Color Banding while decoding MJPEG

[John Rofrano]

[Carlos Zapater] “I’m capturing my screen with a software called Dxtory using the mjpeg codec Picvideo v4. …Then when it comes to import it into Vegas begins the nightmare. The preview window shows a low quality picture due to a heavy color banding.”

You should try the Morgan Multimedia M-JPEG codec. It works great the Vegas Pro and produces excellent quality.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Carlos Zapater]

Hi John. Thanks for answering.

I tried installing the demo version and still have the same problem. Do you know if Vegas uses his own decoder for editing?

[John Rofrano]

[Carlos Zapater] “I tried installing the demo version and still have the same problem. Do you know if Vegas uses his own decoder for editing?”

Something is not right with your computer then. Before I answered your post I installed the demo or Morgan on a new Windows 7 + Vegas Pro 12.0 virtual machine and I rendered some of my HD footage to M-JPEG and then imported it back into Vegas Pro and it looked exactly like the original. This should work.

Do you have any codec-paks installed like K-Lite? They could be messing up your system. If so, uninstall them.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Carlos Zapater]

[John Rofrano] “Do you have any codec-paks installed like K-Lite? They could be messing up your system. If so, uninstall them.”

Uh, no! I always avoid such packs and only install the codec I need.

I have tested the footage in another pc with vegas and it looks great in time line. I’m running out of ideas…

[John Rofrano]

[Carlos Zapater] “I have tested the footage in another pc with vegas and it looks great in time line. I’m running out of ideas…”

Yea, that’s what I’m seeing too. When you right-click on the event in Vegas and go to the Media tab, what does Vegas say for the video format? Is it using the Sony MJPEG or PicVideo MJPEG? Then do the same on the PC that it looks good on. Is that different?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Carlos Zapater]

Uh… it gets weirder.

I rendered the clip in the pc 2 (the “clean” one) and I saw some jaggy edges in all the frame. I searched google and ended in a creativecow post of somebody with same problem (and answered by you 🙂 ) It seems related with using blackmagic 32 bits codec to capture and Vegas 64 bits to edit. I searched for blackmagic 64 bits codec in its web with no success. But anyway the picture didn’t have color banding and the media tab said “Blackmagic MJPEG codec” (obvious).

I still haven’t gone back to home and check pc 1 (the “dirty” one) but I guess it will say PicVideo in media tab as in pc 2 didn’t say Sony MJPEG. Let’s see…

If Vegas is using PicVideo (the original codec) then I guess the color banding will be due to bad development of VFW version or simply there’s no 64 bits VFW version… It is a shame.

I will post when I arrive.

[John Rofrano]

[Carlos Zapater] “If Vegas is using PicVideo (the original codec) then I guess the color banding will be due to bad development of VFW version or simply there’s no 64 bits VFW version… It is a shame.”

If you temporarily uninstall PicVideo then Vegas Pro should use the Sony MJPEG decoder. If that looks OK, it may be a PicVideo problem.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Carlos Zapater]

Okey.

After more tests here are my points

– Opened project in vegas. Click at event and the media tab says PicVideo MJPEG 64 bits VFW codec.
– Unistalled PicVideo. Cannot open clips in Vegas. Says there is a problem with codec.
– Installed Morgan trial. Project opened without problems. Media tab says it is using Morgan codec. Rendering confirms Color banding is gone but now the picture appears like jagged or with loose of resolution.
– Checked all options regarding to fields order. All of them set to progressive (which is correct)
– Tried playing rendered file in various players, activating and deactivating internal and external filters. All with same jagged picture (so, defect comes out from vegas ‘as is’).
– Tried rendering in various formats and codecs from Vegas. Still jagged.
– Tried loading clip in Premiere (here never had color banding) and rendering an .mp4 Still jagged!!

Conclusions:
– Color banding is a PicVideo issue. No probs with Morgan.
– Jagged picture is maybe a limitation of the Morgan trial? In its web they don’t explain trial limitations and seems that usage is only limited by time. I was almost happy we have almost solved the mistery of color banding and then this appears.

I tried to contact through morgan website form asking about this new issue.

[John Rofrano]

That’s really strange because I rendered some HD footage with the Morgan MJPEG codec trial and it looked great. No jagged edges or anything. I was using the 64-bit version of the Morgan codec.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Carlos Zapater]

[John Rofrano] “That’s really strange because I rendered some HD footage with the Morgan MJPEG codec trial and it looked great. No jagged edges or anything. I was using the 64-bit version of the Morgan codec.”

In which format did you rendered that footage? The thing that shocked me most is that no matter what preset I used in Vegas and Premiere, the result was the same. And no matter what player and filter I used, the picture was jagged. But in the timeline and preview window it looked great.

I’ll try to post a screenshot during this morning if I can manage to connect to my home computer via Teamviewer so you can watch it. Maybe it will enlight us 🙂

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