Working with .m2ts files / What's a free and simple way to add watermark

[imrealdumb]

I have a Sony XR500V camcorder that produces 1920x1080 .m2ts files. I usually combine these individual files into one using Sony Playmemories.

But now I want to watermark the files, so I've been tinkering with Sony Vegas. Problem is I cannot figure out how to export the file (now with a watermark) without the new video appearing to be degraded in quality.

This surprises me since I assume Sony Vegas should be able to work well with .m2ts files. Anybody know what I am doing wrong? What kind of settings (standard or custom) do I need to use in order to have a file that looks as good as the original ones?

Thanks.

[mike20021969]

If the exported video is degraded in quality, the first thing to check is that the resolution & bit rate matches that of the original file(s).

[smrpix]

Becasue you are fundamentally modifying the picture you are forced to reencode. This will always degrade the picture somewhat. Use a higher bitrate than the original to minimize loss.

[imrealdumb]

Thanks for the replies. What I don't understand is why, when I'm using Vegas, do I have to do anything in the first place. With Playmemories, if I want to join files to make one big files, it just does it and saves the new file as a .m2ts file.

Why do I have to mess around with bitrates, etc. Is there a simple way for my new file (all I did was include a watermark for the original .m2ts enjoined file) to be .m2ts as well without messing around with any settings?

Thanks.

[yoda313]

If you are hardcoding the watermark you are making a brand new video.

When you are joining files you aren't altering anything, you are just butting them together.

[imrealdumb]

By the way, is there a better program than Vegas when it comes to introducing a watermark?

[smrpix]

By the way, is there a better program than Vegas when it comes to introducing a watermark?

Not really, (better how?) and Vegas deals with Sony files as well or better than anyone.

[imrealdumb]

By the way, is there a better program than Vegas when it comes to introducing a watermark?

Not really, (better how?) and Vegas deals with Sony files as well or better than anyone.

Thanks. So if I have a .m2ts file that is a bunch of .m2ts files joined together, and then I place a watermark on top of it, what do I have to do to ensure the resolution/quality is maintained?

When I look at the preview screen, it says the following:

Project: 1920x1080x32, 29.70i
Preview: 1920x1080x32, 29.970i

Doesn't that mean the "new" file has the same settings? Why does it look degraded in quality? When I hit the play button, the video is slightly jagged and blurs through out for a split second.

[mike20021969]

Why does it look degraded in quality?

If it's as bad as you're saying, post MediaInfo for an original m2ts file and MediaInfo for a rendered m2ts (watermarked) file.

My money is on the bit rate being too low.

(PS I've rendered many m2ts files in VideoStudio with captions/titles on them using a VideoStudio preset, and apart from the text, you would struggle to see the difference between them).

[manono]

If you can make your watermark a subtitle, then no reencoding is necessary. If it's to be 'burned' into the video then as the others say, reencoding is necessary. Not that you asked, but by defacing a video with a watermark you're more than living up to your name.

When I look at the preview screen, it says the following:

Project: 1920x1080x32, 29.70i
Preview: 1920x1080x32, 29.970i

Doesn't that mean the "new" file has the same settings?

No.

[imrealdumb]

If you can make your watermark a subtitle, then no reencoding is necessary. If it's to be 'burned' into the video then as the others say, reencoding is necessary. Not that you asked, but by defacing a video with a watermark you're more than living up to your name.

When I look at the preview screen, it says the following:

Project: 1920x1080x32, 29.70i
Preview: 1920x1080x32, 29.970i

Doesn't that mean the "new" file has the same settings?

No.

Um, I am adding a watermark to protect the video from unauthorized duplication. So yes, it's necessary.

How can I add the watermark as a subtitle rather than "burning" it onto the video?

[smrpix]

How can I add the watermark as a subtitle rather than "burning" it onto the video?

Here's a recent discussion on that topic:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/353765-How-to-attach-subtitles-to-m2ts

A lot depends on how you're planning to distribute this video and what containers are suitable for that distribution chain.

[imrealdumb]

If you can make your watermark a subtitle, then no reencoding is necessary. If it's to be 'burned' into the video then as the others say, reencoding is necessary. Not that you asked, but by defacing a video with a watermark you're more than living up to your name.

When I look at the preview screen, it says the following:

Project: 1920x1080x32, 29.70i
Preview: 1920x1080x32, 29.970i

Doesn't that mean the "new" file has the same settings?

No.

I tried using tsMuxer just now, but it doesn't appear I can manually specify specific words as a watermark subtitle. Am I missing something?

Also, with Sony Vegas, how do I adjust the bitrate to make sure it is matching?

[poisondeathray]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/357560-What-s-the-easiest-way-to-add-a-watermark

I have Sony Vegas, but something is screwy in that my new file is jagged/slightly blurry. Is there a better program to place a watermark over a .m2ts file that is a series of joined files?

Jagged and blur sounds like you are using the wrong settings. You might be deinterlacing and/or resizing in addition to using low bitrate

Post your project settings, render settings, and what type of files/mode that you shot with e.g. was it 1920x1080i29.97 ? interlaced ?

If you use the correct settings, it's possible to have no noticable quality loss under normal playing conditions

[manono]

Um, I am adding a watermark to protect the video from unauthorized duplication. So yes, it's necessary.

If you think a logo or some such will protect your video, you're living in a dream world. I can show you thousands of videos ruined by logos and they're all over YouTube and elsewhere, with either the logo removed or not.

By 'subtitle' I meant 'selectable subtitle' as found on DVDs and Blu-Rays. If someone knows what he's doing, even making it forced won't prevent it from being removed. Burning it into the video will necessitate reencoding too.

[imrealdumb]

Um, I am adding a watermark to protect the video from unauthorized duplication. So yes, it's necessary.

If you think a logo or some such will protect your video, you're living in a dream world. I can show you thousands of videos ruined by logos and they're all over YouTube and elsewhere, with either the logo removed or not.

By 'subtitle' I meant 'selectable subtitle' as found on DVDs and Blu-Rays. If someone knows what he's doing, even making it forced won't prevent it from being removed. Burning it into the video will necessitate reencoding too.

I'm sure many people could circumvent it. But for my audience, a simple watermark will suffice.

[imrealdumb]

Thanks to the MOD. I realize the best solution to my problem now is just finding a simple (and preferably free) program that will allow me to add a watermark to my .m2ts file.

Any help out there would be great. Thanks.

[CyberOtter]

Hi.

Watermarking videos for free has always be challenging.
There's many softwares that offer that function, with "easy noob friendly GUI", but it comes with a license which you have to pay if you want to encode the entire video.

I've been there.

To the point :
Watermarking for free ? You want to do it with Avisynth, but its not gonna be a "one click" solution.

So first of all, install Avisynth.
Then :

1/ The easiest way : Use Format Factory. There's a watermark function in the encoding options.


or

2/ The "advanced" way.
Install AvsPmod and open it, to create the script that you'll use to watermark the m2ts.
Its an .avs file, and it will be something like

video=DirectShowSource("C:\Users\"user"\Watermarking\"yourvideo".m2ts")
logo=ImageSource("C:\Users\"user"\Watermarking\watermarklogo.png", pixel_type="RGB32")
Overlay(video, logo, x=0, y=0, mask=logo.ShowAlpha())

Once you have your .avs script, you can use it as a source to encode in a free video encoding software to hardcode your watermark.
I use Video to Video Converter (https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Video-to-Video-Converter), but feel free to use whatever you want.

Also, I recommend to search videohelp forum about Avisynth topics, you'll find every information you'll need.
I know I did.

Hope this will help, but remember you may have to dig deeper yourself, i just gave you some clues to start.


Good Luck

[enim]

all experts said well and enough. nothing is left for me. i have my own variable as under for watermark.
$WaterMark = ¨Mark it with Water¨. I am dumb too!

[Selur]

one could also use ffmpeg, see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10918907/how-to-add-transparent-watermark-in-center...eo-with-ffmpeg

[imrealdumb]

Why does it look degraded in quality?

If it's as bad as you're saying, post MediaInfo for an original m2ts file and MediaInfo for a rendered m2ts (watermarked) file.

My money is on the bit rate being too low.

(PS I've rendered many m2ts files in VideoStudio with captions/titles on them using a VideoStudio preset, and apart from the text, you would struggle to see the difference between them).

Thanks. I have posted a comparison of the two files below (the original and the new one containing the watermark). I did notice the bit rate was off. I corrected it and redid it, but it's still off a bit. The revised one "looks" pretty good, but based on the MediaInfo findings below, can I tweak it to look exactly like the original?

I still don't understand why a .m2ts file generated by a Sony camcorder wouldn't have a default setting in Sony Vegas.


General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : C:\Users\XXX\Desktop\Original.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 104 MiB
Duration : 50s 502ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 17.3 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 50s 484ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 16.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.257
Stream size : 97.1 MiB (93%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 50s 560ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 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 : -67ms
Stream size : 2.70 MiB (3%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 49s 985ms
Delay relative to video : -67ms




General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : C:\Users\XXX\Desktop\New.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 105 MiB
Duration : 56s 662ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 15.6 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 50s 551ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 14.8 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 22.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.238
Stream size : 89.0 MiB (84%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 50s 528ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -33ms
Stream size : 1.16 MiB (1%)

[imrealdumb]

By the way, I know the duration is a bit off between the two files, but that is probably because I made a mistake in extending the watermark too long. The key, as you guys have mentioned, is that the bitrates don't matchup. How do I address/fix that?

[smrpix]

When you're starting to export click "customize template" near the bottom of the presets box. Change your bitrate in the popup.

[imrealdumb]

Given my specs, do I just change the overall maximum bitrate to 18? Is that all I should/need to do?

Thanks.

[poisondeathray]

Given my specs, do I just change the overall maximum bitrate to 18? Is that all I should/need to do?

Thanks.

Either way you're going to use quality. If you put 32 (and doubled the size of the original file) there will still be quality loss. Whether or not it's "good enough" for your eyes or goals is what you have to decide

When you re-encode with a lossy codec - you lose quality. Always. Using a higher bitrate will minimize that loss

[imrealdumb]

You said I am using a lousy codec. Is there anything I can do (other than up the bitrate) to improve the video quality? I thought merely adding a watermark should not result in re-encoding the entire file, no?

[manono]

You said I am using a lousy codec.

No, he said you're using a 'lossy' codec - one that degrades the quality, no matter how little it might be. 'Lossless' codecs keep the quality the same but give very large file sizes.

I thought merely adding a watermark should not result in re-encoding the entire file, no?

You've already been told at least five times that adding a watermark requires reencoding. How many more times would you like us to say it? Only if it's added as a subtitle will you not have to reencode.

Is there anything I can do (other than up the bitrate) to improve the video quality?

How is anyone supposed to know? You didn't even provide the settings used as poisondeathray requested several days ago. Or a sample of your video.

[imrealdumb]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/357560-What-s-the-easiest-way-to-add-a-watermark

I have Sony Vegas, but something is screwy in that my new file is jagged/slightly blurry. Is there a better program to place a watermark over a .m2ts file that is a series of joined files?

Jagged and blur sounds like you are using the wrong settings. You might be deinterlacing and/or resizing in addition to using low bitrate

Post your project settings, render settings, and what type of files/mode that you shot with e.g. was it 1920x1080i29.97 ? interlaced ?

If you use the correct settings, it's possible to have no noticable quality loss under normal playing conditions

poisondeathray,

Sorry - I missed this response, and appreciate your help. Yes, it's a Sony camcorder and I believe it produces 1920x1080i 29.97 files. I posted a MediaInfo log for the original and new files. If you need any other data, let me know.

Thanks.

[poisondeathray]

poisondeathray,

Sorry - I missed this response, and appreciate your help. Yes, it's a Sony camcorder and I believe it produces 1920x1080i 29.97 files. I posted a MediaInfo log for the original and new files. If you need any other data, let me know.

Thanks.

It looks like you're doing it correctly, and mike's guess was correct - too low of a bitrate. Just increase it until you think the quality is ok in your eyes

Again, you have to re-encode when you add a permanent watermark or overlay. No way around that

There are other encoders that give you better compression efficiency (x264 will yield higher quality at the same bitrate, or similar quality at lower bitrates), but eitherway it's a lossy transformation when you add a watermark .

If you use a lossless codec, there will be no quality loss imposed by re-compression of the file, but the filesize will be enormous (easily ~10x)

[imrealdumb]

Thanks, PDR.

When you mention other encoders that give better compression efficiency, can you name a couple? Vegas is the only product I've found that will allow me to produce a .m2ts file after adding the watermark. Other programs only save it other other formats, which I assume will lead to more degrading of resolution, right?

So is using Vegas to add the watermark and save the same .m2ts file format (with upped bitrate) my best bet? Thanks.