Simple (maybe ignorant) question re: v10

rpwoodjr wrote on 6/16/2010, 4:36 PM
I've used VMS 9 for several years and have been quite happy with it. I'm pretty much a "point and shoot" user (if I can use a camera analogy). I simply create mpg files for use with DVD Architect Studio 4.5 and simple DVDs. When I downloaded and opened VMS 10, I was struck by the blurriness of my raw video in the preview screen. I played with the preview settings to no avail. In VMS 9, it is very clear. Am I missing something?

Comments

MSmart wrote on 6/16/2010, 8:25 PM
I was confused by that too at first. VMS10 automatically (by default) lowers the resolution to keep the FPS at 29.97. To force the resolution, right click in the preview window and deselect Adjust Size and Quality for Optimal Playback. This was mentioned in a previous thread that I had to search for.

Added: I just found out that having Scale Video to Fit Preview Window selected, while getting rid of the interlace artifacts, softens the playback image. Deselecting it makes it behave as it does (for me) in v8. You just have to put up with the interlace artifacts knowing they won't show up in the rendered video. Keep this in mind if you plan to save a frame to a file (Save Snapshot to File...) as what you see is what you get in the file. Photoshop has a de-interlace Video Filter to deal with the interlace issue but should give you the sharpest image compared to if Scale Video to Fit Preview Window is selected.
rpwoodjr wrote on 6/17/2010, 5:52 PM
Thanks for the info. I didn't see any change when I tried the options. Regarding saving snapshots, this seems to be pretty useless to me with the resulting small file size. Not much more than a thumbnail.
david_f_knight wrote on 6/17/2010, 6:37 PM
I haven't downloaded version 10 yet (I've been waiting for the upgrade e-mail offer from Sony...), but if version 10 is like version 9, then when you save a snapshot, it is saved in the same resolution and image settings as your preview window is set. In other words, if you want a best-quality snapshot, you must first first set the preview window to Best quality and to Full size.

Also, interlacing artifacts don't just automatically disappear when you render your video. There are several factors that affect the interlacing issue. There is whether your source video was shot interlaced or not (and if so, how you de-interlace it, if at all), whether you are rendering your video interlaced or not (and if so, and the source was also interlaced, whether you are rendering it to the same resolution (without stabilization, panning, cropping, zooming, rotating), field order, and frame rate). The preview window (in version 9, at least) is a very helpful tool dealing with interlaced source video, but only if the preview window is set to full size and best quality. Unless you have it set that way, you can't generally tell how any various things you do are interacting with your interlaced source. The one thing the preview window can't show you is what effect your rendering options will have on those things.