Cannot Get Quality over 720x480

[Allen Campbell]

I'm a noob and only have a very small application for which I want to use Vegas for.

I hope you guys can enlighten me.

I shoot with Sony DSR-PD170. I see examples of videos shot with this camera that are larger than the NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps) I render with.

I have tried and experimented but cannot get sharp video over the 720x480 setting.

Is there something in the Cam I need to setup? I don't set it to widescreen.

Can I get a pointer on setting up my rendering to get a larger video of quality? Is there such an animal?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Allen

The PD170 is shooting 720x480 DV in 4:3 mode so if you want anything higher then you really are upsizing the footage so you would lose resolution.

What are you upsizing to??? and any particular reason??? All HD file sizes are based on widescreen aspect ratios so to "fit" 4:3 footage into say 1920x1080 you not only need to upsize but also crop the image quite drastically to make it fit the widescreen format...using Pan/Crop in Vegas to make 4:3 fit into a 16:9 format requires close to a 40% zoom of the original and that's BEFORE you even make it any larger!! Already the zoomed image will be pretty much degraded!!

Chris

[Mike Kujbida]

That camera only shoots in NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps) mode.
Can you give us a link to some of these examples of videos shot with this camera that are larger than that?

[Allen Campbell]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Allen

The PD170 is shooting 720x480 DV in 4:3 mode so if you want anything higher then you really are upsizing the footage so you would lose resolution.

What are you upsizing to??? and any particular reason??? All HD file sizes are based on widescreen aspect ratios so to "fit" 4:3 footage into say 1920x1080 you not only need to upsize but also crop the image quite drastically to make it fit the widescreen format...using Pan/Crop in Vegas to make 4:3 fit into a 16:9 format requires close to a 40% zoom of the original and that's BEFORE you even make it any larger!! Already the zoomed image will be pretty much degraded!!

Chris

Originally Posted by Mike Kujbida

That camera only shoots in NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps) mode.
Can you give us a link to some of these examples of videos shot with this camera that are larger than that?

Thanks Guys,

Perhaps I did not know what I was looking at. So what I have is what I get as far as quality.

Thanks

[Don Bloom]

I still shoot with both a PD150 and a PD170 (both very well worn) and as noted the 170 shoots DV in 720X480. I have played my stuff on a 65" LCD TV without breakup or pixelation and only very very slight breakup on an 80" TV and then only at a dark wedding reception with a lot of pretty fast movement.
The PD series (along with the VX2000 and VX2100 and the DSR250 which are all basically the same glass and electronics with the 2100 and 170 having an updated DSP) (updated for it's time). These cameras still produce a great image so if the quality is not what you had hoped for perhaps it's something in the settings of the camera.
Can you post a JPG or even a short (10 second) clip so we can check it out? I know the type of work you do it might not be possible but if you could then we could better understand what changes might help make for a better quality image.

[Allen Campbell]

Thanks Don,

I'm afraid you are the victim of a poor noob. I was asking how to render for lager than its native format and still have sharp imaging.

If I render in (720x480, 29.970 fps) its fine. As for the work I do. I am a PI and use the PD170 for low-light surveillance situations. I call it the widow maker. The camera is amazing and with Vegas "Levels FX" adjustments and such for the really dark ones, it has foiled many a perp.

I was wanting to render it to be larger when viewed on a PC display.

Thanks Again

[Don Bloom]

If you're playing it back using the Windows Media Player then set the size of the Media Player to 200%. That should get you started. If you need bigger on the monitor screen, you gotta get a bigger screen ;-)

[David Jimerson]

Originally Posted by Allen Campbell

Thanks Don,

I'm afraid you are the victim of a poor noob. I was asking how to render for lager than its native format and still have sharp imaging.

If I render in (720x480, 29.970 fps) its fine. As for the work I do. I am a PI and use the PD170 for low-light surveillance situations. I call it the widow maker. The camera is amazing and with Vegas "Levels FX" adjustments and such for the really dark ones, it has foiled many a perp.

I was wanting to render it to be larger when viewed on a PC display.

Thanks Again

If you render it out to a larger frame, always have the video quality setting to "best" -- this will give you the best result for rescaling.

But, as noted, you only have the video information you have, so it won't get sharper. You can add sharpening, but it'll increase the noise, too.

Shows like CSI do a great disservice by making it seem like video footage can be infinitely enhanced. Try as you might, you will never get a license plate number off the reflection on a coat button. :)