How does HD Writer do it?

[OldNick]

After a lot of coached effort I have produced a DVD that is pretty good to watch, but still not as good as I have seem by a long way. There is a bit of flicker and jittery blur.

However I have used Panasonic's HD Writer to burn a DVD and it was extra good. Very smooth and of high quality.

So a really good-looking DVD can be done, but what is HD Writer doing? Some sort of higher frame rate or HD? AVCHD????

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Nick

[vkmast]

Old,
MediaInfo on that DVD?

[OldNick]

Hi again. Thanks. Yeah I was thinking about that. I do not have it any more as it was just a few seconds and it was just a test....before I knew its significance. I will do another one when I get access to the PC that has HD Writer on it. I guess the name may be a clue....

Nick

[nic2k4]

What software do you use that doesn't give results as good as HD writer?

The quality of a DVD depends on the video resolution and bitrate; the max is 720x480 (NTSC) at 10kbps (gives you less than 2 hours on a DL DVD).

If there's a video format conversion involved, say AVCHD to MPEG2 (DVD is MPEG2 only), you may get artifacts and stutters, then it's a matter of finding better conversion software (usually the one from the camera manufacturer).

The speed you burn the DVD at and the quality of the disc itself, may have an impact on the way the disc plays and it's longevity. Only use quality media like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim (not Life series) and burn at 4x-8x (you can go up to 16x if you have a 22x burner).

[OldNick]

Old,
MediaInfo on that DVD?

Here we go

General
Complete name : D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 44.2 MiB
Duration : 39s 360ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 9 412 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Duration : 39s 280ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 8 840 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 286 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.853
Stream size : 41.4 MiB (94%)
Color primaries : BT.470-2 System B, BT.470-2 System G
Transfer characteristics : BT.470-2 System B, BT.470-2 System G
Matrix coefficients : BT.470-2 System B, BT.470-2 System G

Audio
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 39s 360ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -80ms
Stream size : 1.80 MiB (4%)

Text
ID : 189 (0xBD)-32 (0x20)
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 38s 880ms
Delay relative to video : -80ms

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[OldNick]

What software do you use that doesn't give results as good as HD writer?

The quality of a DVD depends on the video resolution and bitrate; the max is 720x480 (NTSC) at 10kbps (gives you less than 2 hours on a DL DVD).

If there's a video format conversion involved, say AVCHD to MPEG2 (DVD is MPEG2 only), you may get artifacts and stutters, then it's a matter of finding better conversion software (usually the one from the camera manufacturer).

The speed you burn the DVD at and the quality of the disc itself, may have an impact on the way the disc plays and it's longevity. Only use quality media like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim (not Life series) and burn at 4x-8x (you can go up to 16x if you have a 22x burner).

Thanks for jumping in.

In answer to your first question: just about everything, from freeware that gives me no control, to Adobe Elements, to Vegas Studio. I have been coached through getting the best out of it in each case.My output details are as high as is reasonable: 9000KB/s, and 720*576 (PAL).

So I have not tried the creme de la creme, such as full sized Vegas Adobe etc.

OK. So I may have to find a way to edit stuff, then present it to HD Writer in a way that it will accept? Its editing facilities are legendarily woeful, so I need to edit elsewhere+I believe it puts ancillary files and will not accept the vids unless those are there. They probably also contain info that it reads to authenticate as well.

I am using Verbatim discs. I do not know what speed HD Writer uses. I will certainly try slower burns, although the quality difference is noticeable even if I just make the Videots and vob files on HDD. I compare that to the DVD that HD wWriter made and it's not as good. Then to remove any possibility of PC jitters I burn to DVD from the non-HD Writer files. The result is still not as good as HD Writer by a long long way.


I am going to work in Vegas Studio and replicate the settings that HD Writer gives out, as far as I can and see what happens. But I hold little hope.

Nick

[poisondeathray]

Is this your primary complaint? flicker and blur?

There is a bit of flicker and jittery blur.

Upload a video sample that you think is "good" from HD Writer, and a corresponding sample that you think is "bad" from vegas studio

It might be as simple as the wrong setting

[OldNick]

Thanks for all this

Two machines. My primary problem was jitter, on both machines. I have overcome it on the main PC. But then the laptop started giving the ghosting that was discussed in my other thread. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/344277-Vegas-Studio-Plat-DVD-files-to-HD?p=2147432#post2147432

You pointed out that it was settings and problems in programmes, but it all started on its own, recently.

Actually I duplicated as much of the settings as as I could, shown by MediaInfo, from the HD Writer vob, and made a nice smooth vob file...except in VLC. There were little things like low setting for Lowest Bitrate, and B-frames set to 3, rather than the default of 2. Which of these worked I have no idea.

This was on the other PC, so I am wondering if a lot of my trouble is with this one. I am going to look into it.

However tweaking on the other machine did get a better result than I was getting before.

At this stage I am happy with the output on the other machine.

So at this stage I have made Vegas give me a really nice clean "DVD" (vob file on HDD ) on my main PC, and it was better than I was getting. But my laptop seems to be a bit of a mess.

Sorry I am ducking and weaving, but I am being played about a bit myself. I have no idea whether there was a gradual decline on the laptop, or if it was sudden to the present mess.

Nick