Poor capture quality with Premiere Pro but NOT Vegas

[dogman]

I started by using Premiere Elements to work with a non-HD video from my HV20. The captured video quality was poor (picture dark, lots of artifacts and generally unacceptable). I downloaded the Premier Pro CS3 trial software (thinking the Pro version would be superior) and had similarly poor results. During the capture, the preview looks fine, but once I add the clip to the time line, playback is awful (both versions). Even after rendering and exporting, quality does not improve. Frustrated, I download the trial of Vegas, and without any adjustments, the video capture, plays back perfectly. I get the quality I was expecting.

I cannot figure out why there is a night/day difference between the two programs (PP - Vegas). Any suggestions on how to "adjust" PP to get it to function "properly"? I have to believe this is some type of configuration issue and not just PP limitations. Thanks.

[Lunchbox]

dogman, welcome to the forum.

The capture process makes no difference in the picture/video quality. The quality is determined at the time you shoot the vidoe, not at the time your capture nor which capture program you use. Also, render and exporting only degrades output further more. It won't enhance the quality of image.

[dogman]

I understand the capture process is really a transfer process. I cannot explain why I get such radically different results between the two applications and more specifically, how to get PP to look more like Vegas's final quality. I am not doing anything fancy. Just move a portion of the video from the camera, and then export it as a Quicktime file as an example.

If this was related to the video quality, shouldn't I see similar results between the two programs? Wherever I have found a setting to control the quality in the two programs, I have tried to make the two applications identical. The Vegas final output looks like the playback on the camera, the camera output to a TV (quality I expecting). The same clip in PP looks awful. I am not referring to subtle differences in quality. I won't use the PP material. Thanks.

[veg]

How are you setting up your project properties in both Apps?
Premiere Pro is used extensively throughout the World without your problems so it might just be something that you're not setting correctly.
veg.

[dogman]

How are you setting up your project properties in both Apps?
Premiere Pro is used extensively throughout the World without your problems so it might just be something that you're not setting correctly.
veg.

Exactly! I just can't figure out which setting to adjust. As far as my setup, I simply did the "default" software install for both programs. Went to the "capture" options and hit record. Nothing fancy, nothing extra. Thanks.

[CycleWriter]

If this was related to the video quality, shouldn't I see similar results between the two programs?

Not necessarily. Preview windows within editing programs are not designed to represent the finished product. Some aren't even representative enough to be accurate for things like color grading or FX. In the case of Vegas, what you see in the preview window is fully dependent on processor speed (Vegas does not benefit from GPU acceleration) and monitor calibration. Not sure about Premiere, but comparing them is an apples to oranges scenario. Until you see your final output on a TV monitor either via DVD or by record to tape, you have only a rough approximation of it via the preview window of any editing program.

[Lunchbox]

can you post screen shots?

[dogman]

can you post screen shots?

I'll try to prepare a quick sample for tomorrow.

[Ian-T]

What up Dog? Are you just viewing it inside Premiere once captured? If so maybe the settings in Premiere needs to be adjusted. Try viewing both the Vegas and Premiere captured footage in a third party program (like Windows Media Player) to see if there really is a difference.

[veg]

"I won't use the PP material. Thanks."
Sounds like a Sony Rep to me Ian.
..a rare and very endangered species!
veg.

[Ian-T]

"I won't use the PP material. Thanks."
Sounds like a Sony Rep to me Ian.
..a rare and very endangered species!
veg.

Lol...maybe good ol' Thundy is back....

[dogman]

"I won't use the PP material. Thanks."
Sounds like a Sony Rep to me Ian.
..a rare and very endangered species!
veg.

Actually, I started this process with mindset that I wanted to use PP just to keep everything in the CS3 world (that's where most of my other work is done). I tried Vegas (trial) as a test to confirm if my original video was lousy, or if I had a system problem. I won't make up my mind on the better app (for me) until I resolve the PP issue.