PICVideo interlacing

[John Wray]

I've been playing with the PICVideo MJPEG codec with my Marvel G400, using the YUY2 hack. I can capture fine, but on playback there are annoying interlace artifacts. It looks like the codec is getting the field order wrong (alternate scan lines are shifted horizontally), but checking or unchecking the "Reverse decompressed fields" checkbox in the PICVideo settings dialog doesn't cure the problem - playback using either setting shows severe interlace problems, although when I check the box they're less severe than with it unchecked (I think that's the right way round, but it might be better when it's unchecked).

I can use VirtualDub's swap fields and smart de-interlace to clean it up for final rendering to MPEG-1/2, but I haven't found a way to view the captured MJPEG files in MediaPlayer or PC-VCR without the interlace problems.

Has anyone else run into this?

John

[Dr Mordrid]

PICVideo is like most other softcodecs in that it's dumb as far as interlacing goes. It basically encodes whatever it gets using the stream parameters provided by the card.

I'd consider reinstalling DirectX and the display/capture drivers before doing anything else.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fred H]

I tried to apply UWEs method to change the Matrox(Zoran) codec to PICVideo codec
By rewriting some rows in the SYSTEM.INI file:

the original rows:

;;;Matrox to PIC Video:
;;;vidc.dmb1=Pvmjpg20.dll
;;;;Matrox Orig HW codec
VIDC.dmb1=RRIcm.dll

and the changed rows:

;;;;Matrox to PIC Video:
vidc.dmb1=Pvmjpg20.dll
;;;;Matrox Orig HW codec
;;;VIDC.dmb1=RRIcm.dll

The result surprized me.


Fred H

[Dr Mordrid]

Pleasantly I presume

That was a pretty good hack. It sure cleared up some titling artifacts that were bugging folks at the time.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fred H]

Yes, very good results with this hack.
The more plesent surprize is that a PICVideo .avi can be edited in MSP6 even after resetting the Matrox-dmb1 codec.
The Morgan did not work for me (for a year ago)
And the captured mjpeg file is playable on a non Matrox machine.
The PICVideo is a nice piece, but you need a some faster CPU. Then the Matrox MJPEG will be death.

Fred H

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

That seems really interesting! Any links for more info it?

I'm assuming the effect of doing this is that you can use PIC MJPEG through the Marvel without a YUY2 hack? Is that true? Does this work in Win2K? Can you set the Q to 20?

Thank you

[rodgreen]

I'd like to know more about this too!

Rod

[Sciascia]

OK, I have an older version of PicVideo that I installed a while back, but just re-enabled it. I have trouble using it with MSP6. It does not preview out to the TV output and I get MCI playback errors when I try to load the clip into the preview window. Now my ulead32.ini file has been setup for the HW codec (according to the Electric Eye's website) and everything worked great, but I would really like to upgrade to Win2k and have unlimited file sizes.

What should my ini look like?

I don't want to reformat unless it is going to work with the TV out and if the VidTools for Win2k are good enough for YUY2 capture. Is this the case?

What is a good quality level? (max gives really large filesizes, obviously)

Thank You
Sciascia

[Rob100]

I tried this also and changed the line in my system.ini to

vidc.dmb1=Pvmjpg20.dll

When I play with Media Player it still uses the Matrox codec.

If I load a Matrox capture clip into MSP it identifies the file as PicVideo MJPEG.

I notice that I now get 2 enteries in my codec list (in MSP, AVI_IO etc) with say PicVideo - obviously one of these is the replacement for Matrox MJPEG.

However regardless of which one I use, MSP still insists of re-rendering the whole files before playback rather than just the transitions.

Have I missed the point here or am I doing something wrong?

[Sciascia]

Rob100,

Not to insult you, but are you using the same codec and format iun your project settings as when you capture. Also try doing the smart convert or check thingy in the File menu of MSP6. It will tell you why it is rerendering the clip. It may be something like the framerate is off just a bit or something.

Of course, I am having my own issues right now with PicVideo.

[Rob100]

Sciascia,

Yes, same codec, frame size/rate etc. I will have a look at smart convert etc later.

Rob.

[AndrewDV]

Hello,

I gave this hack a go under Win98. My results were mixed. My system became very unstable when capturing . The files that could be fully captured looked good, but not great (even with quality=20). Oh well, I'll still use the WinTV for YUY2.

Rob100, are you capturing to res's compatible with Matrox MJPEG (704x480, 352x480, etc.)? If not, that could be what is stopping the overlay from being sent to the TV. Have you tried the DivxG400 patch?

THanks

[Fred H]

Careful read the Guide_10 http://www.desktopvideoworld.co.uk/I.../guide_10.html
You CAN'T have two mjpeg codecs with dmb1 at the same time, so unmark the one of them by setting a ; or ;;; at the unwanted row.

Check the ulead32.ini for this:

[HardwareAcc]
HwCodecID=dmb1
.
.
etc

MSP6 use to delete this second line if you try to render a non dmb1 file. Don't know why, but it does.

Yes, Msp6 doesn't show PICVideo files on the TV. I haven't time to investigate about it, why.

Fred H

[Sciascia]

I already went in and fixed my ini edits and it works, but the timeline scrolling does not output to the TV. I guess I am just going to be stuck with Win98SE. The filesize of PicVideo for compable quality is not impressing me. I much prefer using the HW that I paid for.

[Fred H]

Sciascia,
100% agree with you

Fred H