Maybe try cutting some scenes out.