AVI HD problems

[Peem]

Last month I posted about a problem I was having trying to get VSx3 to accept some AVI H. D. Files but the discussion sort of ran out of steam without a resolution. I have just purchased and installed VSx4 and the situation has not improved. When I go to the support web site I see they now want to charge for any support so I thought I would try this forum again. The previous thread can be viewed from my post on 11Feb 11 and subsequent posts include file info.

As outlined in the last post, in an effort to get the AVI files accepted I changed the file names to a number of different extensions so now this is the current situation. With the file suffix of MOV or MP4 I get the message “file format mismatch” at the first step of trying to import the files and with AVI files I get the message “not accessible”. The project accepts files when they are called MPG or MTS and plays both picture and sound in “clip” mode but when they outplayed in “project” mode I get only a black screen but the sound is OK.

All suggestions welcome.

[Ken Berry]

Why didn't you just tag this post onto the end of the other thread. Now people are supposed to search for your earlier thread in order to help you?

EDIT: I have in fact done a search, and though I can find a number of threads from last year relating to you, I cannot find any from last month... Do you have read access to it and can you give us a URL?

[Ron P.]

He should have done just that Ken. What is bizzare, I attempted to merge this one with the one he's talking about, however it does not show up in the Mod Control Panel for that.

Anyway here is the post I think he's referring to http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 41#p212941

[Clevo]

If the images in the other thread are anything to go by it looks like one of those 60fps problems.... and no doubt a propriety codec used by the video device

[Ken Berry]

And both bizarre and embarassing that I did a search yet couldn't even find this thread, with which, moreover, I was involved!!!

But as to the substance, Clevo, I think you are right, and still have no solution to offer...

[teknisyan]

Hello Peem,

If this is the property of the video that you having problem with them it could be a codec problem.

Avi VS snip.JPG (43.85 KiB) Viewed 4053 times

Anyway... I researched on the "microsoft dtv-dvd video decoder" that was used for the video and here's what I got: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 85%29.aspx, in other words, you may need to update the codecs on your Windows 7. But since you are using Windows 7 Home Premium then you should have the codec built-in to your OS. Just to be sure that you have everything covered, you may want to update the codecs on your computer.
Here are some of the codecs that you may want to install.
RealPlayer: http://www.real.com/
DivX: http://www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus/codec-pack
XviD: http://downloads.xvid.org/downloads/xvidcore-1.2.2.zip
Windows Media Player: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... dia-player or just download the Windows Encoder at http://www.microsoft.com/expression/pro ... rview.aspx
QuickTime: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
Direct X: http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/window ... tx-11.aspx

I have already reported this to our engineering team and I'll update this once I got more information.

[Peem]

Thanks all,

I thought I should start a new thread since I had updated to X4 [and because additional posts on the old thread did not prompt any further replies]. Yes, I found it hard to find my old post; it did not appear when I looked for posts under my user name.

I do not understand that those 2 altered file extensions play in one mode and not the other; surely it needs the codec to play in either mode? Could anyone explain this?

I will try those codecs you suggested Abiel, but I am wary of loading in codecs unselectively. During the installation of VSX4 it displayed for a while a window about updating DirectX and I hoped that might solve the problem.

As I mentioned in in my second post on the previous thread I am pretty sure I downloaded a codec for x264, which I extracted after some mucking about. The website suggested this was the right codec, but it is all a bit o a mystery to me.

Thanks, Peter.

[Peem]

I have not been able to get to the computer for a few days, but time now for a report on Abiel's suggestions.

Download of M S Encoder 4 with SP1 allowed all discussed file extensions to load but still showed black for video.

Gave up on downloading anything from Real - too much of a runaround to achieve anything.

Installed DivX codec pack and at last VS showed video for all discussed file extensions in 'Project' mode, BUT the top about one eighth of the screen remains stuck on the first frame of the sequence while the lower 7/8th plays OK. Entire screen plays OK in 'Clip' mode and sound plays well always.

So, I still welcome suggestions. Can I un/reinstall DivX codecs? Would that help? Can anyone give a brief explaination of why 'clip' mode is different to 'project'.

Thanks, Peter.

[Peem]

Hi,

Have I offended anyone or is this topic too boring? I appreciate that all replies are voluntary but any suggestions would be appreciated as I would like to find a solution. I make this comment because my earlier, related thread also lapsed through lack of replies. If I have made a forum faux pas please advise.

On looking closer at the video in the project mode I now see that it is a band both top and bottom that does not play. The bottom band is harder to discern in the screen shot attached. The capture is a few frames into the clip, panning down.

My questions are still pretty much as asked in my previous post. I really don't want to risk downloading more codecs than necessary and the DivX update has almost, but not quite solved my problem.

Thanks in anticipation, Peter

[Peem]

Abiel,
That Xvidcore link you provided delivers a zip file, which does not seem to contain an exe file when opened, so I don't know how to get it to do anything useful but I found a download fromXvid. All of these downloads installed, including Quicktime update have not corrected the static bars top and bottom of the video in project mode, so I think I have run out of options.
Regards, Peter

[Black Lab]

Have I offended anyone or is this topic too boring? I appreciate that all replies are voluntary but any suggestions would be appreciated as I would like to find a solution. I make this comment because my earlier, related thread also lapsed through lack of replies. If I have made a forum faux pas please advise.

Maybe nobody has an answer.

[Peem]

Thanks Jeff,

It's just that in the past and through following the forum I have observed an incredible amount of knowledge amongst the members, well incredible from my perspective anyhow.

I have read various articles about codecs on the internet but not yet seen an explanation of why something might play in clip mode but not in project.

So far as the latest step in my problem goes, with the unplaying bars top and bottom of the video, I might see if I can compare properties of the first and intermediate frames in a clip. Although even the first frame seems to show a faint line separating the unplaying portions from the part that subsequently plays.

Even by writing this it helps to generate further ideas to try, as it is a bit like a conversation.

Regards,Peter

[Ken Berry]

I have read various articles about codecs on the internet but not yet seen an explanation of why something might play in clip mode but not in project.

Don't take this as gospel, but I suspect it has to do with what codecs are all about. As you probably know, the word 'codec' is itself a contraction derived from 'enCOder/DECoder'. In many cases, both the encoder and decoder may come in one and the same package, but sometimes they are separate. I suspect what is happening in your case is that you have the decoder, which is allowing you to play the video in PLAY mode, but when you go into Project mode, in effect you are throwing together an encoding session on the fly, and VS does not have access to the proper encoder for that type of video, and for some reason the default codec does not work with it either.

I would have thought that you would have this 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Decoder' installed by default as part of Windows. It is apparently the Windows default Windows mpeg-2 codec, but which can also decode h.264 video in Windows 7: see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 85%29.aspx However, you will note towards the top of that page they have the disclaimer: "Note This filter is not supported on IA-64-based platforms." The latter are said to be a particular type of Intel 64 bit CPU, but I simply don't know if your computer actually uses one of them, though it is apparently quite common. If it does, this could be part of your problem, or the problem itself... But I could not help but note you are running Win 7 64 bit...

As a footnote, from the above article, it seems clear that this 'decoder' is one of those with both the encoder and decoder in the same package as it refers to both input and output parameters...

[Peem]

Thanks Ken,

Gospel or not, your reply is both lucid and plausible, and it gives me another avenue to explore. But I have to admit, when I read some of the reports of properties of clips etc from various sites, some of the info is often over my head. Would what you have just said give any clues as to why bars on top and bottom of the video do not advance from the first frame? It is almost as though the program is trying to play a 16:9 portion of a 4:3 picture [although the pic is 16:9]. I need to get onto another computer later to record properties.

Peter

[Ken Berry]

One way or another, it would see that the encoding process is not reading the original video in the project correctly, and I would think that only the codec could be doing that. Normally, when VS reads Properties of a clip, if it is an mpeg clip, it will simply say "mpeg-2" or "AVCHD/h.264" but in this case it specifically refers to the Microsoft mpeg-2 codec. I can't recall now if the most recent versions of VS come with their own mpeg-2 codec. But it could be, if they do, that for some reason or other that one is not kicking in during the encoding process. Have you ever tried reinstalling X3?