I guess the Timeline is creating MORE maths and straight from the file it isn't.

However, using the Timeline . . I make sure my Preview Window is set on FULL and not AUTO. OR double click on the Video Preview window strip just above the Preview Window Toolbar. This should expand the Preview window to correct Preview ratio. My experience is that anything less than the proper Previewing Ratio will, however give "acceptable" viewing, but not the full/real deal.

Other than that? - No idea! But this works for me.

G

yeah, s'got me perplexed....

I do expand the preview window, which is on my secondary monitor and I also send a preview out to a plasma monitor for a 'second opinion'.

I have just been experimenting with different settings, here's what I have found......

I output from Ultra, an uncompressed AVI at 768x576 (PAL wide).
I import into Vegas timeline, at what should be the PAL Wide project settings, but my clip does not fill the preview, so I click the 'maintain aspect ratio' switch. That, is where the deformation takes place. The stretching is causing artifacts.

Now the weird bit.......

If I make my project properties HDV 720-25p, the clip stays intact! Then, if i output to MPEG2, things look great!

Now, this strikes me as a bizarre way of doing things, but for now, it's the only thing I've got going for me unless someone can suggest something better?

Cheers,

T

With Simulate Aspect Ratio on in PAL yes Vegas makes a hash of the preview. That's NOT how your footage really looks. I believe the reverse applies in NTSC.

Which is a major PIA.

By the way 16:9 PAL is 1049x576 in square pixels.
PAL 4:3 is 787x576 in square pixels.

Bob.

try right clicking on the video clip in video track on TL - propteries-media look for the aspect ratio - sometimes clips don't have the correct aspect in header ..

Bob, that's it! I set my properties to PAL Standard with the 1049x576 square pixel aspect and VOILA! It looks as it should. Thank you soooo much.

Why oh why is this not a preset option in the property dropdown?

Right, back to work....NO Easter for me :(

Cheers,

T

TJ, happy as I am for your success, can you please explain a bit more fuller? I'm using PAL, what are your Project Properties now? And what were they? I want to try and repro what you got.

Bottom line here is I wish to assure myself I'm now not doing something dumb!! I'm not using SQUARE anything?

Grazie

Don't panic Grazie.
I think the issue MIGHT be that Ultra is outputting uncompressed 16:9 as square pixels i.e. 1049 x 576 PAR 1. That's NOT a DV standard. He then drops it into a 16:9 DV project which is 720 x 576 PAR 1.4568 and the wheels fall off.

All us PAL guys should also be aware that Vegas makes a mess of the preview with Simulate Device Aspect ON. From my testing the reverse applies in NSTC, it looks like it does a better job of stretching the pixels than not. They really should fix this one day, trips up many of us, myself included when I forget and it's even worse when you've got a client watching, saying "that text looks like s**t" and I say "no worries, I'll fix that" and then they say "but now it's all squished" and I say "take your pick, squished or aliased but it'll look OK on the big screen".

Bob.

Oh!

Ahhhhh ... chillllllllllllll l l l l

G


.. thanks Bob.

So Bob,

are you suggesting that I should just try and ignore the crappy preview.......and just work within the 'proper' confines of 720x576?
I'm not actually sure as to the relationship between the project properties, and what I finally render out to. Are the project properties just for previewing whilst working or do they actually have a bearing on the output vision?

I actually rendered out some of my project (at 720x576 wide) and authored a test disc and in general, things look pretty good, but there are a couple of concerns.

I am working with both progressive vision, and interlaced vid. I have opted to keep things progressive in my final output. This DVD is a promotional disc for a Piano Manufacterer.
Now, all of my DVD looks fantastic on my Plasma monitor (as it should for a prog scan device) but on my 134cm rear projection, the pianist's hands are playing back with interlace lines. How can I effectively deal with this? Is there a way of converting these clips to be more "progressive"? I want it to be progressive because this thing will mainly be played on LCD Flatscreens in music stores.

Any recommendations?

Thanks for all the help thus far,

T

I'd say ignore the preview. To really check it use Best Full and turn off Simulate Device Aspect. You'll get things squished buy you'll avoid the jaggies. The other alternative (if you have V6) is preview on the second monitor. Better still and external monitor but 16:9 CRTs are expensive and as you want your output in progressive scan to some extent pointless.
The project settings mostly only affect previewing, I can drop 24/96 audio onto a 16/44.1 audio timeline and render out to 24/96 but while I'm previewing the audio card is running in 16/44.1. Same goes for vision, to check this look at the numbers at the bottom of the preview window.

As for the pianoists hands. If you render to a progressive format from interlaced footage this is one area where the project properties will have an impact, the de-interlace method will make a difference, if you merge fields you'll certainly see interlace staircasing on fast motion. If you use Interpolate fields you'll loose half your vertical res.
A better approach is to use a smart de-interlacer like the one from Mike Crash, it's free. From memory for those parts of the frame with no motion the fields are merged, the other parts interpolated. The loss of res in the moving parts is masked by the motion blur.
If you've shot HDV at 50i for SD delivery then a simple field interpolation will work fine as you've got vertical res to burn.

Bob.