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Posted by Frank on 09/11/07 02:53
On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:52:37 +0100, in 'rec.video.production',
in article <Re: I can't edit my mpegs - what's wrong?>,
"a l l y" <ally@situponDOGGIEseats.co.uk> wrote:
>
>"Frank" <frank@nojunkmail.humanvalues.net> wrote in message
>news:p249e3t60uvnicl4im5jkrnukc0t0925rr@4ax.com...
>
>>
>> So which is it, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or an HDD (hard disk
>> drive) based camcorder?
>
>Both. It's one of those hybrid things with a hard disk, plus it takes mini
>DVDs.
Okay.
>> What is the file extension on the files that it creates - .mpg, or
>> something else?
>
>When it comes off the camera it's got a VRO extension. Now how did I convert
>that to mpg?
I've heard of .vro files, but have never worked with them. I do have
some programs, such as Squared 5 MPEG Streamclip, that support them,
however.
>> What software are you using to transfer the video to your computer,
>> and what file extension do the files have once they're on your
>> computer's hard disk drive?
>
>Can't remember - I did it a few weeks ago, and then got too busy to do any
>more. It was probably the rather crappy software that came with the camera.
>I'll have a better look at this tomorrow. (I'm in the UK and it's nearly
>midnight.)
Yes, it was probably whatever software came bundled with the
camcorder. Corel/InterVideo WinDVD Creator 3 Platinum claims to
support importing of .vro files and Corel/Ulead may also offer one or
two programs that support .vro files. CyberLink PowerDVD also claims
to support .vro files. There should be trial versions of both WinDVD
Creator 3 Platinum and PowerDVD that you could download and try.
AVS Video Tools also supports .vro files, so that's another one that
you might wish to try.
http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoTools/
>>>So far so good. I can play them back, on a variety of players.
>>
>> Just curious, but does "a variety of players" include the VideoLAN VLC
>> media player program? If you don't have a copy and wish to get it,
>> it's a free download from http://www.videolan.org/
>
>Yes, I've got VideoLan but I'd forgotten I had it. It does play the files,
>but stretches them horizontally for some reason. They're already in wide
>screen format, but VideoLan seems to make them even wider. Very strange.
>Apart from that they play all right - the audio is fine too. When I try mpgs
>from other sources that I've got saved on my hard drive, they play
>perfectly, so maybe it's something to do with the wide screen format?
Yes, either the widescreen flag isn't properly set or VLC media player
program just isn't properly interpreting it. Note that VLC media
player has a Stream/Save option that supports both MPEG TS and MPEG
PS, with transcoding and scaling ability as well, thus it *might* be
possible to use the program to re-save the file with a corrected
aspect ratio.
Another thing that you might wish to try is to let a codec analyzer
(analyser) program such as GSpot take a look at the file and see what
information it reports as to frame size, frame rate, aspect ratio,
etc. It's a free download from the following URL, in case you don't
already have a copy.
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
>> Also, does "a variety of players" include Windows Media Player?
>
>Yes, they play perfectly on that, and on Real Player.
Interesting.
>I've just tried a file on WinAmp, and what happens there is that the
>soundtrack works fine, but all I can see is the first image which stays
>frozen.
I'm almost surprised that Winamp even opened the file.
>QuickTime gives me an "Error -2048 Not a movie file"
Even if you changed the file extension to .mpg, you would need the
optional MPEG-2 Playback Component, I would think, to play the file
within the QuickTime player program.
>> It could be a codec issue, but without having access to one of your
>> files, I can't really answer that question definitively.
>
>I couldn't really ask you to go to the trouble of looking at one of my
>files, could I?
You're welcome to post one, if you wish. I'll take a quick look at it.
>> Go to http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/ and download and install
>> both VirtualDub-MPEG2 1.6.19 and AC-3 ACM Codec and see what happens
>> when you try to open and play these files in the VirtualDub-MPEG2
>> program. If you can successfully open and play them in
>> VirtualDub-MPEG2, then you can probably edit them in VirtualDub-MPEG2
>> and if you really prefer Windows Movie Maker (WMM) for editing, you
>> could save the files out of VirtualDub-MPEG2 as uncompressed AVIs and
>> open the .avi files in WMM for editing.
>
>OK, I've tried this. What happens is the opposite of the result in
>VideoLan - the image is compressed horizontally, rather than stretched. Not
>only this, but the audio becomes jerky. Saving it as an avi file works but
>the resulting file is the same - horizontally squashed and jerky sound.
Interesting. I had some degree of hope that VirtualDub-MPEG2 would
play the file correctly. Then you could save it out into a format that
would be easier for you to work with.
>Could any of this be to do with the fact that it has been recorded in this
>wide screen format? Maybe the software doesn't like it?
It does seem as though that might be at least part of the problem.
>> Well, if it's not a codec issue, it might be a TS (Transport Stream)
>> versus PS (Program Stream) issue, although there are other
>> possibilities as well.
>
>OK, you are now getting too technical for me!
Sorry, it's just that a lot of older programs that work with MPEG-2
support PS but not TS. It's just a different way of wrapping the data.
>> I can't envision camera-original footage as being DRM-protected in any
>> way, although the files that came off of the camcorder and which now
>> reside on your system's HDD might have been marked read-only by
>> whatever software you used to transfer them. If that's the case, you
>> would be able to open and play them and even possibly even edit them,
>> but you couldn't rename them, move them, delete them, or overwrite
>> them without first flipping the "R" bit in the directory entry. (This
>> can be easily done in Windows Explorer, if necessary.)
>>
>
>If I've got time tomorrow I'll do some experimenting with the camera - I'll
>try filming something in the 'normal' rather than wide-screen format, for a
>start, and see if that works any better. And I'll try to remember how I got
>the files off the camera on to my computer! I seem to remember having some
>trouble with that as well.....
Okay, that sounds good. Also, and especially if you shoot some 4:3
footage, you might want to give VirtualDub-MPEG2 another try.
If VirtualDub-MPEG2 can open the file, and even if it displays it with
an improper aspect ratio, you should be able to use the program's
built-in "resize" filter (choose "Filters..." on the "Video" menu and
then click the "Add..." button) to correct the aspect ratio and
re-save the file to disk in a format that's better for you to work
with.
This may sound strange, but in your case, and even with the files with
which you've already tested (where the video was "compressed
horizontally" and the audio was "jerky"), you may be also to resize
the video and save the file with uncompressed audio and end up with a
new file that plays correctly and is easy to edit in your editor of
choice.
>Thanks for all your advice so far. You've given me a lot of food for
>thought.
You're very welcome, and in point of fact, since I didn't have a
specific solution to offer for your problem, that was the intent of my
post.
>ally
Hope this helps and good luck!
--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/
(also covers AVCHD and XDCAM EX).
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