Terrible render quality!

NickJB wrote on 4/2/2015, 7:32 PM

Hey all,

I hope you can shed some light on this.

I'm trying to render a movie that was originally a mp4 format, and attempting to render in same format, but the quality is terrible. Low frame rate (despite selecting highest frame rate in settings), glitches/distortion throughout (square blocks of distorted image) and a pretty poor sound.

I'm rendering using the preset "make movie" feature, and selecting the DVD ready feature (as it needs to be highest quality. I've looked at the advanced settings to try and put frame rate and audio sampling as high as possible, but still no joy.

I must be missing something obvious.

Also, when I render, I get a TMP file, and the actual file name never appears, even days after. This only opens in some applications, and I know this isn't right.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
Nick

Comments

MSmart wrote on 4/2/2015, 9:52 PM

Hi Nick, welcome to the forum.

What you're missing is letting us know the source video and the render template used.

Download MediaInfo from the net and post the text view results from the source video. Also provide what template you're using to render.

Allegretto wrote on 4/2/2015, 11:43 PM

Since you are getting a TMP file, it sounds like Make Movie is rendering to a QuickTime format. For some reason, the "flatten movie" step (which takes the TMP file as its input, creates the final output file, then deletes the TMP file afterwards) isn't working. Make sure you have enough disk space available. You'll need about the same amount of additional disk space for the final result as the TMP file itself.

Alternatively, don't use Make Movie and try rendering to Sony MVC/AVC. From Project -> Render As (or File -> Render As, depends on Movie Studio version), scroll down to Sony MVC/AVC, then click the right-pointing triangle to expand the list of render templates. Select the template you want. The templates with an "=" exactly match your project settings. The Internet templates create MP4 files. You may need to customize your own template from an existing template if the output settings don't match what you want.

For best results, your project settings (as well as render settings) should match the format of your media. This minimizes the scaling and interpolation necessary to convert your input media to the output format.

vkmast wrote on 4/3/2015, 1:01 AM

>>>Alternatively, don't use Make Movie and try rendering to Sony MVC/AVC. From Project -> Render As (or File -> Render As, depends on Movie Studio version)...
The OP is able to use Make Movie and "Render As", if he chooses "Save it to my hard drive" (> "Advanced Options" in v.13) there.

NickJB wrote on 4/3/2015, 9:16 PM

Thanks folks.

The source video is actually a .mov so I'm rendering as .mov, with the same setttings as the source video (as far as I can see.)

Settings:

1920x1080
25fps (PAL)
Audio sample rate 48khz
pixel aspect ratio 1 (square)
Quality HIGHEST
Data rate unconstrained

The only thing I can see that's different, is the video format. Looks like the source uses H.264 and I'm using H.263 (that's the closest I can find in Movie Studio)

I really can't understand what's going on, so I appreciate your help folks!

musicvid10 wrote on 4/3/2015, 10:38 PM

No, .h263 is a sadly outdated, inferior codec.

Use .h264/AVC/MP4 in Vegas.

This translates to Sony AVC and Mainconcept MP4 codecs in the Vegas render options. In the future, you can easily find this kind of information by using the Search feature found right here (up and to the right).

NickJB wrote on 4/4/2015, 4:11 AM

Thanks for your help, that worked!

Chienworks wrote on 4/4/2015, 5:59 PM

Render quality is almost entirely about the bitrate used. This is far more important than pretty much all other factors combined. This is something i haven't seen you mention at all yet. If you don't know the term 'bitrate' or how to work with it you should spend a few minutes looking under the [Custom] button in the render dialog and google a few articles about it.