X3 & Editing 1080/50p Video

[jmone]

I upgraded to X3 and it will happily load 1920 x 1080 @ 50p x264/AVC files from a Pan HDC-HS700 just fine (and reports the details correctly but as PAL HDMV). As I play these back in native form on my HTPC (and they look stunning) I just want to EDIT them, then smart render them out in the same format.

This is where I seem to come unstuck, as if I choose "Create Video FIle --> Same as First Video Clip", X3 wants to pump it out as PAL, MPEG 720 x 576 @25fps! I can also not find or create a template that matches the specs of the format.

So
1) Can X3 handle 1920 x 1080 @ 50p x264/AVC out of the box
2) Is there a "tweak" like old versions where you can expose additional CODEC settings to handle 1920 x 1080 @ 50p x264/AVC
3) ....if not what alternative software does work with 1920 x 1080 @ 50p x264/AVC (as Pana's bundled HD Writer is very limited)

Thanks
Nathan

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Nathan

I have tried this option and it used the original video files properties as ok

From Share Create Video Same as First Video
MPEG files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 25 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-PAL), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 16800 kbps)
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 3/2(L,C,R,SL,SR)

Have you tried Make Movie Templates Manager Add function to create a template.

Have you installed all patches/updates for Video Studio

Have you manually updated Direct X, a post relating this at the top of this forum

Please update your profile to include your pc specification.

[jmone]

Hi Trevor,
1) Downloaded and installed lastest patches from Corel
2) Latest version of DirectX is already installed
3) Updated Profile Info
4) I've tried the Template mgr but unable to create one that matches the following profile (as reported by X3 based on the Clip I have imported - see attached pic)
5) If I select "Create Video FIle --> Same as First Video Clip", X3 outpus a PAL, MPEG 720 x 576 @25fps file NOT the specs as per the Video clip.

Thanks
Nathan

[jmone]

FYI - Media Info reports the full specs as follows

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Nathan

Direct X

Although your pc may have all auto updates and the current version of Direct X.

Manually installing Direct X has cured some strange happenings with Video Studio.
I can only urge you to give it a try.

I usually use the DirectX Redist (June 2010) optiomn at 95.6 Mb
This process includes downloading, extracting the files then installing extracted files by running the file DXSETUP.exe

To be honest I don’t know what other suggestions to make, I have not heard of this problem before, maybe others on the forum and running Windows 7 will give some input.

[Ken Berry]

Have you tried this way of making a template: open Make Movie Template Manager. Click on the Add button down at the bottom. In the dialogue box which appears, in the first one (File Path), browse to where you have one of your original video clips stored and select it. Then give the template a name you will remember in the second window in the dialogue box. Then click OK and Close to get out of the Manager. Next time you choose Share > Create Video Clip, your new template should appear at the bottom of the list and have all the properties you are after. Note, however, that you cannot later edit that new template, otherwise it will revert to the SD DVD default.

As a footnote to DirectX updating, it is not included in the Windows automatic updates. So unless you have manually installed the June update from the Microsoft website, you will not have the latest version. That update works on DirectX 9.0c, 10 and 11 (from XP, Vista and Win 7 respectively). Though your version number will not change, your DirectX 11 will nonetheless have had certain elements updated.

[jmone]

FYI - I did the Direct X download, run it and was told I had the latest version alredy installed - To double check, I used the DL from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... 6652cd92a3 .

Thanks for the idea Ken, unfortunaly the resulting "Make Movie Template" that is created is like my other efforts and I get the following:
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 576, 25fps
Frame-Based
(DVD-PAL), 4:3
Video data rate: 2000 kbps
LPCM Audio, 48000 Hz, Stereo

[Ken Berry]

That is very strange! You are quite literally the first person I have given that procedure to who has not had success. And I have just tested it again, on three different types of HD video, and it certainly works at this end. I have used it principally for people -- including myself -- who want 5.1 Dolby audio in either their AVCHD or HDV video (with HDV *never* having it available). And it has always worked.

When you browsed to one of your clips and selected it, then gave it a name, and clicked OK, to take you back to the first dialogue box (with the Add button on it), what properties showed in the bottom window of that box?

But I must confess I do not have any video with the specific '50p' property that yours apparently has. Could you please send me a very small sample of that video -- only a couple of seconds, to make sure it is under my ISP limit of 10 MB for attachements. Or else can you refer me to a website which might have a sample with those exact properties. And I will see what is what on my set-up.

[jmone]

Hi Ken, The properties shown in the box are the ones I quoted above. I've made a small 6MB clip - Can you plesae let me know your e-mail address (via PM?)
Thanks
Nathan

[Ken Berry]

I have now looked a little more closely at your camcorder, and discovered that the 28 mbps and 50p aspects do not conform to the international AVCHD standard (such as it is) for which X3 was written. So while I would still like to receive a small sample to test out here, I rather doubt that X3 will be able to produce video with your properties if the method I suggested does not in fact work.

Others have raised the same problem in other forums (found in a Google search). The only apparent solution I have found so far is a program called VoltaicHD which can apparently edit video from your specific camera. See http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd -- note that while it emphasises the conversion aspects of the program, it also claims to be able to edit without conversion.

However, I think your problem might be how you display your edited video. Playback on computer, or computer or camera networked with your HDTV, might be OK. But I suspect that if you want to author the video into, say Blu-Ray disc format -- or AVCHD hybrid format -- you will probably have difficulty at this stage in finding a program which can accept it (apart probably for Panasonic's otherwise very limited HD Writer program)...

This appears to be another example of camera companies -- and Panasonic in particular -- bringing out their own variations on the AVCHD format. Putting an optimistic spin on it, this means that they are leaders in the field. But more pessimistically, it means that software companies like Corel are left scrambling to catch up... not to mention the users!!

[jmone]

Hi Ken, Let me know your e-mail and I'll send the clip.

There good thing about standards are there is always something! Anyway these files DO conform to the H264/AVC spec (it is a level 4.2 compliant file) but as it is not a common profile then compatibility will be patchy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels) hence my Qs on X3. To reaffirm, X3 will import this file format and report it correctly....just not save it out (from what I can see).

Thanks
Nathan

[Ken Berry]

For my email, click on the little envelope icon down under my profile details.

[erdna]

Hope Ken gets yr footage soon, but in the mean time, just this: I did quite some tests with X3 and 1080p50 when I got my Pana TM700 several months ago. First to know is that AVCHD or Blu-ray do not support 1080p50 (only max 1280x720p is supported). And indeed X3 accepts and renders (not in smart render mode) 1080p50, as H264 AVC, but the resulting file, being a perfect copy of the original in term of spacial resolution, looses half of the temporal resolution because the new file is a 1080i50 video, with this particuliarity that X3 uses only one of every two frames and generates out of the same one frame the two fields. Net results is that you get a FsP 25p mode with a halved shutter time. So resolution is OK but there is a risk for some judder with fast motion. If you want to keep the temporal resolution you wil have to convert in camera (though loosing the 50p also !) Also the HD writer can not output edited 50p files. The only NLE that is explicitely mentioning that it can output 50p edits is EDIUS 6
For veriyfying all this in X3 just create m2t files >options>1920x1080, 25fps (if you select 50fps you automatically get 1280x720p),UFF, compression 100, h264 video, 20000kb/s.

[jmone]

For my email, click on the little envelope icon down under my profile details.

Only prob is there is I don't see any Little Envelope e-mail icon - just the PM one (or I could be blind)!

[jmone]

FYI - the basic Pana HD Writer app saves edied files in the same 1080/50p format just fine and in it you can:
- Join Clips
- Split Clips
- Add Titles
- Add Transitions

Unfortunatly that is all it does but you can get a single M2TS file at the end of it without transcoidng to a "lesser" format.

I understand the limits and supported formats of physical distibution media and I'm comfortable with those. I always keep all my footage in the original format (eg DV, HDV, and now 1080/50p) as the PC is a great veiwing platform. I only transcode during the disc (DVD or Blu) if a relative etc wants a copy.

I'll have a look at Edius 6

Thanks
Nathan