HuffYUV

marioarguello · Post by **marioarguello** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:29 am

Does anybody know why Videostudio can import HuffYUV video from VirtualDub, and play it in preview, but then it crashes when trying to render edited video?

I can capture and edit HuffYUV video within Videostudio.

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:27 am

HuffYUV is a pretty old compressor with serious limitations; not being optimized for playback is one. Another problem is that it sometimes renders oddly in todays encoders (heresy to some, but oh well). When it was developed way back by Ben Rudiac-Gould it was good but he abandoned it and it never really reached its potential.

I personally capture with an MJPeg codec set to its maximum quality setting. Since the max in many MJPeg's is simple Huffman encoding with no DC transforms just like HuffYUV you get similar, if not better, results with a fully developed and stable codec.

marioarguello · Post by **marioarguello** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:08 am

Terry Stetler wrote:HuffYUV is a pretty old compressor with serious limitations; not being optimized for playback is one. Another problem is that it sometimes renders oddly in todays encoders (heresy to some, but oh well). When it was developed way back by Ben Rudiac-Gould it was good but he abandoned it and it never really reached its potential.

I personally capture with an MJPeg codec set to its maximum quality setting. Since the max in many MJPeg's is simple Huffman encoding with no DC transforms just like HuffYUV you get similar, if not better, results with a fully developed and stable codec.

What do you select as the format: Lossless JPEG, or JPEG 4:4:4, or any of the others? I have selected Lossless JPEG

What do your select for the following boxes:
Enable Compression: I have it checked
Enable Decompression: I have it checked
Flip YUV data: I have it unselected as I don't know what it does.
Interleave: I have it set at always.

I played with the MJPEG a little bit, I had never used it until today; the quality of the capture is about as good as the HuffYUV, and when rendering to MJPEG, there is no degradation in the quality that I can perceive (the size of the rendered file is a little bit larger than the original capture).

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:56 pm

marioarguello wrote:What do you select as the format: Lossless JPEG, or JPEG 4:4:4, or any of the others? I have selected Lossless JPEG

Thats good. 4:4:4 is only good if the s/w supports it onthe timeline. Most prosumer programs don't.

What do your select for the following boxes:
Enable Compression: I have it checked
Enable Decompression: I have it checked
Flip YUV data: I have it unselected as I don't know what it does.
Interleave: I have it set at always.

YUV = the 3 channels in broadcast video (talking NTSC from here on);

Y = the luma brightness component (black & white; aka luma).
U = chroma blue (aka Cb); the blue component
V = chroma red (aka Cr); the red component

The green component is calculated from the other three. Frequently you'll see YUV expressed as YCrCb or YCbCr.

There are many versions of YUV, some of which are flipped vertically. If your videos are upside-down you check the "flip YUV" box.

Interleave = field/interlaced. If you've captured TV/tape/cable it's interlaced. Only turn this off if the source is frame based, not field/interlaced.

The rest sound good.

I played with the MJPEG a little bit, I had never used it until today; the quality of the capture is about as good as the HuffYUV, and when rendering to MJPEG, there is no degradation in the quality that I can perceive (the size of the rendered file is a little bit larger than the original capture).

Told you so

Have you tried rendering these files to DVD MPEG-2 yet?

marioarguello · Post by **marioarguello** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:06 am

Terry Stetler wrote:
marioarguello wrote:What do you select as the format: Lossless JPEG, or JPEG 4:4:4, or any of the others? I have selected Lossless JPEG
"Thats good. 4:4:4 is only good if the s/w supports it onthe timeline. Most prosumer programs don't. "

In a perfect world, which one is the best, 4:4:4 or Lossless?

"Interleave = field/interlaced. If you've captured TV/tape/cable it's interlaced. Only turn this off if the source is frame based, not field/interlaced. "

What about VHS, VS thinks it is upper-field first.

Have you tried rendering these files to DVD MPEG-2 yet?

I have, and if I remember correctly there is a loss going from MJPEG to MPEG2, but it is small.

marioarguello · Post by **marioarguello** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:24 am

I started playing with the settings of the Lead MJPEG compressor codec:
1) First, it stopped letting me configure it.
2) Then it decided to crash when trying to capture using it.
3) Now it dissapeared.

How do I get VS to find it?

The other MJPEG codec is still there.

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:30 am

I'm not a b ig fan of LEAD fot that reason; flaky in some setups. Give the trial of Morgan a go. It's stable and fast.

marioarguello · Post by **marioarguello** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:09 am

Terry Stetler wrote:I'm not a b ig fan of LEAD fot that reason; flaky in some setups. Give the trial of Morgan a go. It's stable and fast.

Flaky? You bet, it's back in the capture options, and working, but not in the Share/Video options.

So you use the other MJPEG compressor? How do you configure it? It doesn't let me configure it.