Solved Still Image Resolution

Hi Derek,

One other question please. In one of my Holiday projects I imported all iPhone6 vide clips and some iPnon6 still images. I used the Match Project Properties and selected one of the iPhone6 .MOV video files.

After rendering the video and creating a DVD I played the disc and the resolution on all of the still images is rough and pixilated. This even happened to the Text I created that overlaps onto one still image of blank Christmas card I used to create the main title.

What is the best way to fix the issue with still image resolution? Please let me know when you get a chance.

Thanks again so much,

Hi again

A general comment first.
If you want to make discs that look as good as your original videos from the camera, you need to make Blu-ray discs which support HD 1080 and HD 720 video ! Blu-ray has been around for a long time now and for some reason which I can't understand, a large number of people are still only making DVDs which only support Standard Definition video. SD video is only 1/4 of the resolution of HD video.

Text is very difficult to look good on DVD, due to the very low resolution and an effect called aliasing.
The combination of these two effects makes a lot of text appear very pixelated.
The aliasing effect (jagged edges) is made worse by particular colour combinations, like a green background and red text.
One of the tricks to reduce jagged edges in Text on DVD, is to always add a dark Shadow Effect - also experimenting with different colour combinations will make a big difference.

If you let go of DVD and move onto Blu-ray, the problem with Text virtually disappears altogether.

The problem with your still images may be a bit different.
I would really need to see your exact Project Property settings and what resolution the still images used.
Once again, Blu-ray eliminates this problem.

Regards
Derek

Hi Derek,

You are correct, I need to make the switch to Blu-ray discs as you have suggested many times. It's and old habit and time for me to make the move. I did just install a new Blu-ray optical drive, all I need to do is buy some blank Blu-ray discs and follow your suggestions.

Attached are my Project Properties as two .jpeg files 01- & 02-. Also attached are .jpeg files showing the Properties for my Title Graphic 03-, lead-in photo 04- and project video file type 05-.

While in Sony Movie Studio 13 I used the Media Generator to create a simple title that is in Green Text on top of a Christmas Card type of .jpeg scanned graphic. But as previously mentioned when playing the DVD the Text is displayed as pixelated with the aliasing effect. And the scanned image and iPhone photos are low resolution. I have done may previous projects similar to this but do not recall these issues with the Text or the still images.

Any help is very much appreciated as always.

Thank you,

Fritz

Thanks for the screen shots

There are two settings you need to change first.
In your Project Properties - Video tab, set Full Resolution Rendering Quality = BEST.
In your Project Properties - Audio tab, set Re-sample and Stretch Quality = BEST.

Also in your Audio Project Properties, you have it set to 5.1 Surround.
I didn't think an iPhone can record in 5.1.
This should be set to Stereo, otherwise you may have problems with this audio after you render.

When using still images in a Video Project, jpeg images can look very pixelated under certain circumstances, especially if it is a Text Image.
When you scan graphics, try and save as a .png file instead - this will appear much sharper than .jpeg.

Another general tip for all your video projects, is turn OFF re-sampling.
Re-sampling adds Motion Blur to videos. By default, Sony has this turned on for all projects.
After you import your videos into the timeline, right-click the videos and go to Switches - set the Disable Re-sample.
You can select all the videos as a giant group and just do this once.

Make sure when it is time to render the project, that you use NTSC 29.97 fps frame rate, as that is what you have shown in the Project Properties.

Go and buy those Blu-ray discs and then your whole experience will change for the better :woohoo:
I recommend buying 2 or 3 types of Blu-ray discs.
Get the general purpose 25GB single layer discs, for most of your projects.
Also buy some BD-RE Blu-ray re-writable discs to do experiments with. These are good for doing test burns and can be re-used over and over again. Once you are happy with the final product, you can then re-burn the project to permanent 25GB or 50GB Blu-ray discs.