MPEG encoding gives an unsharp, blurred picture

DBplaYer wrote on 6/6/2003, 12:31 AM
I have tried Vegas 4 for some time now, and still haven't been able to encode MPEG2 in any good quality. Every time the picture get's unsharp or blurred if you like. I use MPEG2 streams recorded from a DVB card as source material. As a comparison, I have tried both TMPG encoder and MainActor (which also uses the MC encoder), both giving very good results when it comes to picture quality. But with Vegas 4, I just can't get it right. I really need Vegas 4 for it's excellent editing functions and for the built in AC3 encoder.
What am I doing wrong?

Comments

wobblyboy wrote on 6/6/2003, 12:41 AM
Use avi as source material, edit and encode to mpeg2 to send to DVDA. Vegas is set up to use avi as source. It will edit mpeg 2 and other formats, but results are not good. Primere won't even try to edit anything but avi. You could also use frameserver (debugmode.com) to frameserve to TMPG or other encoder if you prefer. I use Vegas for encoding to mpeg 2 with good results.
farss wrote on 6/6/2003, 4:38 AM
I must say I have no issues with the MC encoder either, sure you've set the render quality to Best?

I don't find it as good as TPMGEnc on poor quality video but I've done some DVDs from Beta SP master tapes and they looked excellent.
mikkie wrote on 6/6/2003, 9:04 AM
Have you checked the field order to make sure it's accurate and consistant throughout the process from timeline to proj to render?

For the heck of it, you might take a test clip, rendered to lossless avi (pegasus or similar), & try that in tpmenc etc. as a means of comparison - perhaps you've got Vegas set to blur the video a bit during editing and this would tell.

Otherwise, if you're editing mpg2, try capturing with all I frames. Might want to also check the headers for the mpg2 files from your capture... Vegas tends to adhere to standards whilst some others allow a bit more leeway. As Vegas has to render each frame before re-encoding, this might make a difference, maybe some flag is set that only Vegas recognizes.

IF you want to see if Vegas is having prob rendering your captured mpg2 files to frames in the first place, get dvd2avi, vfapi, and if needed the ReadAVS.dll file. Open your source mpg2 in dvd2avi, save the proj, convert the proj in vfapi, open the result in Vegas and render comparring the results to rendering from the mpg2 on the timeline.
SvenC wrote on 6/6/2003, 9:28 AM
As for the setting Good or Best I found that setting to Good would give me a clearer, more sharper picture than Best. Why? I wonder too... :) I also got better results with Vegas than with TMPGEnc.
BillyBoy wrote on 6/6/2003, 9:43 AM
Instead of calling the choices "good" and "best", maybe they should have named them what they actually are, bicubic for best, bilinear for good. While bicubic may be subjectively "better" mostly so for high resolution stills, as Vegas help says, use to avoid artifacts, mostly if you scale the images, then if you have embedded stills in your video "best" may produce "better" results. However for plain video with no still images embedded, rarely is there any added benefit to making Vegas work much harder using the bicubic method of rendering. It will for sure, as many have found out, cause the render to take MUCH longer. As always, for those special projects when you demand only the best quality, the best method is render a small section of your project at each setting and then play it off the final medium it is intended for to really "see" if there is any real difference.