Poor Quality Video on DVD player

Dazza wrote on 5/12/2010, 5:50 PM

I have a small project rendered as an AVI from Vegas pro which plays perfectly ok on my PC. I have then burnt this to a DVD using DVD Architect and the resultant disc plays ok on my PC. The problem comes about when I go to play this same disc in a DVD player, I have tried several different players but each time the Video quality is horrible. Hard to describe the result but it flickers badly and is unwatchable. Only on DVD players...it is fine in the PC. I have burnt the same project previously without trouble. Can anyone help please? Thanks.

Comments

bStro wrote on 5/12/2010, 9:08 PM

Sounds like an interlacing issue. Televisions display an image in alternating lines. It rapidly scans the "odd" lines, then the "even" lines. This repeats many times per second, but for a brief moment, the alternating lines are "out of sync" because one is on one frame and the other set is on another frame. This can cause the image to appear like it's flickering in some situations.

Computer monitors aren't interlaced, so they don't have this issue.

Where in your DVD does this happen? Just on menus or in the movie(s)? If the menus, it's mostly a matter of designing your menus to minimize (or maybe even eliminating) the flickering. Fonts with thin lines can be a major problem. So can some color combination like having red next to green or orange next to blue.

If the problem exists in your movie(s), then your probably is probably more technical. It's possible that your field order got switched somewhere along the way (for example, the video was recorded with the odd lines displayed before the even lines, but something somewhere flagged your video to display even lines first).

So...gives us more info and we'll see if we can help.

Rob

Dazza wrote on 5/13/2010, 5:26 PM

Thanks Rob....I have actually tried your suggestion with field order .. no difference at all. The issue is throughout the DVD and there is no menu. Strangely also is that I did not make any changes to the avi from the original version. I will have to do some more experimenting when I have more time. In the meantime I have created a disc using different software. Frustrating particularly since I have used DVDa successfully for many years and really like it. Will post results later.

K-Decisive wrote on 6/9/2010, 8:54 AM

arg...someone need to work on the 'edit' function for this site....anyway....

Here's what I've been using lately:

In Vegas, render to Mpeg2 using Main Concept.

Start with the NTSC DVD template.

Switch the field order to progressive(not interlaced) and check '2 pass'

I may get some flack for this, but I always use 'preview quality'. The only thing 'good' and 'best' seem to do is add motion blur, which you only really need for moving graphics. You can also defeat motion blur on a track by track basis..I would experiment with this your self.

If your source is 24 / 23. 976 frames per second, use the 23. 976 frames per second with 2/3 pull down.

You can then save this as a custom template.

When you pull that into DVD arch, it should only re-render the audio ( don't know why, but it's not an issue).

Check this thread above for audio also:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=707291&Replies=13

cbrillow wrote on 6/10/2010, 7:20 AM

"When you pull that into DVD arch, it should only re-render the audio ( don't know why, but it's not an issue)."

This is because the template you've instructed the user to select includes mpeg layer 2 audio, which DVD Architect will re-encode to AC-3 to write to the disc.

While this workflow will work, and there's really no 'right' way to do things, many expert users (I don't qualify!) here on the forum would recommend using the DVD Architect NTSC video stream template, instead. The other suggestions about customizing the render are still applicable when using this template. A second render directly to AC-3 (from Vegas) would also be required for the audio.

The resultant files will be spit out to disc by DVD Architect without reencoding, if you've given it DVD-compliant video and audio files.

K-Decisive wrote on 6/11/2010, 10:12 AM

thanks CB, I'll try that out. I'm also going to switch over to the separate AC3 audio render.

By chance, do you know what the difference between the DVD and stream modes are?

Thanks,
Keith

cbrillow wrote on 6/12/2010, 7:01 AM

I believe that the use of the word "stream" in this context simply means that it's a video-only file, rather than one which has audio and video multiplexed together, as is the case with the NTSC DVD template that you were using.

My thinking is that Sony set up the DVD Architect render templates with careful consideration to DVDA's needs, so it's not a bad idea to 'spoon-feed' it with files that are certain to be fully-compatible.

K-Decisive wrote on 6/14/2010, 12:46 PM

Thanks again CB, Makes sense to me.