Is there a way to view this without installing Silverlight?

thanks jerry, most illuminating.....

The original looks incredibly soft to me, it really shouldn't be that bad. I'd suggest there's something going wrong that should be addressed rather than masked using sharpening.

Bob.

"The original looks incredibly soft to me, it really shouldn't be that bad. I'd suggest there's something going wrong that should be addressed rather than masked using sharpening"Hmmm... What else should I be looking for?

I'm only doing 2 things with the clip (well, actually 3 if you count the text effect).

1) Adding the Sharpen effect to the individual events (I split the clip into 4 parts and added Sharpen to the last 3).
2) Rendering at a reduced size (as a wmv).

I'm setting my project properties via clicking on the original clip and changing the "Deinterlace method" to "Blend" (low motion).

And furthermore, what can be done to the original clip that can be fixed by the Sharpen effect?

...Jerry

PS: I see musicvid doesn't like silverlight. Give me an hour or so and I'll re-post as flash/mp4. This should eliminate another variable.

Okay, here's the flash version of the same test. To my eyes, the "Sharpen=Light" still looks best. The clip with "Sharpen=Off" might be a little better than the Silverlight/wmv version, but it's tough to tell with my old eyes.

http://www.jazzythedog.com/testing/sharpenflash.aspx

Also, I did another render, this time to the plain, vanilla "Mainconcept DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen Video Stream" it's here (obviously, this is a link to the mpg so you won't get an online Video Player). Hmmmm... as I'm posting this and testing, I see something else. Look at the seams between the boards in the sign.

Edit: I fixed the problem with the sign by applying the "Reduce Interlace Flicker" Switch to each clip: here Furthermore, the problem is much reduced by opening the file in VLC rather than WMP.

...Jerry

"Hmmm... What else should I be looking for?"

It's a bit hard to say however I shoot 1920x1080i50 on my EX1 intercut with 1440x1080i50 HDV from a HC5, edited on a 1920x1080i50 timeline with De-Interlace = Blend and then rendered to H.264 720p at Best and both the footage from the EX1 and HC5 looks good even after YouTube has done its best to mangle it. Keep in mind with that workflow I'm actually loosing a bit of vertical resolution. I apply no sharpening.

I've just finished the first half of a show we shot last weekend and encoded down to SD PAL 16:9 mpeg-2 and authored to a DVD it doesn't look too shabby at all despite the horrid lighting. Same everything as above except for the final render.


Bob.

It may be just me, but Sharpen-Light is too much for me. I'm very sensitive to oversharpened edges.

Being conservative, I would go with .100 -.125

"Why do I need to install Silverlight.?"The first example I posted uses Silverlight for the Media Player. Many people (most?) already have Silverlight installed as a browser Add-on, so you will only need to install it if it's not already there.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Adobe's Flash. It allows the web developer to stream wmv (as well as mp4 & other formats). My experience is that wmv's stream more smoothly at a given bitrate. Now, before a thousand naysayers chime in - that's my opinion only. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

...Jerry

Try Interpolate in the project properties settings. I find it better than blend. Render a small test clip and compare.

I'd second that suggestion. There's actually quite a lot of movement in that video as the camera is not locked off.

Bob.

"Try Interpolate in the project properties settings. I find it better than blend. Render a small test clip and compare."Okay, I gave "Interpolate" a try and can't see a nickel's worth of difference.

As an interesting exercise, I changed my Silverlight page to dynamically shift between the "Blend" & "Interpolate" clips. Give it a try here: http://www.jazzythedog.com/testing/sharpen.aspx

Sorry to the Flash aficionados in the forum - it was just a much easier coding change in my Silverlight template.

...Jerry

Edit: One more thing... those are my Grandchildren, Nathan, Noah & Brianna at Animal Kingdom/Disney World this past April.