Hi Andy

On one hand this is a known issue (at least for me) regarding PD8 codecs. On the other hand this is something you _should not_ even worry about as long as you are editing your clips via SVRT (that is: under certain circumstances, you have the advantage of editing majority of your original footages without transcoding.) Only transitioned (fades etc) sections will be recoded, other parts will left intact and will be copied bit-by-bit to the produced movie.

Should have questions about SVRT, please check out PD8 Help. In short: resolution-, codec and bitrate settings (up to, or better to say: inclusive) should match in order SVRT to take effect.

You can evaluate SVRT status at: "View SVRT information" menu. You may also have to turn on the H264 IDR flag in the Preferences menu so SVRT applies to sections after the first transition as well.

Kind regards

/z

Good point Zoltan, thank you. I shall go back and see if SVRT was not used during rendering particular (lowered quality) clips.

p.s. I noticed that in the "Production" mode there are options (SVRT) and (Hardware video encoder) are available. While in "Create Disc", no rendering techique is seen.

In the “Production”, I presume I should always opt for SVRT ticked so that my clips are produced as lossless as possible. What is “hardware vid encod.” by the way for?

During “Disc creation”, what rendering technique is used? How can one tell? There are no clear options?
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

zoltan,

What is
[ ] Reduce video blocky articfacts [Intel SSE4 optimized]??

I tried to 'check' H.264 AVC option and received the following prompt.

"Selecting this option enables SVRT for some AVCHD camcorders. However, its use is not recommended because it doesn't currently conform to the H.264 specification and could generate incorrect bitstream. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Andy,

As has been proven after exhaustive tests by me as a Sony user, and other Canon users, unless you check this box the SVRT will not work properly.

I've mentioned this in more detail in another one of your threads regarding disc capacity.

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Andrew/Zoltan,

Update....

In the preferences box I changed:

[Produce] - i ticked "Allow SVRT"
and in
[Editting] - i also ticked "Allow Cuda.." + "Allow hardware decodong." - not sure though if these two changed anything

When I went to preview SVRT info of my project I noticed that only minority of the clips required renderig, which were either:
- quite short
- had titles
- as well as all transitions required rendering.

On top of it, the whole project still required Audio rendering. That's strange since my source files were recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 with bitrate of 448kbs and my final project in "Produce" had the exact same settings.

After I completed "producing" a new H.264 file I compared its stats to the one that appeared pixelate the night before. There were some changes:
New file was 100Mb bigger and had bitrate increased from 14.9Mbps to 15.7Mbps.
I then went to check the video quality. The newly produced video showed pine tree better in the middle of the clip with an exception of 2 sec in the beginning and the end, mostly likely because of the "No Effect" transition used at the beginning and the end of that clip, therefore some rendering was required that degraded the quality of the video??? How to go about this? Minimize the use of the transitions?

Lastly, here is what I found under SVRT in help. Can you please put some light on these "2 seconds before and after..."? Does it mean one has to exceed the 2 secs from the clips ends when doing trimming/splitting in order to still allow SVRT?

p.s. Andrew, do you also tick x.v.Color when burning?

Things that affect SVRT
- Adding a title or transition effect
- Modifying the color of a video clip
- Audio profile does not match destination production profile
- Modifying the volume of an audio clip
- Merging two video clips (clips within 2 seconds before or after the merged clips will be rendered)
- Splitting a video clip (clips within 2 seconds before or after the split will be rendered)
- Trimming a video clip (clips within 2 seconds before or after the trimmed clip will be rendered)

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

I found the exact problem with mismatched audio format: source vs output. The difference is "ADIO channel mode". Doh?!? How can I change it to match. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Andy,

Before we go any further, can you please confirm whether you have ticked that SVRT box in preferences.

SVRT will not work properly if you haven't.

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Yes Andrew, I did.

I thought you saw it in my previous post above...

...
Update....

In the preferences box I changed:

[Produce] - i ticked "Allow SVRT"
....

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Hi Andy,

Sorry - misunderstood what you meant.

Right then,

New file was 100Mb bigger and had bitrate increased from 14.9Mbps to 15.7Mbps.
I then went to check the video quality. The newly produced video showed pine tree better in the middle of the clip with an exception of 2 sec in the beginning and the end, mostly likely because of the "No Effect" transition used at the beginning and the end of that clip

The changes to your bitrate in your newly produced file (since ticking the SVRT option in preferences) indicate to me that SVRT is now working properly. Your raw files are 16mbps so the second bitrate reading of 15.7mbps is consistant with that. The previous reading of 14.9mbps indicates that far more of your project was encoded than was needed.

On top of it, the whole project still required Audio rendering. That's strange since my source files were recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 with bitrate of 448kbs and my final project in "Produce" had the exact same settings.

Actually no, although you would be forgiven for thinking so. The SVRT analysis function does not take into account cameras that record in dolby 5.1 like yours does. Therefore, it claims that audio needs to be re-encoded, when in reality provided you select your audio as Dolby 5.1 either in Produce or Cerate Disc it does not.

Provided you do not apply any effects or transition to the beginning or end of a clip, no re-encoding at those points is required, as indicated by the SVRT check function.

Can you re-run that AVCHD project you mentioned in your other thread and give me the new time?

Cheers,

Andy Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Andrew,

I am REALLY lucky to have you here with similar camera and PC parameters. Sweet. What would I do without you.

The changes to your bitrate in your newly produced file (since ticking the SVRT option in preferences) indicate to me that SVRT is now working properly. Your raw files are 16mbps so the second bitrate reading of 15.7mbps is consistant with that. The previous reading of 14.9mbps indicates that far more of your project was encoded than was needed.

Excellent! I surely know more now on encoding.

Actually no, although you would be forgiven for thinking so. The SVRT analysis function does not take into account cameras that record in dolby 5.1 like yours does. Therefore, it claims that audio needs to be re-encoded, when in reality provided you select your audio as Dolby 5.1 either in Produce or Cerate Disc it does not.

I take it there is no re-encoding of sound after all. Sweet

Provided you do not apply any effects or transition to the beginning or end of a clip, no re-encoding at those points is required, as indicated by the SVRT check function.

Not clear. Isn't it where you normally put transitions at = beginning or end of a clip?

Can you re-run that AVCHD project you mentioned in your other thread and give me the new time?

Not clear here either. Why do you want me to re-run it, which thread or project?

Cheers,

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Andy,

If for example you placed 5 clips on the timeline, and did not apply any transitions from the 'transition room', one clip would jump to the next and no re-encoding would be needed.

Only if you placed transitions at the start or end of some or all of the clips would re-encoding at those specific points be needed.

I think you've spotted my request in your other thread!

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

If for example you placed 5 clips on the timeline, and did not apply any transitions from the 'transition room', one clip would jump to the next and no re-encoding would be needed.

I actually have ALWAYS applied transitions between EACH clip.
Shall I rethink it? Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Hi Andy,

It's your work - whatever your happiest with!

Personally, I use transitions rarely. How often do you see them on TV? Not often, but as I say, it's YOUR work and you should present it however you want!

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Andrew,

The ONLY reason for using "NO Effect" transitions was to produce the smoothest effect between the clips. I suppose you are saying the same can be done without?

I made another post asking for some tricks on removing such transitions. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Hi Andy,

Try it - see what you think!

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

OK, I tried producing a few more things like:

A. Project with transitions (between every clip) was produced as H.264 1920x1080 without having "SVRT Allowed".
B. Same project was similarly produced with SVRT.
C. Same as B. but with all the transitions removed.

Bitrate of the final file
A. 14.9M
B. 15.7M
C. 15.5M

Video Quality
A. significantly lower, comparing to B. and C.

B. looked pretty much the same as C. even though 36% of the video in B. needed to be rendered due to transitions, etc.

My verdict is that having transitions, effects or titles doesn't significantly deteriorate the video quality of the final video. Simply put, it only takes longer to produce the file.

Just make sure you "Allowed SVRT" option in the properties.

I think, at this point I can say with certainty that I have all the knowledge of the software now to produce the best quality HD files to watch on my HD TV. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.