Is it a PC vs Mac thing?

Sidecar2 wrote on 6/26/2009, 3:16 PM
Video is professionally lit, exposed and recorded video on DVCAM shot with a big, pro camera.

Inported into Vegas 8 using its capture utility.

Virtually no editing: clip on the line has a fade in, one title, fade out. No filters, no other effects.

Encode it for DVD using the default MainConcept MPEG-2 settings for DVD Architect.

Author the DVD with DVD Architect.

Play back the DVD and the clip is obviously overexposed. Highlights are burned up.

I have to go back to the Vegas line, bring the brightness down (even though the scopes indicate nothing is hitting 100%) and re-encode, re-author, re-burn.

This is quite normal.

On the other hand, when going out to Windows Media, the video is always flat, as if the black setup is too high.

DVDs and Windows Media files coming out of Compressor from Final Cut Pro, well, sparkle.

Vegas output is just not that great. Is it the MainConcept encoder? Windows Media Encoder?

How come default settings need so much tweaking to get even close to good?

Comments

GlennChan wrote on 6/26/2009, 3:21 PM
1- Your first problem is the superwhites blowing out. Map those into legal range.

see
http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/color-correction/tutorial.htm

2- Your second problem is because you need to manually wrangle levels.

http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/v8color/vegas-9-levels.htm

Hope that helps!
rs170a wrote on 6/26/2009, 3:24 PM
I've shot stuff with a Sony DSR 500 (DVCAM) in the past and my DVDs always turn out looking great.
How long was the program and what bitrate did you use for the MPEG-2 encoding?

Mike
Sidecar2 wrote on 6/26/2009, 4:31 PM
rs170a,

Program is two minutes.

Encoding is the default "MainConcept for DVD Architect."
Sidecar2 wrote on 6/26/2009, 4:36 PM
Glenn,

Thanks for the tutorials. Very interesting.

I guess my point is that it's a pain to have to do so much tweaking and it you don't know these secret handshakes, the product really suffers.
farss wrote on 6/26/2009, 5:19 PM
"I guess my point is that it's a pain to have to do so much tweaking and it you don't know these secret handshakes, the product really suffers."

There's no magic recipe for getting things looking right on a Mac or a PC. If there was we'd all be working for minimum wage, if that.

By the way, if your scopes are not showing anything over 100% you'll most likely have them set to Computer RGB which is wrong for video for DVD and broadcast.

If you were to take the tape from the camera and simply try to put it to air with a reputable broadcaster they wouldn't. A less reputable one would clamp or clip your highlights. A really dodgy outfit probably wouldn't care.

All of which begs the question. What are the zebras set to in the camera, were they turned on? I've never used the 500 but so far working with footage from a fair variety of SD and HD cameras the zebras match what Vegas's scopes read within the limitations of such things.

Bob.
rs170a wrote on 6/26/2009, 5:19 PM
Daniel, try a custom CBR setting of 8,000,000 and see if it's any better.
BTW, this setting is good for videos up to 70 min. long.
Anything longer and I use a bitrate encoder to customize it.
As I said, I've shot a few plays & concerts (90 min. - 2 hr. long) with the DVCAM camera I mentioned and have always been very happy with the results so I wouldn't put the blame on the MainConcept encoder.
My regular camera is a JVC-550U (3 CCD 1/2" chips) and, with properly exposed footage (what I always aim for), the resulting DVDs look great.
BTW, the guy I borrowed it from has a post house with several FCP suites and I'll put my DVDs against his any day from a quality standpoint.

Mike
musicvid10 wrote on 6/26/2009, 6:03 PM
A properly set up DVCAM shoot won't have any of the problems you mention.
That is where levels need to be set correctly. Takes some practice.
The need for post correction of nuclear whites should be few and far between.
rmack350 wrote on 6/26/2009, 9:31 PM
The DSR500 is fine. That's what we've been shooting with since the stone age.

I've never seen a levels change using DV footage and going to DVDa. I'm curious what I'd have to do to make that happen. Maybe set Vegas to 32-bit processing mode?

Rob Mack
SimonW wrote on 6/29/2009, 2:16 PM
My problem with Vegas has always been with super blacks. There has never been an option to set the timeline as a whole to 0ire, so if there is a gap between clips or I want to fade to black I have always had to manually insert a black colour event set to rgb 16,16,16.