I have a 19 minute sequence that I want to put to DVD.  I'm using Avid Xpress Pro HD (Educational Version) and I export as a quicktime movie (lower field first).  Then, I convert the file to an MPEG 2 using a program called "Movie Converter 3.0" and I'm still experiencing some jitter on the DVD.

Are there any other things I can try to eliminate jitter when playing back on DVD?

Also, what is the recommended video compression setting that I should chose?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.  This jitter thing is very frustrating.  Thanks.

It would help if you fill in your system specs in your profile including drivers and the Avid version you are currently using.

Are you working in PAL or NTSC?

Do you have mixed resolution on your timeline?

I using a Pentium 4, 3.3 GHZ processor (I believe), 1 GB Ram, 250 GB hard drive.  I'm using Avid Xpress Pro HD v 5.2.1 (Academic Version). 

I'm working in NTSC and my timeline does not have mixed resolutions, it's all DV 25.  I have some animations from targa image sequences, but I'm seeing the jitter only when the camera pans.

Thanks for the help.

Could be inherent to the animations. Did you render to fields? If the original animation was not rendered to fields (i.e. 50Hz or 60Hz) then any subsequent interlacing is just PsF and you only have 25 or 30 motion steps per second, which will give you visible jitter on horizontal movement in certain circumstances at certain speeds. It's effectively progressive scan.

The animations/video look fine when I play them back on the computer.  How can I make sure that the animations have been rendered to fields? 

I'm editing a wedding video that has some different wipes (bouquets, rings, etc) that could be imported with alpha.  They look fine after rendering.  

I've had some problems with jitter before.  I'd prefer to get this straightened out, but if I have to live with it, I will.

Thanks. 

What is the project format you are working in - 30i, 24p, 23.976p, etc.?

 

Michael

The format is 30i.  Thanks for the help.

from my experience, if your project looks great in avid & "jitters" once you've encoded to dvd (especially when the "camera pans", as you said) you're likely experiencing either a field-ordering or interlacing issue, or you're mpg2 compression settings arn't doing the trick for you.

a couple of things to check:

make sure you're encoding program isn't DE-interlacing your footage (a lot of good encoding programs do a lousy job of this, & if you're watching your output on dvd & tv, you'll like the interlaced output better than not).

see if you're encoding program allows you to set the i-frame rate or key-frame rate.  a lower number here can mean less "jitter" on fast moving shots.  (i have the best luck with an i-frame rate of 6.  ironically, a rate of 1 actually creates MORE jitter to my projects!  you'd think it would be the best, but i've never had any luck with 1.   6 however looks about as smooth as glass).

shane

Hi Shane,

I noticed that my program had automatically selected "de-interlace" so I unchecked that box.  However, I've tried that once and I'm still experiencing some jitter.  I'm going to play around with some different bit rates...I hope that does something.

Can you recommend a good MPEG 2 conversion program that will allow me to set the i-frame rame?  Also, when I export from Avid as a Quicktime movie, I generally don't do anything with the key frame settings.  Should I?

Thanks for your help.

 

i use Sorenson Squeeze to encode my Mpg (& most of my other formats, Flash, Wmv, etc.)  I really like Sorenson because it interfaces so well with Avid using QT.ref (skips separate QT export) & is so user friendly.  It gives me pretty much all the control i know what to do with, but comes with very well diled-in presets.  I know a lot of people like Procoder, though i've never used it.  i'm not sure if your Educational version supports the QT.reference output, but if it does, it's the way to go.  that alone will save you from having to encode to QT (perhaps where your problem is starting) before you encode to Mpg.  you may try that with your current encoder.  if you can't adjust the i-frame rate, then you will probably never hit your maximum quality potential with that encoder, as i'm assuming it limits controls you will HAVE to adjust to optimize your dvd's.  i havn't found an encoder who's presets gave me what i needed as a professional.

low bit-rates can cause resolution problems for sure.  for your length of video, you should easily be able to stay above 7000 just for video (with 2 channels of audio).

shane

Thread from the dead just noticed - post deleted and moved to MC.

 Interlace issues in PAL is usually the result of mixing 1:1 and DV25/50... in the timeline, as these two PAL formats have opposite field orders.

The solution is to use only 1 format and to stick with it for the entire edit. If other PAL sources are used it would help to transcode them first to the project format before putting them on the timeline.

 Twas all DV25 420 mate, and it is the same issue currently on all DV 25 captured from a single tape I shot myself. 

Am discussing this in MC forum now - someone else has more recent similar issue.

Cheers (spk soon on the overclocking - had to rebuild as it dropped 3 cores ;( )