Jagged Horizontal Edges... and More

Joeybear wrote on 12/29/2006, 7:23 PM
First off, I apologize if this problem has been posted about before. I did a search, but only came up with a little. Anyways...

For a while now, I've been transferring beta videotapes to DVD. Everything's been going fine; until today.

I've been capturing the video using a Canopus ADVC-3000 with Vegas Capture 6. I do the editing and cleanup, etc. in Vegas 6.
From Vegas, I've been rendering the video using the MPEG2 (DVDA NTSC Video Stream Template), and rendering the audio as AC3 (Default Template)

Here's the problem: When I preview the MPEG2 video in DVDA3, and there's movement in the video, I'm getting horizontal jagged edges around people, as well as jagged lines across most of the sceeen. I read another post in here that called it the "window blinds" effect. In my case, the lines are small in height; like mini-blinds.
And here's where it gets weird... these "anomalies" also appear on screen in synch with high (loud) points in the audio. Even if no one is moving in the video, if someone speaks, the "anomalies" appear.
Burns to DVD have had the same results on my TV.

I've made no system changes, or program changes, or changes of any kind. And the computer has never been anywhere near the internet, etc.

One final note (for what it's worth)...
The MPEG2 file looks fine in Windows Media Player. I also did an AVI (NTSC DV Template) render, and it also looks fine in Windows Media Player (but it too looks bad in DVDA3)

I'm already halfway thru this job, and any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Joe (joe324@earthlink.net)

Comments

TLF wrote on 12/30/2006, 12:08 AM
Those jaggies sound like interlace artifacts to me (ignoring those that occur with sound).

I assume you're viewing on a PC monitor, which aren't the most reliable devices when it comes to previewing interlaced material - PC monitors are non-interlaced devices (uaually).

I find my previews in Media Player may differ from the previews in Vegas, which in turn may differ from the preview in Power DVD. This makes it impossible for me to know if my interlaced material will render correctly. This is especially so if my source material originated from analogue recordings.

Right now, I would create a test DVD and see if those jaggies appear on a television.

In future, I would render the video to a non-interlaced DVDA MPEG stream. That always works for me.

Good Luck,

Worley.
Joeybear wrote on 12/31/2006, 6:39 AM
Thanks Worley.

Stupid me forgot to mention that the problem is also showing up on the TV. : (
I'll try the non interlaced render and see what happens.
TLF wrote on 12/31/2006, 7:41 AM
For what it's worth, I am having a similar problem right now. It's a long story, but essentially, I'm using video 8 footage that was digitaised to MPEG2.

It looks fine on my LCD monitor, but replayed on a television (also LCD) I have jaggies and nasty interlacing effects.

I forgot to render as non-interlaced/progressive, so I have to waste the afternoon rendering the project again.

Worley.
Joeybear wrote on 12/31/2006, 6:34 PM
Worley, your suggestion worked. Thanks.

The thing about my situation that's really bugging me its that before yesterday, I never had to take any steps involving de-interlacing. I had a specific workflow for over a year and now all of a sudden this stuff is happening. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that Windows has somehow corrupted my system; just enough to cause this "out of nowhere" problem. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
My Sony software (Vegas, DVDA, SF, ACID, and CD Architect) have always been stable and reliable, and some past experiences have always ended with the conclusion that Windows caused the initial problem.

Too bad Sony doesn't make products for Mac. LOL
TLF wrote on 1/1/2007, 3:43 AM
I used to think such problems were random. Early on in my experiences with Vegas, one section of a video refused to render correctly. The only way to prevent it was to render as progressive. Switch the field order simply would not work.

Before using Vegas, I used a product called Magix Movie Edit Pro which is a great product for beginners and intermediate users. But is is buggy... Movie Edit Pro also has problems with my video.

Well, I returned to the unofficial MEP support site recently and noted that one of the bugs results in a problem with interlacing when working with digitised analogue video - for example, Video 8 that has been converted to digital.

And wouldn't you know, the video I was working with was originally analogue footage that I had digitised with a Hauppauge Win TV PVR 250.

It seems that Vegas also has this problem, and I suspect it is a fault with the MPEG encoder (MEP also used the Main Concept one).


Whenever i am working with such video, I now always render as progressive. It saves a lot of hassle.

Happy New Year,

Worley
Joeybear wrote on 1/1/2007, 2:31 PM
I found the solution to my problem, and those of you who've considered letting someone else use your workstation may wanna make a note of this post...

It seems that my %!@!! nephew went into Vegas, and in the "Project Properties" window, he set Deinterlace to "none". Then the overgrown rugrat checked the "start all new projects with this setting".
It's no wonder I was having this problem. Now I have to go back and re-render 2 1/2 hours of footage. So much for being a good uncle.

I ran some tests to see if that's all he did, and my renders (with all effects and cropping, etc.) are now back to normal, so I'll give the little !@$%!! the benefit of the doubt.

Needless to say, my workstation is now officially off limits to my nephew (or anyone else for that matter).