Video Smoothness? in the Vimeo Technical Help Forum

Zach 'Iowa' Hoeken locked this topic on Jun 27, 2008 because the topic is older than 6 months.

Lengo 8 months ago

I am so stuck! I've been working on this for days!

My video has you riding a roller coaster. This makes the whole frame essentially b-frame (moving). I don't know what settings to use to get the video smooth and sharp.

I'm using Sony Vegas Studio 8. I've managed to do well by rendering to WMV at these settings --

Project - Best

Video
Mode - CBR one pass
Format - Windows Media Video 9
Resolution - 420x315
Pixel aspect ratio - 1.0 (square)
Frame rate - 30.00
Seconds per keyframe- 3

Audio
Mode CBR
Format - WMA 9.2
Attributes - 128 bit, 44,100 Khz, Stereo (AV/CBR)

Total Bandwidth - 640 Kbps

Streaming this from another server gives me great results, but I can't stream from another server and put it on Vimeo where I can get feedback.

As soon as I go to a higher resolution (512x384, which is as close to Vimeo's resolution I can get and keep the 4:3 aspect ratio), I get stuck frames -- jerky video. To get rid of this, I gotta lower the smoothing, which results in blurred output. This isn't working for me. The trade off is too great! I gotta lower the smoothing to 64, and the result is terribly blurred, but finally smooth (no jerkiness).

So I'm trying to render to MPG-1, the only codec in Sony Vegas that lets me customize the settings. This presents me with new questions. For example, there's a setting for Video Buffer Verifier. I have no idea what this is and can only find over-my-head technical explanations.

There are these settings

I frames and B frames. I understand what these are technically, but don't know what settings to use.

Video quality that ranges from 0 to 31, unlike WMV which ranges from 0-100. And just what is meant by 'quality'? Is this smoothing or what?

A checkbox, for "Insert sequence header before every GOP". Okay, fine, what's a GOP?

A checkbox -Constrained Parameters

A checkbox -- Use closed GOPs

CBR rates -- 192,000, 1,700,000, 104,857,200

The audio settings are similar to WMVs, and not really a problem. I can get to my target of 128 bit, 44,1000 Khx (this is a music video).

Frankly, I'M SICK OF GUESSING! I have already spent DAYS on this problem! I can't even get smoothness from Sony Vegas MPG-2 SVCD NTSC, because the whole frame is B-Frame! I don't know what these settings are, and don't know how to get the smoothness/clarity trade off I want. I'm tired of making experiments! I'm tired of rendering over and over and OVER!

WHAT SETTINGS SHOULD I USE FOR MPEG-1 when the whole frame is essentially B-frame?

I've spent nearly 7 days on this, full time! Please help me! I'm going nuts over here, and spending way too much time on this -- time that I could be using shooting or edting new material.
Eugenia Loli-Queru 8 months ago

Lengo, three questions before I offer you a visual guide on how to export from Vegas for Vimeo in particular (mpeg1 is a bad choice btw):

1. What kind of camera do you have and if you are shooting in 4:3 or widescreen.
2. How fast your computer is (cpu model and speed) and how much RAM you have.
3. Which version of Vegas do you have? Is it the Pro version or Movie Studio? Which Windows version do you run?
Lengo 8 months ago

1. I have no camera. I'm using Fraps only. All source from Fraps is uncompressed AVI and it is 640x480. The source videos are extemely nice. They're beautiful!

2. My puter has an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and I'm running 2 Gb of ram. Another two GB is expected to be delivered today.
3. I am using Vegas Studio 8. It is not the pro edition. I am running Win XP SP2.

My rig and OS seem to be doing pretty well. I only ordered the extra Ram to be sure. The source AVIs are sometimes HUGE -- up to 2 GB!

I ran a couple of tests, rendering in MPG-1. You're right. This is a bad choice. I went back to WMV.

One thing is very good though. I've managed to maintain 128 bit, 44,100 khz audio. The sound is very good! I'm very with that.

I think I'm done. I've rendered this at 504x384, the same size as the window here on Vimeo. I did this to avoid any possible pixelation. Smoothing is set to 64. 70 causes some jerkiness, and that is totally unacceptable, so 64 smoothing is the best I can do. But if you know a better choice, please let me know.

I have a 420x315 that looks much nicer though. But I don't have a way to post the URL, since HTML is turned off.

Thanks for your willingness to help. But I think I've hit the wall and my last upload is best as possible. Now I need to know where to publish it. What the heck is a channel?
Eugenia Loli-Queru 8 months ago

I'd suggest using 1 mbps of bitrate for 504x384, progressive scan.

>But I don't have a way to post the URL, since HTML is turned off.

You simply copy/paste the url.
Lengo 8 months ago

Okay. I'll try it at 1 Mbps. I hope that works!

Here's the off site stream. It has a bitrate of 640 Kbps.

iinet.com/~lengoforth/MovieTest2.html

This link will expire soon. I have no place to put it, and this link is to a temporary host. Vimeo has community, and I want that just as much as good video quality.
philip 8 months ago

Hi, Lengo,

I've had worse jerkiness on a video I uploaded here, and Eugenia suggested that it was because of the Flash codec not working well on my video size (huge).

I'd expect your file size to have an impact on smoothness, as my computer is having not only to sort through the video but also the sound.

I took a look at your video, and there are indeed stops and pauses along the line. If it's not too much trouble, I would ask that you post a copy without sound - I know you love the music, but this is just a test to see if the video smooths out when the computer doesn't have to process the sound as well as the video.

If so, the problem is not with the file. It would be with the power of the computer, and maybe with the processor (I have 2 G4 processors in my Mac).
Lengo 8 months ago

You viewed my video? I just checked my settings. All my videos are set to PRIVATE - nobody but me! What the hell is going on here? Where's the privacy promised. I'm pending approval from Chubby Checker's record label. Oh man! Vimeo is gonna get an earful about this!

There is a volume control on every video. Turn it down if you want to.

File size has nothing to do with bufferings. Compression and available bandwidth does. This site is awfully slow just getting from page to page. I wonder when Vimeo last did a disk defrag and what their connection is to the net backbone!

DAMN IT! Does the download link work too? I can't tell. It's there for me! But I can't get here as somebody else, and I'm allowed in so how do I know it's working or not? It's not suppose to be! If it is.... oh man!

I'm getting pissed!
Andrew Pile 8 months ago

I think he means he looked at the video on the page you posted, I don't see any videos when I go to your profile meaning they are all marked as private.
Lengo 8 months ago

Thanks, Andrew. Can anybody else confirm this? Please.
dalas verdugo 8 months ago

Confirmed. You misunderstood what philip said.
AA 8 months ago

Double Confirmation. You have zero videos visible to me. 10-4 over and out.
Thommy Browne 8 months ago

Triple Confirmation. I see no videos on your profile.
C. Dub Allstar 8 months ago

Quadruple Confirmation. There are no videos available to view.
katieallen 8 months ago

Quintuple Confirmation. No clips.
Blake Whitman 8 months ago

Like, Sextuple and stuff.
Lengo 8 months ago

Okay, thanks! I aplogize. I've had enough trouble, and this pushed my button. I shouldn't have gone off like that.