The finished DVD has horizontal jagged lines when motion is seen. I understand I am looking at a delay and two fields of interlace. I've read posts similar to this suggesting turning PROGRESSIVE off or on, as a DISC option, to match the original content will cure this. But it does not work for me. Tried it both ways. Other posts reference LIQUID which I don't have. I noticed applying various video effects (either stabilization or lighting) seems to cure it, but is this the answer?

I am running Studio 14 Ultimate. Video source is SONY HDR-SR12. All video is highest quality and resolution (1920 x 1080) I am simply dropping M2TS files from PMB onto the timeline of Studio. I am working in HD because I want to make both a master DVD and a master BD of this project when done.

If I really MUST apply a video effect to every single HD clip to eliminate the movement interlace jaggies, then which effect has the least effect on the actual video? I am hoping to NOT have to downscale (convert) the imported video so I can still burn a BD disc of it when done. I have not tried to burn a BD yet to see if it has jaggies as well, but my guess is probably not. BD blanks are a bit pricey so I was going to wait on trying this.

TIA for any hints, tips, tricks to get me over this hurdle.

Best regards - Lee

When you turned interlace on or off, did you then re-render the file before making the DVD?

Whatever the original video was, that's the standard that should be maintained throughout.

Don

By merely dragging and rendering your raw videos this points to show that the original files are indeed interlaced. You must keep the input file the way it was recorderded and do not encode it as Progressive.

Interestingly there seems to be some debate online as to whether the Sony HDR-SR12 is really 1080i or 1080p. I thought it was 1080p, but now I have doubts.

Not having side by side I and P files, I can not imagine why the ability to drag files means they are interlaced. But I'm here to learn of course. Why can't progressive files be dragged and rendered?

There were two selections on Make Disk dialog.

One is "Use progressive encoding". Another is "Always re-encode entire movie" I suspect cuartetto means re-encode and not re-render. I think these may be different operations. But that really was the intent, then let me know how to cause a "re-render".

I have tried it with both options checked.  I have tried it with only "Always re-encode entire movie" checked., and am getting the similar results with multiple field artifacts.

I'm going to fire it up again tonight with  Use progressive encoding un-checked, and Always re-encode checked, and see what I get. This takes a few hours to render the 35 minute video, so will see where it is tomorrow.

Marc & Don... Thanks for taking time to lend a hand.

I forced a re-encode with progressive off, and still the jaggies.

One more time force re-encoding with progressive on, and no go.

I don't recall having these issues in Studio 12, or at least I had resolved it there somehow. Is there something different in Studio 14?

Lee Gillie:

.

TIA for any hints, tips, tricks to get me over this hurdle.

Best regards - Lee

Hi Lee,

I have a couple of these Sony HDD cameras although not the SR12.  I think you'll find it shoots in 1080i.  Which settings are you using in the camera for your AVCHD files?

What do you see when you play your AVCHD files in PMB ( The Sony software that would have come with your camera)?  Do you see the jaggies then? If so that might indicate the problem is in the source file rather than the processing.

Artifacts in AVCHD can be caused by a number of different issues, but two of the most common causes are

• Poor lighting
• Excessive camera movement 

 

Lee Gillie:

One more time force re-encoding with progressive on, and no go.

I don't recall having these issues in Studio 12, or at least I had resolved it there somehow. Is there something different in Studio 14?

Try playing the end result with Windows Movie Player. Tell me if the playback looks better there.

Yes, I confirmed 1080i.

format I use for recording is HD FH (AVCHD 16M)

PMB plays them with no artifacts/jaggies, although a bit choppy. (Not enough CPU?) I can watch about the first 5 seconds of each clip before it gets choppy. But there are no jaggies at all in PMB.

In Studio 14, jaggies appear in good light shots, but not so much in low light shoots. At least well lit shots with high contrast seems to accentuate the visibility of the jaggies. There is always excessive camera motion, or subject motion when I see jaggies. Jaggies appear along right or left vertical edges, and the depth of jag depends on speed of subject or camera motion. It really sounds a LOT like the interlace/progressive corruption described elsewhere.

I am rendering to WMV tonight and will report on that in the morning.

Also I noticed the jaggies appear in the Studio video preview window. It is hard to tell with the small size. I also sometimes use a second monitor for preview and you can see them there. Just take the scrubber to a frame, and you can see jaggies. I guess this makes sense as recoding I or P makes no difference. It is before recoding is where the jaggies are. It is in studio's interpretation of the M2TS files.

Further if I apply only STABILIZATION video effect the jaggies are still there.  If I apply only PAN and ZOOM video effect with all zero settings the jaggies go away. In fact, you can see it right in the preview window just moments after apply the video effect to a clip. I burned another interlace DVD using PAN and ZOOM on select clips, and the quality is great. Absolutely no jaggies in those clips.

I do use stabilization so I am guessing order I add effects may be significant and I need to add the pan and zoom zero effect first, and THEN stabilization???

If it would be at all helpful I can e-mail or upload a very brief M2TS file demonstrating the issue in Studio 14. Just a few seconds long.

My feeling is that Studio 14 does not interpret these Sony AVCHD files properly. But some how, the PAN and ZOOM with ZERO adjustment seems to nullify the issue. I suspect for the moment, this may be the only answer?? It would be nice not have to apply an effect to remove the jaggies.

Thanks again for all the help and taking time to look at my problem.

Hard to opine without seeing how severe the artifacts and jaggies are.

Get yourself a BD-RE disc.  Better that than wasting BDs.  Use the BD-MPEG option at 25mbps.  See if that alleviates the problem.  What you see on the BD player or PS3 would be the final arbitror.

Or practice burning short projects as AVCHD-DVD to DVD+RE.  Trouble is, the bitrate ceiling (in S12) is 17mbps.  Your Sony native bitrate in the HQ setting is 16mbps.  If you put 35 minutes worth on a 4.7GB AVCHD-DVD, that may force a cut in the bitrate to 13mbps or something.  The added compression could be a cause of IQ loss and artifacts.

Don't rely on prior transcodes to WMV.  That is very compressed and takes a lot of time.

Does Studio 14 allow for intermediate transcoding to 1920x1080 AVI or MJPEG?  With S12, the only HQ option was HDV-MPEG2 @ 25mbps.

Studio 14 supposedly has a better AVCHD codec than S12.  But, for a given clip or clip timeline, does the output look better or worse?

Separate question: might your editing experience be easier, and the net video quality be comparable or better, using a 1440x1080i setting when shooting?  I wonder if any of the consumer videocams has a sufficiently large sensor and bitrate to do justice to 1920x1080.

 

I get really beautiful images when I plug the HDMI directly into the big screen. I am very pleased with this Sony so far. Yes, editing is a hassle.

I made a huge discovery. When I hover the mouse over the  project name in the movie panel I can see the project is

     HD 1920x1080/24p
     1920 x 1080, 23,98 frames per second
     16:9, progressive
     Codec: MPEG2

When ever I drop one of my AVCHD/M2TS files from the file system or PMB onto this project, it is subject to jaggies in preview, and final DVD rendering

I started a NEW BLANK project, with the GET FORMAT FROM FIRST VIDEO CLIP and FIRST dragged an video clip from PMB rather than the stock video that is at the beginning of my big project. This newly created project is

     HD 1920x1080/60i
     1920 x 1080, 29.97 frames per second
     16:9, interlaced
     Codec: MPEG2

When I drop other video clips here I get no jaggies in the preview. No jaggies in the DVD burn.

I was under the impression that the project format did not effect the final render output, and it was more so for editing, and preview. But you live and learn.

The reason it seemed to work in Studio 12 is that I always started projects from camera video.

This is smelling more and more like a bug... but to be sure depending on the answer to the following 2 questions.

I can not find any way to change the video format of this project I have put so much time into to the format that works. Is there some way to do this?

I can not find any way to copy my work from the timeline of one project to another. Is there some way to do this?

If I can not do either, then the basic design is flawed in that I can not fix the result after many hours of work on the project. Either the final output should not depend on the project format, or else, there needs to be a way to change it.

Further, I can not set the format as DEFAULT FOR NEW PROJECT. The only way I can find to set this exact format is to use the USE FIRST CLIP and drop a clip in. The format this produces is not available as a hard-set. Why is that?

With Studio it's not possible to change project settings for an existing project.
But that shoudn't be a problem.
Also, please keep in mind that any change in project settings will only become effective with the next new project you start. 

Question: Are you saying you can't select project settings as per enclosed screenshot?
If that happens to be the case, which I doubt it is, please try following:

With project format set to "From first clip on TL" start a new empty project and drag one those PMB video clips to TL.
This should give you following project settings:
HD 1920x1080/60i
1920 x 1080, 29.97 frames per second
16:9, interlaced
Codec: MPEG2
Save this new project as say HD1.

Now open your existing project, the one with the wrong settings.
Go to Edit menu and choose Select all (or just do Ctrl+A) and Copy.
Close this project and open your HD1 project.
Click on TL and do CTR+V to paste.
Delete the first clip on TL (which should still be the PMB clip) and save the project.
HD1 project's TL should now look same as your existing project's TL and HD1 project format should still be:
HD 1920x1080/60i
1920 x 1080, 29.97 frames per second
16:9, interlaced
Codec: MPEG2

 

 

Added later: In case your original project contains any menus, delete 'm before doing the copy paste thingy and rebuild 'm later in your HD1 project.
The copy/paste trick doesn't handle menus right, i.e. the menus transfer ok but the chapters are lost.
 

I don't have menus, but even so I am not able to copy timeline edit work from one project to another in this way. I can select all, and copy, but when the next project is open I do a paste, and nothing happens. It is like closing the one project also clears the pasteboard. Tell me, are you able to do this in Pinnacle 14 ?

Yes I am.

Try a rightclick on an empty place on TL of the new project and select Paste from the context menu.

I am not confirming anything yet but as of this morning, I can only copy projects to a an empty timeline if the project format is the same.

I'm having the same problem - did you ever find a solution?

Yes. It is mostly pre-emptive though...

It is necessary in preferences to TAKE PROJECT SETTINGS FROM FIRST CLIP.

Then BEFORE doing anything with your new project, add a video clip from your camera, or where ever the bulk of clips will come from. DONT START WITH A TITLE SCREEN OR ANYTHING YOU HAVE CREATED IN ANY OTHER WAY OR FOUND ON THE INTERNET OR SOMEONE E-MAILED TO YOU.  You can not change the project settings later. If you get it wrong, and have done any significant amount of editing there are those who claim you can copy the timeline from one project to another, but I have found this to be problematic. So get it right from the get-go.

 Once you get your project established and saved for the first time, THEN you can copy in those video clips at the beginning that may be a variant frame rate or format or what have you.

 If you are already stuck, like I was, I found that applying PAN AND ZOOM effect with no PAN AND ZOOM settings would improve quality a lot, but not as well as doing it correct from the start.

 Hope this helps you! - Lee