VideoStudio Pro x3

[Ken Berry]

My major complaint with X3 is not to do with the editing module, but with the supplied authoring/burning module, which is simply none other than Corel Digital Studio 2010. The burning module of that suite is -- at least to a number of us -- quite slow to load and react. Its interface is rather obscure -- so I hope they provide adequate documentation for its "hidden" controls... From my own point of view, it simply does not seem to refer to HDV as an acceptable format at all -- though admittedly seems to handle AVCHD well, and allow -- after one of the somewhat obscure processes I mentioned above -- production of an AVCHD folder, as well as a standard Blu-Ray folder.

[dhnj]

Yes it was officially released today, 1/26/2010. There are some functions and features that have been requested for some time implemented in this version. Ken, Steve, Jeff, Graham, and I were among the beta-testers for this version. We made sure that Corel was aware of the problems we were finding.

Some long-overdue functions include:

• Copy/Paste Attributes, this now will actually copy and paste all attributes including any filters applied.
• Copy/Paste Clips in Timeline. No more having to drag a clip to the library to copy it, then drag it back down to the timeline. Now just right-click, select copy, and move to where you want to paste it, and drop it.
• Replace Clip with... This will allow you to right-click on a clip, select the option to Replace Clip, navigate to the clip or image you want, and replace it. If you want to replace an image with a video, so be it, and vice-versa.
• The addition of more New Blue Effects and Filters. The main one of interest will be the Essentials III, PiP effect. This is a very powerful tool, as it is being used in lieu of moving/motion paths. Yes we hammered them about the lack of moving paths, but again they failed to include it. Instead they opted for the New Blue Filter.
• Title Effects/Filters.. Now you have not only the animations for your titles, but you can also add video style filters to them. Now let your imagination flow when creating titles. Not 3D but you can create some pretty neat titles with it.
• The AVCHD blip issue has been fixed.

That's just a brief highlight of what's new with VS Pro X3.

I am testing the VSPX3 on a PC shown below & the problems found so far.
Platform
Intel Quad Q6600
ATI Radeon HD3879
2 GB Memory
Windows XP SP3
Problems found.
1.VSPX3 not stable, as it crashes from time to time.
2.Editing AVCHD *.TS files not frame accurate.
3.Pixalation at edit points.
4.Create Video File outputs a *.TS input as *.MPG
5.Create Disc re-encodes the input *.MPG & doubles the *.M2TS output file size.
6. The main stream(00000.m2ts) in AVCHD BDMV STREAM structure is corrupt
due to pixalation.
7. Authoring a 3 minute video took more than 10 minutes with VSPX3.
8. Authoring with other tool just took 41 seconds!

[philip_l]

Hi

I've been trying 3 and so far:

1) A crash just rendering to DV video 2 clips on the timeline with a crossfade! Second attempt worked.

2) Using SmartRender and a crossfade still get a noticeable judder coming out of the transition. Edit: I changed the Preference settings to remove the PAL colour filter and set Compression to Best and no now judder coming out of a crossfade, fingers crossed it now works.

3) Can't see anyway to confirm if additional hardware acceleration is actually enabled and in operation.

Regards

Phil

[boxy]

I just 'got back' from the webinar and X3 does have some nice new features. I am very glad they are giving recent X2 purchasers a nice discount on the X3 upgrade considering I just bought it a week ago.

[philip_l]

Hi

I just 'got back' Smile from the webinar and X3 does have some nice new features. I am very glad they are giving recent X2 purchasers a nice discount on the X3 upgrade considering I just bought it a week ago.

Well not seen any new features yet! Can't see anything is any quicker and had another crash just scrubbing the timeline. What is the reduced price for X2 users? To be honest it is criminal they are charging X2 users to upgrade for a bunch of bug fixes, and a bunch of newer bugs that will only get fixed in X4, which we'll have to buy again.

Other problems, SmartRender still isn't working right on AVCHD files. If you SmartRender out then try and use that file to create DVD MPEG the resulting video has all sorts of glitches around the transitions. So don't use the SmartRendered file as a master for any other distribution formats is my advice as it isn't 'clean'.

Also some transitions such as 3D ones or swipes (even a crossfade to some degree) introduce lots of blocking during the transition when SmartRender is used from AVCHD, I think this is because it isn't spending enough time producing and compressing the transition despite all the hype about using the GPU etc, which you would hope gives better results in the same or lesser time. So converting to an easier to edit codec with a higher bitrate then rendering out normally will produce better looking transitions.

Also what have they done with the DVD MPEG encoding? Converting to a DVD file from the timeline the quality is terrible. I've managed to get the "Advanced" button to appear for extra options and set to the best settings I can but I don't think these have an effect any more, the quality isn't brilliant and worse than x2. Perhaps in order to use CUDA and the GPU the encoder engine is a simpler affair, so while quicker, doesn't do such a good job.

All in all very disappointed and Corel are not getting anymore cash from me for this version.

Regards

Phil

[philip_l]

Hi

The blips!

I don't think they have fixed the blips at all.

If you turn of hardware decoding on a SmartRendered AVCHD, as the transition finishes there is a horrible pause and an oddly coloured frame, turn on hardware decoding and it is flawless. This is when played back in VideoStudio full screen. Windows Media player seems okay regardless of those settings.

It is more like the newer hardware decoder can cope with stitching together the rough edit that SmartRender creates, but the software decoder (hardware decoder disabled) can't or is just the old codec with the same problem.

This may mean a SmartRendered file if transferred to a DVD/Blu-ray disk for playback on a player may have blips, i.e. it depends on how good the player is, and the AVCHD SmartRendered file is no good for being a master for anything.

Regards

Phil

[boxy]

Why even bother with smart render? When my project is complete, I create the video file WITHOUT Smart Render overnight while I'm sleeping. I wake up the next morning and it's done.

Now, to be fair, I am not using AVCHD, although I have burned HD on a standard DVD disc using the AVCHD and played it on a blu-ray player without a problem.

[oz4me]

Since version 11 using Vista I have NOT been able to insert chapters. Ok I learnt to live with that maybe it is something peculiar to my hardware. I downloaded the "trial" version of X3 (now 660 meg grown from 170 odd) and all seems fine UNtil I come to create a disc in DVD format and that seems to be it NO ISO format available what a backward step or is it well hidden in the very slow performing WinDVD2010
John

[Roberto]

Which NewBlueFX effects are included in VS X3 ?
And do this version still include the NewBlueFX transitions included in previous VS X2 ?

[johnrule]

1.VSPX3 not stable, as it crashes from time to time.
2.Editing AVCHD *.TS files not frame accurate.
3.Pixalation at edit points.
4.Create Video File outputs a *.TS input as *.MPG
5.Create Disc re-encodes the input *.MPG & doubles the *.M2TS output file size.
6. The main stream(00000.m2ts) in AVCHD BDMV STREAM structure is corrupt
due to pixalation.
7. Authoring a 3 minute video took more than 10 minutes with VSPX3.
8. Authoring with other tool just took 41 seconds!

Hmmm...doesn't look too good. What was your "other tool" if you don't mind my asking?

JR

[sjj1805]

There are some videos available prepared by Corel.
www.vimeo.com/8982456

[dalemccl]

This post is long and is only about AVCHD, so unless you have an interest in how X3 handles AVCHD you may want skip reading it.

Tonight I tried the trial version of VS X3 with some Sony AVCHD video clips. The following observations are based on just one short 4 clip project with no edits other than placing Fade-to-Black transitions between the clips. With this limited amount testing, the following observations may not be entirely valid, but so far here is what I have found. (I was looking specifically for correction of problems I have had with AVCHD in X2.)

AVCHD Transition Blips Gone!
The transitions blips do indeed seem to be gone, as reported by one of the mods who was a beta tester. Yea!

Can't Create an AVCHD Hybrid disc without a menu
When choosing "Create Disc/AVCHD" from the Share menu, X3 brings up DVD Factory 2010 instead of the disc burning dialog used in X2. I usually do not want a disc menu. I have found no way to tell DVD Factory that I do not want a menu. In the X2 burning dialog there is a check box you could un-check if you do not want a menu. In DVD factory it looks like you have to use a menu. Maybe I am just missing something.

Like X2, X3 generated AVCHD files have a reduced bit rate compared to the original clips.
In X2 I always found that if I created an AVCHD file ("Share/Create Video File/AVCHD") from AVCHD clips, the bit rate of the resulting .m2ts video file was significantly lower than the original clips (Original clips: 15,000 - 17,000 bps; generated AVCHD file: 9,000 to 12,000 bps). In A/B comparison there was a very noticeable degrading of video quality. This reduction in the bit rate occurred even though I always set the bit rate to 18,000 and the quality slider to 100% in the Create Video File/AVCHD options dialog.

In X3 the same issue is present but it doesn't reduce the bit rate of the generated AVCHD file as drastically. It drops it to the 13,000 - 15,000 range instead of the 9.000 to 12,000 range. That's better, but it's still not retaining the original bit rate of 15,000 to 17,000. And unlike X2, the AVCHD file creation dialog in X3 does not even allow for setting the bit rate and the quality level, as far as I can tell. The tab in the "Create Video File/AVCHD" dialog that is used for adjusting these settings is present in X2 but absent in X3.

I have not yet done an A/B comparison yet to see if X3's less drastic reduction in bit rate results in a noticeable reduction in video quality.

In X2," Burn Disc/AVCHD" does preserve the bit rate. In X3 it doesn't
Although X2 reduces the bit rate when creating AVCHD files, I always found that if I chose "Create Disc/AVCHD" instead of "Create Video File/AVCHD" from the "Share" menu to create a disc directly from the project time line, and set the settings for 100% quality and 18,000 bit rate, the AVCHD .m2ts file written to the hybrid DVD recordable disc had a bit rate nearly identical to the original clips. And in A/B comparison there was no loss of quality. Why X2 could do this when creating a disc but not when creating a file is a mystery to me.

But in X3, when you burn an AVCHD hybrid disc directly from the time line, the resulting .m2ts files on the disc are reduced in bit rate to the same 13,000 to 15,000 range as in the X3 Create Video File route.

So... unlike X2 where you can preserve the original bit rate by always using "Create Disc/AVCHD" and skipping the intermediate file, there is no apparent way in X3 to avoid the reduction in bit rate. (Note that you can adjust the bit rate and quality settings in the DVD Factory 2010 Burn Disc dialog even though you can't in the X3 Create Video File/AVCHD dialog. But despite these settings, it still reduces the bit rate on the burned disc.)

I suspect that using SmartRender when creating an AVCHD file may preserve the higher bit rate of the original clips in those areas of the time line where it can do a SmartRender. But as soon as you make an edit that requires re-rendering, such as adjusting the colors or brightness of a clip, the re-rendered portion would have the lower bit rate.

Further Comments
The new X3 features look good, but the reduced bit rate problem, and to a lessor extent, the apparent required use of a disc menu are disappointing. I'll keep experimenting to see if I am just missing some settings somewhere. And perhaps other AVCHD users will find solutions to the problems I listed.

With the known problems with AVCHD in X2, I trust that Corel made sure they had a good selection of AVCHD users among the X3 beta testers, who would have detected and reported significant problems. But maybe the problems I listed above aren't significant to most users.

[philip_l]

Hi

The transitions blips do indeed seem to be gone, as reported by one of the mods who was a beta tester. Yea!

My findings were the blips were still there coming out of a transition just hidden by the decoder better.

If you try a simple crossfade transition then smart render that out, then reimport that clip to the time line and then use the Create File and create a DVD output then watch that, how is the crossfade?

If you turn off the hardware decoder in VideoStudio (Settings - Preferences) under one of the tabs, then watch the smart rendered AVCHD file in VideoStudio full screen what do you see when it leaves the transition, I see a noticeable blip, like 2 or 3 frames have frozen.

Regards

Phil

[boxy]

Here's an unrelated to AVCHD question:

Can I have two different versions of VS on the same computer? Suppose I install X3 WITHOUT uninstalling X2. Is that possible? Then I can edit on X3 and create a disc using X2, for example.

[Roberto]

Here's an unrelated to AVCHD question:

Can I have two different versions of VS on the same computer? Suppose I install X3 WITHOUT uninstalling X2. Is that possible? Then I can edit on X3 and create a disc using X2, for example.

Slightly similar question: how can I install the X3 trial version without destroying the currently installed X2 configuration on my PC ?
If I decide to not buy the X3, how can I revert to teh original X2... ?

Then, let me ask again my other previous 2 questions:

1. which NewBlueFx filters are included ?
2. are the NewBlueFx transitions included in X2 still included in X3 ?