VSx3 Why is the "Same as First Clip" option grayed out?

[ptbpilot]

Hello All,

I shoot AVCHD video from my Canon Vixia HF S 21 at the highest setting of 24 Mbps / 60i. I have a Lite-On BD Burner and make BD-R discs. Originally when creating the movie that will be burned to disc, I was using the Blue Ray option (MPEG2 25000kbps). I was not happy as I saw much degradation of the image. I know from users on this forum that H.264 is the prefered format, but VS X3 limits you to 20000kbps, which will result in an even more degraded image. (Will this limit be removed in VS x5??)

What I found by accident was in the above project, use the option "Same as first clip". This resulted in an H.264 video, VBR 22700 kbps and the video is very sharp on my 55" LCD TV compared to the MPEG2 compression. So I am quite happy with this setting.

My problem is on my project right now, the Same as first clip option is grayed out. Why is this happening? Could it be that this time I captured as real 24F rather than in 60i format? My only option is MPEG2 for BLuRay, or use MPEG optimizer which still shows Mpeg2 but now VBR is 22700 rather than 25000 kbps. There is no way to get it to render as H.264. BTW I also noticed this the other day when rendering a project from video from my wife's Flip camera.

Did I somehow disable a setting somewhere?

Pete

[Ken Berry]

I take it that the 24F is a typo for 24p...?

In any case, VS is quite selective on what high def video it allows to use the 'Same as first clip', and I suspect that 24p is one that it doesn't accept.

The only thing I can think of at this stage is for you to create a new Custom template with the same properties as your 24p footage. To do this, in Settings > Make Movie Template Manager, click the Add button. Then in the top window which appears (with "..." to its right), navigate to one of your 24p clips and select it. Give the template a suitable name and check to make sure the properties show the 24p properties. Then next time you go Share > Create Video File, your new template should appear down at the bottom of the drop down menu.

I have to add, though, that VS is also selective about what high def it accepts for this template creation method. As I have no video with AVCHD at 24 Mbps and 24p, I cannot check to see.

[ptbpilot]

I will try it tonight. I have a feeling that it will only limit me to MPEG2 and not H.264 (at the higher 22700 kbps rate like I see in 60i). For this project I set the camera to 24 Full (real) frames a second. It might be 24p or 24F not sure. Basically in the mode I selected it is genuine 24 frames, and not 60i set to look like 24 frames if you know what I mean. I also enabled the "cinema mode" for added film effect. The result out of the camera is stunning! The footage looks like it has been filmed. Like a pro production!

Like I said if I select MPEG2 25000kbps that quality will be lost. What about my question about VS x5? Will Corel remove the limit? Will I be able to render as H.264 and push it up to 24000kbps to maintain the quality?

Pete

[Ken Berry]

24p *is* cinema mode. Video Studio is supposed to be able to support it, but I have never been able to test it myself as I don't have a high def camcorder which films in that mode. So I don't have any video in 24p.

AS for what Corel might or might not do with X5, none of us here have the faintest idea as none of us -- apart from the occasional appearance of Abiel and Simone UK -- work for Corel. This is a user to user web board staffed by volunteers. We can only press Corel for this or that. I have already pressed Corel several times regarding the upgrading of the the AVCHD bitrate to at least 24 Mbps -- though it should be noted the maximum bitrate now for 50/60p and 3D AVCHD is now 27 Mbps. I also pressed them to include support for 50/60p video but they merely said at the time that there were not enough users out there with cameras capable of this frame rate. I think that has now changed, but as I say, only Corel knows what might be included next time.

[ptbpilot]

I created the template. However, when I used it for the project the rendering failed and a dump file was created.

I did notice in the properties, that unlike a standard H264 "same as first clip", this template was H264 [FrameBased] (or something to that sort) rather than UFF. Is there a way to specify UFF?

[Ken Berry]

The p in 24p means progressive. That is equivalent to frame based, so you have the correct reading. It would only be Upper Field First if it were an i and not a p following the frame speed ... i stands for interleaved, and it is slightly lesser quality usually than p.

[teknisyan]

@ptbpilot

Have you tried and see if the same issue happens on VS X4? You can download the full working version at www.corel.com/trials

[mrbios]

The p in 24p means progressive. That is equivalent to frame based, so you have the correct reading. It would only be Upper Field First if it were an i and not a p following the frame speed ... i stands for interleaved, and it is slightly lesser quality usually than p.

Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure what frame based meant and knew about UFF but forgot that that only applies to interleaved.