What is the best codec to use with VS ProX4?

[WestbrookNH]

I'm creating training videos, mostly from screen capture.

I love the captures I get with h.264. They are the smallest, clearest images I have been able to obtain. However, VS ProX4 crashes when I insert any h.264 based video into its timeline. Something has changed on my system, to be sure, but I don't know what. I have tried a number of things that work and then, mysteriously, the next time I start VS, it will crash again when loading h.264. So, it's just unprofitable to continue banging my head against that wall.

Since I can't use h.264, I was wondering, according to your experience, which codec gets the best results with an .avi capture format and a 720p .wmv output?

I could take the time to experiment, but I am hoping to circumvent that lengthy process.

Thanks in advance.

[lata]

Hi

The screen capture program will control the type of video file you can create.
Then decide what you are intending to make, a video for the internet , I would opt for Mpeg4 H264, but don’t know if you are able to create that particular video.
HD-Wmv would also be suitable for internet or pc playback.

For a DVD would try DV-Avi type, (DV Video Encoder -- type 1) this would lend itself to further editing and conversion to Mpeg2 keeping the frame rate to 25/29 depends on whether you are pal or ntsc.

Wmv would also be suitable for internet or pc playback.

Try to keep the aspect ratio to widescreen, 1280 x 720 would suffice for Mpeg4.

So for Mpeg4 try creating this:-

MPEG-4 Files
24 bits, 1280 x 720, 30 fps
Frame-based
H.264 Main Profile Video: 5000 Kbps
44100 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo
MPEG AAC Audio: 128 Kbps

To get it right you do need to take some time to experiment with the capture program you are using.
By the way what are you using?

[WestbrookNH]

Thanks for the great reply, Trevor.

I'm using Debut Pro ( http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html ) for the screen capture.

MPEG4 H264 indeed produces great results, but on my system VS Pro X4 crashes whenever I put .avi with h264 in the time line.

However, ProX4 seems to be ok with .mov and h264, which seems to be the only compression available for .mov.

The corporation's required formats are either .wmv / wmv9 codec and .mov / H264 codec, using 720p HD for web-based and 1080p for live, large screen presentations.

[lata]

Hi

I would use Wmv 1920 x 1080 – HD 1080p for the screen capture.
Then recode the video to 720p for web use. (1280 X 720)

I don’t see any reason to use AVI H264, the corporation don’t want that format and its crashing VS.

Mov H264, well Video Studio does not fully recognise this format, you cannot use VS to render to Mov H264. and ultimately you will use VS to create the final video file.

If you do find a way to create Mov H264 please let me know?

[skier-hughes]

I'd capture in the final format if you can, so in WMV of the size you require to finish.
If you are producing two sizes, then capture in the largest size, then make it smaller for the other option at the end stage of editing.

[WestbrookNH]

Thanks, Trevor.

From experimentation, here are the settings that yield the best results. The captured video is "friendly" to VS ProX4, that is, it is easily edited, and doesn't cause crashes, and the rendered .wmv product is high quality, and disk consumption is low.

The experiment was conducted with one 40 second screen capture clip. I suspect that the reason the output file is larger than the input file is that the resulting .wmv codec is different than the capture codec. Using native wm9 codec produces large files (>20 MB for 40 secs) with lousy quality.

Debut Screen Capture Settings:
------------------------------------------
Format: .mp4
Video Compressor: H264
Quality (Ratefactor) 28.0
Audio Compressor: AAC
Bitrate: 192 kbps
Capture Area: 1280x720
Resulting file size for 40 seconds: 3.8 MB

VS ProX4 Project Settings
----------------------------------------
NTSC non-drop frame (30 fps)
Microsoft AVI files
24 bits, 1280 x 720, 15 fps
Upper Field First
XviD MPEG-4 Codec
PCM, 44.100 kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

VS ProX4 Create Video File
----------------------------------------
Custom profile
Share->CreateVideoFile->Custom->Options->Profile->Copy
I copied the 384 kbps WMV9 profile and edited it to have the following properties
Windows Media Video
24 bits, 1280 x 720, 30 fps
Frame-based
44.100 KHz, 16 bits, Stereo
Windows Media Video 9 for Local Area Network (3000 Kbps)
Resulting file size for 40 seconds: 7.7 MB

Playback in VLC reveals the following:
VLC->tools->Codec Information
--------------------------------------------
Stream 0
Type: Audio
Codec: WMA2
Sample Rate: 44100
Bits per sample: 16

Stream 1
Type: Video
Codec: Windows Media Video 9 (WMV3)
Resolution: 1280x720
Frame Rate: 30.000030

The parameters of the resulting file fit the corporate requirements for streaming video.

Whew!

If there's anything here that you think may be problematic, please let me know.

[WestbrookNH]

I'd capture in the final format if you can, so in WMV of the size you require to finish.
If you are producing two sizes, then capture in the largest size, then make it smaller for the other option at the end stage of editing.

Thanks, Graham, but for some reason the Debut Pro screen capture using .wmv/WMV9 makes huge files with low quality.

Capturing in mpeg4-h264 makes small files of excellent quality, and VS-ProX4 does not seem to mind rendering it into .wmv/WMV9.

The settings I used are in this post:
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 18#p241297

What I don't understand is why the .wmv/WMV9 created by VS-ProX4 is so much smaller and so much higher quality than the one created by Debut Pro screen capture?

[lata]

Hi

The Video and Audio data rates (kbps) used controls the sizes of the files.
There will be significant differences when using Mono compared to Stereo.

If you wish to compare then you have to create/record using the same properties that VS uses when converting. You may have to use the custom option to achieve this.

Once you have the clips in video studio, right click and select properties, compare the original Wmv from Debut to the rendered video from VS.

The time it takes VS to convert/render the file will depend on the files properties, so getting it correct in Debut (Standard Settings) will allow VS to work efficiently.

As Graham said capture to the format that you are using in the final output
---------------------------
I am in the UK and using Pal that uses 25 fps, so I set Debut to record 25 fps.
Some of your settings posted earlier used 15 fps, if you convert this to 30 fps then the video will duplicate each frame, this will cause blips, the quality will be terrible.

Like for like,

[WestbrookNH]

Hi
There will be significant differences when using Mono compared to Stereo.

I have audio OFF in Debut, because I intend to record my narration separately.

Hi
I am in the UK and using Pal that uses 25 fps, so I set Debut to record 25 fps.
Some of your settings posted earlier used 15 fps, if you convert this to 30 fps then the video will duplicate each frame, this will cause blips, the quality will be terrible.

Like for like,

I tried Debut using .wmv format and WMV9 codec at 4096 kbps and 30 fps.
The quality of the captured clip was positively awful and the file size was 27 MB for 52 seconds, about 8 times as large as capture done using mpeg4 with h264 codec.

VS ProX4 was able to render the mpeg4/h264 into a beautiful .wmv/WMV9 with much smaller file size.

I don't understand why Debut's .wmv quality is so bad and why it generates such large files. Its other formats/codecs get much better results with smaller files.