is this quality of MJPEG to MPG2 expected from Vegas?

[Boris Key]

Hi,

I recently purchased digital camera (Canon G9) and I am trying to render couple clips in MPG2. The camera shots in 640x480 progressive MJPEG. When I render clip to MPG2 using Vegas, the final video comes out a bit blurry, not as sharp as it was.

I tried different settings, using ideas on this forum, like:
1) color space conversion (from studio to computer and vice versa)
2) 8bit and 32bit processing
3) different settings of MainConcept

While I noticed some differences in the color if the final clip, video still came out a bit blurry.

I want to make sure I do not do something wrong and maybe there is a simple way to improve that or maybe I should just get over it (which is pity to loose quality...)

Here is fragment of original clip
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/original.avi

And here is one of the versions (8bit, no color spase conversion, max settings of codec)
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/processed.mpg

Project properties (I matched them to the camera codec as advised)
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/1.gif

and encoder settings
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/2.gif

[Richard Hunter]

Hi Boris. If you are not intending to put the MPEG2 on a DVD, you should keep the original frame rate of 30fps, and keep it progressive scan rather than Lower Field First (BTW DVD is Upper Field First). This should give you the best results.

If you ARE planning to put it on DVD, you need to keep the preset frame size of 720x480.

Richard

[Richard Hunter]

Oh and if file size is not a constraint, use CBR rather than VBR. VBR allows the encoder to degrade the quality by lowering the bitrate.

Richard

[Boris Key]

Hi Richard!

wow CBR did the trick! MPG2 is as sharp as original one!

yes, I am going to put that on DVD and I played with progressive/interlaced and for the simplicity of my example I used the same resolution as original clip, but I will make sure correct resolution will be used for DVD

Thank you very much for help!

[Boris Key]

you know what, I ran couple more tests and it turned our that interlacing makes the final video blurry.

So I can get decent quality even with VBR, but output must be progressive

Here is screenshots:

original
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/original.JPG
interlaced
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/interlaced.JPG
progressive
http://boriskey.890m.com/temp/progressive.JPG

I wondering now can I use progressive for DVD? I know standard is interlaced, but still does it mean what modern DVD players won't play it?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

You can certainly output progressive on a DVD. Some DVD players (and depending on the display) and displays will interlace it, but that's still not a problem.

[Boris Key]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

You can certainly output progressive on a DVD. Some DVD players (and depending on the display) and displays will interlace it, but that's still not a problem.

Thank you, Douglas!