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VCD Quality Very Bad
Hi,
I am using AE6.5 to work on some wedding video album. I use DIVX 5.11 Codec to render AE project to AVI format and use AVI to VCD, SVCD and DVD converter to convert AVI file to VCd compliant format.
The problem i facing now is the quality show in the VCD is very blur. The Composition size is 720×480 and 352×240. The photo resolution is 1536 x 1024. I have change the DIVX setting to high defination, but it seems the problem arrised during the conversion from AVI to VCD.
My question is:-
1) Is AE support VCD format(means Mpeg1)??? So i do not need to use converter, because i heard there will be some data loss during conversion.
2) If AE doesnot support, is there any converter that is recommend for the expert?
Thank you very much if any expert from cow family could assist me.
Jaz
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14 Replies
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First off, since you are compressing again after you render, you should probably render fully uncompressed – Otherwise you are compressing material that’s already compressed, which is going to look bad, almost always.
Try converting that to VCD and see if it works.
Now, I know that uncompressed video takes up a lot of space, but it’s only temporary. Once you convert the Video, you can erase the original uncompressed footage. FYI – every minute of video (not including sound) takes up about 1.8 GB if it’s an AVI.
AE can render MPEG 1, but since it only does 1 pass, it doesn’t always look that great. A 2-pass render analyzes the video in the first pass, and then figures out how to best compress it in the second pass. Unfortunatly, I don’t think AE can do this – most programs don’t.
For that, you need a program like Media CLeaner or Sorenson Squeeze.
What I do is render out my video uncompressed (or using Quicktime-animation compression) and then using Sorenson Squeeze to compress it for DVD or VCD. You can set it to do the 2-Pass render, and it comes out looking pretty clean.
You can buy Sorenson Squeeze at https://www.sorenson.com. FOr anyone who compresses video regularly (Web, DVD, VCD, Flash…etc.) it’s an essential tool.
Hope that helps.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
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Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
Dear Aharon Rabinowitz,
Thanks for your prompt reply and valueable information. I understand using uncompressed option really take out a lot of space, but if i have no choice then i will do so. Beside that i have tested with quicktime and i choose uncompressed or animation best setting also the video is not so clear during playback in Quicktime player. Anyway I will give a try on your suggestion.
I have another question here, if my composition using 720×480(DVD reso.) and the output AVI file eventually is bigger size (correct me if i am wrong), if later i convert to VCD and the reso. is lower, will the quality better compare using 352 x 240 composition??? Because currently our Video templete is in 720 x 480 reso to cater for DVD Video, but sometimes the templete also use for Video CD, just would like to understand more on the difference. (Of course we would like to do anything to improve the quality.)
Thanks again. I am appreciate your help and hope to hear from you soon.
Jaz
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Make sure that when you are rendering you’re render settings are set to “best Settings” (in the render queue). If your uncompressed renders are still looking bad, that my be the problem.
That’s not the same as the Quicktime Best settings – The Quicktime quality settings are a choice between highe quality images vs. smaller file size.
As far as your other question, I didn’t quite understand. Can you try again?
Sorry about that.
Aharon
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
So far have not try out on uncompressed yet…. file size too huge… but i will try this time.
“That’s not the same as the Quicktime Best settings – The Quicktime quality settings are a choice between highe quality images vs. smaller file size.” – In the render queue – output module, am I going to render as .mov file? if yes, do i need to change the setting?
So sorry for the question i had post just now. The size for the composition i use in AE is 720 x 480, but when come to VCD format is 352 x 240, during the render and conversion change of the size will it effect the quality of the video? or i should work on the composition size same as the Video CD size(352 x 240)?
Is AE suitable to use for Wedding album, because we are use wedding photo to work out a video, some of my frieds recommend Macromedia Flash, what is your opinion?
Thanks again.
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In the render queue – output module, am I going to render as .mov file? if yes, do i need to change the setting?
Well, it depends. Make sure the program you are using to convert to DVD or VCD format can read Quicktime files. A lot can’t. Sorenson can, and I think media cleaner can too, but I’m not sure.
If it can read MOV files, then set the output module to use Quicktime Movie, animation compression (which is not really compression, in the sense that there is no image quality loss), best quality. Animation compression *can* save a lot of space when compared to an uncompressed QT or AVI. But it doesn;t always – it depends on the video you are “compressing.”
If your program can’t read MOV files, you will need to render uncompressed AVI.
The size for the composition i use in AE is 720 x 480, but when come to VCD format is 352 x 240, during the render and conversion change of the size will it effect the quality of the video? or i should work on the composition size same as the Video CD size(352 x 240)?
Whenever you change sizes there is going to be some loss, but when you go from a large size to a small one, the loss can be minimal.
Think about it, if you scale a picture down to 50% of its size, you are hiding half of all the pixels. so some detail is lost no matter what. However, that’s going to happen no matter what you do, whether in After Effects, Vegas, Flash, Final Cut. This is perfectly acceptible. While you are losing pixels, image quality is still kept becasue you aren’t stretching pixels out.
When you scale up – that’s where your real problem is. VCD is attempting to strtch an image at half res to cover your entire TV Screen – so no matter what you do, you are going to get a fuzzy/blurry image – your scaling it up on your screen to about 200% – that’s a lot. There is no way around this.
If you are already working at DVD resolution, why not put it on DVD instead? Is cost a concern – You can buy DVD’s really cheap these days, and a double layer DVD burner can go for under $100.
Is AE suitable to use for Wedding album, because we are use wedding photo to work out a video, some of my frieds recommend Macromedia Flash, what is your opinion?
If you mean an on-line picture album, Flash is more suited for web stuff like that. Do you mean a wedding video? if that’s the case, then that’s a preference for which program you like and who your audience is (will it be watched off the web only?). I don’t work in flash, but if i wanted to do it in AE, I could always compress it in Sorenson for Flash. Also, if you go to “File > Export” in AE, one of the options is Flash Video (swf?) – though it can be very pixelated.
—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
First of all, thanks for your valuable advice.
We have tried to render uncompressed AVI from AE, took out 8GB HDD space and quality was great. But when i converted by using sorenson sqeeze 4.1 preset VCD-NTSC compression profile the MPEG-1 file was not clear at all. Even i have tried with Sony Vegas Studio 4.0 and AVI to VCD SVCD & DVD Converter, the results were also not clear. I remember your last few messages said we can render from sorenson using 2-pass setting, but in the preset profile it does not have the option for me to change from 1-pass to 2-pass……
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I guess that option is not be available for VCD. So Sorry about that. They’ve constrained it so you can’t change it. It’s been so long since I used a VCD, I forgot that.
Again, no matter what you do, a VCD will never be clear when played full screen – you are blowing it up to about 2x the size and that will always end up fuzzy loooking.
Your best bet is to do it as MPEG-2 (DVD), which will also not give you the 2-Pass VBR, but it will look a whole lot better.
—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
If is a 2-pass MPEG2, should i work on SVCD instead of VCD? What is the bit rate for MPEG2-SVCD? Constant or variable bit rate? Why SVCD is not that popular?(Especially in Malaysia)
Thanks again!
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I don’t really know about SVCD’s – not even sure waht makes them “super.” Sorry. My DVD player can’t read them.
Again, if you are already at DVD resolution, why not just go with a DVD – it’s more universal, and the quality will be better.
—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
Dear Aharon,
Just want to thank you for your advise. We have finally solve the problem by using SVCD. The quality is not much difference compare to DVD, my worried is on the compatibility.
The reason why we do not use DVD is because our charges for DVD is more expensive compare to VCD. If the customer willing to pay extra then we can give them a DVD.
Thanks again.
Jaz
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