Video quality degrades

[John Rofrano]

[Pat Adams] “If I have some clips in my movie that are 1920x1080p, e.g. and others only 720×402, I assume I should render according to the smallest size, but will the 1080 clips look worse this way, or will there be no change in the quality of the rendered video?”

Rendering to a smaller size will always be fine because you are just eliminating data that you don’t need. It’s only when you need to create data that never existed that it affects the quality negatively.

One option you might want to look into is Boris Continuum Complete Unit Image Restoration. It has a plugin called UpRez that intelligently scales SD to HD and adds selective sharpening to give it more detail and not look as soft. That’s what I would do if I had 1080p footage and just needed to add some SD to it to keep the whole video 1080p.

Here is a link to my Boris TV episode on how to use UpRez in Vegas Pro:

https://www.borisfx.com/videos/BCCVegas/Uprez.php

~jr

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

[Pat Adams]

I love the UpRez and your tutorial is very easy to understand even for novices and technical “dummies” like me.

Definitely something I want to try.

Can’t thank you enough for the incredibly helpful advice I’ve received here.

While I’m a on a roll, I see that 1920×1080 MKV files cannot be imported into Vegas. What would you suggest they be converted TO, in order to keep the high quality, yet be usable in Vegas?

[John Rofrano]

[Pat Adams] “While I’m a on a roll, I see that 1920×1080 MKV files cannot be imported into Vegas. What would you suggest they be converted TO, in order to keep the high quality, yet be usable in Vegas?”

That’s a tough one because Windows doesn’t have a good digital intermediary codec that you can use. I’ve been recommending AviDemux 2.5 to create MJPEG files with PCM audio. These seem to work well with Vegas Pro and uses the same JPEG compression that you use for your photos. I don’t know if AviDemux supports MKV but here are the settings to try if it does:

Make sure that you use AviDemux 2.5 and not 2.6 because for some reason 2.6 makes MJPEG files that Vegas Pro cannot open.

Alternately, you can download the free GoPro Studio and convert your files to CineForm but I don’t know if GoPro Studio accepts MKV files either. I’ve never used MKV myself so I’ve never tried this.

Finally you can probably use Handbreak to create high quality MP4 files using the AVC/H.264 codec that can be edited in Vegas Pro. Play around with each of these and see what works best for you.

~jr

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

[Pat Adams]

Downloading Avidemux 2.5 right now.

So are AVI files best for Vegas?

My movie is looking much better already, thanks!

ETA:

I’d like to know if these are the proper render settings for my 720-402 movie. Should I allow Source to Adjust Frame Rate/Size?

Should the Constant Bit Rate be 14 million, or something else?

[John Rofrano]

[Pat Adams] “So are AVI files best for Vegas?”

AVI is the native container for Windows. It usually contains codecs that use intraframe compression (DV, MJPEG, CineForm, etc.). These two things put together are the best editing format for Vegas Pro.

[Pat Adams] “I’d like to know if these are the proper render settings for my 720-402 movie.”

I would not set the Profile to High with video that small. I would use Main Profile. It’s OK to check “allow source to adjust frame rate”.

[Pat Adams] “Should the Constant Bit Rate be 14 million, or something else?”

That depends on what you plan to do with the video. 14Mbps is way too high for video that’s so small. It’s just wasting disk space. If you are loading it to YouTube then I guess it’s OK because YouTube will re-encode it so you want it to be high. DVD’s max out at 9Mbps and they are very high quality 720×480. I’m guessing you could get away with 6Mbps for 4Mbps and see no difference in quality. If you are concerned with file size I would not use constant bit rate as it wastes bits.

~jr

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

[Pat Adams]

Excellent! I’ve watched so many YT tutorials to find out HOW to do things, but never WHY,i.e. bit rates. Your explanations have made understanding the “Why” simple and easy even for me.

This forum is a wonderful resource. Thanks again.

[John Rofrano]

You’re welcome. I find that understanding “why” helps people remember. I always try and start my tutorials with “why” you would want to do this before I show you “how”. I wish the public school system worked like this. lol 😉

~jr

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

[Pat Adams]

[John Rofrano] “. I find that understanding “why” helps people remember.”

Absolutely.

While I’m on a roll, I just tried importing an AVI file, and was told there was a CODEC error.

I then d/l and installed Avi Codec Pack Pro and the file still cannot be imported into Vegas, giving me the same Codec error. Is there something more that needs to be installed?

[John Rofrano]

[Pat Adams] “I then d/l and installed Avi Codec Pack Pro and the file still cannot be imported into Vegas, giving me the same Codec error. Is there something more that needs to be installed?”

That as a really bad idea. Never install codec pack on your computer. I would uninstall it immediately but the damage may have already been done. This can cause all sorts of problems with Vegas Pro down the road. And as you have seen, it did not fix your problem.

The correct way to fix this is to get GSpot or MediaInfo and open the file with it and see what codec it needs. Then download the ONE codec from the manufacturer that you need.

~jr

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

[Pat Adams]

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a dummy. Uninstalled and hoping nothing bad results. I should have asked first.

Will check out the tools you mention. Ta!