Help with correct project settings when editing video

[EL Pistoffo]

What is the correct settings to use in a video project regarding frame rate? Though I use Sony Vegas Pro 12, this may apply to other editors.

My GoPro recordings are done at 1080p, 60 fps, ProTune 45mbps. When I start a new project in my editor, I set it up at 1080p, 60 fps. When finished, I will render it to 30 fps, either at 720p or 1080p, 25mbps. Should the new project match the original videos fps or the final outputs intended fps? Reason I'm asking is because my usual final 30 fps renders appear to have a slight motion blur, increasing as movements increase, reducing the videos sharpness. This "blur" is not evident in the originals. I only apply transitional fades, music track and adjust speed on some select clips in Sony Vegas Pro. Color correction and brightness/contrast is done beforehand with GoPro Studio.

---------- Post added February 3rd, 2014 at 11:06 PM ----------

I compared two renders on the same scene, one from GoPro Studio 2 the other from Sony Vegas Pro 12. There is definitely more motion blur from the Vegas Pro render.

Here are some differences (highlighted in RED) of the video properties of of each render:

GoPro Studio 2:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID : mp41
File size : 123 MiB
Duration : 36s 442ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 28.4 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-02-04 03:13:23
Tagged date : UTC 2014-02-04 03:13:23
Writing library : Apple QuickTime


Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L5.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=5
Muxing mode : Container profile=Baseline@3.0
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 36s 203ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 27.1 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 25.6 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.436
Stream size : 117 MiB (95%)
Title : Intel Video Media Handle
Language : English

Sony Vegas Pro:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 112 MiB
Duration : 36s 236ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 25.8 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-02-04 03:30:09
Tagged date : UTC 2014-02-04 03:30:09

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=15
Muxing mode : Container profile=High@4.0
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 36s 236ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 25.6 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 26.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.412
Stream size : 111 MiB (99%)
Language : English

I don't know how to get Vegas Pro to match the setting of GoPro Studio. Until I can, Vegas Pro is banned for my editing. It's degrading the quality of my video and I already made a bunch that way, not cool.

 

[matdiver]

Hi,
I'm no expert but I'll have a go at answering this, because I've found Vegas Movie Studio to be so reliable and glitch-free. I don't have a GoPro, but I generally film in 720p, at 50 Mbps (I have a hacked Pana GH2).
I'm assuming you already know how to make the project properties match the media source. When you've got your "events on the timeline", you can select them all, then right-click, go to "switches" in the drop-down menu and see if the options "smart resample", or "disable resample" or "force resample" make a difference in the final rendered product. I use "smart resample" without any problem, even with speed adjustments, however different cameras seem to produce different results. When you've finished editing, press Alt+Enter to bring up project properties and then set the project to your output, i.e. 30 fps, 720/1080p or whatever. Finally, select one of the Sony or Main Concept templates for rendering.

If playing around with the resample settings doesn't work, then I'd suggest you post on this forum:
CreativeCOW
giving them as much as detail as you can.

Good luck!
Matt

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I followed your steps which I aren't very different from mine. Smart Resample is selected. When I drag in the 1st clip, Vegas Pro prompts if I want to match settings to the imported clip. I choose yes. I made a render of a short clip using the same settings as far as I can determine, same resolution, bitrate, fps, and file type (mp4). The GoPro Studio rendered file is 20% larger than the Vegas file. Still got some motion blur in the Vegas rendered clip when there is camera movement. The GoPro render is as clean as the original. I kinda of noticed this blur a while back but ignored it till I saw too many clips from others that appeared much smoother and cleaner than mine.



If this clip you'll notice when the camera is in movement, not still, the detail and sharpness of the overall image is somewhat motion blurred. It's easier to spot if you keep your eyes locked on one spot in the clip like a sponge along the bottom for example.
Vegas Rendered clip:
[video=youtube_share;lqnPGhm7O88]http://youtu.be/lqnPGhm7O88[/video]

On this clip that level of motion blur is not present during camera movement
GoPro Studio renderd clip:
[video=youtube_share;EAusmU6H-0A]http://youtu.be/EAusmU6H-0A[/video]

I'm not trying to be picky but I am seeing an obvious issue of quality when I render with Sony Vegas. It becomes quite apparent when watch entire edits. I'll check out that forum your suggested.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Mat Diver,
I think I figured it out, you were on the right track with the resampling. I found the answer at the CreativeCOW forum. I had to disable resampling. Vegas has a tendency to think there are frame rate mismatches and subsequently resamples the video resulting in some frames being excessively blurred.

Thanks for the help.

I can now go back to editing with Sony Vegas Pro.