Corel VideoStudio 11 AVCHD "Double-Image Flutter" Issue

[Jerry Jones]

Most of us using AVCHD camcorders have noticed that when we transcode our AVCHD .M2T files to HD MPEG-2, we see double-image "flutter" on the edges of subjects in motion.

Some have speculated that VideoStudio 11 Plus might be reading these files incorrectly as "frame-based" and -- as a consequence -- the render to HD MPEG-2 fails to retain fields properly.

AVCHD -- we suspect -- should be "upper field first."

Perhaps this is a flaw somewhere... either in Ulead's implementation of the MainConcept SDK or perhaps it's a MainConcept flaw.

MainConcept's Web site features an interesting comment at the bottom of this page: http://www.mainconcept.com/site/index.php?id=780

When there is video footage with field-based frames (bottom field first) - such as DV material - there are two ways of encoding it:

A) Field encoding: bottom field first
B) Whole frame

The first way generates a data stream which contains field-based frames. They include the field order: lower field, upper field, lower field etc. That means, frames will be created from both fields in the above mentioned order. The second way generates progressive frames, which don't include field information. So, whole frames will always be created, and the frames will be whole.

I wonder if the latter method is being used in Ulead software.

?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Similar problems described by other users:

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=23034

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=23062

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

AVCHD's native dominance is Upper/Top and MainConcepts standalone H.264 encoder defaults to that. How video is treated by default is in the prefs.

[Hulk]

I realize this isn't the right place to grip about this but I can't resist. Now we're in HD-land and we're still struggling with fields? It's really ridiculous!

Jerry - Are you sure the artifact isn't a halo produced by encoding? Similar to those seen with JPEG photos encoded at too high a compression ratio?

[Jerry Jones]

Welcome back, Doc.

Well, I've done some more experimenting with Pinnacle's Studio 11 Plus Ultimate software.

Some good news:

1. Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus can co-exist on one's computer with the Ulead software; no obvious conflicts.

2. The Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus software seems surprisingly stable (not a single crash), in spite of the frequent complaints one has seen in the past about the products from this firm.

Some comparisons:

1. AVCHD to HD MPEG-2 in Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus.

What I do is go into the PREFERENCES and I set Upper Field First as the "default" field order. Then I click SHARE > CREATE VIDEO FILE. Then I choose the custom option. The custom option let's you choose "MPEG-2" to access the high definition parameters. They are limited in VideoStudio 11 Plus. You can choose a 1440 x 1080 frame size with a maximum bitrate of 18000. Or you can choose the 1920 x 1080 frame size and with a maximum bitrate of 25000. I choose Upper Field First. In addition, the software constrains you to use MPEG audio, which I set at 256. The result looks okay. But I guess I expected a little better on subject edges in motion. You see this typical MPEG-2 interlace artifacting... sort of a "ghosting" effect... similar to what you see on standard definition MPEG-2 DVDs. I thought high definition would eliminate this, but I guess I was wrong.

2. AVCHD to HD MPEG-2 in Pinnacle Studio Plus 11 Ultimate.

Same process. The Pinnacle software does not report "field" information at all. It is all adjusted automatically in the background. The software instantly reads the field information in your source file and adjusts its project settings automatically. In addition, your bitrates in this software are not constrained as they are in the Ulead software. So you can create very high bitrate HD MPEG-2. Previewing in the Pinnacle software doesn't seem to be quite as good as in the Ulead software, in my opinion. I won't go into all of the details why I believe this is true. But one thing the Pinnacle software does is use the "J" and "K" and "L" keys for previewing, which is what pro software utilizes. But the way one can scrub and preview using Ulead's "arrow forward/backward" keys seems better in ways that I won't detail here. Still, the Pinnacle software does directly import .M2TS files captured by the Sony "Picture Motion Browser" software while Ulead can't. The Pinnacle software can also use its own "IMPORT FROM DVD" capture plug-in. Ulead must use its own "IMPORT FROM DVD" plug-in to grab AVCHD files from camcorders.

Pinnacle, however, is promising an update that is said to allow for native AVCHD editing and output and burning high definition AVCHD content to standard DVD media.

So that should be interesting to test.

Anyway, I've compared the HD MPEG-2 output from the Pinnacle software to the Ulead software's HD MPEG-2 output and I'm seeing the same interlacing artifacts on subjects in motion.

So I'm reluctantly beginning to conclude that consumer high definition isn't "all that."

And it's possible that what many see as a "bug" is simply a limitation of today's HD MPEG-2 encoding.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Yep.

Here's the camcorder I really want:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=116556&catGroupId=15768&surfModel=AJ-HPX3000G

With AVC-Intra's near D-5 HD quality, the HPX3000G camcorder produces full raster high definition images for high-end applications such as episodic television, film-making and commercial production. The camcorder offers superb DVCPRO HD 1080 recordings in 24p, 30p, and 60i, in international standards 25p and 50i, as well as 4:2:2 sampled SD recordings using DVCPRO50. The camcorder's AVC-Intra compression offers two switchable modes -- 100Mbps mode for near D-5 HD quality, and 50Mbps for shooting in situations where superior HD quality is required but bandwidth efficiency is a key consideration.

Now that's a camcorder.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

I realize this isn't the right place to grip about this but I can't resist. Now we're in HD-land and we're still struggling with fields?