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Soft images in final SD DVD- Could use some help
I have Vegas 7 and DVDA4. Never really used them but I want to start using DVDA.
I’m editing a standard def video, from DVCam footage in Avid DS and exporting my timeline as a Quicktime reference movie, and taking that reference movie into Vegas. I had taken it into DVDA direct, but the images came out soft and it was suggested to me that I take it into Vegas first, use the NTSC DVD template, then take that mpg into DVDA.
Still have soft images on my final DVD’s Well, it’s not just the DVD’s, it’s the produced mpg file in general. Just doesn’t look good.
I’ve increased bitrate to 8, tried both constant and variable, I’m in “best” mode for both the project and render selections, I’ve changed fields in my render, Nothing seems to change anything. In the end, I can create a DVD through a composite cable to a consumer DVD player recorder set in 2 hour mode, and get a much crisper picture than I can through DVDA and Vegas.
Obviously I’m doing something wrong somewhere. Not sure if it’s my export from DS, although there are no real settings to change when using a reference file. And I have tried exporting an uncompressed quicktime movie of the highest quality and using that instead of the reference movie, and it hasn’t changed anything.
The only oddity that I can think of, is DS uses SD at 720×486, and DVDA works at 720×480. Not sure if the softness has anything to do with that, and I don’t really have a way around that to my knowledge.
I’ve searched online for solutions to this problem, but the answers I see I’ve already tried, so any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
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2 Replies
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Are you exporting DV from DS first? If so, that’s likely a huge part of your problem. Can you export in a higher color sample format? Better still, can you use Vegas for your encode from an uncompressed or at least 4:2:2 source out of DS?
Also, ONLY use the DVD Architect templates, never the NTSC templates.
Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASSTCertified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor -
Thanks for the response.
Vegas and DVDA are on my DS machine, so instead of creating an actual file to import, I’m just creating a reference file to the DS timeline, which works great when I’m compressing something in Sorenson Squeeze. So what Vegas and DVDA are seeing should be the totally uncompressed full resolution information on my DS timeline, which I believe is 4:4:4, but I’ll have to verify that when I’m back in the office. When making a reference file out of DS, there are no options to choose from. It sends whatever settings are on the timeline. It should be totally uncompressed information going to DVDA. So I guess the answer is no, I’m not exporting to DV first.
I’ve also exported an uncompressed quicktime instead of a reference file. So when exporting, I’ve set compression to none, quality to best and colors to millions plus, all the highest settings.
I tried both of these first direct into DVDA, and when I got soft images, read that I should go into Vegas first and use the NTSC templete labeled specifically for DVDA, which is the one I used. I forgot the exact wording, but it’s labeled something like NTSC DV for DVD Architect.
The only imputs into this machine are through my AVID system and it’s SDI and HD SDI. I go component through a component to SDI converter box. But I have no way of capturing with Vegas itself. This machine has no firewire input, and AVID support is very picky when you add such things to machines. They always want to blame what you’ve added for any system issues that arise, so I hesitate to do so. I do have a machine with Vegas that does have a firewire input, and I can master to HDV from my DS and capture on this other machine, then drag the file over the network, which I haven’t tried yet, but I was hoping to come up with a solution so I could simplify the process.
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