Number of renders before quality loss?
 

Hi,

I'm having problems with macroblocking/pixelization when I render DV AVI more than once. For example if I add a effect to a movie, render it and export it as an AVI then import that AVI into the timeline and add an other effect I get very obvious loss of quality. (Lots of little vertical line on a TV) blocks on a Computer monitor. Is this normal? I am using Premiere 6.02

Can you describe the process more detailed? What intermediate
formats/codecs are you using?? You can see a loss on a TV?

I import the DV footage to PC via firewire and import that into the timeline. I add an effect to the footage and render that and save it as a DV PAL AVI. If I then import the saved file back into the timeline, add an effect and render that as another AVI the quality loss is very noticeable on TV and monitor. I have the same problem with different cameras and firewire cards. There is a slight loss of quality even after the first render. I have tried it on two other PCs and have had the same result. I also tried a MAC and had no problems. I have no idea what is going on.

First of all, are you in europe/PAL land? In other words, is your camera a PAL camera? If your in the USA, then save it as a NTSC DV.

The Microsoft DV codec (which premiere uses) isn't as good as sonic foundry's or some other ones, but you shouldn't notice any quality loss up until about 15 renders.

Which OS are you on? That depicts which Microsoft DV Codec version
you are using. Some older OSes had some really bad DV codec
versions.

Why are you saving it out and then importing it again? You can
just layer the effects and output to your final format.