Can not make video file over 7 mins

tony62 · Post by **tony62** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:51 pm

In the past I have only made a project less than 7 min from my m2t files imported from my Sony HD SR-7. I could successfully make a AVCHD file and AVCHD disk. My latest project is 22 mins and when I push the SHARE, MAKE VIDEO FILE, VS hangs, nothing happens, I check the TASK Manager and it says VS is not responding. After about 5 mins it starts to run again. But no drop down menu for Make file.
After experimentation I found that anything under 7 mins the Make File menu will open but over that no luck. I can make a Disk but not a File.
Maybe it¡¦s my system. Pentium 4 2.8, 1 gig of RAM.
I use proxyfiles. Maybe time to upgrade?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:04 pm

Could be. But first, have you manually gone to the Microsoft DirectX website and downloaded and installed the latest DirectX update (dated June 2008)? It is not part of the automatic Windows updates. And some recent Windows updates seem to be causing a variety of conflicts in VS which the latest DirectX update appears to fix.

tony62 · Post by **tony62** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:28 am

Thanks Ken,
That helped although it still took the CREATE FILE menu 4 mins to appear.
Time to upgrade to a better machine what do you suggest? I live in Perth, Western Australia.
Thanks

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:57 am

Your computer I would have thought is not too bad for HDV video, and the Create File menu should not take that long to appear on it if you are only dealing with HDV. It might take time if you then chose AVCHD as the output format, but even still that would be extreme... (I am assuming you are editing your HDV and then converting that to an AVCHD via SmartProxy before burning those to an AVCHD [hybrid?] disc...)

While everyone has their own preferred workflow, FWIW my own preference in producing AVCHD discs -- admittedly on my Quad which can handle AVCHD more or less OK in its native form -- is to edit my HDV (from a Canon HV20), but then jump straight to the burning module. The project file then gets inserted in the burning module automatically. I do this because it makes it easy to change the properties of the AVCHD being output on the disc. But it occurs to me that it might be a way of expediting things for people whose computers are not up to editing or playing AVCHD.

And in that regard, even with SmartProxy, your computer is admittedly just under the minimum specifications. However, if it is one of the later P4 2.8 GHz processors that had hyperthreading, it is right on the cusp. Generally, though, Corel says that the minimum computer that can handle SmartProxy properly is a P4 3.0 GHz with HT. But when you are dealing with AVCHD, it is probably too under-powered. My old P4 3.0 GHz with HT could barely edit AVCHD, and when I produced an edited file in that format, it had stuttering playback. I thought the editing had failed, but when I played the file on my Core 2 Duo laptop, it played perfectly smoothly.

If you are indeed producing AVCHD hybrid discs to play back on a Blu-Ray player rated to play such hybrid discs (which the Sony PlayStation 3 can do), then there are alternatives which would obviate the need to upgrade the computer. If you have a PS3, for instance, it will be able to play back your HDV after editing if you change the .m2t extension to .mpg. You can play it back either by copying the file to a folder labelled VIDEO (in upper case) on a sufficiently large USB stick drive, an external hard drive formatted in FAT32 or burned as a data file to a DVD.

The FAT32 requirement, though, means that you are limited to files which are 4 GB in size or less for the external drive or USB stick option (since USB sticks, as far as I am aware, are always formatted with FAT 32). HDV in its native quality using a bitrate of 25 Mbps, means that the maximum size of a file would be a little over 20 minutes. So obviously the much more compressed AVCHD format has its attractions here if your videos are longer than 20 minutes.

But if you happen to have a PS3, you can connect it via LAN cable to your main computer (or via wireless if you have a wireless PS3), and stream the video to it using, say, Windows Media Player or Nero MediaHome as the media server which the PS3 can see. Then you connect the PS3 via its HDMI connection to a HDTV and, hey presto! You don't have to worry about AVCHD discs again!

tony62 · Post by **tony62** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:51 am

Ken,
Thanks for all that valuable infomation. Yes I do have a PS3 with wireless so I will try networking it as you do.
Now I have got the Create File Menu working, I can write an AVCH file. The system does that OK.
Many thanks again
Tony

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:13 am

Well that's good. Hopefully, the wireless connection will be as easy to set up as the LAN connection was... One thing I should have added: if using Windows Media Player as the media server, you have to at least start it up before the PS3 can see it. After that, while the computer remains booted, it seems that you can quit out of WMP but the PS3 retains contact with it.

I had more trouble getting the PS3 to see Nero MediaHome, but that was a firewall question at my main computer end. Nero also requires you to do an active scan of your media folders, and keep those updated as you make more video files, whereas I think WMP updates itself automatically.

Curiously, with the main WMP page open on screen, when I started up Nero MediaHome, I noticed that WMP added a link to it. And the PS3 then automatically picked up both as servers, without my having to adjust my firewall as I was doing before!

But it is a perfect way of viewing your edited high definition videos without having to go the AVCHD disc route. But if you do produce such discs, as I have, the other advantage of using VS11.5+ (or MF6+) is that it allows you to create menus for the hybrid disc, which add a nice professional touch. Not all editing software which allows burning of hybrid discs allows the creation of menus, apparently...