Does transcoding an MPEG-2 video to MPEG-4 or H.264 result in a loss of quality? If so then is there a way to prevent that loss of quality?
Hi James.
Yes and no, are the short answers.
There are a lot of threads about this subject that come up on a regular basis.
Please have a look at them.
There will always be some degradation as the files always have to be re-encoded on export, even to the same file format on occasion. It will not matter which sofware you chose or which file format is used.
Sorry to be so blunt, but this is a question that just won't go away despite the numerous threads on the subject.
Hi James.
Yes and no, are the short answers.
There are a lot of threads about this subject that come up on a regular basis.
Please have a look at them.
There will always be some degradation as the files always have to be re-encoded on export, even to the same file format on occasion. It will not matter which sofware you chose or which file format is used.
Sorry to be so blunt, but this is a question that just won't go away despite the numerous threads on the subject.
Hello,
I read a post where you mention that the Target Quality mode is to do with transcoding? How does this work?
Hi
As @CubeAce has said there have been plenty of topics on this subject and the advice that is universally given is do not touch the advanced settings.
. . . . . Target Quality mode is to do with transcoding? How does this work? . . . . .
More information on the settings etc are to be found in the installed PDF manual available under Help, however please be aware that changing many of the the advanced settings, you are likely make things worse rather than better. Without the proper analytical tools you are relying on perceived improvements to the image rather than actual, which are dependant on the viewing device ie what you see others may not.
One adjustment you can make that will improve perceived quality is to add a little overall sharpening to the movie before export - Effects, Movie Effects settings, Sharpening tab.
I set the sharpness value to 30 for Full HD 1920 x 1080 and UHD (4K) 3840 x 2160 and a little less 20 - 25 for HD 1280 x 720
HTH
John EB
Hi
As @CubeAce has said there have been plenty of topics on this subject and the advice that is universally given is do not touch the advanced settings.
. . . . . Target Quality mode is to do with transcoding? How does this work? . . . . .
More information on the settings etc are to be found in the installed PDF manual available under Help, however please be aware that changing many of the the advanced settings, you are likely make things worse rather than better. Without the proper analytical tools you are relying on perceived improvements to the image rather than actual, which are dependant on the viewing device ie what you see others may not.
One adjustment you can make that will improve perceived quality is to add a little overall sharpening to the movie before export - Effects, Movie Effects settings, Sharpening tab.
I set the sharpness value to 30 for Full HD 1920 x 1080 and UHD (4K) 3840 x 2160 and a little less 20 - 25 for HD 1280 x 720
HTH
John EB
How about for 720x576 SD?
When you say about adding some overall sharpness, is the only way to do that by going through the timeline and manually selecting every video object to apply the same amount of sharpness to?
Hi
. . . . How about for 720x576 SD? . . . .
The problem with SD is that there are not enough pixels to get an effective increase in perceived sharpness. I would start with a value of about 20 to start with, export a short range and see what it looks like, if no change increase the value by 5 and repeat the export, repeating until you get to where the sharpening becomes obvious and then step back 5 or 10 units..
Over sharpening is quite obvious you may see strange effects at the object edges in the video and a possible colour shift in very fine objects eg tree leaves etc.
. . . . . adding some overall sharpness, is the only way to do that by going through the timeline and manually selecting every video object to apply the same amount of sharpness to? . . . .
No - the option is as I gave you, and is a global setting. From from the menu bar select Effects, Movie Effects settings, Sharpening tab
HTH
John EB