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Rendering to AVI – Output file varies in filesize/quality when rendering with same settings
Hi all,
I have a problem with rendering in Sony Vegas Pro 13 (64-bit).
I use ffdshow (MJPEG encoder) to render to AVI and I observe that if the same video is rendered consecutive times using the exact same settings, the rendered videos will have variable file size and corresponding quality (a 3mb file will look pixelated, a 16mb file will look fine). The videos have a duration of ~2 seconds (122 frames at 59.94 fps).
These are the current settings I am using:
Media properties:
Sony Vegas custom settings for AVI (Video rendering quality set to “Best”):
ffdshow (within Vegas,”configure” button: video format):
This is a problem because I need the videos to be of the same quality, preferably highest I can get out of the program.
The files need to be .avi and rendered using this MJPEG encoder shown in the image above because they are ran into a software for data analysis that will not accept any other formats as is.
Update: these are the limited AVI formats that the analysis program can use:
Uncompressed 8 bit with palette (LUT)
Uncompressed 8 & 16 bit grayscale
Uncompressed 24 & 32 bit RGB (alpha channel ignored)
Uncompressed 32 bit AYUV (alpha channel ignored)
Various YUV 4:2:2 compressed formats
PNG or JPEG-encoded individual frames.
MJPG (motion-JPEG)
Does not read AVI formats with more than one frame per chunk
Palette changes during the video not supported
Out-of-sequence frames (sequence given by index) not supported
Different frame sizes in one file (rcFrame) not supported
Conversion of (A)YUV formats to grayscale is non-standard:
All 255 levels are kept as in the input (i.e. the full dynamic range of data from a frame grabber is preserved). For standard behavior, use “Brightness&Contrast”, Press “Set”, enter “Min.” 16, “Max.” 235, and press “Apply”.Any help in this domain is highly appreciated, and please let me know if you need more information.
PC Setup:
Cheers,
Stavros -
11 Replies
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I’ve never used ffdshow so I can’t help but sometimes with free software… you unfortunately get what you pay for.
You might want to download a trial of the excellent PicVideo MJPEG codec. It’s not free but I’m guessing it might give you consistent results every time.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com -
The videos have a duration of ~2 seconds (122 frames at 59.94 fps).
With videos of such a short duration, why not just render uncompressed avi’s which are on the list of acceptable formats?
wwaag
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Hi John, thanks for the reply.
I followed your advice and installed the PicVideo MJPEG demo codec and used it to encode a test AVI file. However, the Avi Reader software doesn’t accept is a suitable video.
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Hi Wayne, I did try this already but it didn’t work out. The Avi Reader (https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/plugins/avi-reader.html) gives this error which I have no clue how to go about and render the video accordingly:
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Here’s a suggestion. In the description of the avi reader, it mentions that Virtualdub can be used to “uncompress” files. Try this. First render an uncompressed avi out of Vegas. Then open that file in Virtualdub and re-render to uncompressed again making sure that the full-processing mode is selected so it won’t simply copy the file. I have no idea if it will work but it may be worth a try. Good luck.
wwaag
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Hi Wayne, this is what I have been doing already and it works: I tested rendering the save video in Vegas as separate avi test files and all had the same file size and quality. Then used VirtualDub to open and render them, worked like a charm. Since I am dealing with hundreds of videos such as this one, I wanted to cut the VirtualDub step out of the equation but it doesn’t seem to be the case, since Avi Reader is very limited to the file formats it can use.
Thanks for the help!
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One other suggestion since using Virtualdub works that you might look into. Virtualdub does support batch renders. If you could load all of your 2 sec events onto the Vegas timeline, you could then create a region for each event. Then do a batch render so that a separate file is created for each region. And finally, import these files into Virtualdub for batch rendering to the new avi’s. I don’t know if you can simply import a folder or it has to be on a one-by-one file basis. In any case, it will be tedious. Have you exhausted all of the Vegas render options such as Sony YUV? Perhaps you’ll stumble upon something that works? Do you have audio? If not make sure to uncheck “include audio” on your audio tab. I would also uncheck the “Create an OpenDML…” box since your file should be under 2 GB.
wwaag
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Just did a quick search and yes, you can process all files within a folder without having to load them one by one. Sounds like that would be your best bet. Do a batch render from Vegas and then a batch re-render in Virtualdub. Again, good luck,.
wwaag
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Thanks Wayne, this will speed up things a lot. Cheers
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Works like a charm. Vegas takes about 5 seconds per event, once that’s done, batch re-render as AVI in dub takes 2-3 seconds per video. Thanks again Wayne!
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