Craftech,
I know this is probably stating the obvious, but why not render an AVI at best quality and then render THAT as an MPEG-2? You would have only a minor loss of quality as a result, but much better transitions.

Try a small piece with supersampling set to 2. This should let you know if the problem is in Vegas or the Mpeg encoder.
If the artifacts still occur after Mpeg encoding clearly then your problem is with the encoding, then just try a trial downloadable encoder and see if the artifacts go. Never had this happen.

I haven't encountered the problem myself, but I made a script for you that removes short events from the timeline. Of course it won't fix the black "dropouts" that some people have, but it might be useful nonetheless.

Delete short events

Just curious, but does anyone have any proof that rendering to DV AVI first and then rendering that file to MPEG will produce smoother transitions? Short of a bug in Vegas, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever why this should be. Can anyone produce repeatable evidence that this happens?

MPEG uses a lossy form of compression in which the number of actual frames in a project is drastically reduced. Through hardware and software interpolation, we see these frames on playback, but as you may know, there are many editors out there that are very bad at handling (or even incapable of) the editing of MPEG-2 footage (this is one of the problems people are having with JVC's HD-1). It stands to reason that if the MPEG codec doesn't have to render the transition AND encode it that there will be less likelihood of artifacts occuring. I also read earlier in the thread that some wonder why Hollywood doesn't seem to have these problems. They do, but they also are using stand-alone DVD hardware costing tens of thousands of dollars that produces a much more accurate MPEG reproduction. If you look during scenes with low contrast (smoke or clouds especially) you can see quite a bit of artifacting unless the disc was encoded at a VERY HIGH bitrate. The fact that transitions like dissolves by their very nature tend to drop contrast also contributes to this problem. A variable bitrate encode MIGHT help, but be prepared to wait a VERY LONG TIME for it to finish.

The reason I render to AVI first and then to Mpeg 2 is that it is rare that I am not producing a VHS version and some DVD's of the same production.
Overall it saves time as follows:

Two hour plus production:

1. Create two Veg files and render separately to two Avi files.
2. Transfer to DV deck to create a SINGLE large DV master using pause/resume control when changing Print To Tape output from file A to file B. Generally easy if production has an Act 1 and Act 2.
3. Render each Avi file to Mpeg 2 and Ac3 to import directly into DVDA to create two DVD's.
4. Use master tape to dub to VHS rack independent of computer.

Quality wise: There is no difference, but the frequency of glitches seems to be reduced dramatically when rendering to avi first, then to Mpeg 2.

Roger,
Thanks for the script. Haven't really tried scripts because unless I am mistaken they can't be used with W98SE.

John

"It stands to reason that if the MPEG codec doesn't have to render the transition AND encode it that there will be less likelihood of artifacts occuring."

The MPEG codec doesn't render in that sence. Rendering has nothing to do with it. The MPEG encoder always sees uncompressed frames regardless of the what the source is (DV, FX and so on).

When you render a transition to DV first you get kind of a low pass filtering on the video, because DV is lossy. This filtered output is easier to handle for the MPEG encoder, since it has less information to encode.

Hollywood-produced DVDs are made by professionals that apply filtering as well as variable bitrates on individual scenes.

Scripts work on Win98SE (not Win95 or Win98).

Thanks Roger,
There are definitely some that I am dying to try including some of yours.
Regards,

John

Looks like the dotnet framework works on the plain 98 too.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en

The "Flash" frames as described in this thread by craftech has also happened to me. It is my understanding that this happens because "Quantize to Frames" in the Options is not active. Make sure this is active when working with video. If anyone else has input on this problem, feel free to inform me. I would like to know for certain.

I get this all the time on crossfade especially when using a "flash" or "blur" type of crossfade. Right in the middle of the fade a "frame" will pop up. It is annoying, but I've been able to work around it by repositioning the fade a little so it must have something to do with the frame it is on (or part of one) when the fade starts.

Tom