MEP15 Encoder Settings - DV-AVI to DVD

HFrederick wrote on 2/5/2012, 12:45 PM

I am using MEP 15 to convert some home movies to DVD. I have taken the movies with a standard-definition Canon DV camcorder. I'm not getting the video quality that I hoped for; moving objects are frequently blurry and sort of jumpy.

As far as patches go, I always let MEP check for updates and it tells me that it is up to date.

My computer runs a quad-core Phenom processor with 4 GB of RAM. The operating system is Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Right now, I am working with a 12GB AVI file that I captured with Vista. I added a static menu and 6 chapters with the MEP. When I view the movie in the MEP Editor it looks fine whether it is running in a window or in full-screen mode. Because the video looks fine in the editor, I suspect that the problem is occurring when the file is encoded.

For MPEG encoder settings I am using 9301 kBit/sec and a Quality setting of 15. I currently have Smart Rendering and Use Anti-Flicker Filter unchecked. The Interlace Mode is set to Interlaced (Bottom Field First). I have tried several GOP structure settings. I have used the default of 15 for I frames and 3 for P frames. I tried using only I and P frames (Example IP ...). I left Auto-GOP set to None. The Bitrate mode is Variable, and the Maximum is 9500, Medium is 9077, and Minimum is 3000. I turned the Noise Sensitivity down to 3. I didn't touch the Advanced parameters.

If anyone is using MEP for transferring their DV tapes to DVD and having good results - please share your methods with me.

Thanks

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 2/5/2012, 12:59 PM

Well, the first thing I would have to say is that I've never changed any of the settings you mention, and I'm very happy with the quality of the output, except occasionally the Quality setting (I think the default is 10, I often use 12.) I do tick the "Use Anti-Flicker Filter" (but I'm not sure how much it affects the output).

You mention that "moving objects are frequently blurry...". I wonder whether your interlace setting is correct? You mention you use BFF (Bottom Field First) but is this the setting in the original AVI file? To check, download the free MediaInfo utility and let it have a look at the file; the also free GSpot (though rather old now) can sometimes be more helpful when it comes to checking the interlace setting. You then need to ensure the interlace settings for the exported file are the same.

As I think I implied above you should NOT need to make so many adjustments to the standard MEP settings in order to acheive a very good output.

Just one other thought: are you in PAL or NSTC land? Are you choosing the correct format for your output?

Jeff

HFrederick wrote on 2/5/2012, 2:48 PM

I am glad to hear that you are able to get quality video without making changes to the Encoder Settings. Hopefully there is something simple that I can change in my setup to fix the video quality issue.

I scanned the AVI file with MediaInfo, but all it told me was that the video is interlaced. I didn't find anything in the GSpot report that described the interlacing.

The MEP Manual talks about settings for interlacing, but it isn't clear to me what it means. In its MPEG Glossary there is a Interlace section that states "DV-AVI on the other hand is saved with "Bottom Field First". I couldn't tell if the Manual is stating that BFF is the standard for AVI, or if that is just how Magix handles it.

Since my problem only occurs during motion, I have questions about the Motion Estimation setting on the Advanced Video Settings. My setting for Movement Calculation is 15 and the Applying Subpixel Search box is checked. The Activate Search Range for Pixel Movement is not checked. Are these the normal settings?

johnebaker wrote on 2/5/2012, 3:54 PM

Gspot does tell the interlace setting of a video clip - it is the fourth item in the circle section in the image - here it is BFF ie Bottom Frame First. If you hover your mouse over the labels in GSpot it tells you what they are and mean.

As Jeff says I too do not change any settings except the quality (I set it to 15) and the bitrate (I set it to maximum).

Unless you really know what you are doing you should not change any of the other setings.

I would suspect that the jerkiness on the final dvd may be due to the source material being at a different frame rate to the final output frame rate eg 30fps down to 25 fps using 3:2 pulldown exhibits this on certain types of panning shot.

HTH

John.

HFrederick wrote on 2/5/2012, 4:46 PM

Outstanding! I went back to GSpot and it shows that the AVI is TFF.

(I forgot to mention last time that I am in the NTSC hemisphere. The files I am working with are 29.97 frames per second. I don't think that I've mixed PAL and NTSC.)

I'll try to reset the settings to the defaults and change the Interlace Mode to TFF and encode it again.

Thanks!

HFrederick wrote on 2/5/2012, 8:26 PM

I changed the Interface Mode to TFF and encoded the movie again. Unfortunately the DVD quality wasn't any better.

I wonder if there could be a problem with a .dll file if some other software is adversely affecting MEP. I may need to clean house on this computer and start over.

Thanks for letting me know that MEP should work fine for the job I want to do. If you have any other suggestions for things to look at or try, please let me know.

HFrederick wrote on 5/10/2012, 9:55 PM

Just to close this thread... I did wipe my computer and do a clean install of Windows Vista and Movie Edit Pro 15. Everything works fine now. I've encoded several movies and I'm completely satisfied with the quality. Thanks for the help!