Choppy video and audio

[dumbdumber]

I upgraded to pro x7 about the same time I bought my new camera (Nikon S9500), and recently I have noticed that towards the end of my clips the video and audio are choppy and not really watchable.
I tried converting the clip to AVI, and I also cropped the video more, but it always seems that it loses it in the last few seconds.
Can anyone help me with this? Is it a problem with Videostudio, or is it my camera?

[BrianCee]

How long is this bit of choppiness

is it visible in camera - is it visible if you play the clip on it's own as soon as you import it.

Are you sure it is not just you pressing the pause button on your camera.

if you cut this bit of choppiness off does it just move earlier in the clip - or disappear completely

[dumbdumber]

it's about 4 seconds long, it plays fine when I first import it and view it in clip, and also when I view it before importing it to Videostudio.
When I edit it (to shorten it) that's when it becomes choppy. I also just tried to edit it in the library rather than the timeline and it still gets choppy.
I converted it to AVI and then shortened it, it still becomes unwatchable last few seconds.
I shortened it using Windows Movie Maker and it's fine!
This isn't the first time it's happened, but I thought previously it was maybe the camera battery running low or something stupid I had done, now it's just really annoying me that I paid for Video studio!

[Ken Berry]

I'm assuming the video is AVCHD but it would be useful if you could right click on a clip in the X7 timeline and copy ALL its Properties here.

Exactly how are you going about producing a new clip after editing: Share > Same As Project Properties or Same As First Clip? (Have you ticked, in Preferences > General, the box beside "Show message when inserting first video clip"? Then, when you start a new project, when you insert the first clip you should get a message asking if you want the project properties to match those of the clip. If you select OK, that means that after editing you will be able to go to Share > Same As Project Properties.)

As a footnote, saying you have also tried converting to AVI doesn't really tell us much since AVI is a wrapper format. More than 800 different video formats, from large to tiny, call themselves AVI. So which one did you choose -- or can we assume you used DivX or XVid?

[grahamteenapaul]

Dear Ken Berry and community,

I've just started using Corel VideoStudio X6 and I have a similar problem with choppy video. I've got a series of raw video clips which all play smoothly individually (in VLC), but when clipped and put together with videostudio X6 and rendered, they come out choppy on the same player. I've done nothing but import, clip, and share.

The raw clips' properties are all as follows: format MPEG-4, video type H.264 Main Profile Video, attributes 24 bits, 1920x1080, 16:9, frame rate 29.970 frames/sec, data rate 14850 Kbps, audio type=none.
I rendered it using "Create video file" and "Same as first video clip" and the .mp4 file it produced has exactly the same properties as the original clips except for a data rate of 14849 Kbps.

When the rendered .mp4 file is played in VLC, it's choppy throughout, and looks to be jumping a frame about 3 times per second. It's barely noticeable if there's little movement in the picture, but if there's rapid movement or panning it's quite definite. Exactly the same parts of the original raw clips play nice and smoothly on the same computer & monitor.

The project's properties are PAL (25 fps), MPEG files, 24 bits, 720 x 576, 25 fps, upper field first, DVD-PAL 16:9, video data rate: variable (max 8000 kbps), LPCM Audio , 48000 Hz (stereo). These can't be altered (or not if I stay within MPEG); clicking the Edit button takes me to a dialog box where they should be changeable, but these are the only options available. Going into Settings > Preferences > "Show message when inserting first video clip into the Timeline" and ticking it doesn't make a message come up when I insert my first clip (which I did using File > Insert Media File to Timeline > Insert video).

Got any ideas?

Kind regards, Graham Paul

[lata]

Hi Graham Paul

Welcome to the forums.

Your video appears to be NTSC at 29.97 fps
Your program has been set to use pal, I assume you are in a Pal country?
When you render using the default templates it will create a 25 fps video that effectively drops frames and causes those pulses you are seeing.

You should first set the project properties to use NTSC this will allow the timeline to display all 29 frames.
How…………
Press Alt+Enter to open the Project Properties – Edit file Format to Mpeg files
Edit button –Compression tab
Media Type to NTSC DVD
Data rate may need modifying depending on your project duration. (Set to 8000kbps for 60 minute)
General tab – aspect Ratio to 16:9

To render the project for DVD--- you could use Same as Project Settings.

For Avchd
Use Make Movie Templates Manager to create a Avchd NTSC template
New
Choosing the Mpeg Transport Stream option
I would use these settings

MPEG Transport-Stream Files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-NTSC), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 14850 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

The template will be available from Share Create Video File at the bottom of the list.

[grahamteenapaul]

Hi Trevor / Iata,

and thanks very much for that info! I did exactly as you said and my 1920x1080 30fps video is now smooth. However, I understood only 3/4 of what I was doing as I followed your instructions, and the video seems to have a lost a little bit of quality compared to the originals, so I'm sure there's much more I need to know about all the settings.

Since you obviously know a lot about these things, could you please advise me: Where can I find decent Help information on these things? F1 takes me to a webpage which says "Page not found" and offers me a link to "home" which I pressed but never loads. I looked up the Corel website and found some tutorials for Videostudio X7, but I have X6, and it doesn't seem to be a properly informative user manual anyway. I have a background in computer science and still photography, and like to know the practical whys and wherefores of how to get things right. Do you have any suggestions?

Kind regards,

Graham Paul

[lata]

Hi

The help guides cover the functionality of the program, how it works, but don’t cover specific video types.

The user Guide via F1 link is broken as you found, I think Corel have been upgrading their web sites, don’t think they have got it quite right, hopefully they are still working on them.

The PDF guide will be on your pc, installed with the program.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel VideoStudio Pro X6\UserGuide

Basically what you have is a NTSC video file and converting to Pal, that changes the frame rate from 29 to 25, effectively dropping frames, most noticeable when panning.
Being HD uses 1920 x 1080 is the same

So what are you trying to create, if it’s a DVD Disc or Bluray disc then you are best in making a NTSC version.