Stuttering Video Problems

[SuperVideo]

Bad video quality...what THE best software to fix? Not read FAQ, there anything? Answer need quickly...no little time to think or read. Bad burned retries too expensive...tired trying.
Sorry, me not english.






J/K

I'm new to video editing and i'm helping someone with even less experience, with a home video project. We have been using Pinnacle Studio QuickStart v10.7 (comes with Dazzle DVD Recorder) for everything...capturing, editing, and burning. My profile has all the specs of the PC and DVD Player we are using on the project.

When we capture the video from the VHS machine and burn it to a DVD unedited...there seems to be no problems in the video. However, if we edit it any before burning, we encounter video problems such as stuttering. The stuttering happens at seemingly random points (I thought at first maybe it was at points where it had been cut/split...but that was not the case...it was happening all over). It is not severe stuttering, but it is noticeble. For some reason this stuttering only appears on DVDs in which we edited the captured video before burning it.

We then tried to use a trial of Ulead VideoStudio...this time we encountered image quality problems...light but noticeble blurring of color in spots on the video.

Can anyone recommend possible ways of going about locating and fixing the problem? If anymore info is needed, just let me know. Thanks in advance for any help.

[mats.hogberg]

What format do you capture to?

/Mats

[SuperVideo]

Directly to DVD format (Video TS folder, not ISO image).

[mats.hogberg]

Huh? I thought you did some editing? So, you basically create a DVD, take it apart, then recreate it again. No wonder you lose quality.
If simple cuts are all you do as far as edits goes, try some dedicated mpg tool like Womble mpeg VCR, then author with TMPGEnc DVD Author (or other authoring app that doesn't reencode the lot for you). Even better, capture to some un/low compressed AVI like DV or huffyuv, edit, and encode final AVI (still in DV or huffyuv) using a good encoder to mpg. Lastly author with a non encoding authoring app.
<edit>Seems like the Dazzle "only" do mpg captures. So you're basically stuck with simple cuts. Only potion would be to capture at highest possible bitrate, do all your edits, and encode at the correct bitrate to fill the DVD.

/Mats

[SuperVideo]

Thanks for the reply. You are correct, the only editing we are doing is cutting things out that don't need to be there. We are also putting in a simple Menu and Chapters as well.

We are willing to use other software besides Pinnacle Studio Quickstart (thats why we tried Ulead VideoStudio trial to see if it was the software causing the problems...as I read complaints about Studio Quickstart online), but we would prefer to use Studio if its possible to do so without encountering these problems (since we already have it and are on a budget). But if we have to use something else in order to fix this, we are certainly willing to give it a shot.

As for what Studio Quickstart can capture in...it allows AVI, MPEG1, and MPEG2. I must have read something incorrectly...it does not capture directly into DVD format as I said previously. So your saying change it to AVI format on capturing, with max 10,000bitrate, do all the editing, and then...(thats where i get confused). Exactly what is "encoding"? Is that the conversion from AVI to DVD format? What/how do I need to change the encoding process, if thats what you mean?

Thanks again.

[mats.hogberg]

Exactly what is "encoding"? Is that the conversion from AVI to DVD format?

No, encoding (in this case) is the conversion from AVI to MPG. The mpg is then used as source material for authoring, which makes it into a DVD.
If you capture to mpg, TMPGEnc DVD Author can take the mpg, lets you cut parts out (and join several source MPG files together either as a sequence or as separate titles) add chapter points and provides basic (but pretty OK) menu making capabilities, completely without reencoding or in any way butchering your original capture (proivided the MPG you've captured to is DVD compliant).
I think there's a 30 day trial available of TDA - seems like it'd suit your process and requirements like a glove.

/Mats

[SuperVideo]

Ok I have downloaded and installed TDA's trial and will give it a shot. One more question though:
Studio Quickstart's maximum bitrate capture is 10,000, but when I set it for DVD quality it automatically sets it to 6,000 and shows "DVD compliant" to the right. Does this mean 6,000 is the maximum quality to fit the standardized amount of recording time in the 4.7gb limit of a single-layered DVD...or does "compliance" mean anything above or below 6,000 may(or definitely) won't play in standalone DVD players? If its the former, then I will increase the bitrate, as the current mpeg file at 6,000 is significantly less than 4.7gb.

Thanks.

[mats.hogberg]

Max video bitrate (see WHAT IS DVD top left) is 9.800 kbps. Max bitrate (audio + video) is 10.080 kbps.
Some players don't support max allowed rates, specially not from DVD-R/DVD+R so I'd not go > 8000 kbps video.
Do you know what format audio is captured in? If possible, stay away from LPCM, as that takes lots of space (and bitrate),.

/Mats

[SuperVideo]

When selecting MPEG2 as the capture format, it automatically limits audio format to MPEG2 as well. I will start it re-capturing soon and will let you know how the next edited/burned DVD turns out. Appreciate all the help.

Edit:
Finished capturing...end result between video/audio is 8800...thats not too much for maximum compatibility correct? (as this DVD will be given to someone else and not sure what DVD players they use or will use in the future) Will be a while before we edit it again.

[mats.hogberg]

Good - I suspected that - mp2 audio is fine IMO - even if it's actually not a fully DVD std audio.

/Mats

[SuperVideo]

Well we finished re-editing/burning the DVD finally...however the problems seem to be random and this 4th time is really bad. The first time when we captured/edited with Windows Movie Maker then burned with Studio Quickstart, the audio was out of sync. The 2nd time we captured/edited/burned with Studio Quickstart, there was random minor but annoyingly noticeble video stuttering. The 3rd time we captured/edited/burned with Ulead VideoStudio trial, and there was color blurring. This 4th time we captured with Studio Quickstart, then edited/burned with TDA...and we got *severe* stuttering in the video where both audio and image quality would severely degrade for 1-3seconds...at random intervals.

The strange thing is, we just tried playing this latest DVD in the computer itself instead of our standalone DVD player...and the severe video/audio problems only show up on the standalone dvd player, but not on the computer (yes we are playing it directly from the DVD, not from the DVD files on the computer). This makes it seem the problem is with our standalone DVD player...however our DVD player is not having any problems with any of our store-bought DVD movies...only the homemade DVDs are having this problem. What in the world could be the problem here? Any ideas?

[ZippyP.]

.only the homemade DVDs are having this problem. What in the world could be the problem here? Any ideas?

Are you using cheap disks?

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, I'd say that sounds like incompatible / bad media.

/Mats

[Bjs]

Ulead video studio :

1: File , preferences , edit tab , uncheck "apply colour filter"
2: File , project preferences , edit box below , ulead videostudio tab ... uncheck "perform non-square pixel rendering"
3: Share , create video file , custom , options , uncheck both "smart rendering" and "perform non-square pixel rendering" , make sure "apply antiflickering filter" is also unchecked .

No other control's available apart from bitrate choice ...

[SuperVideo]

I am using Verbatim DVD-Rs (Verbatim and TDK are recommended by NEC to be used with the drive). I found this page about the quality of different Media IDs for DVDs:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

I used DVD Identifier and it identified the discs as this one:
MCC03RG20 (which is considered a 1st class disc, though not among the very-top 5 media IDs)

I assume that rules out the possibility of it being a low quality disc Unless digitalFAQ is incorrect.

[ranchhand]

I just went through the learning-curve hell that you are now in. You are capturing analog VCR and converting to mpeg, am I right? I tried Ulead and Pinnacle, and both would not recognize my analog camcorder. Don't even look at Nero, you will be wasting your time. The folks at this forum suggested to me using the Hauppauge 250PVR card with the [free] Win2000 PVR capture software. I captured clean mpeg2 files, and imported them into Pinnacle 10+. Pinnacle works beautifully with these imported mpegs, you can edit and author all you like, and will burn them clean and good quality to DVD. Nothing I tried for weeks would work otherwise, and I wasted lots of time and money trying things. I have various software and capture cards sitting in my workbench drawer and that is where they are going to stay until I drop them in the shop can.

[SuperVideo]

Thanks for the suggestion ranch. Did you have similiar problems as me? (where the burnt DVDs played fine on the computer but did not play good in a standalone DVD player) I know learning video editing seems to take a lot of time and sometimes money...but that would be irritating if we spent $100+ on another card, and it ended up being some other problem (but yeah I know, you have to start somewhere in order to fix the prob). But anyway, before you got that new capture card, were the burnt DVDs working fine on the computer but not in standalone players?

[SuperVideo]

Is it possible the problem rests with my standalone DVD player, even though it plays all our store-bought DVDs fine (even though we don't have a lot...we have about a dozen or so)? I just have no idea where to start in an attempt to fix this problem...since the evidence is completely contradictory (DVD player plays movie-DVDs fine, doesn't seem to play homemade DVDs fine, homemade DVDs play fine on computer's DVD drive). Just at a loss of what to do now.

[ZippyP.]

Just at a loss of what to do now.

Try your home made disks in another player, like you say it may just be that machine.

[ranchhand]

Hi Supervideo... Yes, I had your problem also. I first tried the K World VS-USB2000 DVD Maker. I managed to create a couple of mpeg's that would play on my computer, but I could never convert & burn to DVD, it just gave me an ambiguous error message. I only got one to burn to a DVD, finally, but it was totally out of proportion and "skewed" when played on my DVD player. I can't begin to add up the wasted hours sitting in front of my computer. So my "K-World Wonder" is sitting in my shop drawer along with my other money-wasters.

As I said, I am still using Pinnacle10 and haven't given it a clean bill of health yet; I tried using their noise filters and all that did is corrupt the video I was working on. Their clip brightener is useless, when you brighten a dark scene all it does is create a ton of noise. Last night I had some problems with chapter creating, but that may be because of my inexperience. I will see tonight.

[mairambija]

visit SPAM and transfer your home video tapes to dvd. You can get a pretty good conversion at a reasonable price from a lot of places. But what are most of these companies lacking? Care and attention to detail! Other ways you get totally amateurish product done with domestic equipment.

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being banned for spamming.
/ Moderator mats.hogberg