Frustration with the Moire effect

I know this topic has been addressed a number of times here, but I am still having trouble getting rid of the Moire effect when panning or zooming still pictures. I can see it happening when I do either SD or HD video, but it's far more pronounced in SD.

I have followed the advice from this forum and resized my pictures to about 2x the size (1440x960 for SD). However, in many cases I STILL get some flicker happening (although it is usually lessened). Now, I have tried resizing all the way down to exactly 720x480 and yes, the Moire effect is greatly diminished and sometimes almost eliminated...BUT, any zooming causes the picture quality to suffer (which seems to defeat the whole purpose of taking high quality photos).

So, if I don't resize to 720x480 I get a pronounced Moire effect, and if I do resize then I lose image quality during a zoom.

Is it not possible to have it both ways? I remember reading a response from one of the moderators who said he was able to get pristine quality every time...how?

Thanks John,

I did try both your suggestions. With the "Reduce Interlace Flicker" I couldn't really tell any difference. But the Gaussian blur did make the flickering much less noticeable.

However, it also caused the clarity and sharpness of the picture to be sacrificed. Which is worse: Moire effect or fuzzy picture?

I'm now starting to wonder if perhaps I'm being too picky. Maybe there is an acceptable amount of Moire effect? I know I have seen it in professional video before...what is your opinion on that subject?

I have used jpeg and png. However, usually I first edit the photos in Photoshop, so I just drop the Photoshop project files onto the timeline and Vegas uses them just fine.

I haven't been able to detect any difference in quality between the different file types, honestly.

[john bolton] "I assume you are using Progessive settings for these pictures"

That's a good point. I do all of my photo montages as progressive so interlacing is usually not an issue. If I'm delivering on DVD, I'll use a project setting of NTSC DV 24p Widescreen (720x480, 23.976 fps) and render to MainConcept MPEG2 with the DVD Architect 24p NTSC Widescreen video stream template. This has the added advantage of rendering quicker because it only produces 24fps instead of 30.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

Yes I always do progressive, as well, though I use 29.97 fps so the pans and zooms will be a bit smoother.

But as to the previous question, is there an acceptable amount of Moire effect? I assume so since I have seen it in professional video. Maybe I'm just being too picky; I do tend to be somewhat of a perfectionist. What is your opinion, J.F.?