New user / six minute documentary completed, but ...

[leebowman]

I have a few instances of dropped frames! First tho, let me fill in the details.

Hardware: HP Pavilion M7467, D940 pent 3.2 g dual core, 2048 ram, 300 hd
Software: XP Media Ctr, SP2, w/ VideoStudio 8.00.0100 SE DVD
Video source: Olympus SP320 ("Motion-JPEG format", 640x480, 15 or 30 fps)

Forgot what I recorded at, but looks like 640x480 and displaying at 15 fps during edit, edit mode set to NTSC 29.97 MPEG 24 bit, 720x480, DVD-NTSC, lower frame first, quality setting 70, data rate constant 6000.

Filetype from camera .mov, and output filetype will be MPEG from VS. I have 18 clips totaling ~ 6 minutes with cross fade transitions. When I play them (Instant p/b or HQ), I have a few dropped frames, either 2 or 4 frames together.

Incrementing with the 'NEXT' key, it moves at 30 fps, but each pair are the same (actual 15 fps). I have 2 dropped frames at 8:09 & :10 (mid pt 1st clip), then I have 2 washed out appearing frames during a transition at 24:07 & :08, then 2 more instances of 2 blank frames, one instance of 4 blank frames, and 1 final instance of 2 blanks at less than sequence mid point. The rest of the sequence is OK.

I was wondering why dropped frames, since it's just a copy operation from the camera memory chip. The drops are not in the original clips.

Also, if there's no way to avoid a few white flashes, is there a way within this program to edit them out? Or a downloadable utility to do the same?

I admit I have a lot to learn, but happy that the technology is where it's at today. I plan on updating my camera and software soon, but need to get this short documentary done for a friend that needs it ASAP! (no, it's not porn ... )

At this point I'm on the learning end, but have done some work in stage lighting and sound, and some studio audio recording. I guess you could say I'm angled in the direction of camera work as well as pre and post production, since when I go to a flick, I focus heavily on camera angles, framing, lighting, as well as scene editing, continuity, sound rendering, etc.

Even at age 66 I plan on working up to some commercial efforts regarding the 'origins' question, so wish me luck, and thanx in advance for any tips.

This looks like a great forum, and I'll be sure to contribute when able.

Lee Bowman
http://westlabmultimedia.com/

[Black Lab]

First of all, your camera recorded at 15 fps, and your project properties are set for 29.97 fps. So you are making the softeware double the amount of frames. Either you have to record at 29.97 fps or you are going to have to edit at 15 fps.

I think you would benefit reading this thread:
From Camcorder to DVD

[nmehta]

Also look at some of these video capture video tutorials

http://www.takeoneflix.com/digital-vide ... data-rate/
http://www.takeoneflix.com/ulead-videos ... are-setup/
http://www.takeoneflix.com/ulead-videos ... re-basics/


Enjoy.

Edit by sjj1805 - Web Board Administrator 26 Feb 2009.
When this post was created the video tutorials mentioned were all free.
That has now changed and members are advised that they have to be purchased. I must point out that these links are only provided for the purpose of convenience to our members. Neither Corel, the Forum Management or myself endorse any of the products listed and I/We have no associations with the vendors of any software listed below. I/We do not guarantee the quality of any of these products or their compatibility with the Corel products they are designed to work with. I/We will not enter into any negotiations between Members and the Company providing these tutorials.

[tommytucker]

Much appreciated!

[leebowman]

Black Lab said, "First of all, your camera recorded at 15 fps, and your project properties are set for 29.97 fps."

My bad, but I can't rerecord it so I'm stuck with 15 fps, a little jerky, but OK for this use.

In the program, it defaults to 'NTSC DVD', which is 29.97 fps. There are other choices (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, NTSC VCD...), but none at 15 fps.

Next time, I will record at 30 ips. For now, I need a way to delete the dropped frames (" Was that lightning I just saw?... ") to make it more presentable. Can VS 8.0 SE perform that, or does anyone know of a downloadable utility that will.

Thanks for your suggestions Jeff & Neel!

[Ron P.]

Are you wanting to burn your video to DVD? If so AND your stand-alone DVD player can play DivX then you can create your video files as *.avi.

1. In the Share Step, Select Create Video File
2. From the menu, choose Custom (at the very bottom)
3. In the Save As Dialog, choose AVI.
4. Click the Options button.
5. Then in the compression tab select the DivX codec.
6. Go back to the General Tab (middle one), and in the options for Data Rate choose 15.

In above Step 5, you can also see if you have the MJPEG Compressor, or Lead MCMP/MJPEG codec (VFW). If so, select it. These will also allow a 15fps frame rate, and setting your frame size (640 x480). Some codecs do not allow altering the frame rate or frame size. Play around with these settings in the Compression and General tabs to find one that will work for you.

NOTE:
You can not create a DVD using a frame size of 640 x 480, or with the MJPEG compressor. These are primarily used when the video is going to viewed using a PC.

A quick way to see what frame rates and frame sizes are allowed in the DVD specs, is to select MPEG from the Save As, press the Options button, go to the Compression Tab, and select either NTSC DVD. Then go back to the General Tab, and in the Frame Rate drop down, look at all the possibilities. There's one- 29.97. Now look at the Frame Size options, there are 4 total, 720 x 480, 704 x 480, 352 x 480, and 352 x 240.

I need a way to delete the dropped frames

How can you delete something that is not there? Dropped frames, means frames that were not captured, that were missed during the process. What you need to do, is be able to capture with 0, zero dropped frames. Since this is apparently being transfered from a Digital still camera, try just copying the video files to your hard drive first. Then using the Insert Video to bring them into VS.

You might want to read through From Camcorder to DVD tutorial.

To better understand Field Orders, and Frame Based, please read the following article:
Explanation of Field Orders

You can find several excellent Video Tutorials HERE

For a brief summary of AVI and MPEG-2 please read the article at this link:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 9130#69130

There's some great reading to help you better understand the video editing process.

[leebowman]

Thanks, Ron, for all the stuff to try. It's been a few weeks since I downloaded the clips from the still camera Xd memory chip (Olympus SP320) . I saved the to the hard drive as .mov files. I couldn't open them, so I installed Quick time and viewed them. I then installed an old copy of VS 8, and loaded them into a new .VSP file. I didn't set or change any parameters within the program.

"How can you delete something that is not there? Dropped frames, means frames that were not captured, that were missed during the process."

What would you call frames that became blank (white) during rendering, or blank frames that were added during the rendering process?

When I play the clips with Quick Time or VS, there are no white flashes (what I had erroneously called 'dropped frames'). But after I sequence them with transitions, and render and view them by clicking on 'project' (either instant or high quality playback), I have several places where there is a white flash, and when look at frame by frame I see them as blank (white) images. It's those that I want to delete. They do not exist in the original clips, and are thus (apparently) generated by VS.

I'm going to do what I failed to do originally; run test clips at 30 fps (the camera allows 15 or 30 fps), and try rendering them with various program options, taking notes. I'll also read up on the available info referenced.

Since I have an older 'SE' version, should I upgrade? Could the version I'm using be some of the problem noted in rendering, or does it just go with the territory (still camera 640x480 @15 to 720x480 @29.97)?

Thanks again.

[leebowman]

I solved the problem of the periodic 'white frames', which I had termed dropped frames, and these noted when the .VSP file rendered the various clips. As I had stated, the clips looked OK, i.e. no blank frames, but when 15 fps is rendered at 19.97, it apparently happens occasionally.

I figured out how to use 'multi-trim', pretty basic and very useful, and I split the rendered clips on either side of the white frames (most instances were 2 consecutive white frames, with one place consisting of 4), eliminating the central bad ones. I then left the two separated clips w/o a transition between them, and re transitioned them to the clips on either side. I did this wherever the white frames were, and thus eliminated the lightning flashes.

After adding a few captions, and a music track and voice track, I saved the files in several places, and am quite happy with the result! Although the 8.2 MP still camera gave clear 640x480 images, I'll know next time to use manual focus, as it 'hunted' occasionally (~.5 sec off/on focus).

The .mpg file for the 5:30 vid was 308 Mb and clear and noise free, while the .wmv file was 8.7 meg but of poor (highly compressed) quality. I burned several of the .mpg's to DVD, and am very happy with the results. I noted a few anomalies with the recording of the sound clips. For one, if you adjust the level on one clip it seemed to affect all the other sound clips as well (on both sound tracks). Also, clicking on 'solo' in one place made all clips on that track solo as well. (I have 8.0 SE)

Even tho I'm not getting much sleep these days, I'm definitely hooked!

Cheers