I just picked up a sanyo digital camcorder which uses the mp4 format on a sdhc card. I am very impressed with the video quality and the amount of video captured on a 4GB card. Using Video studio 11 I converted the mp4 to mp2 and also to DVD. Both conversions came out great. Now here is the problem If I convert the mp4 to an AVI format with another program ( winAVI) and then input that clip as an AVI into Video Studio I see it in the preview screen and on the timeline but it will not move nor can I edit that clip. Video Studio just freezes up. I cant even "X" out of the program. I must use Contrl-alt-del to closed down VS-11. Anyone have any input why this is happening.
Thanks for a reply
bilc
mp4 to avi format
Moderator: Ken Berry
mp4 to AVI format
Devil
Here is info on AVI video clip
Name: sany007B-AVi
Format: AVI Windows Audio Video Interleaved
Size: 12.20MB
Video Codec: xviD mpeg 4 codec
wigth-height; 640x480
Frame rate; 29.97
Audio Codec; mpeg layer 3
Format; 44100hz stereo 16bit
bilc
Here is info on AVI video clip
Name: sany007B-AVi
Format: AVI Windows Audio Video Interleaved
Size: 12.20MB
Video Codec: xviD mpeg 4 codec
wigth-height; 640x480
Frame rate; 29.97
Audio Codec; mpeg layer 3
Format; 44100hz stereo 16bit
bilc
Well, I guess your problem is because it is XviD, which is a highly compressed format designed for distributing video, not for editing. This compression is shown by the size of 12.2 Mb. If you had used, e.g., DV-AVI, a file that size would have been about 3 seconds of video! I presume, yours was longer.
When you have such highly compressed files, with long GoP sequences, the computer has tons of work to do reconstituting each image. Unfortunately, your computer is not exactly a Ferrari, by today's standards, more a 2CV!
It could therefore take a very long time to interpret just a few frames. Are you sure that it has "frozen" or is it just too damn busy working? If you leave it a few hours, it may "unfreeze"!
If possible, if you want to edit, it would be better to convert to a format with just I frames, such as DV, HuffYUV etc.
When you have such highly compressed files, with long GoP sequences, the computer has tons of work to do reconstituting each image. Unfortunately, your computer is not exactly a Ferrari, by today's standards, more a 2CV!
It could therefore take a very long time to interpret just a few frames. Are you sure that it has "frozen" or is it just too damn busy working? If you leave it a few hours, it may "unfreeze"!If possible, if you want to edit, it would be better to convert to a format with just I frames, such as DV, HuffYUV etc.
[b][i][color=red]Devil[/color][/i][/b]
[size=84]P4 Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz/Elite NVidia NF650iSLIT-A/2 Gb dual channel FSB 1333 MHz/Gainward NVidia 7300/2 x 80 Gb, 1 x 300 Gb, 1 x 200 Gb/DVCAM DRV-1000P drive/ Pan NV-DX1&-DX100/MSP8/WS2/PI11/C3D etc.[/size]
[size=84]P4 Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz/Elite NVidia NF650iSLIT-A/2 Gb dual channel FSB 1333 MHz/Gainward NVidia 7300/2 x 80 Gb, 1 x 300 Gb, 1 x 200 Gb/DVCAM DRV-1000P drive/ Pan NV-DX1&-DX100/MSP8/WS2/PI11/C3D etc.[/size]
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Ken Berry
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This rather begs the question of exactly which 'avi' format you are converting the XVid to with winAVI... As you may be aware, there are dozens of video formats out there, wildly different in properties, which all use '.avi' as their extension. XVid is just one of them. So can you please right click on one of the converted files within VS and copy all its properties here.
Can you also outline why you adopted that workflow of converting the XVid to another .avi format, instead of just using the original conversion to mpeg-2.
If you are intending to burn DVDs of your video, but are not intending wide distribution of them, then you may not be aware that if you have a DVD player which supports DivX playback, you could always simply burn your XVid to DVD as a data file, and the player will detect its format and play it back. DivX (the proprietary version of open source XVid) has even produced a program called DivXAuthor 1.5 which allows you to author a DivX in much the same way as you would an mpeg-2 -- though the menus will only display on a much more restricted range of stand-alone players.
EDIT: Sorry -- on re-reading the above posts, I have just realised that the AVI properties you give above *are* in fact the format you have used WinAVI to convert to. I assume therefore that your Xacti uses .mp4 as the captured video extension. Fine. But again I wonder why you chose that workflow. And the rest of my comments still apply.
One other question, though, is what frame size the Xacti .mp4's use i.e. whether it is the same as the XVid (640 x 480 which is *not* standard DVD compatible) or some other size...
Can you also outline why you adopted that workflow of converting the XVid to another .avi format, instead of just using the original conversion to mpeg-2.
If you are intending to burn DVDs of your video, but are not intending wide distribution of them, then you may not be aware that if you have a DVD player which supports DivX playback, you could always simply burn your XVid to DVD as a data file, and the player will detect its format and play it back. DivX (the proprietary version of open source XVid) has even produced a program called DivXAuthor 1.5 which allows you to author a DivX in much the same way as you would an mpeg-2 -- though the menus will only display on a much more restricted range of stand-alone players.
EDIT: Sorry -- on re-reading the above posts, I have just realised that the AVI properties you give above *are* in fact the format you have used WinAVI to convert to. I assume therefore that your Xacti uses .mp4 as the captured video extension. Fine. But again I wonder why you chose that workflow. And the rest of my comments still apply.
One other question, though, is what frame size the Xacti .mp4's use i.e. whether it is the same as the XVid (640 x 480 which is *not* standard DVD compatible) or some other size...
Ken Berry
mp4 to avi format
Ken... Thank you very much for your detailed input. To answer some questions :
(1) The Xacti camcorder does use mp4 as a capture format and in my opinion does a very good job. I have no complaints about the format nor the video quality.
(2) I wanted the smallest and lightest camcorder to carry with me and the 4GB sdhc card provides me 2 hrs and 45 minutes of video. The only problem is battery time that is maxed at 70 minutes so a second battery is needed..
(3) When I upload from camcorder to computer using Ulead Movie factory ( supplied software) I burn directly to DVD and also make a copy of mp4 to disc ( archive) I then convert the mp4 to avi and copy that to my external
hard drive ( archive) This copy is used as a reference to each clip since it provides me with a thumbnail and summary of the clip. This is very important to me.
(4) As far as I know there are only three formats that provide thumbnails there are: mpeg1, wav and avi
(5) If I need to edit the clips I use the mp4 format in VS-11 and render it to mpeg2. Avi will not work seems it freezes up.
I hope this explains my madness, unless of course you could enlighten me in a better or simpler way to complete the process.
Bill
(1) The Xacti camcorder does use mp4 as a capture format and in my opinion does a very good job. I have no complaints about the format nor the video quality.
(2) I wanted the smallest and lightest camcorder to carry with me and the 4GB sdhc card provides me 2 hrs and 45 minutes of video. The only problem is battery time that is maxed at 70 minutes so a second battery is needed..
(3) When I upload from camcorder to computer using Ulead Movie factory ( supplied software) I burn directly to DVD and also make a copy of mp4 to disc ( archive) I then convert the mp4 to avi and copy that to my external
hard drive ( archive) This copy is used as a reference to each clip since it provides me with a thumbnail and summary of the clip. This is very important to me.
(4) As far as I know there are only three formats that provide thumbnails there are: mpeg1, wav and avi
(5) If I need to edit the clips I use the mp4 format in VS-11 and render it to mpeg2. Avi will not work seems it freezes up.
I hope this explains my madness, unless of course you could enlighten me in a better or simpler way to complete the process.
Bill