Videos ruined when trimmed?

BauhausFashion · Post by **BauhausFashion** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:36 pm

I just installed Ulead Video Studio, and at first my videofiles didn't work at all. Then I installed some xVid-codec and it all worked, except one thing. When I trim the videos in the program, they just stop working. They become one blur of purple-ish colours and then a message comes up saying the program has to shut itself down, and it does. I've tried it a million times and it's all the same. But when I start the program again, and if I trim the videos "back" (to their original shape) they work as new.

What's wrong and how can it be fixed? :S

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:40 pm

I'm not sitting where you are so I'm not really sure.

You can give more details or perhaps read the post entitles "read this before posting"

Particulary...it would be good to know where you got the video from...and what files you are working with.

BauhausFashion · Post by **BauhausFashion** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:00 pm

Clevo wrote:I'm not sitting where you are so I'm not really sure.

You can give more details or perhaps read the post entitles "read this before posting"

Particulary...it would be good to know where you got the video from...and what files you are working with.

It's AVI-files from my digital camera.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:09 pm

AVI is just a container that can hold hundreds of different formats. You mention an Xvid codec. I'm sure if you right click on a clip and look at its properties it will be an Xvid format.

Xvid is a highly compressed format that was designed for viewing, not editing. You may want to try converting it first to a more editable format. Try a program called Super.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:21 pm

Hi

And this little program may help in also identifying the Avi

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVIcodec

seems to work ok

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:56 pm

The problem with XVID is that a video does not contain all the picture in every frame. It divides the image into recognisable areas. For example, you take a shot of, say, two or three persons moving about in a street. The first frame contains the whole shot, just like an ordinary photo and the next frame ought to show the same but with the people in slightly different positions. It "mentally" labels the objects that have moved a, b and c, which identifies them. The next frame identifies the position of the same objects and so on. Each subsequent frame notes the coordinates of a, b and c and this is the data that is recorded. However, it is cleverer than that, because it does not know what is behind a, b and c until they have moved out of the way, so it has to look forward until it sees parts of the whole background and it reconstitutes a complete background, which becomes a fourth object, d. The software then makes up a series of composites showing the positions of a, b, c and d. From this forward and backward looking, the frames can be reconstituted, with complete frames recorded every couple of seconds or so.

If you cut such a sequence of frames, then each bit will not have access to either forward or backward data and the picture cannot be completed. This is why XVID (and similar highly compressed formats) are called distribution formats and are generally unsuitable for editing, especially when the compression ratio is very high (lengthy times between complete frames).

What to do? Set your software to default to, say, DV. Import your XVID file, then immediately Share, creating a DV file. Close VS, then reopen it and pull in your new DV AVI file (which will be MUCH bigger) and you will be able to edit this to your heart's content.

BauhausFashion · Post by **BauhausFashion** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:01 pm

Black Lab wrote:AVI is just a container that can hold hundreds of different formats. You mention an Xvid codec. I'm sure if you right click on a clip and look at its properties it will be an Xvid format.

Xvid is a highly compressed format that was designed for viewing, not editing. You may want to try converting it first to a more editable format. Try a program called Super.

Yes indeed, they were XVID format. I tried to convert them and it worked! Thank you very, very much!