Perhaps I did not make my point clear enough, but I try again:

So, I edit full-HD AVCHD video in MEP 17 Plus HD, applying video effects such as contrast, to individual scenes, and burn the resulting video on DVD as AVCHD using smart render: The scenes I have edited in the above-mentioned way look bad on TV: There is a pulsating effect between a sharp and unsharp state, partcularly in scenes containing large areas with both high and low luminosity. I posed this same question on the user forum, and got two answers. According to one, the person had noticed that in the smart render mode the bit rate is lower in the edited scenes (!). According to another, the problem can be avoided by setting the rendering bit rate constant, and I found it working, but this also means a sluggish rendering.

It is of course most important to set the quality of the video optimal already when you shoot it. But it is a pity that a software like MEP, a great software in most respects, fails in that kind of thing, i.e. the video effects are there but their use causes problems. It seems that the software needs some mending.