X4 Project Properties cannot match source video

[pkalen]

In VS X4 we do not have the ability to match the project properties to the specs of the
source video. When editing "project properties", we only have two choices for compression
(NTSC DVD and PAL DVD) which only allow a maximum resolution of 720. In X2 we had many
more choices which included MPEG-2 where we could get up to 1920.

I thought it was rule number one to match the project properties to the source video.
Maybe that is not so important anymore, but snapshots for freeze frames must be done in
project mode to include any attributes. The resulting snapshot is the resolution of the
project properties and therefore not the same as the orignal video. Once rendered, it will
not look the same as it's parent frame. Maybe freeze frames are not important to anyone
else, but they are to me.

I shoot with a Canon HV20, so I need 1440x1080. I have created an empty project in X2 with
the correct properties that I use to start projects in X3 and X4. X4 appears to maintain
the project properties once they are set.

Anybody else care about this?

[Mysteron321]

Your problem is more or less giving me cause to worry seriously now about
VideoStudio`s tendency NOT to adhere to fundamentals of video editing,
like recognizing the properties of the source video and giving the user the
option of editing and saving in the original format. You have trouble with
HDV (1440 X 1080 MPEG-2), and I have trouble saving the original .MTS
clip from Canon`s magnificent HF S21 (25 progressive fps, 1920 X 1080).
More of this, on a new topic.

[Ron P.]

Having the Project Properties match the Video Clip properties pertains mainly to Smart Rendering.

Show message when inserting first video clip into Timeline:
Enables VideoStudio to prompt a message when it detects that an inserted video clip's properties do not match with the current
project settings.
Note: When you capture or insert your first video clip into the project, VideoStudio automatically checks the properties of the
clip and your project. If properties such as file format, frame size, etc. are not identical, VideoStudio displays a message and gives
you the option to have the project settings automatically adjusted to match the clip's properties. Changing the project
settings allows VideoStudio to perform SmartRender.

That was taken from the user guide for VS X2. I did notice that the On-line help for VS X4 does not have any mention of this.

[Ken Berry]

Ron -- I am not sure what your point is. For me, the point is that already made by the posters above. Even if "Show message" is enabled, if you insert an HD clip of any kind, be it straight AVCHD, HDV or HD .mov or anything, you simply don't get a message. That is the case for X4, as it has been -- IIRC -- ever since previous versions have been dealing with HD.

Now you know, and I know, that Project Properties aren't going to change much -- except perhaps in the circumstance that pkalen mentions, which is obviously important to him. Using Share > Create Video File > Same As First Clip works, as long as the HD video has properties that VS recognises, but again it does not include the situation that pkalen is worried about since his freeze frames will have already been taken in the default SD format.

[Ron P.]

My reply was mainly to this:

I thought it was rule number one to match the project properties to the source video.

However I have also found that the "Snapshots" done by VS X4 are a little bizarre. I have an HD video clip, the properties are:

freezeframe-1.png (40.1 KiB) Viewed 14212 times

Now if I Take a Snapshot, in Project Mode, ie; the clip is not selected at the time, the image resolution is:

freezeframe-2.png (7.09 KiB) Viewed 14212 times

If I take the snapshot in Clip Mode, the clip is selected at the time, the resulting resolution is:

freezeframe-3.png (7.06 KiB) Viewed 14212 times

So the Freeze Frame image would match that of the video clip. It just must be done with the clip selected, ie; in Clip Mode.

Early on, back with VS 8, I used to be one that firmly believed that the Project Properties and Video clip properties must match. I have long since learned that with VS, the only purpose for that match is Smart Rendering, period, nothing more. We have only AVI and MPEG-2 for setting the project properties. You can't set WMV, RM, or MPEG-2 (non-DVD), MOV as the project properties. The setting, Show message when inserting first video clip, in the preferences, will only work on a limited number of file types, not just any video file type.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Ron

Your image sizes look ok to me.

The problem is that when you take a snapshot in project mode, and you need to use this option if you wish to include all timeline view,
the resultant image will use the project frame size, that is the (square pixel frame size), for NTSC 16:9 that’s 853 x 480. For Pal it will be 1024 x 576.

But those sizes are standard video sizes, low quality compared to 1920 x 1080 for HD

So for HD users the screen project capture is just poor quality.

Using X2 you were able to change the project properties to use a 1920 x 1080 frame size.
Now taking a Project Screen Capture produced a HD image. 1920 x 1080

With later versions Corel have removed the options to control our own settings.

Bad move on Corels part, for the users that is………

[pkalen]

Thanks for the discussion guys. I always wonder if I am being an idiot when I post my
issues, because maybe I just get it wrong or there is an easy solution I didn't think of.
But that's why this forum exists to take advantage of all that experience out there.

If anyone else uses freeze frames, they are going to need X2 to create an empty project
with the correct project properties, or we could create templates from X2 and publish them
somewhere.

If I only had X4, this issue would be a deal breaker for me.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi All

I take back all I said in my previous post, well nearly all…………

With the introduction of X3 and X4 I have always assumed that we were unable to change the Project Properties other than using Standard Definition video sizes.

However after reading a post by Kingston I have looked at the Avi options.

Using a different Compression type we can set the Frame size to 1920 x 1080.
We wouldn’t necessarily render to this option.
But this will allow HD users to take a “Snapshot” in Project Playback mode which will include all the timelines content, it will and produce a HD sized image.
I do not know if using different compressions will produce different quality images.
I’ll do a few tests to compare quality.

[Kingston]

One thing I noticed about setting project settings to 1920x1080 versus 720x480 is when previewing in full screen mode within VideoStudio. Titles are very crisp on a 1920x1080 screen when the project settings are at 1920x1080, but titles are pixelated when viewed at full screen on a 1920x1080 screen when project settings are at 720x480.

[pkalen]

Trevor,

I like your idea about switching properties to AVI. I tried it, but none of my compression options got me above 800x600. I am probably missing some codec that would get me to 1920.

[Ken Berry]

XVide, DivX, Microsoft Video 1 and ffdshow are ones I have used successfully for this.

[Trevor Andrew]

Trevor,

I like your idea about switching properties to AVI. I tried it, but none of my compression options got me above 800x600. I am probably missing some codec that would get me to 1920.

Hi pkalen

From the Project Properties window choose Edit
From the Avi tab choose a compression. (Microsoft Video 1 should be available--or Mpeg 4)
from the General tab choose Frame Size --User Defined-set as 1920 x 1080

[pkalen]

Trevor

Thanks for the help. I had never seen that "user defined" button available before, so I wasn't looking at it.

Finally got X4 to 1920 on it's own.

Perry