Also might try playing with the encoder settings, if you haven't already.

I've had much the same problem using the Mainconcept encoder that SoFo supplies but one thing to check first. Are you using VV 4.0b?

First release rndered most fonts really badly, when that went through the MPG encoders (any of them) they really fell apart. Check carefully how you text looks before encoding, any staircasing is going to get worse after encoding.

Hi Chienworks,
Thanks for reply. Noop. The avi file looks fine. I was wrong and I did see the same artifact with Premiere 6.5 and MainConcept encoder and V4 with built-in MainConcept encoder. As a matter of the fact I tried the same avi file with CCE 2.67 and result was the same and avi file looks fine with no jagged edge. In all cases I'm setting to multi pass VBR, 8000kbs and HighQ.

One more thing I tried, using MyDVD, which has build-in encoder, I'm not sure what it is and notice the final result is not as bad as others.

ARK,

Hi mikkie,

The only setting I did for all encoders CCE, Procoder and MainConcept was, multi pass VBR, 8000kbs and HighQ. Are there any other setting that I am missing and might effects this jagged edge? I'm too new to this stuff. Is this some kind of pixelization error that I am getting? if so why the rest of the clip is fine and it's just the generated text has the problem.

Thansk
ARK

Hi Frass,

Thanks for reply, I am using the latest V4.0b with build in Mainconcept encoder which has the same problem with Generated slanted text. The same text in preview windows looks great with no artifact, some how encoding does that to text. I was thinking to take a shot of slanted edge with my camcorder like the edge of the table and see if encoder makes the edge staircase or just this behavior shows on generated text.

Thanks
ARK

Try using the waveform monitor and see if your levels are hot - over 100% IRE levels. Broadcast fx at event/track/or master stage will clamp/limit the "hot text". To make the broadcast filter fx work, click on the one and only keyframe at the bottom. Select one one of the presets like "Lenient - 7.5 Setup".
Or better, you can turn down your levels in the CG media to fall between
16-235 RGB. Gaussian or Quick blur fx/filtering can help tons also on those tough angles your avi DV to MPEG II setup is grinding on. You could go avi uncompressed to MPEG II. Lot's more HD space and slower output though.
I use fx plugged in at the track level for my CG tracks. Nice and clean use.
All though cut and paste of event attibutes in V4 is great for event level fx use. BTW, If you want to tweak your mind (and find tons of looks), load up the film effect on some text. Crazy stuff.

Craig H.

Hot levels might have something to do with the problem. My problem improved when I backed off from 100% red but it was still pretty crook. I also noticed it wasn't just the edges that were going bad, there was pixels dropping out inside the letters.

I went to just plain white text and no problem. I might do a bit more work on this issue when I have the time, I'll try running the AVI through TMPEGEnc and see how it turns out

"The only setting I did for all encoders CCE, Procoder and MainConcept was, multi pass VBR, 8000kbs and HighQ. Are there any other setting that I am missing and might effects this jagged edge? I'm too new to this stuff. Is this some kind of pixelization error that I am getting? if so why the rest of the clip is fine and it's just the generated text has the problem."

I've not used procoder, and couldn't find anything useful on their site, so alas I'm dealing with generalities - please forgive...

MPEG 2 compression involves a matrix that it (the encoder) uses to divide up the original frame you feed it, and based on this matrix it decides what data to hold onto. It also involves looking ahead into the video to see how much motion is there, how the amount of motion changes and so on (often given as a quality setting to my knowledge, when the actual look ahead is not referenced). Depending on the software, there can be quite a few other options, to fine tune the look ahead and the matrices used etc.

Stuff gets much like a black art, so a lot of these controls aren't always visible or adjustable by the user - VV4b doesn't give you an option that I could see for changing the matrix as an example.

I'm guessing that if VV4b creates avi files that when encoded by procoder show the problem, then perhaps VV4b may not be anti-alliasing &/or feathering the text as much. In theory the text should be feathered into a shadow that's also feathered - for TV display anyway. While this might not be apparent viewing the video, at the individual pixel level procoder might be having trouble, pixelating on the edges, and setting it to use a different matrix or algo for the matrix might eliminate the problem by forcing procoder to look at and treat the edges differently.

If procoder can't be adjusted to handle it well, then I'd look at ways to dirty up the title track in VV4b, probably by adding noise as this doesn't have the same visual effect of softening the entire picture as blur does. Another advantage is that with mpeg 1/2 and winmedia encoders the noise registers as movement that the encoder will try and keep in the compressed video - pixilation often comes from the encoder tossing out in this case part of the edge data it feels are more static.

I'm sure there are better methods, I'm really just thinking aloud here, but if something like adding the noise FX in VV4b or through V/Dub filters didn't do it: I'd consider rendering the title clip to avi with the background color the same as the shadow color used. For compression I'd use something like picvideo, but with quality set to half way, or maybe 3/4 to add the noise. Reimporting the title clip, setting the background to chroma key out, might just be noisy enough to force the mpeg 2 encoder to keep everything and give a nice blended edge.