VideoStudio Wishlist for Version X8

[jaholstein]

DESIRE: Improve SD-CARD rendering format to include all the fancy features of the DVD sharing format [eg: all the menu gallery templates]

I've edited 10 hours of my mom's "life story" into a 3 hour project that is about 30gb size and has 8 chapters.

Since DVDs only have a "shelf life" of 10 years, I've been looking for a way to create a DVD "structure" and save it to a Thumb-Drive or an SD-Card
The output would have a "Mom folder", a VIDEO_TS sub-folder, containing the typical .BUP, .IFO and many .VOB files.

Creating as a FILE [.wmv, .avi, and so forth] would loose the chapter/menu functionality as a VIDEO fall-back archival method.
OR I could create eight (8) DVD-Folders, one for each chapter, and save them under a "Mom's Life" top-level folder.

I just thought since VS-Ultimate-x7 has the SHARE = SD-CARD, that would be the perfect solution to create a DVD-with-menu structure.

[jaholstein]

I WISH there was a way to TRACK A PERSON with Video-Pan-and-Zoom so that the person's head/shoulder profile would be the only image in the preview window.

Take a look at this photo http://1drv.ms/1nqPtYN

This is a screen-grab of the minister at my mom's funeral.
What I'd like is TRACK the minister [he moves quite a bit and the videographer was often moving the camera and zoom-in/out] AND i want to eliminate the female minister in the background who is fanning herself with the funeral program ... quite distracting.

Since VS x7 has such a great FX for tracking - I contacted NewBlueFX tech support. They said they have NO WAY to do this except on a key-frame by key-frame basis.
Pfoooottttt to that.

So I'm asking if VS x8 could apply some gentle nudge to NewBlueFX to make a variation of TRACKING as I've requested.

[Ken Berry]

I just thought since VS-Ultimate-x7 has the SHARE = SD-CARD, that would be the perfect solution to create a DVD-with-menu structure.

I find this thinking a little curious. If you wanted to preserve a DVD structure for longer than the shelf life of a DVD disc, why not save as many DVD folders (or iso files) to an external hard disk? That would give you a much larger storage space and the cost of small 1 TB or 1.5 TB drives which don't require a power adapter has fallen dramatically in the past year or so. As I also said in one of your main threads, I don't think computer or other players that can take SD cards are set up to detect and play the video on the card in the same way that a disc player can.

Besides, a DVD is only standard definition. While it obviously still has some life left in it, it is rapidly being squeezed out by high def, and now 4K has its foot in the door as well.

[canuck]

DESIRE: Improve SD-CARD rendering format to include all the fancy features of the DVD sharing format [eg: all the menu gallery templates]

I've edited 10 hours of my mom's "life story" into a 3 hour project that is about 30gb size and has 8 chapters.

Since DVDs only have a "shelf life" of 10 years, I've been looking for a way to create a DVD "structure" and save it to a Thumb-Drive or an SD-Card
The output would have a "Mom folder", a VIDEO_TS sub-folder, containing the typical .BUP, .IFO and many .VOB files.

Creating as a FILE [.wmv, .avi, and so forth] would loose the chapter/menu functionality as a VIDEO fall-back archival method.
OR I could create eight (8) DVD-Folders, one for each chapter, and save them under a "Mom's Life" top-level folder.

I just thought since VS-Ultimate-x7 has the SHARE = SD-CARD, that would be the perfect solution to create a DVD-with-menu structure.

What makes you think that SD cards or USB sticks will be around 10 years from now?

A 3 hour video for a standard DVD should at most be around 13 to 14GB even at the best quality setting. A standard 4.7GB DVD can only hold 60 minutes of video at best quality.

The best option would be to create 8 video files (one for each chapter) and store them on a SD card or USB stick.

[canuck]

I WISH there was a way to TRACK A PERSON with Video-Pan-and-Zoom so that the person's head/shoulder profile would be the only image in the preview window.

Take a look at this photo http://1drv.ms/1nqPtYN

This is a screen-grab of the minister at my mom's funeral.
What I'd like is TRACK the minister [he moves quite a bit and the videographer was often moving the camera and zoom-in/out] AND i want to eliminate the female minister in the background who is fanning herself with the funeral program ... quite distracting.

Since VS x7 has such a great FX for tracking - I contacted NewBlueFX tech support. They said they have NO WAY to do this except on a key-frame by key-frame basis.
Pfoooottttt to that.

So I'm asking if VS x8 could apply some gentle nudge to NewBlueFX to make a variation of TRACKING as I've requested.

The only way to track a "moving object" is with key frames just as VS X7 is able to do now. I don't understand how your request is any different from what can be done already with X7.

[Troy at TheGTAMblog]

I WISH there was a way to TRACK A PERSON with Video-Pan-and-Zoom so that the person's head/shoulder profile would be the only image in the preview window.

Take a look at this photo http://1drv.ms/1nqPtYN

This is a screen-grab of the minister at my mom's funeral.
What I'd like is TRACK the minister [he moves quite a bit and the videographer was often moving the camera and zoom-in/out] AND i want to eliminate the female minister in the background who is fanning herself with the funeral program ... quite distracting.

Since VS x7 has such a great FX for tracking - I contacted NewBlueFX tech support. They said they have NO WAY to do this except on a key-frame by key-frame basis.
Pfoooottttt to that.

So I'm asking if VS x8 could apply some gentle nudge to NewBlueFX to make a variation of TRACKING as I've requested.

The only way to track a "moving object" is with key frames just as VS X7 is able to do now. I don't understand how your request is any different from what can be done already with X7.

If I may pop in, I think Jaholstein means Automatic Motion Tracking, as Boris FX/Continuum or After Effects does - where you just choose a couple of targets/keys/points in a scene and the software automatically tracks the location of those points for the rest of the scene, allowing Motion Tracking with only a couple of clicks. In fact, I think I'll add to my List:

*Automated Motion Tracking (keying on an object and the software automatically tracks and follows the object)

[jaholstein]

@TROY
> *Automated Motion Tracking (keying on an object and the software automatically tracks and follows the object)

ALMOST EXACTLY what I was trying to say except to add software automatically tracks, zooms-in, and follows the object

If the forum responders would take a look at this photo http://1drv.ms/1nqPtYN you might see what I'm asking for.

I want a new FX to track the minister AND also make the RED RECTANGLE the entire selected output [like you can do with FX Pan-and-Zoom].

@CANUCK
Yes I agree we don't know what technology will exist down the road. That's why I already discussed to give the video [in whatever format the forum suggests] to my very-teckie son & nephew and ask them to upgrade to whatever is current technology when THEY get to be 65; and so on, down the generations. I hope to maintain my mom's life history for many generations.

@CANUCK
My request is DIFFERENT than what x7 can do because I want the ZOOM-IN feature WITH tracking.
I could do this using FX video pan-and-zoom but on a frame-by-frame basis.

@Ken Berry & @CANUCK
Agree - I like your suggestions so I'll discard the SD-CARD idea and go with eight (8) DVD folders saved to a digital hard drive.

By the way; the source video interviews were taken:
- in 2008 on a DV-Tape 320x240
- in 2009 at 640x480 1st digital video camera and
- in 2010-2013 on a newer HD digital at 1280x720
* I've had to cut-and-paste various resolutions together to make the interviews piece together in a time-relevant manner.
The editing of these 10 hours of interviews has taken me over 100 hours ... ugh ... definitely a labor of LOVE and RESPECT to my mother, who died last year at 90 years young.

So I've had to use that marvelous FX "Detail Enhancer" to render a decent finished 1280x720 video. I don't think I can go to any higher resolution.
It looks OK on my 19" monitor - have not yet looked at it on the HDTV.

RESULTS of RENDERING:
* .ISO file is 7.3GB
* VIDEO_TS is shown in the screen shot below
* VS-Ultimate-X7 shrunk the 30GB project to fit onto a 8.5G DVD = compressed by 4x - so I'm going to go with Ken's suggestion of making eight (8) chapters

Thanks to ALL of you who helped. Quite Respectfully ... Jim

[robing]

One thing I would really like in Video Studio is a better titling system.
The pre-defined title don't include common title type such as a straightforward scroll upwards or a lower third scroll horizontally.

They can be eventually set up by tweaking existing ones but sometimes this can be fiddly and time consuming. Pinnacle 17 (now a Corel product) has better title options.

[stormchaser]

1. Better labeling of the software's windows as it stands having a tool area open in the right panel if you are new as I am you have no clue as to where you are at.
2. "Tools drop down" links to the motion area, and what ever you call all the other areas would be great. Right now I can't find areas that I saw before. I am sure they are buried somewhere.
3 A video created that highlights on how to find all of the specific areas in the software so that newbies like me can find what they are looking for. I don't believe any of your videos state where the areas are located I guess they assume because when you watch they say go to the ______ area and there is no mention where that area is located.

Your labels for windows are obnoxious, and time consuming. Four days on this software, and I still can't find my way around. The really crazy thing is I am efficient in Windows and Linux.

/I have been whooped!

EDIT: I forgot to add that their should be better labeling on the stuff we can install under the Templates, titles, and all too.

[lifeschool]

I'd like to see:

. As mentioned, a titler for end credits. At the moment I either scroll credits individually manually up the screen, or I use a very long image and scroll that up the screen, but some very long credits break the longest image size in VS and this is an issue.

. With X6 I could select 50/60p editing from the menu, so that I could edit sound files more accurately given the extra frames which can be edited on the timeline, but I cant see a 50/60fps option now so all my timelines have reverted back to the video fps, eg. 25 or 30.

. A way to manually control each of the audio tracks' volume levels for rough mixing before render. At the mement I must manually select audio tracks and give them each a volume, but when those tracks are narration it would be helpful to be able to boost or lower the volume of the whole audio track on one go.

. I sometimes use Audio Polish to add some clarity and bass to the audio, but this is so far from perfect that it sometimes glitches. Wouldnt it be easier just to add a bass, treble, midrange option or or slider or something to make tweeking audio as easy as changing the colours using those sliders.

. I'd like to see an auto volume levelling option so dialogue can be treated with one click rather than using some cheap 3rd party compressor or balancer, or manually chopping each sentence up and manually leveling the volume.

. There use to be an auto project wizard that turned a set of slides into a montage with fades etc, but I cant even find the wizard on x7.

. Playback of audio clips work if I have the 'media' tab selected, but when I have the colours/graphic tab selected, and choose the audio as a clip (not project), there is no audio preview sound. Even if there is, x7 often doesnt play the last second.

. As mentioned, I use multiple cameras sometimes and I'd like a way to import up to four streams into four equal windows in VS, having them sync with a 'beep' test, and then running them all in real time as very low-res images and clicking the mouse or using the FKeys to select and cut between the cameras in a live edit. They do this on the tv with live digital streams, so why not here.

. I see the inclusion of colours on the timeline with x7. About time. How about right clicking on those elements and having the option to 'choose colour', so different people speaking can have different colours, main segments of video can be coloured differently to cutaways, and questions can be a different colour to responses etc.

. 5 music tracks and at least 2 dialogue tracks for narration. I know coral will say this 'will turn it into an audio studio' - yeah? great!

. Estimated rendering time and 'time taken' as an optional output while the user waits. I'd like to know if my project will take one hour or 3 hours, and I cant always guess by %.

. Hardware render tests to check the system and recommend tweeks. If hardware accelaration will not improve the speed of a generic test video, then I'd rather know about it from the program rather than experiement with my own tests. If CUDA is working, I want to see it recognised within x8, and calculations and recommendations made e.g. 'We estimate CUDA will be slower with your graphics card than with ??? card, which natively supports this resolution' etc

. Following on from the above, and as system/rendering speed is so critical, I'd like to see an option to run windows in 'lite' mode while rendering and to turn off things which x8 decides may slow the render down. With AVIdemux there is an option to select priority of the progam during render, and with x8 I'd say have an 'exclusive mode' which ignores system backup calls and internet traffic and runs VS as exclusively as possible.

. Sometimes when I render, and then go back and change something and re-render, the program uses smart render to make the second task complete much more quickly. However, I notice most of the time these turbo rendered videos cannot be skipped through with Mediaplayer and it comes up with a seek error unless played from the start. I then have to run the broken file through AVIdemux and save it and it fixes the seek errors, or shut down VS and render again.

. I'd like some kind of tv/monitor colour caliberation tool, which means I can calibrate my contrast, brightness, gamma on my monitor and hopefully have the levels correct before I edit videos, and then I can see if the video is in error or its my monitor settings. A simple test image and instructions would do!

. An option to break out of the render if the program detects the audio is being clipped by being too loud. If audio is continuelly floating into the red zone and clipping then this should make a warning pop up at some point, otherwise I might not hear when extra volume is actually causing a distortion.

. Linking. Yeah its been on the Mac since day 1 of the creation of the world, but on VS, I cannot choose multiple clips to link together so that moving one clip will move them all. There is no grouping, not even a drag box like Command and Conquer to select many things together, and sometimes the manual solution may miss something small and the whole thing refuses to move until I find that one thing and include it in the selection.

. Bug: VS x7 always defaults to the patterns if I choose the colours/graphic tab, rather than the actual colours, which is annoying.

. Bug: Colour Fixer Plus has a bug whereby a waypoint will be inserted into the centre of the CF+ timeline if the user tries to return to the window and tweek their settings for a second time. If the user tries to cut a clip using CF+, the image will go greyscale with no way to restore it unless the user copies the properties of a working clip.

. My renders are always a few steps of contrast lighter than the original source. I must manually remember to add .6 extra contrast to each clip so the render comes out close to the original as regards blacks and colour definition.

. The middle mouse button (not the wheel) is unused. Why cant I click the middle button to just to next cue point (rather than using the *** key) or to toggle zoom VS scroll. Eg. scroll as normal, click to zoom in/out with wheel, click to return to scroll.

ok those are just a few off the top of my head.
I realise this is a user to user forum and Coral reps are as likely to read this list as throw paper darts at the waste paper basket, but you cant say I didnt at least mention it. I dont check this thread, so please word your replies politely and I'll try to get back to this at some point.

[Ken Berry]

. With X6 I could select 50/60p editing from the menu, so that I could edit sound files more accurately given the extra frames which can be edited on the timeline, but I cant see a 50/60fps option now so all my timelines have reverted back to the video fps, eg. 25 or 30.

X7 is now set to work automatically with 50/60P footage so there is no need for that separate button anymore. And a related and very welcome change in X7 is thast at long last Project Properties can match high definition video of a wide variety format. In Preferences > General, tick the box beside "Show message when insert first video clip". Then when you insert a clip in the timeline, you should get a message box asking if you want the Project Properties to match those of the video. That means, after you finished editing, you can now select Share > Same as Project Properties (or Same As First Clip) and output high def video which is the same as the original.

. There use to be an auto project wizard that turned a set of slides into a montage with fades etc, but I cant even find the wizard on x7.

It's now called FastFlicks of all things. But it should be there either as a separate icon on your desktop or else in your VS folder in Program Files...

. Linking. Yeah its been on the Mac since day 1 of the creation of the world, but on VS, I cannot choose multiple clips to link together so that moving one clip will move them all. There is no grouping, not even a drag box like Command and Conquer to select many things together, and sometimes the manual solution may miss something small and the whole thing refuses to move until I find that one thing and include it in the selection.

In Video Studio this is called Ripple Editing. Look it up in the Manual, or just look for the tiny padlock icons to the left of the various timelines.

[SAM HONG]

my wishlist :

1. provide a tools to test if my system configuration fit for X8 to use multi-cores intel/amd cpu ,to use nivida cuda optimization ,to use hardware acceleration
2. while rendering , X8 could tell me how long to be ended
3. When editing on timeline , X8 should provide a function that binding the position between the specificed video and audio to keep them moving together
4.

[lifeschool]

In Video Studio this is called Ripple Editing. Look it up in the Manual, or just look for the tiny padlock icons to the left of the various timelines.

You know, I have tried a few times over the years to understand the ripple editor function, and failed. I used the online video tutorials but still had to abandon it. I tried again several more times after your suggestion and now it is second nature. Once I got that locking all the timelines and making all changes to main (1st) timeline only, it became easier to work out. I know this isnt a 'lock together' feature but with a jolly amount of fiddling is it possible to fettle non-linear (crossing over) branches in one go. This method of 'insertion' has already got me out of trouble twice since your massage. Thanks!

[wmwotawa]

I would like to see more import and export options.

[lata]

I would like to see more import and export options.

Hi wmwotawa

Welcome to the forums.
Your comment does not help very much -- what options would you like Video Studio to use.

Is there a specific video format that you work with that Video Studio does not support.
I assume you are using Video Studio X7.