vidding_livejournal_ark2 | Entries tagged with tech: converting & encoding

cosmicviolet.livejournal.com

Hi everyone, I hope this is not too stupid a question. For a while now, I've wanted to make vids and I'm finally getting around to it. I've done a lot of research on what software works best, what formats to use, etc. I came across this guide that suggests formatting MKV files as MJPEG AVI for editing, but doesn't really explain why (further Googling says it has something to do with MJPEG being relatively lossless?). As the information seems dated, I'm wondering if this is still the standard way of doing things, or is there a more efficient codec to use? Or even, why can't I just dump the MKV file right into my editor if it accepts it and start working? I understand that I need to use as high quality footage as possible, so is it just a matter of quality retention or is it something else? Just trying to make sense of which direcion I should go in, with as few steps along the way as necessary. Thanks.

echan

Results of the 2015 Vidding Tools census are available here! We vidders are smart folks, and this captures a lot of that.

space-monkey52.livejournal.com

So the last time I did a vid was back in 2004. I used to use DVD decrypter but I read in another post that due to its age, it can't really keep up with some of the new DVDs. I don't mind having to pay for a program as long as the price isn't insane, but is there anything out there compatible with Windows 7 that is easy to use? I haven't done this in years so I pretty much have the training wheels back on. :(

cosmicviolet.livejournal.com

Hello, I have a few questions about the best way to decrypt and rip DVDs. I've been ripping DVDs for years, but only to back up discs, not to use the footage in vidding. I used to use DVD Decrypter to rip the discs to VOBs, encode them as mp4 and then move the big VOB files to my external drive in case I needed them again. But DVD Decrypter is pretty old now and can't crack the copy protection on a lot of the newer discs, so I started looking for a replacement, but it doesn't look like there is a free option out there that is as good. Then I discovered that with a little tweaking, I could rip the discs straight through Handbrake as mp4s and skip the step of having to decrypt and then re-encode. Yay! But I want to create the best footage possible for vids, and according to what I've read, I should be making VOB files and then saving them as DV in MPEG Streamclip. So what I'm wondering is, if I'm converting them to DV anyway, couldn't I just use the mp4 files I made with Handbrake, or would there be a huge quality loss in doing that? I will make VOB files if absolutely necessary, but I'd prefer not to. Also, if anyone can recommend a good decrypter that's more updated than DVD Decrypter, that would be great. I'm a fairly tech-savvy person, but new to vidding techniques, and the amount of stuff you need to know seems a bit overwhelming. Thanks!

echan

Results of the Vidding Tools census are available here! There's quite a lot of information and comments on a wide range of items.

alba17.livejournal.com

I hope someone can help me with this. I've searched and searched for answers but I'm not coming up with an obvious solution. For the first time, I'm trying to vid using the digital download that comes with commercial DVDs and Blu-rays. I'm making a Captain America vid with clips from both movies. I converted the files to .mov (I use Final Cut Express) and made clips with MPEG Streamclip. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to handle the weird frame size for the second movie (from Blu-Ray). It's 1280 x 532. I converted the Blu-Ray clips to 720 x 480, the size of the first movie, but they're still a different size from the first movie when I put them into FCE. When converted, they take up the whole frame, while the Cap 1 clips are letterboxed. In the past, when I've had different size sources, I just manually adjusted the frame in the Canvas and it wasn't a big deal, but I can't seem to do that with this. If I scale the Cap 1 clips up, it cuts off too much material and I just don't see how it would work.

I guess I have two basic problems:

1) How can I make the two sources match in frame size?

2) How do you handle Blu-Ray digital files with this weird frame size? Even I were making a vid with just Cap 2 clips, the natural size is so short and wide. It only takes up the middle third of the screen. The other weird thing is when I check the size of these clips in Quicktime, it says it's 720 x 480, even though I exported them to an HD frame size.

I'm so confused and frustrated.

echan

What tools do you use to gather footage for vidding? How do you rip, convert, contort, and cajole source video into the format your editing program works with? This survey will crowd-source this information. The more people share, the more we can learn from each other. Tools you love, things you tried that weren't worth the time and effort, all your vidding experience is valuable.

We all have our preferences, we always will. There's still room to learn from others, find new things to try, new tools to try.

There's space for DVD ripping software, torrent sites, and more. The opinions entered can be anything from "this is perfect and I use it exclusively" to "tried it, didn't work, never again" and even in between. The aggregate data will include as much or as little personal comments as each person wants.

Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cagmOfbAKsA5HtO3gzHRQ-vUGcbjuZemxdxpss-DCBU/viewform?usp=send_form

Thanks in advance for contributing! Feel free to share this link and information with other vidders, anyone interested in sharing.

lilly-the-kid.livejournal.com

Hi everyone,

I ran into a very frustrating problem and I hope someone here can help me.

I rendered a vid as .wmv using Sony Vegas 9 Platiunum. This is what I always use and usually it works just fine. The rendered video is ok, meaning it plays fine in the vlc-player. The file is, however, bigger than these files normally are and - and this is the main problem - it doesn't work on any streaming site I uploaded it to. On Vimeo the playback is very jerky and the vid itself it out of sync. On viddler, the sync is fine, but the picture quality is unbelievably bad, it's pretty much unwatchable. (I had converted the vid from .wmv to .wmv with the flv to many formats converter, because otherwise it wouldn't work well on Vimeo, usually this does the trick and the vid plays fine. In this case, however, there is another problem occurring, one I've never encountered before.)

I tried exporting to different formats and converting to different formats after rendering, but since I don't have any idea why this is happening in the first place, I'm not really making any progress.

The source files are .wmv and .vob. I made vids before which featured these formats and there was no problem with the finished vid.

I don't know what's happening and what I can do. Any help and ideas would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

ETA: Thank you so much for all your suggestions! The .avi to .mp4 thing worked perfectly, I'm so happy!!! This whole thing provided me with a great opportunity to try new things and learn a bit more about the tech stuff and I'm so grateful for your help, thank you!

rurounihime.livejournal.com

Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to compress VOB files? I'm making a video from clips I've made using DVD Shrink and DVDFab, but the files are just too large to work with in any functional capacity. I've heard HandBrake is a good way to go, as well as SUPER and AutoGordianKnot... Do you have a favorite?

I'm working on a PC and using Pinnacle to make the actual vid (it handles the VOB files well but does not compress them, though the vid it turns out is AVI. I am concerned because I did a test run vid made up of exactly two clips and a ten second mp3, and the file ended up at 48.3 MB).

Thank you so much!

how-obscure.livejournal.com

I have Vista (64-bit) and use Windows Movie Maker. I also have the klite codec pack installed. I used DVD Decrypter to rip a DVD. I can import the VOB files into WMM, but for some reason the last bit of the movie is registering as 24 hours long so I can't put it in my timline. This is after I used the "create clips" function. I tried ripping the DVD again tonight and the last VOB file is 24 hours long. Does anyone know what is going on with that?

On my previous two vids, I used DVD Decrypter followed by AutoGordian Knot to convert the VOBS into .avis. I did not do that this time because I no longer have the version of DivX that I used to have and it won't open without it. I tried downloading DivX again, but it didn't work. Some cursory online research revealed that AGK won't work with newer versions of DivX. Would converting to .avi in any way help with the 24 hour clip? Also, does anyone have any recommendations for VOB to .avi conversion freeware if it's something I need?

I am hopeless when it comes to technology. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I looked through old entries, but I couldn't find anything that sounded exactly like my problems. There were some entries on converting, but they were all really old so I don't know if they are up to date. I had all but the final scene of this vid done when I discovered the problem. I'd really like to be able to finish it soon.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: home, kitchen table
Current Music: the sound of the rain

snj2-fan.livejournal.com

Hello, I'm new here and I've been having a bit of trouble converting my files.

My video files are. mkv which as you know isn't supported by Vegas. So I used E.M. Total Video - HD Version to convert them to .MP4/MPEG-4. I try to import into Vegas but it says there's an error that can't be determined.

I posted the MediaInfo under the cut. If anyone can help me, I'd really appreciate it.

( here )

Edited to Add: I have K-Lite Codecs if that helps.

crickets.livejournal.com

UPDATE!
This was easily fixed by not using MP3 as my audio source. In fact I just rendered my original AVI with the audio included, inputted my .avs into zarx gui (minus the kill audio line) and it was able to encode in such a way that was compatible with Quicktime. Easy fix for a headache of a problem.

It was recently brought to my attention, by a mac user, that my latest video would not play in quicktime. I went to the animemusivideos.org forums for help.

A few things:
- This is my first time using ut video codecs when rendering, and my first time using zarx264gui to compress.
- I vid in Sony Vegas 10.0
- My source material was comprised up of both mpg and avi files.
- I originally used the ut yuv422 uly2 codec to render the AVI [Did not choose this for any particular reason.]
- I could not get my site to embed the original vid (jwplayer) without distortion.
- Both Vimeo and Tumblr are able to convert the vid and have it play without distortion, youtube however, could not convert the vid without distortion.
- Based on suggestions from the forum, I later tried rendering in ut video yuv420 and huffyuv and compressing again with zarx (setting level to: unrestricted, 4.1 and 3.0) and none of these played.
- I am able to compress the video as an .avi in virtaldubmod and have it play in QT.
- Here is the file itself, in case that helps: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F7RWS0LX

While Vdub works, I find the end result with zarx to be clearer and pretty gorgeous. I'd really like to figure out how to get this to work so that it's compatible with quicktime. I realize most people use other methods for viewing their vids, and this seems to work in all of them except quicktime.

There is more detail here where the thread is continuing: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=104872

I'm also going to crosspost this to see if the folks over at

vidding_tech may know anything.

mrs-mcgarrett.livejournal.com

I'm having a difficult time converting .MKV to a more suitable format for Vegas Pro 10.0. After trying several video converters that have been recommended to me, I'm at a lost as to what to do. I don't know whether I'm not plugging in the right settings or what but the output file is grainy, pixalated, stutters, etc. Could it be something wrong with my computer? My computer hates to play .MKV files, they play like their in slow motion, the voices down match the video, etc, could that be the reason why?

crickets.livejournal.com

I am installing AMVApp 3.0 on my new computer and everything goes relatively smoothly until I get to the part with the video tests. At that point, all but one of the videos fails and the error is the following:

The procedure entry point RunDIIW (or RunDllW?) could not be located in the dynamic link library msdxm.ocx

I clicked "no" on the pop up that asked me if all of the tests worked and that error isn't listed on the help page of common errors that came up. Anybody got any ideas? (I'm running windows 7 64x and the only vidding software I had installed prior to attempting to install AMVapp was editing software like CS5 and Sony Vegas, no encoding/compression/ripping software.)

I'm posting this at the amv forum as well but thought someone here might be able to help.

superfire.livejournal.com

I'm sure this haas been asked in many different ways, but I can't find one that really helps me.

Sony Vegas Pro won't open .avi files. When I drag and drop onto the timeline I recieve the error message:

"An error occured while opening a codec."

I've been trying so many different codes, it's sent me dizzy!

I know there's the possibility of converting. But it takes quite a lot of space and can take long time, too.

So, could anyone help with this problem, please?

Current Music: LMFAO & David Rush Ft Pitbull & Kevin Rudolf - Shooting Star | Powered by Last.fm

justchance.livejournal.com

Hello. I'm pretty new to vidding and still learning. I have a question about HuffYUV. I have Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. I have read all kinds of documentation that it's finicky and does not like Divx/Xvid encoding and that it's best to use HuffYUV or Lagarith. As I understand it, HuffYUV files are larger due to the lossless compression but is it normal for them to be around 12G for 25 minutes of footage? I read that I should expect 4-5G for the same time which is more than fine, 12-15 is a little much. I'm using DVD Decrypter, Avisynth & VirtualDubMod for this process.

I'm ripping directly from the DVDs and the quality of the .avi is beautiful. I can't honestly tell the difference, but I had planned to rip several seasons and store them by episode. This way I could just go back to them and create clips from them on an as needed basis. Am I doing something wrong with this whole process, or did I just underestimate the size of the files?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Current Mood: confused

bironic.livejournal.com

Hello! I'm trying to adopt a new (read: proper) vidding method and have a question about frame rates. I posted to vidding_tech (along with a separate question about editing directly with avisynth files) but didn't get any bites -- any advice you may have would be fantastic.

The question is: At the moment I'm working with Stargate: Atlantis DVDs, which come up as 29.97 FPS and FILM. When I make the D2Vs, I choose FORCE FILM, which makes them 23.976 FPS and avoids any pesky interlacing. However, I'm told that Premiere Pro doesn't like 23.976 and that I should add a line to my AviSynth scripts saying AssumeFPS(23.98) and edit that way.

BUT! What do I do once I've exported the complete, edited vid? I was reading the Encode to MPEG for con distribution instructions because that's what VividCon requires, and there is no option for 23.98 FPS. Is there a simple line to add to the new AviSynth script for the AVI? Or does it require other steps? Meanwhile, does it matter for online distribution? And does any of this affect the separate audio file I'll have exported?

electrizity.livejournal.com

Hello! I have an idea for a vid I want to make centered on a musician, using footage of interviews, performances, and music videos. I now realize that I have more than ten sources from which I want to edit clips, and each of these sources is in a different format, with different aspect ratios, frames per second, etc.

( (Examples) )

Is this venture doomed from the start? I know it's been done before, but I'm also still a relative n00b. Does anyone have any advice or know of any guides for this sort of project using Final Cut Pro? Thanks!

Current Mood: intimidated

morgandawn.livejournal.com

More and more High Def TV footage is becoming available and that footage is often made available inside 'Matroska' or '.mkv' - an open source video container Here are a few tips on working with that footage (for both Mac and PC)

video converter (MKV)
HD Fan Vid Tutorial

The vidding forum 'Foolish Passion' has assembled a number of tutorials, among them working with High Def footage. You do need to create a free membership to view the boards. Look under "Vidding 101 - Tutorials for Mac and PC'.

edited:

rhoboat has a tutorial here on how to frameserve mkv files into Vegas.

Also we have a HDTV tag here on vidding

littleheaven70.livejournal.com

Hi everyone,

I've been vidding with Sony Vegas for about 7 years, since it was called Screenblast, although not so much recently due to RL distractions. I'm currently using Vegas Movie Studio 9. Up until now I've only ever used DVD source or files from iStock photo, both of which I could edit directly without converting to another format. However I've recently become infatuated with a new show and find myself in the unfamiliar territory of wanting to vid with downloaded avi files, which I believe are Xvid encoded.

Now, I am not used to working with full episodes, and find that they cause a lot of clutter in the timeline, so I want to just pick out the scenes of each ep I want to work with, convert them into a more edit-friendly format, and then import those to make my vid.

This is where I run into problems... I have ffdshow on my computer so Vegas accepts the Xvid files just fine, however when I render them, they are horribly interlaced. I've tried every output option available to me (short of fiddling with the advanced settings because I don't know what I'm doing with them) and the only ones that seem to work with nice, clear, good quality results are .rm (which I can't import for editing) or totally uncompressed, which looks brilliant but 2 minutes of footage comes out as a 1GB file.

So I was wondering if perhaps someone could offer me some guidance as to the best way to convert my .avi files into something Vegas friendly that looks the same quality as the source file. I've downloaded Mpeg Streamclip but have no idea how to use it or what output to choose. All suggestions most gratefully accepted!

Current Mood: frustrated

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Vidding discussion

Entries tagged with tech: converting & encoding

Using MKV for editing?

2015 Vidding Source Import Tools Census results are out!

Haven't done this in years: decrypting and converting?

Best method for decrypting and encoding footage?

Results of the Vidding Source Import Tools Census are published!

Need help using blu-ray digital download file

Take the Vidding Source Import Tools Census, share your experience

Tech Problem: rendered file won't work on streaming sites

Compressing VOB files?

Ripping/Coverting Woes

Converting Problem or Codec Problem?

ut video, zarx264gui, rendering, compression

Converting Help

AMVapp Install

Sony Vegas 10, avi importing problem

Lossless Compression Issues

Frame rate question

vidding with multiple sources?

Working With MKV Files

Editing with Mpeg4 files in Sony Vegas (x-posted to vidding_tech & my own LJ)

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March 2022

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