Horrendous Compression Artifacts X10 Trial

[JJLudemann]

I just installed the trial version of VideoStudio X10, and no matter what I do it renders with horrendous compression artifacts. I don't mean a subtle problem, I mean the output is unusable. I used to use an earlier full version of VideoStudio on this same computer, and had no problems.

The system is an Intel I3-2020 3.3 GHz CPU with 8 GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit. The input videos are from my Android phone at 1920x1080, 24 bits, 30.027 fps, H.264 hi profile compression, and they play perfectly on this computer at full HD resolution using Windows Media Player. No compression artifacts, no jumpiness, no repetition. I get the same horrendous artifacts at any resolution from 1920x1080 to 640x360, no matter if it's AVI, MPEG-4, or WMV, no matter what I set the project resolution to, Smart Proxy enabled or disabled, using multi-camera editor or not... I've even deleted the clips from the project and tried again.

Here's a sample: https://youtu.be/HAsNtlgOvjM

Any ideas?

-JJ

[asik1]

well it's a trial version and exporting is one of it's limits.

[JJLudemann]

well it's a trial version and exporting is one of it's limits.

So is that known, expected behavior or are you speculating? If it's known behavior, it seems to me that Corel needs to place this information somewhere searchable. Can anyone provide a link to information about this? I've spent a lot of time searching already. I've seen some talk about limitations of the trial software editing high-definition video, but not about rendering low-definition video. Did anyone experience this problem and then cure it by buying the full version?

If I buy the software and it still behaves like this, I'd want my money back. Would they refund my money?

-JJ

[BrianCee]

All software purchases from Corel have a 30 day money back guarantee



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[lata]

Hi

I would suspect that the Android video may be using a variable frame rate which is difficult to edit.
The program uses a timeline having a constant frame rate, so if the original is variable it can cause quality issues when converting to another format.
Simply playing the video using our media players should be ok.

Using a small program called Media Info should show the video files properties, can you say if the video does use a variable frame rate?

[JJLudemann]

I would suspect that the Android video may be using a variable frame rate which is difficult to edit.
The program uses a timeline having a constant frame rate, so if the original is variable it can cause quality issues when converting to another format.
Simply playing the video using our media players should be ok.

Using a small program called Media Info should show the video files properties, can you say if the video does use a variable frame rate?

Thanks for the lead. I downloaded MediaInfo, and found a variable frame rate with a minimum of 18.076 and a maximum of 30.252. So then I downloaded & installed HandBrake to convert to fixed frame rate. Handbrake conversion using the MP4 container failed about half the time with a frame unreadable by the VideoStudio renderer, and the rest of the time the clip player worked fine but the project player produced striking impressionist paintings of mad pixels, and the renderer gave the same. I found one path through the tools that works: Handbrake conversion using Fast 720p30 preset with a .MKV container, project set to 720p30 MPEG-4, output set to 720p30 MPEG-4. I have no idea why this is the only thing that works.

Thanks for the help,

-JJ

[Dave Holmes]

I also have this problem and it has wasted a week of my time. Support are leading me on a wild goose chase!

Will try Handbrake!

Dave.

[JJLudemann]

It's doing the same thing with output from my Gitup Git2 sports cameras except not quite as severely, even though they use a fixed frame rate. So I've run those through the HandBrake software too and the output seems to be acceptable. I've spent days on this. I had to replace every .mp4 video with a .mkv video in a project that was already edited. Not happy.

-JJ

[lata]

Hi Guys

I have just run a test recording video using my Samsung Tablet S2, that recorded to 1920 x 1080 and a variable frame rate between 18 and 30 ish Although those levels did alter when viewing other video, I suppose to be expected as the rate will vary with the video content, the video had a Video data rate of 17Mb

After adding a video to the timeline I was surprised that the “Show Messages when inserting first video” showed, especially as the timeline cannot be variable.

Anyway rendering the video to a Mpeg2 at 30 fps 1920 x 1080 worked ok and looked as good as original. The file size was slightly smaller at 30Mb compared to 33Mb

Are you guys able to upload a sample to a sharing site, we can download and try on our pc’s. ( google drive, one drive, dropBox etc.)
Just wonder what the difference is as you get such poor results.

[TroyTheTech]

If I may pop in, although yes possibly related to Variable Frame Rate material, I have experienced similar artifacts when I have a Source that contains a Long GOP (Group Of Pictures).

What I mean by this is, there are Frames in the Data Stream that 'refresh' what is on the screen, essentially re-drawing the entire thing - for one frame.
In between these Keyframes, are the possibility of anywhere from zero to thousands of intermediate frames.
These frames (they have different types, such as B-Type Frames and P-type Frames) keep 'only the differences' between them.

For example, if a video has a person standing reading a paper, and a person jogs past them on the right, these intermediary frames will not contain information on the left person 'just standing there', they will literally only be bits of the person moving across the screen on the right side.

The complication with Long GOP video streams (and why Production Houses generally avoid high-compression, LongGOP video until the final steps in production) is that when read back, depending on the decompressor/filters, it can be 'seen' as having "empty areas" or areas where there is nothing, and the playback mechanism could potentially 'fill it in' with information from other frames - causing much of the compression artifacts that seem to be in your video.

Now, I am not saying that this is what is occurring in your video; it would have to be examined further to make sure - but I can provide an example of a Test I will do, to show the possibility of this being what is happening.

Below, are stills from a short clip I recorded as a Test, of simply scrolling this webpage up and down a bit, while recording 'forcing' a Long GOP data stream for the video itself (~250 frames between Keyframes, set via H.264/AVC encoding options):

Still from Playback of Long GOP video stream in Movie Studio:

Still from Playback of Long GOP video stream in VideoStudio:

Although these Stills do not communicate it, I was actually 'playing back' the video in the Preview area of each application, when taking them.

Interestingly, this little Test I did showed that VSx10 doesn't actually have much trouble importing and utilizing Long GOP video streams (it does however, still affect Shuttling and navigating through the material on the Timeline, as the Frames have to be re-constructed each time from the nearest Keyframe; it takes longer to jump around on the Timeline) - however, this does not explain why YOU are experiencing it potentially-from-Input-To-Output, in your own results from VideoStudio...

I agree with the knowledgeable Lata - can you share a small clip somewhere, so we can experiment with importing and settings, and take a look at the Metadata of the recording (framerate, GOP size, etc), to see why you may be experiencing such trouble in your output?