Dumb conversion questions, worth doing?

wvg wrote on 3/2/2002, 10:29 PM
Bare with me...

Lots of the files I use as source are MPEG-1. I know already, not the best choice quality wise, but that's what they are. Through much effort and because of Vegas Video's features I have been able to "improve" the overall quality through painstaking minuscule tweaking with various Video FX filters, sometimes markedly.

Now my questions and off the wall thinking:

If I understand correctly, when you view a video through the preview window you are looking at pre rendered 'raw' video with the effects applied. If the source file was of a compressed format, it isn't, at least while being working on in Vegas Video which in my experince can sometimes lead to disapointments due to low bitrate when rendering to some formats.

So... is this logical or just wishful thinking:

If I use a high DV bitrate, then render, then export out through a firewire to a digital camera saving to tape the result if

a) played through the digital camera would be of equal quality as seen in the preview window?

b) Would not re importing said video at least increase the "source" quality, so if that version of the file if rendered again even as VCD or SVCD be of superior quality because of the tweaking which for all practical purpuses remain in tack in the source file, so in effect you're starting with a "better" source file?

I know it can't be DV quality, but I'm just looking for "better" quality. Is there any merit to this, or should I spring for a DVD burner and save all the extra steps?

One of my biggest disapointments in making VCD's is even when they are good quality they tend to look flat and darker then they do in the preview window even when I compensate for this, still a bit below lumance level I'd like.

TIA for anyone that suffers through reading this and has any response. I know it sould kind of dumb, but my right side of my brain says one thing and the left side tells me something else.



Comments

Chienworks wrote on 3/4/2002, 11:49 AM
Theoretically, what you propose would give you a library of clips at exactly the same quality you get when you use them as you are now. The DV versions would be the same as what you have now after the effects are applied. So, there won't be any quality gain by doing this at all.

However, if you have some clips that you like to use often, then what you propose will help as it will drastically shorten rendering times when you reuse the DV versions in future projects, since the mpeg files won't have to be decoded and have all the effects applied again.
kkolbo wrote on 3/4/2002, 12:10 PM
I have to agree with all said Chienworks.

K