mpg codec

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:27 am

When I make an mpg video in VS12 to project in church using Easy Worship software, the video plays fine in the preview window, but will not display through the projector. All I get is a black screen as the video is playing.

I don't know much about codecs, only that they are necessary.
Is it possible that the Ulead mpeg codec does not support secondary outputs?
This is what has been suggested as a possible cause.

If so, is there another codec I could install that would overcome the problem in VS12?

Computer specs:
Dell XPS1330
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Business
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7700 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4gb RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Sound card: 2- SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

Post by **Ron P.** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:45 am

VS is not a media player, but a non-linear video editing program. When you're previewing your project the program is putting it all together on-the-fly, unless you have High-Quality Preview enabled.

Create a video file, (Share>Create Video File), NTSC (or PAL if you're in the UK, Australia or other places that utilize that), DVD. This produces an MPEG-2 video file. Windows Media Player will recognize and play it. There are other media players that can play MPEG-2 video files produced by VS, such as VLC Player, and Media Player Classic.

I do realize that VS does have the capability of using Dual-Head Media, or playback through a camcorder. For dual-head media you should have a video card that supports using more than one monitor.

Roadgiant · Post by **Roadgiant** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:14 pm

When I make an mpg video in VS12 to project in church using Easy Worship software, the video plays fine in the preview window, but will not display through the projector.

Are you using a laptop/PC connected to a projector to play the Video, if so will a normal DVD play through the projector or does the same happen?

The first time I tried to play a DVD from a laptop through a projector I had a similar problem and it turned out that I had to change a display setting on the laptop. If it's the same thing (neither your video file or a normal DVD will not play) post the reply and I'll dig my laptop out and look at which setting I had to change.
RG

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:30 pm

vidoman wrote:VS is not a media player, but a non-linear video editing program. When you're previewing your project the program is putting it all together on-the-fly, unless you have High-Quality Preview enabled.

Ron,
Obviously I didn't explain myself clearly enough.

First I share/create an mpg in VS12 on my laptop.
Then I play the mpg video on a desktop computer in the church, using "Easy Worship" software.

This software has a 'Preview' window and also a 'Live' section where the video is sent to the projector. It plays as expected in the preview window, but when sent 'Live' it does not project to the screen.

It's been suggested that perhaps the 'Ulead mpeg codec' that made the mpg video in VS12 may not support secondary outputs. I am hoping to find out whether that is the case and if so, whether there is another mpeg codec that I can install that does support secondary outputs.

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:34 pm

Are you using a laptop/PC connected to a projector to play the Video, if so will a normal DVD play through the projector or does the same happen

RG,
Please see the above reply to Ron as to the workflow.
DVD's do play in Windows Media Player and they project properly. I need to test a DVD made with VS12 to see what happens.

I am making a number of tests this weeks and will report back then.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:09 pm

As far as I am aware, the mpeg-2 codec used by VS is an absolutely stock-standard MainConcept one which is also used by a number of other video editing program, and will basically output to anything...

I have to confess, though, that I am not really sure what you mean by 'secondary output'...

Ormond Williams · Post by **Ormond Williams** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:30 pm

Ken Berry wrote:As far as I am aware, the mpeg-2 codec used by VS is an absolutely stock-standard MainConcept one which is also used by a number of other video editing program, and will basically output to anything...

I have to confess, though, that I am not really sure what you mean by 'secondary output'...

Output to a second monitor or projector through the secondary output on the video card.

RickinSav'h · Post by **RickinSav'h** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:42 pm

Not using Easy Worship at our church, still on Powerpoint. I have played with Easy Worship & plan on going that way when the finances are right. Its a great piece of software!
When I want to play a video through PowerPoint I have found that I have the best results when I use a video that has been converted to MPEG 1 or uncompressed AVI.
Much more often than not when I attempt to play anything other then these 2 file types, it will play fine in the media player, it will play fine in the slideshow as long as the show is being played on the main monitor. But when I attempt to play on a secondary monitor (projector) I'll get sound only with only black being projected. Very frustrating.

I know that MPEG 1 is not as good a quality as MPEG 2 but I have found that it is a fine choice for our projector which has a resolution of only 800 x 600.

I took a quick look at 3 of the videos that came with the trial version of Easy Worship that I have. They are all MPEG 1.

Select Custom under Create Video File, then options, then select the Compression tab. Under Media type select MPEG 1, slide the quality to 100%, lower the video data rate to something less than 4000 kbps. These setting work every time for me.

As always try it out before Sunday service if at all possible.
May God bless your efforts.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sun May 10, 2009 11:31 pm

FWIW, I recently had to do a PowerPoint presentation that also included a video. The only format I could get to work was a WMV video.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:33 am

I don't know anything about Easy Worship, but that's where you need to start. When it comes to formats & CODECs, the first question is, "What format(s) does the player use?" Easy Worship may be configured incorrectly, or maybe you're feeding it a format that it can't handle.

Video Studio offers plenty of formats, and there should be one that Easy Worship can use!

First I share/create an mpg in VS12 on my laptop.
Then I play the mpg video on a desktop computer in the church, using "Easy Worship" software.

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2? MPEG-2 may require an additional CODEC (see below) But you can see it in preview, so I don't think that's the problem.

You might try WMV, since it's the "Microsoft standard", and should play on any Windows computer (as long as Windows Media Player is installed).

This software has a 'Preview' window and also a 'Live' section where the video is sent to the projector. It plays as expected in the preview window, but when sent 'Live' it does not project to the screen.

It's been suggested that perhaps the 'Ulead mpeg codec' that made the mpg video in VS12 may not support secondary outputs.

Weird!!! If the CODEC/format works in preview, it should work with the main output too! The CODECs job is just to encode (compress) and decode (decompress) the file. Obviously, it's getting decompressed OK, since you can see it in preview. Once it's decoded, it's up to the application and operating system (and driver, etc.) to display it. The CODEC doesn't "know" what the application is doing with the data.

I wonder if it's the projector or it's driver... Maybe the projector can't handle the particular resolution or framerate... The video driver normally takes care of any required conversion, but I suppose that's a possibility.... You can check that by playing the same file with Windows Media Player (or other player software). If you run into the same problem of the video showing-up on the monitor, but not on the projector screen, then it could be a limitation of the projector/driver and you need to investigate its format requirements.

We know that the projector can display a standard resolution DVD, so it should be able to play a DVD compatible MPEG-2 file. (720x480 at 29.97 FPS, if you live in the USA.)

Do you have any video files that do work with Easy Worship? If so, try using that format. I assume that you can project still images? RickinSav'h mentioned that Easy Worship came with some sample videos. If these don't work it's pointing to a problem with the projector/driver.

I found this on the Easy Worship website:

Compatible Formats
Video: MPG1, MPG2, AVI, DV, WMF, WMV
Still: JPG
Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggested Codecs
K-Lite codec pack is recommended for playing FLVs, H.264/Mp4 video format and many MOVs
DScaler and PowerDVD SE codecs are recommended for playing Mpg2 files and DVDs

RickinSav'h · Post by **RickinSav'h** » Thu May 14, 2009 5:44 pm

Doug,
I agree 100% with everything you state in your response above, in theory. It has been my experience however that Windows based systems often behave in a peculiar way when it comes to playing video files via a secondary monitor or projector. I'll have a video that plays fine in MS media player, I've even taken that MS media player & dragged it to the secondary monitor & had it play fine. But when certain video files are kicked off with another program, IE; Powerpoint, Easy Worship, SongShow, Media Shout, etc. it will more often than not behave peculiar. As I mentioned above, I've gotten the audio of a video to play with no picture, I've had the picture show up on the primary screen when all settings are pointing to the secondary screen. I've had systems lock-up, etc. The thing that consistently works for me is MPEG 1 & uncompressed AVI. I have no idea why these things have happened, I have had problems on several PC's / projector combinations. I've replaced video cards, upgraded RAM, updated video drivers & operating systems, installed codec packs, etc.

There may very well be something wrong with the one thing that has been consistent with all of the PC's, videos, projectors, etc that I've tried to work with. That one thing would be me!
For me, the work around of of rendering / re-rendering the videos in one of these 2 formats results in success. It's just too easy to go ahead & do / redo the rendering. I hope one day to figure out how to tighten up the loose nut behind the wheel of my PC, but in the mean time...