Vegas MPEG-2 render problem

[JongWu]

Yeah, so I've been having this problem with Sony Vegas 7.0's MPEG2 encoder. Long story short, when Vegas renders the MPEG2 file, it screws with the saturation and contrast levels for whatever reason.

Take a look:

ORIGINAL LAG AVI FILE


VEGAS MPEG2 TEST FILE


I used the basic DVD NTSC preset, and used nothing in the way of Video Effects.

So... with that... what the hell is going on here?

[guy07]

Hm, to be honest. It looks like it CORRECTED it. It looks like the first one is too bright. Not sure how it did that ...but anyways, I would avoid using mpg with vegas. Rendering with xvid in .avi will likely get you the best results. Unless you want to learn how to make a mp4.
Also, do you have the latest version (3) of amvapp installed on your computer?
But there is also and EFFECT called 'brightness and contrast', there's a good chance that you added that effect and forgot about it. Check the effects on the clip to see if that's the case. I know you said that you didn't add anything, but check just to be sure. I've done lots of stuff like that while tired and editing then forgot.

So install amvapp 3 (google it!), try to render as xvid, and if the problem persists, and none of the things is suggested help ... maybe your computers haunted? 0-0;





But yeah, i think it looks better that way, so don't worry about it too much.

[guy07]

Oh, also you rendered using the wrong aspect ratio. The footage is quare pixel and you used 4:3. Try something like 640X480 next time. ...and for some reason there's letter boxing on the right side ....

[JaddziaDax]

it's probably "correcting it" for television O.o

[LivingFlame]

I used the basic DVD NTSC preset, and used nothing in the way of Video Effects.

Well, I don't know where the color issue is coming from, but that preset is what's screwing with your aspect ratio and letter-boxing. By default, NTSC forces the output video to be 720x480. You'll have to tweak the preset's settings to use the project settings for frame size.

On another note, DVD NTSC will force the output to be 29.97 fps and interlaced, lower-field first. So if you're working with progressive footage or anything, you'll need to change that as well.

[JongWu]

I know all about the wacky aspect ratio and the default settings of the DVD NTSC preset; that wasn't the point of my question. My problem lies in the colors and contrast themselves.

As for my use of the MPEG-2 format: I was meaning to export in this format to create convenient files that I would be DVD compatible because I don't currently have the kind of hard drive space for big, lossless AVI versions to compress from(we're talking 20+ minutes of footage for each file here). I thought that just exporting MPEG-2 video files directly from Vegas would be a way for me to eliminate the middleman(a.k.a. lossless AVIs), and therein lies my problem: Vegas' MPEG-2 encoder is molesting the picture or, more specifically, the color saturation and contrast levels of the picture.

The funny thing is if I export in any other format from Vegas, this never happens. So why is Vegas' MPEG-2 encoder the only one that's screwy?

[Kalium]

One of the rules we generally use for good results is this: export lossless, then compress. There are various forms of compressed lossless AVI. I suggest you try HuffYUV and DV.

The Vegas devs probably thought they were doing you a favor by doing color-correction.

[LivingFlame]

One of the rules we generally use for good results is this: export lossless, then compress. There are various forms of compressed lossless AVI. I suggest you try HuffYUV and DV.

The Vegas devs probably thought they were doing you a favor by doing color-correction.

DV is not lossless. It's just a lighter compression than most. And space-wise, Lagarith has a higher compression rate than HuffYUV.

And as a question to put on the table for anyone that would know, would MPEG-2 be altering the colorspace from the original file? That could mess with the chroma and luma values, if it is in fact changing the colorspace.