Video quality

norcalvp wrote on 3/22/2004, 12:17 PM

I have a few questions about the quality of the video that is being produced when you edit when Vegas.

I used Vegas for the first time last night, (and now want to buy my own copy). We were using Vegas 3.0, and captured the Video from a sony Video Camera (Sorry i don't know the model number) Through the USB port. The camera had a firewire port, but the computer we were using did not.

Anyway to my point. The video that was captured by Vegas, wasn't very clear or crisp. and if we were to re-record the footage, it would look terrible on a TV. I read somewhere that Vegas is capeable of Broadcast Quality footage. Is the problem that we were having because of the USB? is it too slow, and not able to keep up with the clear picture?

Also the final picture size was 720*480, is there any way to get that to be a larger picture? Or when we get a firewire card, when we record it back into the camera, will you be able to tell it's not the original tape?

Thanks
Steve

Comments

thrillcat wrote on 3/22/2004, 12:26 PM

What software did you use to capture the video? Chances are you didn't capture at full resolution. 720x480 is the NTSC video standard resolution. I'm wondering if somehow you set your capture for 360x240?

Also, how are you viewing the captured clips?

norcalvp wrote on 3/22/2004, 12:43 PM

In Vegas we went to File Capture Video... We didn't see anything that said anything about resoltuion.

The Captured clips are in an AVI format. and when we view them, i think it's in Window's media player.

Jsnkc wrote on 3/22/2004, 12:52 PM

"Is the problem that we were having because of the USB?"

Yup! Use firewire and I bet you will get MUCH better results!

rebel44 wrote on 3/23/2004, 4:33 AM

What you put in-you get out. Vegas it is very good but can not do miracles. You have camera capable of 320X240 and trying to get 720X480. It does not work that way. %99 Sony camcorderd (HI8 or digital) are capable of 320X240 only. Supersample will not fix this proble eigther. I had two different Sony cams. The video will look decent on tv, but show "true face" when attempt to capture in NTSC. Capture the video and render in WMV9 for web site. Tha is all what you get.
Have a fun

Chienworks wrote on 3/23/2004, 7:41 AM

Definately the problem is that it was a USB capture. If you were to use firewire you would get the full 720x480 resolution that the camera is capable of. Vegas is capable of broadcast quality, but obviously it can't do any better than the material given to it. If you produce a mostly cuts-only edit from a firewire capture and then print it back out to tape the quality will be as good as the original.

rebel44 wrote on 3/24/2004, 10:40 AM

USB capture will be slower, but will NOT capture in lower resolution that camera it is capable of. Analog capture will NOT capture in lower resolution that camera it is capable of. Firewire capture will NOT increase pix size more that camera it is capable of.
Firewire definetly will give to you faster and more clear clip, but will not increase image resolution of image.If you increase resolution durring rendering then you get image pixelate.
As I said- what you put in you get out.
Go to web site of camera manufacture and look for horizontal line of resolution. If it is less that 520 you have camera not capable of DV standard(720X480).

johnmeyer wrote on 3/24/2004, 10:15 PM

In a nutshell: When you capture via USB, you are not capturing DV! Thus, you are giving up quality, and the results will look horrible. The ONLY way to capture from a DV camera, and get exactly (bit for bit) what was recorded on the DV tape, is to capture via a Firewire (a.k.a. 1394) connection.

rebel44 wrote on 3/25/2004, 4:39 AM

Capture by usb will show some degradation of quality, but will retain original pixel size. You my have some frames missing, but original resolution should be capture. If camera was design to transfer video to computer by usb, the original pixel size should be intact.
What you put in is what you get.

RalphM wrote on 3/25/2004, 4:57 AM

Sony and every other digital camcorder I have seen capture and play back in 720X480 (NTSC). Do not confuse lines of resolution with the number of pixels in a frame of video. One can bring in an analog VHS image that has native resolution of 240 lines and after A/D conversion, the frames will be 720X480.

I believe that all the camcorders using USB interfaces are USB2. Is the computer equipped with USB2 or USB1?