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Repeating flicker on still pic DVD
Hello again, I need your help.
Using Vegas 9 I developed a 45-minute video, using mostly still photos and some video clips. Rendered to MPG2 Template:DVD NTSC and then the result to DVD-NTSC using DVD-Architect 4.
The resulting video when played as a DVD disk has the following very frustrating defect:
On the still photos, there is a brief, (1/3 sec.)repeating flicker/shimmer, every 3.1 seconds, repeating like clockwork, quite noticeable, which ruins the video. It does not seem to occur when I am zooming a still photo (via event pan-crop), nor on video clips. I thought it was maybe the DVD-RW disk, but it does the same on a regular DVD-R disk. I tried making a DVD using DVDA-4 with the “Reduce Interlace Flicker” On and Off without any significant change. This flicker/shimmer does not show-up on the rendered Mpg2 when played via Windows Media Player. It also does not show-up when played “preview” using DVDA-4. When the DVD disk is played via the PC, using a couple of programs including Windows Media Player, this flicker/shimmer is continuous, perhaps 2-3 times per second.
Some details:
Windows XP-P SP2, with a 3.4Ghz Pentium 4, 2Gb RAM, plenty of HD space, all pre-defragmented. Nothing else running except some background programs.
Still photos are .jpg, size 800×600 pixels, about 170kb each, shown for 8 seconds, with 2 sec overlap-fade on either side, from photo to photo.
Many thanks in advance,
John -
8 Replies
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It does sound like interlace flicker. Are the photos that flicker moving at all? It is odd for a still photo (with no movement) to flicker but it is possible. Did you select Reduce Interlace Flicker on the events in Vegas? That is where you want to do it (not in DVD Architect which only affects the menus and not the videos)
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thank you, John, for your super-prompt reply. I hope that your solution will work. However, I must be blind, because I searched, e.g., Options, and cannot locate the “events” control in Vegas, in order to reduce the interlace flicker. Could you give me a little more explicit direction where that control is located?
John
Incidentally this “every 3.1 second” cyclical flicker/shimmer occurs only on totally still photos – not on photos which have been given the “Event Pan/Crop” treatment. I gather this is the opposite of what you were expecting.John23GR
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> Could you give me a little more explicit direction where that control is located?
Sorry for not being more specific. Select an event on the timeline. Right-click it and select Properties. In the properties for that event you will see a checkbox for Reduce Interlace Flicker. Make sure this is checked for any still images.
> Incidentally this “every 3.1 second” cyclical flicker/shimmer occurs only on totally still photos – not on photos which have been given the “Event Pan/Crop” treatment. I gather this is the opposite of what you were expecting.
Not only is it opposite, but the timing is inconsistent with interlace flicker which happens every time the fields shift. Still, the only difference between watching it on your PC (which doesn’t have the problem) and watching on a TV (which does have the problem) is that the TV is interlaced.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
John, do any of the photo’s have diagonal lines in them? Or a diagonal design in the photos themselves. It almost sounds like you may have an encoding vs. display problem, possibly due to inferior cabling going from your DVD player to the television. Similar to the moire’ pattern effects during moving video, that you used to be able to correct by switching from RCA cables to S-video. That may be a long shot, I know, but I was watching “Kung Fu Panda” the other day, both in 1080i on DVD and 1080i on satellite. There was a moire’ pattern effect in one scene involving a long shot of the palace roof, which features a diagonal line type effect, even though I’m using Monster HDMI cables, both from my DVD player and Dish HD satellite receiver. So I’m wondering if this could be an encoding problem.
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John,
I thought I’d give you an update FYI on the issue of flicker/shimmer I encountered. There were too many still photos to do invidually (if I could could avoid it.) But playing with it, I discovered that Vegas had a control: Project/Properties/Video which would allow a “Field Order” to set upper or lower field order first, which I tried at the lower setting.
This totally removed the cyclical flicker/shimmer, but did worsen the previously fine, steady view of the still pictures that had been given the “pan/crop” treatment. (Sort of what you expected to see.)
I then tried setting the “Field Order”: “None” and “Deinterlace”: “None.”
These two controls together cleaned up the video and it looks fine, the way it should look.
Many thanks!
JohnJohn23GR
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Hello Rick, and thanks for your thought. As it turns out the issue was solved* (please see my previous posting) but in response to your Question I was running a new “upsample” LG Brand DVD player using an HDMI cable into a “Near-HD Ready” (1080 line) Samsung 32″ Flatpanel TV. So I think that “bad cabling” was not the problem.
Before my last attempt, there were definite “jaggies” (but not shimmering) on a picture showing series of fishing rods on a bridge, with a sky background. (Thin lines somewhat diagonal to horizontal.) After my last setup, the fishing rods showed up very clean – not perfect, but far superior than the original.
* Solved, but it’s still not clear to me why there should have been a problem to begin with.John23GR
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Glad you got it worked out. I do all of my photo montages with field order set to none but because you said you also had video in there I didn’t suggest it. As long as the video still looks OK I guess you have it solved.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks again. The videos were all “MPG4″s shot with a Nokia Cellphone. Maybe that has some bearing on the case as to why they did not degrade. But I will certainly keep the issues you kindly provided in mind, when shooting “regular” video.
John23GR
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