Samsung MP4 Won't Play in Clip Mode

[iQue]

Hi All,

...Haven't posted in here for quite some time. I'm a long time user of Videostudio Pro all the way back to Media Studio Pro 6. I very much appreciate the many intelligent and helpful answers posted in here over the years.

I recently purchased VideoStudio Pro X3. I am working with HD video from a Samsung HMX-H200. The MP4 files were moved to my computer directly from the SDHC card. The format of the files is 1080i. I believe the camera records at 60 fps, but in VSP it is reported as 29.97.

The problem is as follows... I can load a clip on the timeline and play it in project mode, but if I try to play it in clip mode, the preview window goes black and stays this way until I press the stop button. Even stranger is I can scrub through the clip just fine in clip mode.

I have tried both SP2 patches. I have applied the latest Direct X updates. I have re-installed VSP. I tried this with Smart Proxy on and off. I've tried several other system wide optimizations like like cleaning the registry. No luck. (I tried drinking several glasses of wine and that didn't seem to help either.)

I have also searched this forum, and found a few related posts, but no answer. I would appreciate any help you all could offer.

Thanks,
iQue

[Black Lab]

VS can't handle 60 fps clips (or 50 fps). It will treat it as 30 fps (29.97) interlaced, deleting every other frame. Corel has not addressed this problem.

[iQue]

Thanks Black Lab. That is unfortunate. It is still a mystery why I can't play these in clip mode while they will play in project mode. Do you have any thought on this?

Thanks,
iQue

[Ken Berry]

What mode have you been using with the camcorder? If it is the Super Fine setting (1920 x 1080), then according to the information on the camera, it in fact uses 1920 x 1080i i.e. interleaved. If it is any 'lesser' format (1280 x 720), then it uses 'p' or progressive format. See attached photo taken from the PAL version of the Samsung manual.

Samsung mp4.jpg (99.39 KiB) Viewed 2029 times

This would mean that in Super Fine mode, VS is correctly reading the properties at 29.97 fps. With the other two modes, it would give a read-out of 59.94 (or 60) fps. In fact, VS X3 can play and edit 720p AVCHD properly (it was problematic in X2). But here my emphasis is on the AVCHD aspect of 720p.

I say this because one problem might be that this particular camera -- indeed recent Samsung HD camcorders in general -- while they use the mp4 H.264 codec, they don't use the AVCHD system of compression. This means that they don't contain the same degree of information which is contained in AVCHD. I would have thought that this should create less problems for VS, as it has been dealing with SD mp4 H.264 for longer than it has AVCHD. However, perhaps the lack of certain information on the video is producing the curious result you are getting.

But to be honest, I just don't know whether Samsung's HD variant can be read properly by VS or not. It could be better in all the circumstances for you to contact Corel direct on this.

[iQue]

Thanks Ken.

Yes, it is 1080i as you have indicated. I do think you may be correct about VS having more difficulty with straight 1080i HD than the AVCHD coded version of MP4. I am able play these clips correctly in 2 other video editors, so something is amiss with VSP (I would rather use VSP, as I like lots about it). Since AVCHD is the prevailing format these days, perhaps this is where Corel puts its efforts.

I purchased the camera recently (Samsung HMX-H200) because it was relatively inexpensive, had an optical stabilizer, and most of all had several resolutions I could use. I like the idea of using 720p for everyday recording because it doesn't take as much horse power to process but still gives a decent picture. I guess I'll return the camera and get a regular AVCHD one. Does anybody have any thoughts on the Canon Vixia HF-R10? The reviews are fair-good and a few have complaned about a clicking noise in the audio, but I would put more trust in comments from this forum.

Thanks,
iQue