Help, very very bad flickering
 

All of the sudden, I'm getting very bad flickering on rendering a DVD with DVDA 5,

I have the latest software, a 1 month old raptor install, I've ruled out the dvd burner, and I don't see the flickering when I preview in DVDA. I only see it with after I render and burn the project to disk. I can burn the same project, or any project with my laptop and I don't get the same issue. This is almost a strobe effect. I have reduce interlace flicker on, it makes no difference. I even reinstalled DVDA. I'm a little lost on this one. I've used different footage as well, and it strobes too if I render the DVD on this machine. Any ideas?

Update
 

Well,

I have narrowed the issue down to 'trying to use an avi file' into either build of DVDa5.0 or DVDa 5.0a.

Not sure why, but I may be missing something on my operating system that will allow the AVI to render properly. I'm not sure what that is. But the flicker happens with my desktop, but not my laptop, and currently the only difference between the two is, the desktop has service pack 3, and I guess that may be the issue, but I'm not Bill Gates. The good news is, I can render to mpeg2 and not get the flicker on my desktop. I'll just have to figure out what type of file my flash converter can use and go from there. That was the reason I was rendering to AVI.

WEll, I still have it.
 

I have narrowed it down to DVDA's render of the avi file as far as I know. Because I used the same source file to render the same project using some other DVD authoring software I have and I didn't have the huge flicker problem. So, I've emailed Sony, yet again, to figure out what is wrong with this machine/DVDA 5. The only software difference between my desktop which has the problem, and my laptop which doesn't, is Service Pack 3 on my desktop. I'm stuck.

Sure you have the field order set correctly?

I render AVI files and have SP 3 but don't get the problem.

Thans Paul
 

I uninstalled SP3, thinking that since that was the only difference in the machines, that had to be it. But the problem remains. Index of /sony is an example of what I have, the mpeg renders fine, the avi doesn't. I'm still talking to sony about it.

Steven, or anyone else, did you ever get to the bottom of this?

I've just experienced the same thing. What's crazy is that I am SURE I came across this issue before and I solved it - but can I remember how? Can I hell! Maybe I didn't solve it at all.

I'll scour the forum but if anyone has a solution to hand I would be very appreciative. I rarely burn DVD's (most of my work ends upon someone's website) so my knowledge of DVDA is slim.

Thanks.

No Ian
 

I didn't solve it, Sony end the end told me to create a new user in windows and try that, but I haven't had the time. I'm still using DVDa3 on the same machine and it works fine. I still have the issue, I haven't been able to figure it out.

Hmmm, it's odd.

I am using DVDA5, XP Pro SP2 (cannot ever get through an instal of SP3). Like you I can render projects with no problem in earlier versions of DVDA but not in 5.

My workaround (this time) was to render mpeg2 from the timeline. Just adds a couple more steps to my workflow (I need both avi and mpeg versions) but not too annoying.

So, is it just you and me?!

Don't know Ian. I spent several weeks going back and forth with Sony. They told me that I was the only one that it has happened to. Now that you are having this problem, I am begining to believe that it may be a software issue rather than any of my hardware. Like you, I can render to Mpeg2 fine, but I'm used to having a lot of random compression on DVDA and would rather have the avi wrapper.

I would encourage you to contact Sony, that way they can hear from someone else other than that '@#$%@# dude in Richmond. Ok, maybe they dont' curse at me, who knows. :}

By the way, my issue is on a brand new install of windows xp pro, brand new raptor drive, and I had SP3 on it, but uninstalled it thinking that the flicker was coming from it. But the flicker stayed. I just wanted Sony to tell me what the main difference is in DVDA3 and DVDA5 so I could look for a solution, but they never told me any difference.

Yes, I will contact Sony - do you have a trouble ticket reference number I could quote so they can link both issues?

I'm surprised no-one else is chiming in here - I thought it would have been a known, even common, issue with a straightforward solution.

Is there still a club called Goin' Bananas in Richmond? In the early 80's I did a theatre company tour from Montreal to Richmond and that was our post-performance hang out for the three or four days we were in town. Happy memories of an afternoon floating down the James on a tyre tube, six pack tied on with string! I live quite close to Richmond-upon-Thames which I think is still twinned with your town.

Steven and Ian,

i have xp pro sp3, vegas 7 and dvda 4.....I had the same problem doing the avi thing....thinking that wow should be better because it is uncompressed. As per other threads here, I took the advice of rendering in mainconcept mpeg2 route and have had zero problems since......dvda doesn't have to re-render it when it writes to the dvd. My thought on this is, why render your footage twice when one time will work..... IMHO. In a nut shell.....if going to dvd....I recommend the mpeg2 route from my personal experience.

Just a thought...has any one tried rendering in avi and then record it back to the camera, then see how it looks on the tv screen? I'm interested what the results would be.

Michael

Well, some habits die hard, but I'm used to storing my finished files in an avi wrapper, then I can go to web, dvd mp4 etc. More over, hehe, I paid to upgrade and I would like this software to do what it's supposed to do. :} But thanks for the advice.

You know what they say about old dogs.... ;) Have a great day, steven

I submit that yes, technically DVDA should compress avi files for you, but I have never trusted DVDA for that job because there is no way to know what settings it uses to compress.

As suggested, by rendering avi files first with Vegas using the appropriate mpeg 2 template there would be no issue. You can still store your files any way you choose, just render with Vegas first and if you do not need to save the resulting Mpeg 2 files just delete them.

For rendering directly from avi I have found Nero does fine, though I rarely have it installed on my machine.

Similar answer to Steven's. Specifically for me, I supply my clients with a PAL DV version in AVI so that they can convert it to whatever format they wish without having to come back to me to do it (some can do it themselves, some want their web designers to do it, and to be honest I have more lucrative things I can be doing rather than format conversions!).

And also to echo Steven's coment - this SHOULD work! i should be able to render to avi then drop that avi into DVDA5 without problems. Seems like some people can, and I'd like to join them!

[QUOTE=Jeff Harper;995230]I submit that yes, technically DVDA should compress avi files for you, but I have never trusted DVDA for that job because there is no way to know what settings it uses to compress.

As suggested, by rendering avi files first with Vegas using the appropriate mpeg 2 template there would be no issue. You can still store your files any way you choose, just render with Vegas first and if you do not need to save the resulting Mpeg 2 files just delete them. QUOTE]

In my case I'm not so worried about the quality of the DVD in that a) I only make DVD's on rare occasions and b) it's done as a freebie for a couple of clients who like to have a version they can watch on a TV - I go to great lengths to explain to them that the video is (usually) designed to be seen in a browser and is framed, colour corrected, etc, accordingly and will not look great on a TV, but I think they just want something to show the wife and kids!

So, my primary requirement is an avi. What I should be able to do is NOT have to go through a second render from Vegas. I should be able to drop the avi into DVDA5 and let it do the work.

The fact that it works OK in previous versions suggests that we shouldn't be having this problem and either there is a conflict on my (and Steven's) system or there is something we are doing differently to everyone else or there is something wrong with DVDA5 that manifests itself in certain situations.

The fact is, it isn't right and I want to sort the problem out rather than have to compromise.

But thanks for the ideas, folks!

Interesting suggestion.

In fact, you can clearly see when previewing in DVDA that it ain't right.

If I burn a DVD it flashes horribly on a TV screen and if I play that DVD in a PC it doesn't actually flash so much as look like someone has thrown a gallon of paint on it! Strange.

EDIT: Actually I have just test rendered to a directory (without burning a DVD) and it does flicker badly even on a computer screen.

FURTHER EDIT: Interestingly I have just noticed that the problem is also noticeable when you preview in DVDA5. Hadn't spotted that before.

You are allowing a procedural issue to hang you up and waste your time. Vegas renders to mpeg 2 as fast or faster I believe.

Sorry to disagree Jeff, but the fact remains that there is something wrong and it should be sorted, either by me doing something differently, or by a problem in DVDA5 being corrected.

It worked fine before (in previous versions) and I paid for an upgrade that did not state anywhere would no longer work with avi files or that I would have to change the way I do things.

To be honest, I burn DVD's so rarely that I'm not particularly concerned about having to render again in Vegas (even though I installed DVDA on a separate machine purely so I wouldn't have to lose Vegas every time I wanted to burn a DVD - but that's a different argument).

Yes, I entirely agree that it could (and maybe should) be done in Vegas, but that's not really the point. The point is that something is broken and needs to be fixed (my avi? DVDA5? something else? who knows?).

If I was checking out a demo of DVDA5 and came across this problem I wouldn't think for more than 1 second about whether this was a product I wanted to trust. I would go elsewhere. Surely we all want these problems to be fixed rather than worked around so that more people buy the product and Sony spends more money improving it?

Re: Help, very very bad flickering
 

Lol, the end of my problem was that I just rebuilt my machine. For what ever reason, DVDA 3 would not have the same issue that DVD A 5 did. Weird weird. . My new machine doesn't have the same problem. Crazy stuff.