Powerdirector 13 - Dash Cam video coming out pixelated, blurry, and generally degraded when produced

Joe Friday

Newbie Joined: Dec 01, 2013 18:25 Messages: 14 Offline

Solved by

Nov 12, 2017 09:26

Hi all,

I have tried producing raw dash cam video in PowerDirector 13 from the 'Transcend High Endurance' 32 gb memory card of my dash cam.

No matter the PD settings, it comes out pixelated, blurry, and generally degraded as opposed to the relatively 'smooth' video as viewed from the memory card itself.

The video of the dash cam was shot at 2k video resolution setting - 30 fps and produced a pretty decent video.

I tried editing and producing a video using this raw mp4 data from the Transcent High Endurance memory card of my dash cam, using the PD 2k 30fps - 10mbs setting as a Windows Media File, and it Keeps coming out horribly, no matter what setting tweaks I use.

Can anyone guide me as to the method of achieving a 1:1 video quality in PD from my video card? I am so frustrated.

Perhaps producing it as a Windows Media File is the wrong setting? Should I be producing it asa quicktime video or other video format???

Power Director 13 does not offer an MPEG-4 format to match the video format produced by my dash cam..... do newer versions of PD have the MP4 format?

Thanks for any advice.... I have to get this project done. Joe Friday - "Just the facts, Ma'am!"

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

Nov 12, 2017 11:07

Quote Hi all,

I have tried producing raw dash cam video in PowerDirector 13 from the 'Transcend High Endurance' 32 gb memory card of my dash cam.

No matter the PD settings, it comes out pixelated, blurry, and generally degraded as opposed to the relatively 'smooth' video as viewed from the memory card itself.

The video of the dash cam was shot at 2k video resolution setting - 30 fps and produced a pretty decent video.

I tried editing and producing a video using this raw mp4 data from the Transcent High Endurance memory card of my dash cam, using the PD 2k 30fps - 10mbs setting as a Windows Media File, and it Keeps coming out horribly, no matter what setting tweaks I use.

Can anyone guide me as to the method of achieving a 1:1 video quality in PD from my video card? I am so frustrated.

Perhaps producing it as a Windows Media File is the wrong setting? Should I be producing it asa quicktime video or other video format???

Power Director 13 does not offer an MPEG-4 format to match the video format produced by my dash cam..... do newer versions of PD have the MP4 format?

Thanks for any advice.... I have to get this project done.

Have you tried producing as H264 MP4 1920x1080. If you cant find the correct frame rate, try clicking on the plus sign to the right of the profiles and create your own. In the window that opens click video - select the correct resolution and then the frame rate. Give the profile a name so you know you are using the correct one. Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

Joe Friday

Newbie Joined: Dec 01, 2013 18:25 Messages: 14 Offline

Nov 12, 2017 11:23

Quote

Quote Hi all,

I have tried producing raw dash cam video in PowerDirector 13 from the 'Transcend High Endurance' 32 gb memory card of my dash cam.

No matter the PD settings, it comes out pixelated, blurry, and generally degraded as opposed to the relatively 'smooth' video as viewed from the memory card itself.

The video of the dash cam was shot at 2k video resolution setting - 30 fps and produced a pretty decent video.

I tried editing and producing a video using this raw mp4 data from the Transcent High Endurance memory card of my dash cam, using the PD 2k 30fps - 10mbs setting as a Windows Media File, and it Keeps coming out horribly, no matter what setting tweaks I use.

Can anyone guide me as to the method of achieving a 1:1 video quality in PD from my video card? I am so frustrated.

Perhaps producing it as a Windows Media File is the wrong setting? Should I be producing it asa quicktime video or other video format???

Power Director 13 does not offer an MPEG-4 format to match the video format produced by my dash cam..... do newer versions of PD have the MP4 format?

Thanks for any advice.... I have to get this project done.

Have you tried producing as H264 MP4 1920x1080. If you cant find the correct frame rate, try clicking on the plus sign to the right of the profiles and create your own. In the window that opens click video - select the correct resolution and then the frame rate. Give the profile a name so you know you are using the correct one.

Oh wow! I didn't even know what format that was... but when I clicked on the 'H.265 HEVC' file format, It came up with an MPEG-4 profile. That just may be the ticket. I will try processing it with that format and report back. Thank you so much for that suggestion..... it may be toward the end of the (USA) day before I can experiment with this at this point..... but I will get back. Joe Friday - "Just the facts, Ma'am!"

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

Nov 12, 2017 11:40

Quote

Quote Hi all,

I have tried producing raw dash cam video in PowerDirector 13 from the 'Transcend High Endurance' 32 gb memory card of my dash cam.

No matter the PD settings, it comes out pixelated, blurry, and generally degraded as opposed to the relatively 'smooth' video as viewed from the memory card itself.

The video of the dash cam was shot at 2k video resolution setting - 30 fps and produced a pretty decent video.

I tried editing and producing a video using this raw mp4 data from the Transcent High Endurance memory card of my dash cam, using the PD 2k 30fps - 10mbs setting as a Windows Media File, and it Keeps coming out horribly, no matter what setting tweaks I use.

Can anyone guide me as to the method of achieving a 1:1 video quality in PD from my video card? I am so frustrated.

Perhaps producing it as a Windows Media File is the wrong setting? Should I be producing it asa quicktime video or other video format???

Power Director 13 does not offer an MPEG-4 format to match the video format produced by my dash cam..... do newer versions of PD have the MP4 format?

Thanks for any advice.... I have to get this project done.

Have you tried producing as H264 MP4 1920x1080. If you cant find the correct frame rate, try clicking on the plus sign to the right of the profiles and create your own. In the window that opens click video - select the correct resolution and then the frame rate. Give the profile a name so you know you are using the correct one.

Oh wow! I didn't even know what format that was... but when I clicked on the 'H.265 HEVC' file format, It came up with an MPEG-4 profile. That just may be the ticket. I will try processing it with that format and report back. Thank you so much for that suggestion..... it may be toward the end of the (USA) day before I can experiment with this at this point..... but I will get back.

Dragnet Man

If you have trouble with H265 try H264 AVC Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

Joe Friday

Newbie Joined: Dec 01, 2013 18:25 Messages: 14 Offline

Nov 12, 2017 20:51

I am producing now with 256 HEVC..... but the problem is, there are no stock options, or even custom options to use the resolution of my Vantrue Dash Cam which is: 2560 X 1440 @ 30fps. So I am trying it at 2048 X 1080 / 30fps right now to see how it comes out..... Same problem with the 264 AVC Options....

Does the newer PD have the 2560 X 1440 option in either of these file formats??

Thanks. Joe Friday - "Just the facts, Ma'am!"

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

Nov 13, 2017 09:52

Quote I am producing now with 256 HEVC..... but the problem is, there are no stock options, or even custom options to use the resolution of my Vantrue Dash Cam which is: 2560 X 1440 @ 30fps. So I am trying it at 2048 X 1080 / 30fps right now to see how it comes out..... Same problem with the 264 AVC Options....

Does the newer PD have the 2560 X 1440 option in either of these file formats??

Thanks.

Hi Joe

If you follow this video, it should work in your version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQtO6Zf1qM

Let me know if it works for you Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

Andrej Svajger

Newbie Joined: Sep 11, 2015 18:07 Messages: 8 Offline

Jul 14, 2018 12:59

Quote I am producing now with 256 HEVC..... but the problem is, there are no stock options, or even custom options to use the resolution of my Vantrue Dash Cam which is: 2560 X 1440 @ 30fps. So I am trying it at 2048 X 1080 / 30fps right now to see how it comes out..... Same problem with the 264 AVC Options....

Does the newer PD have the 2560 X 1440 option in either of these file formats??

Thanks.

I know this is an old post, but the question remained unanswered? I had same kind of problems with Vantrue dash cam and the proposed solution didn't resolve the fact, that 2K isn't supported "out of the box". Yes, you can create a profile with 2k settings, but program isn't optimized for this resoulition and the end result doesn't look good. I've only tried the TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 6 which does far better job stitching videos together. When one does nothing else to the source video but cut the unwanted scene(s) out, any additional proccesing is redundant and only brings degradation to the end result.
Did i miss an option to do this in PD (i have ver. 14).

Right now, i'm deciding whether to upgrade to PD 16 or buy TMPGEnc and this would prevail, if it is doable in PD16.

Thanks for your help, i'm a newbie and have very little expierience with video editing. Asus P8Z68m PRO, i7 2600@3.4, Gigabyte 970GTX 4GB, 16GB, W7 x64, DELL 27", PD 16 Ultimate

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

Jul 14, 2018 14:00

Quote

I know this is an old post, but the question remained unanswered? I had same kind of problems with Vantrue dash cam and the proposed solution didn't resolve the fact, that 2K isn't supported "out of the box". Yes, you can create a profile with 2k settings, but program isn't optimized for this resoulition and the end result doesn't look good. I've only tried the TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 6 which does far better job stitching videos together. When one does nothing else to the source video but cut the unwanted scene(s) out, any additional proccesing is redundant and only brings degradation to the end result.
Did i miss an option to do this in PD (i have ver. 14).

Right now, i'm deciding whether to upgrade to PD 16 or buy TMPGEnc and this would prevail, if it is doable in PD16.

Thanks for your help, i'm a newbie and have very little expierience with video editing.

If I have understood correctly you can do the following: Create a production profile similar to the one you require, give it a name of say, 2560x1440 so you know what to look for in PDs profile.ini folder. Once you have created the new profile, locate the PD14s Profile.ini folder in Windows. Find the profile you made i.e. one called 2560x1440 and open it in Notepad. Once open, locate the existing resolution of perhaps, 1920x1080 and change these 2560x1440. Save and close the file, and your new profile will be on the drop down list in PD14s Produce page named 2560x1440. Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

Andrej Svajger

Newbie Joined: Sep 11, 2015 18:07 Messages: 8 Offline

Jul 14, 2018 14:43

Quote

If I have understood correctly you can do the following: Create a production profile similar to the one you require, give it a name of say, 2560x1440 so you know what to look for in PDs profile.ini folder. Once you have created the new profile, locate the PD14s Profile.ini folder in Windows. Find the profile you made i.e. one called 2560x1440 and open it in Notepad. Once open, locate the existing resolution of perhaps, 1920x1080 and change these 2560x1440. Save and close the file, and your new profile will be on the drop down list in PD14s Produce page named 2560x1440.

Yes, that's exactly the right procedure. But what's missing here's the fact that this new profile/resolution in not native in the PD14 and thus needs to be interpolated in some way (at least that's what i conclude from the pixelated result). The Youtube video ends on the point where ini file is modified and does now show the quality of the produced video. So my only concern is whether this has changed in the PD 16 or if there's a way to "tell the program not to process the video" since there's no need to do this. When stitching two clips together, that's all there is, no color correction, no denoising, no nothing, just put two clips togehter. Not even transition effects. And this is how the mentioned program TMPGEnc works. But i'd rather stay with PD if i can do my job with it.

Regards

Edit : Just checked and in PD16, 2k/4K resolution is already in, but i would still love to hear from someone if end result quality is not degraded when exporting/saving in this resolution (provided source video is 2k/4k too).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 14. 2018 14:51

Asus P8Z68m PRO, i7 2600@3.4, Gigabyte 970GTX 4GB, 16GB, W7 x64, DELL 27", PD 16 Ultimate

AVPlayVideo

Senior Contributor Location: Home Joined: Apr 06, 2016 19:03 Messages: 703 Offline

Jul 15, 2018 10:36

One question you tried to use, in Produce the option, Intelligent SVRT
Resolutions for custom profile in PD16 attached image


Filename	custon perfil.png	Download
Description
Filesize	17 Kbytes
Downloaded:	7 time(s)

XEON-E5-2680 v4 / Mem. 16GB DDR4
M.2 NVME 512Gb / 2-SSD Sata3 1TB
AMD RX570 / Display Philips 272V8
Windows 11_64Pro / PD22/365

Andrej Svajger

Newbie Joined: Sep 11, 2015 18:07 Messages: 8 Offline

Jul 15, 2018 17:05

Quote One question you tried to use, in Produce the option, Intelligent SVRT
Resolutions for custom profile in PD16 attached image

I've only checked the announced features in PD16. Haven't bought it yet, since i'm not sure what should i do. I've only did 1080p videos by now and those weren't a problem in PD14 (since this is a native resolultion), i guess i'll have to trust it'll be the same in PD16 (since it has 2k resolution as native).


Filename	2kPD16.png	Download
Description	List of produce resolutions
Filesize	48 Kbytes
Downloaded:	3 time(s)

Asus P8Z68m PRO, i7 2600@3.4, Gigabyte 970GTX 4GB, 16GB, W7 x64, DELL 27", PD 16 Ultimate

AVPlayVideo

Senior Contributor Location: Home Joined: Apr 06, 2016 19:03 Messages: 703 Offline

Jul 15, 2018 18:08

Hi, Andrej Svajger

If you want, post 5 seconds of the original video here, so we could check and try to find a solution to the problem. XEON-E5-2680 v4 / Mem. 16GB DDR4
M.2 NVME 512Gb / 2-SSD Sata3 1TB
AMD RX570 / Display Philips 272V8
Windows 11_64Pro / PD22/365

Andrej Svajger

Newbie Joined: Sep 11, 2015 18:07 Messages: 8 Offline

Jul 16, 2018 14:13

Quote Hi, Andrej Svajger

If you want, post 5 seconds of the original video here, so we could check and try to find a solution to the problem.

Hi, thank you for your kindness, i've prepared two short clips (no sound) with enough details. Road was far from smooth and this structure was blurred with PD14 and the last part with some shady and sunny parts that were blurred too. If you could add a simple transition between both clips, that would be great.

Again, thank you for your kindness in advance. Hope, it'll turn out PD16 handles this with ease so i could buy the upgrade and start working.

Regards,
Andrej

Edit : Ooops, it seems that uploading video takeeeees time so i'll post second part in a separate post.
Edit 2 : Oh well, it seems i'm not even allowed to add attachments, it uploads fine but then i waited like 5 mins and nothing happened, it was waiting for forum reply. Strange .....
I'll buy the PD16 believing it handles 2k with ease, thank you for being prepared to help.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 16. 2018 14:14

Asus P8Z68m PRO, i7 2600@3.4, Gigabyte 970GTX 4GB, 16GB, W7 x64, DELL 27", PD 16 Ultimate

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jul 16, 2018 18:33

Hi Andrej -

Neither PDR14 no PDR16 has 2560x1440 as an available profile. As Robert (Shadowman) suggested, editing the Profile.ini can create that profile. Using SVRT and selecting the suggested 2560x1440 profile has the same effect.

"2K", in my view, is a misused term very often when referring to 2560x1440. 2.5K is more meaningful.

I couldn't locate any original Vantrue 1440p footage to test, but used some similar clips from other dashcams - Gamin 55 & Z-Edge Z3 Plus. Using either process (manual edit of Profile.ini or SVRT profile) yields a result as close to original quality as you'd want. PDR16 or 14 - no difference.

Cheers - Tony
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Andrej Svajger

Newbie Joined: Sep 11, 2015 18:07 Messages: 8 Offline

Jul 16, 2018 19:32

Quote Hi Andrej -

Neither PDR14 no PDR16 has 2560x1440 as an available profile. As Robert (Shadowman) suggested, editing the Profile.ini can create that profile. Using SVRT and selecting the suggested 2560x1440 profile has the same effect.

"2K", in my view, is a misused term very often when referring to 2560x1440. 2.5K is more meaningful.

I couldn't locate any original Vantrue 1440p footage to test, but used some similar clips from other dashcams - Gamin 55 & Z-Edge Z3 Plus. Using either process (manual edit of Profile.ini or SVRT profile) yields a result as close to original quality as you'd want. PDR16 or 14 - no difference.

Cheers - Tony

Oh well, i wish i've read your reply before upgrading. I've tried selecting SVRT, but cannot. Only Hardware video encoder for me. And with modified profile.ini (changed
<Video BitRate>20800000
<Max BitRate>21000000
<Video Width>2560
<Video Height>1440
<Frame Rate>29.969999) but the end result is very blurred (as far as road structure goes). What bothers me the most is the line
<Resize>1
which points to doing some interpolation of my source resolution.
I cannot understand how i'm not allowed to produce the video in the same resolution as my source video was shot in. We're talking year 2018???
Oh well, money wasted, time to start using TMPGEnc.
Thanks for your reply Tony, sadly, i missed it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 17. 2018 02:50

Asus P8Z68m PRO, i7 2600@3.4, Gigabyte 970GTX 4GB, 16GB, W7 x64, DELL 27", PD 16 Ultimate