Vegas text vs. Nero

JS wrote on 10/28/2007, 1:50 PM

I've been working with still images accompanied by moving text; specifically, 24 and 36 pt., Times New Roman, red. The Vegas text, especially after rendering to AVI, is noticeably uneven in width and soft around the edges. My experiments with a trial version of Nero 8, however, give me MUCH sharper text with no need for adjustments.

I"ve fooled with the "Reduce Interlace Flicker" switch and the text frame size (smaller than 720x480, worse; bigger than 720x480, no better. I WANT Vegas to produce better results than Nero, but, at least in this one area, Nero seems to win hands down.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 10/28/2007, 2:42 PM

I'm assuming that by "AVI" you mean "DV AVI". The problem is the red color. DV samples red at only 1/4 the resolution so any sharp red edges are going to get mangled. Try rendering directly to MPEG2 instead of to DV and see if that looks any better.

JS wrote on 10/28/2007, 3:10 PM

Thanks...I'll try that.
BUT: Why doesn't Nero have the same problem?

Chienworks wrote on 10/28/2007, 4:28 PM

I've never done anything video with nero at all, ever, so i know little about it. However, i was under the impression that it's primarily for authoring DVDs rather than editing, so i assumed it's output would usually be MPEG2 rather than DV.

JS wrote on 10/29/2007, 3:17 PM

Yes, you can edit with Nero, although it's a bare-bones system. Still, it has surprisingly useful text effects.

I've made more tests, varying the color, rendering directly to MPEG-2, etc. Nero still looks better. But forget about comparisons. What I'm asking is, does anyone have advice for improving Sony Text???

Chienworks wrote on 10/29/2007, 4:07 PM

Don't use red, don't use strong color contrasts, don't render to DV.

JS wrote on 10/30/2007, 5:44 PM

Thank you for your suggestions. I was hoping for some kind of Secret Switch that would generate razor sharp text, but I'm learning to adjust to the realities of the medium.