final output problems

[slickrick]

Hello,
Been doing a lot of experimenting, and came up with a couple of problems hopefully someone can answer. I use the Matrox RT2500 and Adobe Premiere. I captured at 720x480 a 3 minute 25 second clip from an svhs tape. My project in Premeire was set up as 720x480, using one of the Matrox DV settings. I use this setting to avoid having to render. After saving, my goal was to distribute this movie in 320x240 size, and encoding to knock down the size. Problems:

1. Using TMPGENC and AVISYNTH, I exported using a bitrate of 500. The problem is it encodes all the way thru, and completes the job. However, it cuts off about three seconds at the end when I play in WMP. Tried many different times, with different clips, same problem. I tried the exact same clip in the Ligos LSX-MPEG plugin, and it completes the entire clip, no cut-off. Any ideas?

2. When encoding in the Ligos plugin, if I use the bitrate of 500, about two minutes into playing back the clip in WMP, the video and audio stutter and skip. I have tried playing the same clip on numerous machines, and all have the same problem. I then decided to up the bitrate to 750, and the stuttering and skipping disappeared. This same clip using TMPGENC at 500 bitrate did not do the skip and stutter. Is this just the fact that the Ligos product can't handle that low of a bitrate? I'd rather use a lower bitrate to make the file size smaller.

3. Using both encoders yields darker video and lower audio when played back in WMP. Is this normal because I use such a low bitrate? I thought it was just the one monitor, but many different monitors had the same problem. Or are there settings somewhere that can be checked in both encoders? The picture brightness and audio are a lot brighter and louder when in the Premiere timeline.

4. On both encoders, I get some "noise" or "lines" horizontally across the bottom of the window. I liken it to when you "underscan" on a video monitor, you see a noisy border around the entire frame. This border that I am seeing does not show up in the Premeire window.

Sorry for such a looong message, but figured it would be better to ask all in one post rather than a bunch.

thx, slick

[Big_Jit]

I can give you my opinion on 3 & 4 but not too sure about 1 & 2...

3.) after you encode to mpeg in TMPGEnc it is also my experience that the video gets darker. When played back on a television the video looks normal again. this might be why - I can't really explain exactly why it happens but you can adjust the brightness in TMPGEnc using the Basic Color Correction filter under the advanced tab.

4.) It has also been my experience that when you capture from a tape from your vcr, you get a "trash" line along the bottom of the screen. on my capture settings i can adjust the vertical offset of the video to get rid of this during capture.

Sorry I can't explain why these things happen...

Hope this helps!...

[slickrick]

Big Jit,
Thanks for the reply. I did a separate encode to cd, and played on my dvd player, and you're right, bright picture. Going back to my original encode and changing the settings in TMP you mentioned did help on the pc monitors. I'm still stumped as to why it turns darker automatically, anyone have the same problems, or a solution? And in the Ligos LSX-MPEG Plugin, where are those kind of settings, if you or anyone knows?
I will try to adjust my "trash" line next time I capture, thanks.

Anyone else out there have some ideas on my other issues?