Probably best to attach text file details of your source mp4's with MediaInfo, https://mediaarea.net/MediaInfoOnline and then the specific format you produced your project to for better assistance on your blurry video.

Jeff

Quote Probably best to attach text file details of your source mp4's with MediaInfo, https://mediaarea.net/MediaInfoOnline and then the specific format you produced your project to for better assistance on your blurry video.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
As requested, below is a copy of the MediaInfo for one of 14 MP4 files that I am trying to edit with PowerDirector 13. Also, you asked about the file format for my output: I've tried various formats, mostly H.264 MP4 with different quality (such as 720x480/60i 8Mbps, all the way to much higher profile quality). I also tried AVI and MPEG-2. I appreciate any advice to resolve the blurry issue.
Carl
_________________________

General
Complete name : Video mod 1.1 rev1.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 757 KiB
Duration : 20 s 800 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 298 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50
Tagged date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50
Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L4
Format settings : 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, Reference frames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 20 s 800 ms
Bit rate : 169 kb/s
Width : 1 600 pixels
Height : 900 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant / Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive / Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.005
Stream size : 430 KiB (57%)
Title : H.264/AVC video
Encoded date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50
Tagged date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50
Codec configuration box : avcC / avcC
Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2-2
Duration : 20 s 768 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 126 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 147 kb/s
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel layout : C
Sampling rate : 32.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy / Lossy
Stream size : 320 KiB (42%)
Title : AAC audio
Encoded date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50
Tagged date : UTC 2021-08-24 19:14:50

PD13 is very old, and I remember it sometimes had problems misidentifying progressive clips as interlaced. That might account for the blurry text and flickering you mentioned.

You can force PD to see these clips as progressive by right-clicking on each one then choosing Set Clip Attribute > Set TV Format and then selecting Progressive like this:

Quote Hi Jeff,
As requested, below is a copy of the MediaInfo for one of 14 MP4 files that I am trying to edit with PowerDirector 13. Also, you asked about the file format for my output: I've tried various formats, mostly H.264 MP4 with different quality (such as 720x480/60i 8Mbps, all the way to much higher profile quality). I also tried AVI and MPEG-2. I appreciate any advice to resolve the blurry issue.
Carl

Carl, thanks for the source video details.

More than likely, PD with any default produce setting will look bad with this source video. This sample video is only 169 kb/s video bitrate which is well, extremely low. I assume these mp4’s might be more like static slides with text or something along those lines vs any real motion video.

You don’t want to use any 60i type formats as your source is 25fps and progressive, you’ll want to be consistent with that. Only thing I can suggest, since the file is small, 757 KB, attach it to your post and maybe a custom produce profile can be created that preservers your text adequately. If you can’t attach a source video, since you have PD13, you might try a QuickTime produce with the settings shown in the attached pic, try keyframe rate of maybe 12. Make sure your timeline is set to 25fps in pref so you get the 25p profile shown vs the 30p profile.

Jeff

Thanks to Jeff and Optodata.
As suggested by Optodata, I set the clip attributes to progressive, and as suggested by Jeff, I avoided 60i format. This solved the flickering, but the resulting produced video is still nohwere near as clear as my input videos.
You are correct, Jeff, that all but one of my 14 input videos are Powerpoint slides, with mostly text, charts, and my voice. There is one with motion. They were all made from Zoom recordings.
I will try upgrading to PD 19 Ultra, which will allow a much higher output file resolution. I avoided this solution so far due to cost, and because I do not plan to make many videos. But, I need the output clarity to be at least as good as the input clarity.
I will try to import my PD 13 file to PD 19, and hopefully I do not have to start over, as I put a lot of time into editing the 14 input files. I'll let you know how it goes, and appreciate very much the support.
Carl

Carl281, to be frank - outputting to a higher resolution won't do anything at all to improve on the low quality of your source clips. It might be better to try out an AI upscaler like Topaz Video Enhance AI which can make dramatic improvements to low quality/low resolution source clips.

I have that app and would be happy to test it out if you were OK sharing one or more of your clips here. Use the Attachments button below the reply text window to directly upload one or more clips here as long as they're smaller than 100MB in size.

If they're larger than that, upload the them to OneDrive or Google Drive and paste a publicly shareable link to it here. See this FAQ for more details.

If the content isn't meant to be shared I can send you a PM with a link to a OneDrive folder if you'd still like me to try privately.

Quote Carl281, to be frank - outputting to a higher resolution won't do anything at all to improve on the low quality of your source clips. It might be better to try out an AI upscaler like Topaz Video Enhance AI which can make dramatic improvements to low quality/low resolution source clips.

I have that app and would be happy to test it out if you were OK sharing one or more of your clips here. Use the Attachments button below the reply text window to directly upload one or more clips here as long as they're smaller than 100MB in size.

If they're larger than that, upload the them to OneDrive or Google Drive and paste a publicly shareable link to it here. See this FAQ for more details.

If the content isn't meant to be shared I can send you a PM with a link to a OneDrive folder if you'd still like me to try privately.

Thanks for the heads up that higher resolution will not work.
The thing that is confusing to me is all 14 of the low quality source clips are very clear when I view them directly from VLC Player. It is when I upload them to PD 13, both the preview and the resulting video output are blurry. Confusing . . .
If you can send me a link to a OneDrive folder, that would be very appreciated, as the content is not meant to be shared in public domain. I'll select one of the 14 files that is least sensitive, and send to you. And thank you for the kind offer of help.
Carl

Ok I just sent you a link.

Thre are plenty of reasons to upgrade to a newer PD version, but you'd be disappointed if you were only doing it to try to solve this issue