Solved A problem with window blinds

I did some video inside a building where there were several window blinds. As I panned, everything was fine, but after rendering, the horizontal lines created by the blinds are quite announced and noticeable. I've looked online and here at Zen for solutions but all "horizontal lines" pertain to interlacing artifacts. I have tried rendering with different interlacing options but to no avail. I shoot 24P with a Canon G20. I'd like help on making those horizontal lines from the windows less noticeable if possible.

Can you please upload an example of this to YouTube and then post a link to video here.

1. I am shooting 24fps at the highest quality on my camera. When I burn to DVD, I use the MP4 setting with variable bit rates. When I upload a trailer to Youtube, I have always used AVI with no problems until now.

2. Since my first post, I followed the Sony Vegas 11 Tutorial on here for the best settings for uploading to Youtube (HD 1280 X 720). When I uploaded it, it looked great and fixed all the "blinds" problems, but then the sharpening was greatly reduced and was unacceptable. This is the link to that video:

3. The following video contains just the isolated problems with the blinds and other horizontal lines. Also notice the two women's colorful dresses, and it's also in the cake and country club sign. This is done in .AVI:

3. When I render to a DVD, I use the MP4 settings and this has also caused the problems with the blind as seen in the AVI above.

4. I have tried many rendering settings inducing different blend modes and frame rates. I did try a different Youtube setting and I think the poor quality was related to resolution (360p). So although I uploaded at 1280x720, it came out at 360p. If I can get that fixed it will solve the problem.

5. In sum, the HD 1280x720 works to remove the horizontal lines, but it takes away significant sharpness.

Hi Drummerkat,

Just a comment on the video, not necessarily your issue. The video you embedded in item #2, is available as 720HD on YouTube, as I viewed it and appears to be sharp. Have you selected the YouTube 'setting' icon (the wheel cog) to change from 360 to 720, that's works for me. Although at 720 HD you may not like how the blinds look.

I uploaded in 720p but I didn't realize it took Youtube longer to post it as such. At first it posted only 360 but i checked it later and it was 720, and yes it looked much better.

Most of the time when I post to YouTube, the resolution I post is available immediately, however, YouTube does some strange things, including of course resprocessing your video where often the color is changed.

There are two major things you have said straight away that concern me. Both of these things I have never taught anyone to do here.

When I burn to DVD, I use the MP4 setting with variable bit rates.

DVDs do not use .mp4 format. .mp4 is meant for places like YouTube.
The correct format for rendering video to DVD is MPEG-2 only!
If you render to .mp4 and then import into DVD Architect, DVDA is going to re-render all your videos into MPEG-2 before the DVD is burnt. Re-rendering video files is a sure way to introduce artefacts.

When I upload a trailer to Youtube, I have always used AVI with no problems until now.

I will assume you are using Movie Studio Platinum, since this forum and website only talks about Sony Vegas and Movie Studio.
Rendering to .avi in Movie Studio will produce an un-compressed video file that will be HUGE!
You should never be render to .avi for a final video - this is wrong.
.avi Video for Windows is an intermediate format that is meant to be used ONLY for editing.
You should be using Mainconcept AVC/ACC .mp4 - Internet 1080p or 720p for YouTube videos.

I don't know which version of Movie Studio Platinum you are using, but I have tutorials showing how to render video for all versions from 10 to 13.
Here is the newest tutorial for how to render video for YouTube:
www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-movie-studio-platinum/516-1080p-video-in-movie-studio-platinum-13

It is really important that you Match your Media settings (as shown in all my tutorials), otherwise you will end up with Frame Rate issues.
I suspect this is at the heart of all your problems.

When I right-clicked your YouTube video and checked the Stats for Nerds, it shows that you have actually rendered to 30 fps. Which means Movie Studio is having to insert 6 extra "fake frames" every second of video. This is what is creating the awful artefacts. If you render to the exact same frame rate, the video should look perfect.

Just a guess here. If you have been using the Upload to YouTube feature in Movie Studio, this is actually re-rendering all your projects to default .mp4 settings and un-doing any previous renders you may have done. I have always advised anyone to never use this app. If you have not been using this app, just ignore this comment.

For everyday video, I think it is better to use a Standard Frame Rate of 29.97 fps in USA or 25 fps in PAL countries.
Higher frame rates are better suited for video that contains more fast moving scenes.
There is nothing wrong with using 24 fps, which is more the "film look", however you are going to notice a lot more "motion blur" using a lower frame rate.

Ok I misspoke. On DVDs, I use mpeg-2, not MP4. I got the extensions messed up when typing but I've been using mpeg-2 for a long time thanks to the tutorial on here at Zen.
For my Youtube, in the past I was using AVI out of ignorance. It worked but yes the files were gigantic. Maybe the initial problem with the window blinds was a blessing in disguise?....since it looked so bad I figured there was a problem with the rendering and that is what lead up to me trying to find new ways to render other than AVI. That again led me here and that's how I leaned about the "Internet 1280x720" rendering. That is so much better. No more AVIs for me. It clears up the horizontal lines a lot better too.
Thank each of you for your help and I'm sorry for causing more confusion by not typing the correct extensions. You guys and Zen are awesome. Here comes a donation.

So remember to Match Your Media settings when you import the first video - you only have to do it once.

Instructions are shown here:
www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-movie-studio-platinum/516-1080p-video-in-movie-studio-platinum-13
This will set Movie Studio to 24 fps or 23.976 fps.

Then when it is time to render, you MUST manually set the Frame Rate to 24 (23.976)fps, by going into Advanced/Custom Settings.
The default template uses 29.97fps, which is no good for your video - it must be changed to match the original video.

Obviously select 720p template if that's what you want to use instead of 1080p.

As a follow up, I am successfully uploading to Youtube using the HDV 1280-720 render template. I am able to add this onto my client's DVD as the wedding trailer. Also on the DVD is the rendered DVD Architect NTSC full length video. I have found better quality in the HDV render. The HDV takes care of the horizontal blinds issues as well. Is there any reason I cannot use the HDV render for the full length video and ignore the NTSC renders?