STV and CVF mpeg2 SmartRender bug in VS9

[DoodLS]

The Save Trimmed Video and Create Video File mpeg2 SmartRender bug in VideoStudio 9

Nature of the problem:
When using mpeg2-clips as input VS9 always adds two extra frames to the output whenever Mark-in has been changed and SmartRender was active.

In the mpeg2 output the two extra frames will appear to be placed at random within the first few seconds of the resulting clip. The frames often contain large pixels and appear to be redundant.

Does anyone know if Ulead will ever fix this problem?
Does anyone have a solution for trimming mpeg2's with VS9 with SmartRender active?
Or is the answer still... use Xxxxx 3rd party software for mpeg2 editing.


The bug appears to be there no matter what the properties of the source mpeg2 are. I have tried different bitrates, field orders, audio streams etc. but nothing changes. I am in PAL region so I don't know if NTSC clips will have the bug.

Invoking the bug:
1. Start New Project
2. Add one mpeg2 file to the Storyboard View.
3. Trim the left 'Trim Handle' to anything but 00:00:00.00
4. Set the 'Video duration' to something easy, e.g. 00:00:10.00
5. Select 'Save Trimmed Video' from Clip menu.
6. Drag the newly created video-clip from Library to the Storyboard.
7. Note how the timestamp is .02 larger than you source material.
8. Drag the Jog Slider a few frames to the right and enjoy the large macropixel errors. Lovely.

The bug is the same if you go through the Create Video File and I-got-to-get-those-properties-right-trouble.


Reading back in this Forum the bug has been known for almost a year now as The frame redundancy bug @ Fri May 06, 2005
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=3525
however that thread deals more with OOS and gives no clear solution.


I upgraded from DMF3se (supplied with my Hauppauge PVR) based on the sales material on the Ulead site, stating that VS9 would offer more accurate editing facilities - but not mentioning that I would be unable to SmartRender it back to disk.

Powerful Video Editing Made Easy

... but be prepared to degrade your mpeg2s and waste hours doing it!

Best regards,
DoodLS

[jchunter]

Dood,
I have about a dozen smart rendered STV'd Mpeg2 clips that I made with VS9 last year. I checked about half using VirtualDub frame by frame at the beginning and do NOT see any macroblocking or any distortion within the first 20 frames. I am in NTSC land.

I also made a new STV clip, setting the mark-in at 0.12, mark-out at 5.01 and the resulting clip showed perfect frames from start to finish. The time code starts at 0:0 and last frame is 4.18. Length: 139 frames - perfect.

My properties are:
NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 16:9
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

This may be a PAL-only problem....

BTW, I have seen macroblocked frames from time to time but did not correlate them with the first GOP at the time. Was able to clear up most by redoing with smart render off.

I also had terrible problems with VS8-created projects which had SERIOUS defects when I created video files from the projects using VS9. The solution was to turn off Smart Render. Never had problems with VS9-created projects.

Maddrummer - you reported a problem like this last year, didn't you?

[DoodLS]

JC,

Thank you for being the (only) one to answer. Finally had some spare time to check this out.

I succeeded in creating a NTSC file with exactly the above props. When I set the mark-in at 0.12 and mark-out at 5.01 the 'Video duration' shows 0:00:04.20. And when I STV the clip and drags it back in, the clip is 0:00:04.22 showing macropixels at 0:00:00.03 and 0:00:00.04.
So NTSC changes nothing!

Maybe I am missing an update?
I have updated with UVS9Full_Patch1_5in1.exe (REL20050812) and EU05-0506-01_UVS9F_PVR150.exe (REL20050613).
Does anyone know which files are relevant relating to STV?

I have been looking at the version number for the file properties:

some of the files in ...Common Data\Ulead Systems\Mpeg:
MPEGIN.DLL 308 KB v1.1.1.118
mpg_dlg.dll 308 KB v1.1.0.34
mpgcheck.dll 64 KB v1.1.0.20
MPGVOUT.dll 13 KB v1.2.9.23
mpgvparse.dll 88 KB 1.1.1.14

some of the files in ...Common Data\Ulead Systems\DVD:
LdvdEng.dll 600 KB v3.9.12.168
LdvdRec.dll 772 KB v2.4.10.181
ULCDRDrv.dll 232 KB v3.6.19.281

Any help is appreciated as I am currently in doubt whether my bought Ulead is of any use for me at all!

Happy Easter everyone,
DoodLS