One quick Question about MPEG2 to AVI

i c e wrote on 2/11/2009, 1:41 AM

I just wondered if some one could tell me if I use Veggie 3.0 with Vegas to batch render my MPEG 2 files to AVI will I loose any quality?
I know that I will then have to have DVD architec rerender them back to MPEG2 for the DVD but I think That I will save myself a headache by editing avi files over mpeg2.

Are there any other down sides to avi that I should know?

Thanks all

Josh

Comments

farss wrote on 2/11/2009, 1:45 AM

"Are there any other down sides to avi that I should know?"

No. And it's more than likely that your mpeg files will be re-encoded to go onto DVD anyway unless you're doing cuts only edits and applying no effects and can use smart rendering.

Bob.

i c e wrote on 2/11/2009, 1:49 AM

WOW,
that was quick, thank you very much, Bob.
Great!

Josh

i c e wrote on 2/11/2009, 5:47 PM

Very good point. THannks Mucho!

Joshua

Serena wrote on 2/11/2009, 6:09 PM

A small point, but when you've completed your edit you will render to mpeg2 and ac3 (video & audio tracks) and these will drop into DVDA. If you get a message from DVDA telling you it will re-compress, you've done something wrong. Of course you could render your final edit to avi and let DVDA do the compression, but this is undesirable.

i c e wrote on 2/11/2009, 8:58 PM

ummm....
That's what I was planning to do.. so ..uh... what's the solution? do a Render As to MPEG2 before exporting to DVDA?

Grazie,

Josh

xberk wrote on 2/12/2009, 11:01 PM

Yes. Render to MPEG2 for use in DVDA.

i c e wrote on 2/13/2009, 12:29 AM

So then rendering AVI to MPEG2 is done better in Vegas than in DVD achitech, right? I thought they would be the same...

THanks,

Joshua

farss wrote on 2/13/2009, 4:07 AM

Vegas gives you more control over the encoding to mpeg-2 than DVDA does. Also especially if you're working in NTSC there can be a quality improvement for graphics in going directly from the timeline to mpeg-2 rather than going from the timeline to DV and then to mpeg-2 as you'd be doing if you had DVDA do the encoding. It's not HUGE improvement so don't fret over it but then again every little bit helps and there's no pain involved.

Bob.

xberk wrote on 2/13/2009, 8:57 AM

Here's the render settings I use for doing MPEG2 for DVDA. There's a lot to learn about optimal settings for best results. Making DVD's is always problematic. The settings I use here should get the job done.

MPEG render settings

rs170a wrote on 2/13/2009, 11:09 AM

xberk, you really should be using the "DVD Architect NTSC video stream" template instead of what you're currently using.
DVDA likes to see separate video (MPEG-2) and audio (AC-3) streams.
While it will take what you're feeding it, it will have to be re-encoded and that impacts on quality.
Depending on the length of your program, you may need to use a bitrate calculator to determine optimum video encoding settings.
Search this forum as this has been discussed a lot.
Grab Vol. 1 #7 of Edward Troxel's (jetdv) free newsletters as it goes through the authoring process in detail.
While written for an earlier version of DVDA, the principles remain the same.

Mike

xberk wrote on 2/13/2009, 1:31 PM

Mike. I know you are right but I'm not doing work for clients. Working in SD only. Generally I find the MPEG2 output with sound included (DVD NTSC) as useful for showing work in Windows Media Player. I just had someone here who wanted to see one of the video pieces and we just played it in WMP. Way back in Vegas 6, I started with seperate MPEG-2 and AC3 files for DVDA. Worked fine but frankly for the end use I have, so far, it's made little difference. I know I could always just render it both ways as disc space is cheap. But really I can't see or hear much difference for the output I'm doing. ( I didn't want to complicate things for I C E as the rendered video file is what looks like a normal MPEG but NO SOUND. ) When I get to HDV might be a whole different story. These days my main output is to MP4 files for upload to Vimeo. I'd appreciate any help to improving those files!

My stuff at Vimeo

Vimeo settings:

Render using Mainconcept AVC/AAC MP4
Project tab: Best
Video tab:
Frame Size: NTSC Sq Pixel 640 x 480
Profile: Main
Frame rate: 29.97
Field order: None (progressive scan)
Pixel aspect Ratio: 1.00000
Number of reference frames 2
Variable bit rate:
Max BPS 2,800,000
Average 1,800,000

Serena wrote on 2/13/2009, 2:02 PM

A notable advantage of rendering in Vegas with the final codec is that you do the job once only, so saving time as well as quality. An advantage of separately rendering the video and audio streams is that you get more control over the parameters. If you are producing a DVD separating the processes rendering for "DVD Architect ***video stream" and AC3 is the better way to go. If you're not going out to DVD, then no point in doing that.