Pixelation in DVD Output of PRE Version 10

[us000441]

I'm a new user of PRE 10 but fairly experienced with PSE and Organizer.

I'm creating a DVD of my recent vacation blending still images and pocket video shots for display on a a Wide-screen 16:9 HD TV using a DVD/Blu-Ray player. While creating a sample project to learn and to test features, I am running into significant video quality problems when viewing the disc on my TV. There is noticeable pixelation of all still images on the video BUT video clips look OK (considering the source). Also titles applied to still images show pixelated.

My original still images are 3872x2592 pixels in JPG taken with a Nikon D200. Video was taken with a Kodak Zi8 ("FLIP" like) pocket video camera set to record 1080i.

Using PRE, PSE and organizer, I have loaded media into PRE three ways: (1) "drag and drop from Organizer to PRE project", (2) PRE's "Get Media by specific file names", and (3) using Organizer's Create Instant Movie which seems to push the image files into PRE. While there are some PRE behavior differences with the images from each media loading method, the resulting video of each is poor for all options.

I have also created edited versions of some images using PSE to CROP the images to 16:9 then resize to 1920x1080 pixels. Some files were saved as JPG and some as Photoshop's PSD format. All still images, regardless of the size, media loading method, or file format still generated visible pixelation on a 54 inch Sony Bravia HD TV. I even see pixelation on my PC's CRT when I set it to 1920x1080 resolution and play back the DVD!

To "confirm" that the pictures were otherwise good, I copied several JPG image to a USB drive, plugged that into my Sony TV, and used the TV's features for displaying pictures ... they look great (no pixelation or other issues with the images!).

So, I know my source images in JPG are good. My PSE edited images in JPG are good. Things look good in PRE preview window, etc.

But, my output (what I really want) looks marginal at best.

ALSO, since I'm mixing media, I have tried several different Presets for Projects, including HDV 1080i 30, AVCHD FUll HD 1080i 30 and others. Same poor result. Various tutorials suggest setting the preset to your intended output so I'm currently planning to use the AVCHD Full HD 1080i 30.

ANY SUGGESTIONS ON SOMETHING I MAY BE MISSING?????

[Paul LS]

Your DVD ( I assume it is widescreen) will be standard definition... so 854x480 square pixels. And this will be upscaled to 1920x1080 for viewing on your TV or 1920x1080 monitor. And your TV is 54inch so those few pixels are really being stretched!!! Your photos will be reduced when you transcode your video to the DVD format to 854x480 pixels and then rescaled to 1920x1080 for your TV. This will introduce pixelation.

The other thing is what bit rate is your DVD... if you have less than an hour on the DVD it will be the maximum 8Mb/s. Anything longer than an hour and the bit rate will be reduced introducing pixelation.

Your best bet is probably to burn to blu-ray at 1920x1080.

[Steve Grisetti]

Oh and don't use any more pictures at 3872x2592. Photo info at that resolution will only get down-rezzed anyway -- and the process of doing that can actually choke the program (in addition to slowing its performance to a crawl).

You'll actually get much cleaner results if you use photos that are closer to the video resolution, as Paul said: 1000x750 pixels for a DVD or 2000x1500 for a BluRay video.