What is the meaning of the "Best" setting when rendering?

theigloo wrote on 2/4/2004, 12:39 AM

I am confused about the meaning of the "Best" setting when rendering. The setting I'm talking about is when you go "file" > "render as" > [choose a format] > [choose a template], then hit "custom" and the first screen shows a drop-down menu with "Video rendering quality". I defaults to "good" on all formats and templates.

If I use windows media video, it makes a difference. If I choose .avi NTSC, it does not make a difference.

.avi files are exactly the same when rendered with either setting.

.wmv files are different.
"Best" gives me this @ 161 Kb.
"Good" gives me this @ 23 Kb.

What is the technical difference?

Why, if I choose a format/template where there is no difference, is the option not disabled?

Comments

p@mast3rs wrote on 2/4/2004, 3:31 AM

Not sure if there is much difference, however i did notice that the resolutions for each one is different.

Sab wrote on 2/4/2004, 5:11 AM

Actually you won't see a difference between good and best if you are rendering straight DV avi files with no track motion or pan and crop.

You will notice a substantial difference if either of those (track motion, pan and crop) are applied. The rendering time is also substantially higher.

If you search this forum about this, you'll find the technical reason for this. Lots of good info.

Mike

Chienworks wrote on 2/4/2004, 5:39 AM

You encoded the "Best" version at 320x240 256Kbps and the "Good" version at 176x144 22Kbps. The bitrate accounts for the file size difference and the vast majority of the quality difference. Try encoding the "Good" version at 320x240 256Kbps and you'll see that there is very little difference between "Good" and "Best".

Good vs. Best on that first screen determines how well Vegas handles resizing and interpolating the images. This has very little to do with the quality of the rendered output which is much more governed by the bitrate and the quality slider on the second screen. It can, however, make a difference if your video includes large still images that you are zooming or panning, or if you have large frame sizes in the source material that you are rendering to much smaller frames in the output file.

johnmeyer wrote on 2/4/2004, 8:53 AM

See:

Best vs. Good 01

Best vs. Good 02

Best vs. Good 03

theigloo wrote on 2/4/2004, 1:56 PM

Thanks johnmeyer - that helps a lot.

I'll create a set of "best" templates.

Matt