Brian Tallant
Forum Replies Created
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Norman,
You asked what Render As template I’m using. I’m going to the MainConcept MPEG-2 category, then HDV 720-30p. If you select that template you’ll see at the top it says “Format:Video: 29.970 fps, 1280×720 Progressive, YUV, 18.3 Mbps”.
That’s what I’m using, and the resulting file’s extension is m2T.
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If I understand what the Time Ruler setting is, it’s set on “Time and Frames”.
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You asked for some screen captures and so forth, and I can try and post those sometime soon, but in the meantime I’ll answer one of your questions.
You asked why I’m choosing YUV. Well, I’m rendering to .m2T, and as far as I can tell there is no other option with that format except YUV (it’s listed under MainConcept MPEG-2/HDV 720-30p).
What’s strange is that MainConcept AVC/Internet HD 720p is also a YUV format, but when using the Levels correction (Computer RGB to Studio RGB) the video seems to come out fine. Same goes for MainConcept MPEG-2/DVD Architect Stream. They all use YUV but Levels can pretty much correct it with two of them but not with the .m2T format.
So really, my question is more specifically with the .m2T format….how to render the still pictures so that the video reproduces the original colors.
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Aha…I may have just answered my own question. In project properties I changed the field order to progressive and the deinterlace method to “none”, then took the snapshot. That seems to do the trick.
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Yes, I guess the main thing I learned is that the fault lies with the media players, not Vegas. That’s reassuring, although the question still remains as to how the average person is supposed to watch media on their computer in an accurately presented way…Windows Media and VLC both skew the proportions, at least on my computer.
Thanks John, for taking the time to go through this with me!
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When I drop them on the Vegas timeline there is only a barely perceptible difference (which might be because I rendered the MPEG-4 as 656×480 instead of 655×480).
I tried stretching the two videos out like you suggested to see if they would exactly overlap, but I got the same results as when I looked at each one fullscreen: the MPEG-4 is slightly wider (or slightly shorter, depending on how I stretch the video). Anyway, you can’t get them to overlap perfectly.
I tried looking at them in Windows Media Player, and the results were pretty startling. This time it was the MPEG-2 that was wider, by A LOT. I looked at it in fullscreen and measured it with a ruler, and it was a full inch wider than the MPEG-4 on my monitor. At least with VLC the difference wasn’t THAT pronounced. But, bottom line, Windows Media Player displayed the two file types differently.
Maybe the most important factor is how Vegas displays them, but I wonder why these well-known media players display various file types so differently, and I wonder if there is a media player that would display everything properly. Is there a particular media player that you use?
And finally, I wonder how YouTube will display them. My goal is to be able to upload things to the internet and have them look the same as the way I edited them. I realize a little skewing might not be noticeable to a lot of people, but I notice it, and it bugs me.
UPDATE – By the way, I tried all of this with an uncompressed AVI, and both media players behaved exactly the same way as they did with MPEG-4. And when I tried the AVI on the Vegas timeline, that barely perceptible difference was gone (I’m guessing because I was able to make the AVI 655×480 instead of 656×480).
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There are two videos open in the picture, one on top of the other. The one on bottom is the original MPEG-2 file, which is 720×480 PAR 0.9091. The video on top is the MPEG-4 I made from it, at 656×480 PAR square. As I hope you can see, the MP4 is smaller than the original, both vertically and horizontally. And if I render the MPEG-4 as 720×480 PAR 0.9091 I get the same results.
More difficult to show is what happens when I look at each video in fullscreen. But basically, when I measure the MPEG-4 in fullscreen, it’s wider than the MPEG-2. I can post a couple of screenshots of each video in fullscreen mode if that would help you.
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Hi John,
Still frustrated. I rendered two different MP4’s – one at 720×480 PAR 0.9091, and another one at 656×480 PAR square. When played on the VLC media player these two MP4’s look identical, and yet both look different than the original MPEG-2 (at their original zoom level they’re both shorter and thinner than the MPEG-2, and when played full screen they’re a little wider). I’m not sure where I’m going wrong but I’ll keep fiddling with it, unless you have a suggestion for me to try.
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Is there a different codec you recommend, or is this one good enough?
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John,
I tried rendering the video using MainConcept AVC/AAC Internet 480p 4:3, with a custom frame size of 655×480, but it won’t accept the number 655. It keeps changing it to 656.
Can you tell what I’m doing wrong?
