DVD video flicker

[Karl]

trying out PTE Deluxe 7.0 I am very pleased with the possiblilities it offers

and with the ease of handling. However, I am very disappointed about the DVD

quality produced by the VideoBuilder: The flicker around high-contrast edges

is horrible ! Since the picture quality of the EXE is superb and without any

flicker, I guess this problem is caused by the MPEG encoder. I work with high

resolution (4288 x 2848) jpeg pictures and even with the simple freeware which

I used before (PhotoFilmStrip / DVDFlick) there is absolutely no flicker on

the DVD videos. Is there any workaround ? How is the workflow and how are the

parameter settings to get the best possible quality for DVD videos ?

Regards

Karl

[fh1805]

Karl,

Which "Publish" option are you using? When I want to output a video file I use "HD Video for PC and Mac", select the option appropriate for my image size and choose High Quality from the presets.

Peter

[Ken Cox]

also see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13812-mpeg4-files-for-hdtv/page__view__findpost__p__92260

ken

[davegee]

It might be worth trying to resize your images before making the DVD.

NTSC or PAL?

Aspect Ratio?

My other suggestion is usually to make an ISO out of Video Builder instead of writing directly to the DVD.

Use your own writer to write the ISO.

As Peter indicated, you could try making a HD MPEG4 File instead of the DVD (for test purposes). You might have problems with your DVD reader / writer.

Peter and I both use 1920x1080 H.264 MPEG4 files played on our TV's Media Player from a Flash Drive and have experienced no problems. Unless you are doing a lot of zooming in and out you don't need those high res images. I resize from 4288x2848 down to 1920x1080 or 1620x1080 - except when zoom is required.

DG

[Ken Cox]

Karl you said "the simple freeware which

I used before (PhotoFilmStrip / DVDFlick) there is absolutely no flicker on the DVD videos."

did you make a dvd-r disk using PhotoFilmStrip / DVDFlick) and pte file before and with what version of pte

are you prepared to upload your problem file to an upload site if necessary to be analyzed by wnsoft people?

ken

[Igor]

Karl,

Please let me know:

1) Where you watched created DVD - on a PC or player connected to TV? If TV, is it LCD, Plasma or CRT television?

2) Please look at the attached screenshot. Double-click on a file to call this window with settings. Try to change this parameter to "Progressive". Will it help? Also make sure that "Anti-flicker" option is turned on.

3) Your country.

4) If it possible please upload source files of this project in ZIP archive (where you observe this problem). You can use www.mediafire.com to upload file or www.dropbox.com

Thanks,

[Karl]

... thanks a lot for all your replies. I just uploaded two video object files to my

webspace, generated by the Video Builder from a tiny snippet of my slideshow.

Please have a look at them:

http://www.cq-cq.eu/test1.vob

this is the original video with heavy flicker around high-contrast structures.

I realized that the default value for the Sharpen/Smoothen parameter is -100

(why ?) which means that my already sharp pictures were further sharpened.

So I set this parameter to 0 and also ckecked "Anti-flicker filter" in the Video

Builder Project Options. Here is the result:

http://www.cq-cq.eu/test2.vob

Now the flicker is quite acceptable, but of course any furthr improvement is

appreciated. So I will further play with the settings and change the Video Type

from "Auto" to "Progressive" as adviced by Igor - I will report how it works.

Regards

Karl

[Karl]

... sorry Igor, I have forgotten to answer your questions in my last posting:

I watch the DVD on LCD-TV, my country is Germany. I will upload a ZIP with

the project source files for that snippet to my webspace tomorrow. Thanks !

Regards

Karl

[Ken Cox]

KARL

from my experience of making videos from the start of being able to with PTE -starting with vcd's/svcd's , Igor introduced an anti shimmer feature and it pretty well stopped it -- it was most prevalent in grilles of cars, trucks, and car side mouldings - vertical sharp edges

if you use the search feature of the forum and search for jaggies or shimmer there might be an easy solution

ken

[Igor]

Hello Karl,

Thanks for VOB files. I see flickering.

Please send me source files of this show (images + PicturesToExe's project file *.pte). I'll explore this issue.

P.S. Did you apply unsharp mask filter to images in a graphical editor before save it?

[Karl]

Igor,

thanks for your kind support. You can download the ZIPped source files

from here:

http://www.cq-cq.eu/test.zip

I did not apply any unsharp mask or anything else, just took the pictures

from my Nikon camera and converted it from NEF format to JPEG with

the Nikon software ViewNX.

Regards

Karl

[davegee]

Karl,

What Picture Control are you using in-camera and what level of sharpening is set within that Picture Control?

VNX reads the in-camera sharpening and will pass it on to the JPEG. If it is set to high it might have an effect.

If you don't want the in-camera sharpening applied to the JPEG you have to select the PC in VNX2 and zero it.

IMHO sharpening should be applied selectively and not globally.

DG

[Ken Cox]

KARL

i d/l your file and resaved it without the music selected [ i deleted it]in project options

no wiggles jaggies etc -- perfect picts thru the operation of the 2 slides

ken

[Ken Cox]

Karl

would like to try it with the music to see it is affecting the operation -- if not too much trouble, can re upload with the music included?

ken

[Ken Cox]

also see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/10607-discussion-of-v6-0-beta/page__pid__70611__st__320

Turn on "Antishimmering (mipmapping)" option in "Advanced..." window of a button properties. It will improve quality of text in your slideshow.

- Re-check state of "Show back side" option in "3D properties" window. It will hide caption of a button together with background of the button.

[wideangle]

Can I add an observation to the discussion which I've noticed recently in making my slideshows.

I'm using PTE 7.0.3 by the way.

I often make DVDs for friends using Videobuilder,to play through DVD players on their TVs, and they are fine and as expected.

If I use my computer to play those same DVDs, sometimes I see quite a lot of shimmering, but only when the player is Windows Media Player.

If I play THE SAME DVDs with VLC media player or Roxio Cineplayer, for example, there is no shimmering at all.

So my question is : Has anyone else experienced this shimmering/flickering effect just with Windows Media Player (v12)?

[Karl]

Ken,

there is no difference, I get exactly the same flicker with and without

music. Anyway, I added the music file test.mp3 to the ZIP so you can try

yourself. Please note that I am talking about flicker in the VOB, the EXE

looks good.

BTW: I cannot find any "Antishimmering (mipmapping)" option !

Karl

[Karl]

Karl,

What Picture Control are you using in-camera and what level of sharpening is set within that Picture Control?

VNX reads the in-camera sharpening and will pass it on to the JPEG. If it is set to high it might have an effect.

If you don't want the in-camera sharpening applied to the JPEG you have to select the PC in VNX2 and zero it.

IMHO sharpening should be applied selectively and not globally.

DG

DG

Picture Control is set to VIVID, sharpening is set to level 4. Anyway,

fact is that with the very same pictures PhotoFilmStrip / DVDFlick

produce absolutely no flicker in the MPEG stream while PTE does ...

Karl

[Ken Cox]

Karl

got the test file with the music clip made a dvd and duplicated your shimmer

see

http://www.wnsoft.com/picturestoexe/help/

and get the manual in various languages -- r mouse the one you want and do a save target as

and put it where you can easiky get it

pg 29 - Igor changed the name to

Edge antialiasing -- which you have turned on

Properties Tab

The Properties Tab is situated on the right side of the main window of the option Objects and

Animation and shows the main characteristics of the image or object. Here you can see the

information where this image or object is located on your computer.

You can also choose whether the slide is the main object of

slide in the object list.

 The Edge antialiasing should be normally turned on. It is

used to minimize the distortion of some artifacts of high

resolution images, when they are shown at low resolution.

 Low quality of resizing is the feature, which shouldn't be

always used. It's helpful only when it is necessary to use

bilinear filtration while zooming the image.

 Sharper/Smoother option gives you an opportunity to

make picture sharper or smoother according to your

needs and the initial quality of picture.

sorry i could not be of more help

ken

[Ken Cox]

Karl

i played the video vob with Nero showtime, kantaris , em total video player and wmp 12 -- all shimmer

ken

[Pelel]

It will be nice if you folks can advise us the final outcome of this post. What is the conclusion?

Pele