VS X3 transition problem and compatiblity to Sony HDR-HC5

[JorgLOGAN]

Hello,

I am using the trial version of VS Pro X3.

Thats my PC:
12 inch Notebook with Vista Home Premium
Intel Pentium Dual Core T2130 with 1.86GHz
2 GB RAM
Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset with 256 MB Shared
Harddisk with about 60 GB free

I was using VS 11.5+ before, but the new functions of VS X3 are very interesting for me.
Now I have problems with it. The german corel support told me that my problems are not that kind, that they are responsible to answer and that I should ask the user boards. The german user board seems to have no answer, as my topic there is unsanswered for more than 10 days now. Thats why I now ask here for help.

I am using the Camcorder Sony HDR-HC5, which records Pal HDV. I started trying VS X3 with a Christmas Video. I imported it to the PC, before I had VS X3, through Firewire using VS 11.5+, so I got a HDV mpeg2 file.
This I started to edit with VS X3.
The first Problem is a transition problem. Between the clips I use the transition running like a clock (I do not know how it is called in english, as I use the german version). When I view my project in VS X3 (smart proxy enabled), I have a picture problem with some of the transitions, but not all. When the transition is 1/4 through (the upper right quarter shows the new clip and the others still the old one), there comes one frame, where I see the lower right quarter of the new clip and all other quarters show the old clip. On the next frame the clockwise transition goes on as it should. When I render the project (DVD Pal mpeg, 720x576 8000 kbps), the final video has not this picture problem, but another one. A few frames before the transition there is one frame that looks "teared through" horizontally and one part is located a bit more left than the other part (I hope you understand. I do not know how to explain better in english). The next frames look good again.
My second problem is that I can not import directly from the Sony HDR-HC5 to VS X3 through Firewire. I was attending a party, which I recorded with that camcorder. When I connect the camcorder in VS X3 the camcorder is recognised correctly, but when I start to import, VS X3 crashes with a error message. I try to translate the error message. It is something like "an unknown error has occurred and VS X3 was stopped. Please contact the corel technical support and send them a dump file to analyse". The Corel support did not even mention in their answer whether they looked at the dump file, just telling me that they are not responsible helping with compatiblity issues with camcorders. Then I tried to import with VS 11.5+, which is still on the same PC, but it crashes without any error message. As a workaround, I installed the software coming with the camcorder, which allows me to import m2t files, which I can then edit in VS X3. But I would appreciate importing directly into VS X3.
I am currently editing this party video. It shows the same picture problem with the transitions in the project view as the christmas video. I have not yet rendered it, so I do not know whether the "tear through" problem also occurs in the "final video".

I hope you have any ideas about my two problems. Especially the transition problem almost "kills" a good video.

Thanks for your help in advance

Kind Regards from germany

[Ken Berry]

First, why are you using SmartProxy. Your computer is more than capable of dealing with HDV video without having to use SmartProxy. HDV has been around for a long time and is far less resource-hungry than AVCHD, the other main high definition format... So first I would suggest that you try your project without using SmartProxy since it is possible that the transition problem could be associated with converting the HDV to standard definition mpeg-2...

Second, have you tried using a different transition? I know that is not an ideal solution, but since VS11, some of the transitions cause problems. Changing the transitions usually resolves this.

Third, I can't really help with the capture problem -- though I accept that more and more people seem to be reporting capture problems with X3. I personally don't have the problem with my own Canon HV-20 HDV camcorder, but I also don't use X2 or X3 much for capture. I prefer to capture my HDV using a small freeware program called HDVSplit which, as its name implies, splits the incoming video, during capture, by scene.

While I understand your desire to do everything using the one program, in fact many of us here have learned to use a variety of programs in any one program. For example, I myself use HDV Split to capture; I use Adorage or Canopus transitions sometimes; I use SonicFire Pro for my background music or edit other audio using either Audacity or Nero Wave Editor; I use Xara 3D or Bluff Titler for my titles; and Nero BurningROM to actually burn a disc... There is nothing wrong with that: different programs do different things better than others.

[JorgLOGAN]

Hi,

thanks for the fast reply.

smart proxy:
With VS 11.5+ I somehow never got smart proxy to work. Working on HDV without smart proxy was very slow on my machine. When a project is more than 10 minutes long, the preview got very jerky when it came to transitions. I would like to place the transitions very accurately (When the sound of the clip is at the correct point etc.). That was not possible with that jerky preview. Therefore I tried smart proxy on VS X3. I will try VS X3 without smart proxy, as my feeling is that VS X3 is much faster than VS 11.5+ in general.

transition: I will try another one.

capture: I will try HDVsplit. I do not really like the software that came with the camcorder. It organises the imports in a different way as I prefer. I really never thought about searching for other good software to import the video.

Thanks & Regards

[JorgLOGAN]

Hi,

I just want to share my experiences with X3, although I am too busy at the moment to really try "this and that" and the new features.

The transition problem also occurs with another transition. I only tried one other transition. Maybe next time I will find one that works. Could this also be a "mpeg2 problem"? Preview (mpeg is set in the preview properties), an mpeg2 file played on PC and on a Harddiskplayer for TV and a usual DVD played on TV show the picture problem. But the second Video, I also rendered as divX avi to share over the internet (rapidshare). That version seems not to have that problem.

For importing the Videos, I have not tried a "third party" software yet, as there was no need to import new videos.

Regarding Smartproxy, I think, I still need it. I tried without, but editing became jerky again. I should mention that on my PC a lot of background tasks are running. I use this PC for almost everthing I do. It is connected to the internet all the time, so there is antivirus and firewall running and there is printer utility software, network utility software and a lot more running. Even when the PC is "idle", approx. 1 GB RAM is used and CPU usage is around 40 %. I do not want to search and stop all "unnecessary" background processes and disconnect from the internet, everytime when I just want to go on a bit with video editing.

In 2 days my trial period is over. I have not yet finally decided whether to buy X3 or not, but the chances that I will do, are good. Subjectively X3 is faster in general performace (editing and rendering) than 11.5 Plus.

Kind Regards