Render settings for HD projector

dave-k wrote on 5/10/2015, 1:21 AM

I have a blu-ray movie that I just ripped from the disk to my hard drive. I'm doing some editing to the video in Sony Vegas Pro 12 and then want to render it for viewing through an HD projector using an iMac. There are so many posts about render settings for internet and disk, but I'm needing the best for viewing on an HD video projector with max resolution of 1280x720).

When I click on "Match Media Video Settings" under File/Properties, these are my settings:

WIDTH: 1920
HEIGHT: 1080
FIELD ORDER: None
PIXEL ASPECT RATIO: 1.0000
OUTPUT ROTATION: 0
FRAME RATE: 23.976
STEREOSCOPIC 3D MODE: Off
PIXEL FORMAT: 8-bit (I've read some posts that say the pixel format should be changed to 32-bit-full range. Is that true and when "should" that be changed)?
FULL-RESOLUTION RENERING QUALITY: Best
MOTION BLUR TYPE: Gaussian
DEINTERLACE METHOD: None
ADJUST SOURCE MEDIA: Not checked

When I right-click on my video on the timeline and click "properties", I match the same settings on the Media tab. I saw one post say that under "Video Event", the "disable resample" should be highlighted to prevent ghosting. Is that true that it should be always checked?

I now click on File/Render As and select MainConcept AVC/AAC. I've seen some posts say that Windows Media Video at 8 Mbps is the way to go? The iMac handles Quicktime 7 the best but I'm going to show you the settings that I've used I the past (though I'm not sure it's the greatest possible quality -- hence the reason for this post):

I choose the template called "Blu-ray 1440x1080-24p, 25 Mbps video stream" and the change as follows:

FRAME SIZE: Custom
WIDTH: 1280 (the max for the projector is 1280x720 so I downsize it)
HEIGHT: 720
ALLOW SOURCE TO ADJUST FRAME RATE: Not checked
PROFILE: High (can this always be set to high?)
FRAME RATE: 23.976
ALLOW SOURCE TO ADJUST FRAME RATE: Not checked
FIELD ORDER: None
PIXEL ASPECT RATIO: 1.0000
NUMBER OF REFERENCE FRAMES: 2 (when would I ever change this? I use a program called MediaInfo to give me the specs of my video. Should I be matching what my original video has?)
USE DEBLOCKING FILTER: Checked (what does this do?)
CONSTANT BIT RATE: 10,000,000
NUMBER OF SLICES: 4 (would I ever change this and, if so, when?)
ENCODE MODE: Render using CPU only

I'll finally go to the Project tab and select "best" under Video rendering quality.

From there I press "OK" and "Render".

Again, I don't know if these settings produce the best possible quality output on an HD projector?? Any help you could give me would be MUCH appreciated!

Thank you.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 5/10/2015, 8:17 AM

If you're outputting to a projector that can only display 1280x720, you might as well output 1280x720. You're only creating a delivery format video, after all.

Why not simply render to Main Concept AVC/Apple 720p24 Video? That should give you excellent playback on your Mac and projector.

dxdy wrote on 5/10/2015, 11:50 AM

8Mbps does not sound like it is high enough for really high quality. DVD max is 9.2Mbps.

What is the bitrate on your source video? A free program called Mediainfo is a good way to find out.

dave-k wrote on 5/10/2015, 1:30 PM

My source file bitrate is 20.3Mbps. Does it need to be that high if I'm converting it to 1280x720?

dave-k wrote on 5/10/2015, 1:33 PM

What do you mean by "you might as well output 1280x720"? Those are the settings I'm using when I render; so I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Also, what would be the difference between the MainConcept settings I'm using and the one for Apple? They look almost identical and both are MP4 format. Will the Apple settings only work on a Mac and not a PC?

dxdy wrote on 5/10/2015, 4:19 PM

Bitrate is independent of image dimensions. Image quality is mostly a function of bitrate. If you encode your output at 10Mb, it won't look much better than a DVD. Encode the file at 20Mb if that is what your source is.

Chienworks wrote on 5/10/2015, 4:34 PM

Bitrate may be independent of image dimensions, but the three things together: bitrate, image dimension, and image quality, form a relationship. A bitrate that looks good enough at 1280x720 may not look very good at 1920x1080. Conversely, one that looks good at 1920x1080 may be overkill for 1280x720.

dave-k wrote on 5/10/2015, 6:05 PM

Could someone answer my other questions? Thanks.

PIXEL FORMAT: 8-bit (I've read some posts that say the pixel format should be changed to 32-bit-full range. Is that true and when "should" that be changed)?

When I right-click on my video on the timeline and click "properties", I match the same settings on the Media tab. I saw one post say that under "Video Event", the "disable resample" should be highlighted to prevent ghosting. Is that true that it should be always checked?

PROFILE: High (can this always be set to high?)

NUMBER OF REFERENCE FRAMES: 2 (when would I ever change this? I use a program called MediaInfo to give me the specs of my video. Should I be matching what my original video has?)

USE DEBLOCKING FILTER: Checked (what does this do?)

NUMBER OF SLICES: 4 (would I ever change this and, if so, when?)

Are there any Quicktime settings that will give me close to the original quality?

musicvid10 wrote on 5/10/2015, 7:11 PM

Assuming you have license to edit and display the BluRay movie:
Render an avc/mp4 video using the 720p internet template.
Done. Don't question the settings, read up if you want to learn about them,

set wrote on 5/10/2015, 7:33 PM

+1 musicvid10.

I usually use 720 or 1080p internet template.
I use it mostly for looping Photo Clips or any other clips wanted to be played from computer in a party event. Most important is to test the playback first to make sure they played without any issues.

Set

dave-k wrote on 5/12/2015, 12:39 AM

Rendering using the Apple setting causes my Vegas to crash.

dave-k wrote on 5/12/2015, 12:41 AM

The way I learn is by asking questions of people who have more experience than I do.

john_dennis wrote on 5/12/2015, 8:26 PM

Place his custom 1280x720-23.97p Sony AVC/MVC render template in your folder:

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Sony\Render Templates\avc-sony\

When you render the video, the custom template to select will be called "Blu-ray 1280x720-23.97p, 22 Mbps video stream.sft2". This template produces a 21.9 mbps Blu-ray video elementary stream with an .avc file extension. You'll want to render the audio separately using the Dolby Digital AC3 Pro render template for Stereo DVD to produce an audio file with an .ac3 extension.

Download and use a program called tsMuxer to combine the .avc and the .ac3 files into an .m2ts file. Most modern media players will play this combination. I don't know about iMacs.

This procedure is about as complicated as you can possibly make this process but you can control all the inputs. I do it this way if I plan to use a computer and Windows Media Player. Usually, I just use Handbrake or any of the other pre-built templates as others have suggested.

Since you have a 23.97 progressive frame rate, I wouldn't change it.