Alternative Ways to Improve High Definition of Clips

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Solved by

Jan 31, 2011 17:56

Hey yall,

so I've been working with this video project for a few months which I am now almost done with, but when I process the video in the best of video formats (MPEG-2, .MOV) I feel let down by the overall quality of some of the clips in my video. Almost all of my clips were converted to the .avi format after being saved to my computer from youtube via a file conversion program. As from what I know, .avi tends to produce lower quality audio + video. This makes me think that this file format is the culprit for my high definition woes. Do any of you think this is so ? And if yes, should I change the video format to a higher resolution one such as MPEG-2 ? How would I go about doing that while preserving the artistic integrity of my video ?

Just to note, I have experimented with much of the fix/enhancement settings in PD9, and I have utilized the video enhancement option in the majority of my clips, as well as suitable color & lighting conditions. After this all though, I feel let down from the quality. My goal is to get this video up on youtube with a relatively moderate amount of views, and so video definition is certainly necessary to reach this end result.

Also, in this post I have attached 1 of my clips which is of crappy quality.

Thanks

Filename	zHGvMd9vwbc.avi	Download
Description
Filesize	700 Kbytes
Downloaded:	314 time(s)

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 18:18

Hi Andrew,

I think your problem starts with garbage in garbage out. I will explain.

1. The original video is rendered in the original persons computer.

2. Then uploaded to youtube where it is again rendered by youtube this time to flash.

3. You then download the video from youtube and render it again to .avi

4. You then put it into PD for more rendering.

The more times you render a video, change format etc you loose quality.

One last thing the bitrate of you video is 8 bits which is pretty low and will cause those artefacts even if you start with high quality video. Try rendering again at a higher bit rate to see if that helps.

Cheers

Robert My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 18:34

What you said makes much sense for this matter; I am wondering how to raise the bitrate on this video clip if it's already at 8. Would I be better off with a fresh copy of the video and convert it to a higher format such as .mpg ?

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 18:46

I would do some testing with the original video downloaded from youtube.

I would drag this original video from youtube straight to the timeline then in the Produce window experiment with various formats and bit rates to see which gives you the best results. After you find out which one works best you will then have a template for the rest of your project.

Remember though it is very easy to go from good quality to bad but hard to go from bad quality to good when rendering.

Regarding youtube videos I use a free program called youtubedownloader from here.
http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/

Cheers

Robert My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 19:11

I have the youtube downloader, and thus far it seems that the Apple .MOV file has the best quality. Am I better off just downloading a video via its URL insertion into the program, or would it be better to convert a video file that has already been downloaded and is stored on my comp ?

I'm presuming a direct URL download would provide better quality.

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 19:20

The less you convert a video the better the quality. If you have the original downloaded youtube videos before you converted them to .avi, they should give you the best chance to get decent quality for re-upload to youtube. My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 19:55

Thanks for the help

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 19:58

Glad to help Andrew that is what this forum is about, helping other video editors.

My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

All vodi

Senior Contributor Location: Canada Joined: Aug 21, 2009 11:24 Messages: 1431 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 22:08

Different experience: with HD digital editing video degradation is minimal even when switching between formats. And I don't mean low grade SD type DVD video. I mean full HD, even with high compression AVC. And if your down-grading the video the results are always reliable. Win 10, i7

Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Jan 31, 2011 22:21

You are right HDedit if you are starting with raw HD video straight out of the camera and you know what you are doing. Although the further you move down the road like downloading a youtube video that has been edited who knows how many times and to what resolution, you really are in trouble.

Like I could start with raw 1920X1080 HD footage out of my camera and because I want a quick upload to youtube I could render it to 320X240 at 8 Mbps and end up with a crap video. Now no matter how much you play with that video you will never get anywhere near the raw 1920X1080 video. My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn