Whence 4:2:2?

vitalforce2 wrote on 9/8/2005, 11:45 AM
Just thinking of ways to squeeze maximum picture quality moving from timeline to DVD after which a festival reviewer would watch our film (shot 24p-DV with a DVX100). Is it possible to customize the Vegas/Mainconcept render engine to render the project (with many color-correction FX) into a DV-avi file not MPEG-2) in a 4:2:2 colorspace? If so, should that make any quality difference when the next step is going to MPEG-2 for a DVD?

I'm thinking it can't be done. Does Vegas 6 render cleaner or finer than Vegas 5? I have a Dell 2.53gHz machine with nVidia card.
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Comments

John_Cline wrote on 9/8/2005, 12:18 PM
Yes, it absolutely will make a difference. You could render using the Sony YUV codec or the HuffYUV codec or use an MJPEG codec which is usually 4:2:2 or could even be set for 4:4:4. I do this all the time because I use Canopus Procoder to generate my MPEG2 files.

The subject of video quailty loss when rendering to a 4:1:1 intermediate file was discussed (argued?) in this thread:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=391938

John
vitalforce2 wrote on 9/8/2005, 2:52 PM
Many thanks John C, I couldn't figure how to find that thread which I remembered reading before but didn't save.

What I'm noticing is that the red hued features in my characters' faces become blotchy when the DVD is played on larger TV screens. Granted this is partly due to the sets being 'biased' toward oversaturation and red shift, but the fine detail seems to be lost. I had rendered an earlier edit of the project (90 minutes) straight to MPEG from the timeline and felt there was a quality jump though I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Today I stopped by J&R Computer World in NYC and persuaded the salesman down in the TV department to let me view some of my film on some of the TVs (there are about 100 in the room along three walls). That's where I noticed the blotchy reds. Minor on some screens and major on others, but there. I'm going to try the Sony YUV render.
winrockpost wrote on 9/8/2005, 3:22 PM
very good info John,,,, plus that old thread was was entertaining , kind a miss you guys fightin it out, , but I guess it got old for you and others.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/8/2005, 3:26 PM
John,

Thanks for that info. Very useful.
farss wrote on 9/8/2005, 3:41 PM
You DO realise the issue could just be difference in DVD players?
I've found big difference in the quality of output from DVD players, you need high quality footage to see it.
Bob.
vitalforce wrote on 9/8/2005, 8:56 PM
Duly noted farss.