Screencast Video loses quality after adding to Timeline (preview on highest)

TimmyTheC

Newbie Joined: Jun 21, 2021 11:29 Messages: 4 Offline

Solved by

Jun 21, 2021 11:44

I'm trying to create a movie with computer screen help.

Original videos captured at 1920/1080 resolution ... producing in PDR13 at 1080p resolution.

But the videos are leaving out horizontal lines of resolution ... a "T" looks like an "I" because the top line is missing.

I've made videos before and never had a problem with resolution, and can't figure out what's causing the problem now.

If I watch a video fullscreen that's not pulled into the timeline, it's perfect and I can read the tiniest fonts onscreen.

Once I pull that video into the timeline and watch it fullscreen there (in highest preview quality) .. it's horizontally pixelated.

I've searched everywhere for a solution, but this seems to be a problem hard to search for because 99% of people's answers are to "adjust the preview resolution" ...

Rendering the videos at 1080p produces a lower quality video than the original, leaving out horizontal lines ... making any small text on screen virtually unreadable.

Please help!?

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 14:20

Can you share one of the clips that you're working with? It would really help to see the technical specs and see exactly how it looks.

If you have one smaller than 100MB you can directly upload it here using the Attachments button below the forum's text box. Otehrwise upload it to OneDrive or Google Drive and paste a publicly shareable link to it here. See this FAQ for more details.

TimmyTheC

Newbie Joined: Jun 21, 2021 11:29 Messages: 4 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 14:40

Quote Can you share one of the clips that you're working with? It would really help to see the technical specs and see exactly how it looks.

If you have one smaller than 100MB you can directly upload it here using the Attachments button below the forum's text box. Otehrwise upload it to OneDrive or Google Drive and paste a publicly shareable link to it here. See this FAQ for more details.

Ok .. here you go ... nothing done to this file except it was imported into PDR13 .. and produced at 1920x1080 (the source's native resolution), 30fps, and 16 mbps.

Filename	section02-Quick_Add_Client_Policy.mp4	Download
Description	original quality
Filesize	2332 Kbytes
Downloaded:	113 time(s)

Filename	section2-produced.mp4	Download
Description	produced through PDR13 at 1920x1080, 30fps, 16mbps
Filesize	17169 Kbytes
Downloaded:	51 time(s)

PepsiMan

Senior Contributor Location: Clarksville, TN Joined: Dec 29, 2010 01:20 Messages: 1054 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 16:33

hi there.
your capture is not 1920x1080. it is 1920x1000 resolution.
set your capture at CRF and 1. it'll give you bigger files but it's worth it.

my PD12 produced same as yours(using mediainfo) . if you're not doing anything to the captured videos then just use what you're using Handbrake!

don't expect too much from a less than 300kb/sec video bitrates... garbage in garbage out.

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

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PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 16:54

Hi,

I've done a little analysis. I'll list the findings but I don't know what they mean but others might see something.

section02-Quick_Add_Client_Policy.mp4

Win10 file properties see the file as progressive
MediaInfo sees the file as progressive

PDR12 sees it as interlaced
PDR13 sees it as interlaced
PDR14 sees it as interlaced

PDR15 sees it as progressive
PDR16 sees it as progressive
PDR19 sees it as progressive (Presume PDR 17 and 18 likewise)

PDR12,13,14 show the timeline preview as pixellated
PDR15 onwards show the timeline preview as normal

PDR15 shows a produced file as normal (presume 16-19 will do also)

So it appears that earlier versions of PDR see the file as interlaced and have the issue, later versions see it as progressive and have no issue.

I note that the writing app shown by MediaInfo is Handbrake 1.3.2. Perhaps this might also have a bearing on these findings?

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 16:56

Thanks very much for the "before" and "after" clips.

I agree with PepsiMan regarding problems with your source clip. I also get the same terrible results when previewing and producing in PD13. The clip previews fine while in the media library, but it turns to crap once the clip is placed on the timeline. Interestingly, PD14 and later versions have no trouble with the clip at all, so this issue is specific to PD13 and earlier versions.

According to MediaInfo, the "section02-" clip is AVC 1920x1080 30.00fps and it was created using Handbrake 1.3.2. See attached detailed report.

There are issues with the latest release of Handbarke (as described here) and when I open the clip in Handbrake 1.2.2 it shows the true pixel size as 1920x1008 which may be where the PD13 issue is coming from.

Like PepsiMan said, setting the screen recorder to constant frame rate and using a much higher bitrate (at least 1Mbps rather than 216kbps) will probably solve the issue.

Filename	section02 clip specs.txt	Download
Description	Media
Filesize	3 Kbytes
Downloaded:	132 time(s)

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 17:05

Quote
PDR13 sees it as interlaced
PDR14 sees it as interlaced

PDR12,13,14 show the timeline preview as pixellated
PDR15 onwards show the timeline preview as normal

PD13 saw the clip as interlaced on my system as well, but when I changed it to progressive it always appeared as progressive even though I never saved the project or any changes. That may have impacted how PD14 saw it since I checked afterwards and it was progressive there too.

On my system, the timeline clip in PD14 looks perfectly fine at Full HD preview resolution as shown in the attached screenshot.


Filename	PD14 preview.png	Download
Description	full screen
Filesize	857 Kbytes
Downloaded:	2 time(s)

TimmyTheC

Newbie Joined: Jun 21, 2021 11:29 Messages: 4 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 17:10

Quote hi there.
your capture is not 1920x1080. it is 1920x1000 resolution.
set your capture at CRF and 1. it'll give you bigger files but it's worth it.

my PD12 produced same as yours(using mediainfo) . if you're not doing anything to the captured videos then just use what you're using Handbrake!

don't expect too much from a less than 300kb/sec video bitrates... garbage in garbage out.

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

Hi Pepsiman .. where are you getting your resolution settings in that input file?
When I view the settings, I'm seeing 1920 x 1080 ...

Are you measuring it yourself in visible pixels? If so, it was originally captured at 1008 .. then black bars added to bring it to 1080.

Either way, we have a native 1080 that was captured without any doctoring, and it has the same bad output. It just didn't have any many words on the screen to show how bad it looks so I didn't use it in the example here.

And for my reference .. is there a certain codec that is recommended for screen capturing to preserver perfect resolution?

Thanks,
Tim


Filename	resolution.jpg	Download
Description
Filesize	102 Kbytes
Downloaded:	2 time(s)

TimmyTheC

Newbie Joined: Jun 21, 2021 11:29 Messages: 4 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 17:17

Quote Hi,

I've done a little analysis. I'll list the findings but I don't know what they mean but others might see something.

section02-Quick_Add_Client_Policy.mp4

Win10 file properties see the file as progressive
MediaInfo sees the file as progressive

PDR12 sees it as interlaced
PDR13 sees it as interlaced
PDR14 sees it as interlaced

PDR15 sees it as progressive
PDR16 sees it as progressive
PDR19 sees it as progressive (Presume PDR 17 and 18 likewise)

PDR12,13,14 show the timeline preview as pixellated
PDR15 onwards show the timeline preview as normal

PDR15 shows a produced file as normal (presume 16-19 will do also)

So it appears that earlier versions of PDR see the file as interlaced and have the issue, later versions see it as progressive and have no issue.

I note that the writing app shown by MediaInfo is Handbrake 1.3.2. Perhaps this might also have a bearing on these findings?

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

INTERLACED!!! ... that would cause it ...

No way to force progressive in PDR 13?

I'm googling for a way to do that ... or use another program like Handbrake, etc ..

At the worst, I could upgrade to PDR19 ...

Thanks for the help, guys.

-Tim

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 17:33

Quote INTERLACED!!! ... that would cause it ...

No way to force progressive in PDR 13?

You can easily force it by right-clicking on the clip and choosing Set Clip Attributes > Set TV Format. However telling PD13 it's progressive doesn't change the quality issue on my system.

I even ran the clip through Handbrake 1.2.2 forcing it to be 1920x1080 and there was no change in the timeline preview quality, so it would be better to make sure the original recording is actually the full screen size. Also, why have you run it through Handbrake at all?

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jun 21, 2021 17:49

Using the PD12 that PepsiMan used. did the Set TV Format/Scan and suggest on the original and it changed to progressive. Produced at the OP’s mp4 setting. The result is as bad as the one he submitted. Found that the produced file is fine when using the later versions of PD tested by the PM.