MSP6.5 review in PC Pro

[Rob100]

Hi all,

There's a review of MSP 6.5 in this months (October!?) PC Pro magazine (UK) and funny enough the G550 also. I know I shouldn't do this, but does anyone want me to scan them and attach? Not exactly great reviews but worth a read I guess...

Rob.

[VTS69]

Media Studio text excerpt

Big brother to VideoStudio, MediaStudio Pro is a suite of tools centred around a multichannel editor that has a passing resemblance to Adobe Premiere's. Although Ulead claims that a Pentium III/700 with 128Mb of RAM is the minimum specification for MediaStudio, you should aim for at least 256Mb of RAM and an 800MHz processor. I tried MediaStudio on an Athlon/700 with 128Mb of RAM, but found that switching to an Athlon/900 with 256Mb of RAM roughly halved my rendering times.

Setup involves installing not only the MediaStudio files, but also QuickTime 5 and the latest version of DirectX. To its credit, the setup utility handles this whole process with aplomb, with a reboot required only at the very end. MediaStudio will even detect any DV camcorder attached to a FireWire port.

Once you're up and running, your first port of call is the Video Capture application. The application presents a Preview window in the centre of the screen. If all is well, and your camcorder is switched on, you'll see and hear your video playing. You're more likely to have problems with analog-capture devices than DV, but these are usually resolved by selecting the right source and video format; capture cards have a habit of defaulting to NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) rather than PAL (phase alternating line).

DV users are spoilt by the Video Capture application. MediaStudio's plug-and-play feature means that it automatically detects a DV camcorder (or USB Webcam) as soon as it's plugged in. Device Control allows you to play, record, rewind and fast-forward your camcorder from within the Video Capture interface. Best of all, Batch Capturing allows you to select in- and out-points while previewing the video. Once you've been through the raw footage, you can click Record and let MediaStudio handle the process of capturing your clips.

Analog users are less fortunate, since they need to click Record at the start of each sequence and then Escape at the end, a process not helped by the annoying message box that pops up every time. More annoying, with an analog camcorder, is configuring the capture driver between each recording, otherwise the end result's aspect ratio is wrong. My video-capture card hasn't exhibited this behaviour in other applications.

MediaStudio will capture MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video. The older standard is fine for output to VHS tape, CD-ROM or VideoCDs. MPEG-2 offers the highest quality and, provided you have a fast enough PC with plenty of hard disk space, offers the possibility of creating DVDs (if you have a DVD-R drive), Super Video CDs or MiniDVDs.

For the professional, Video Capture includes tools for colour calibration and video signal accuracy. Colours can vary, depending on the environment in which the video was shot, and where more than one camcorder is used. Video Capture provides a built-in vectorscope and waveform analysis tool to allow you to tweak your capture card's settings so that colour fidelity remains constant.

Video Capture has a single, but very important, role in the process and it does it well and without fuss. Capturing video can be a torturous process, but Video Capture makes it as pain-free as possible, particularly for DV users. If you're an analog user, you'll have to invest longer in this process, particularly if your capture card driver exhibits the same problem as mine. Once that's done, the process is identical for both formats.

Video Editor is the heart of the MediaStudio system, and at the heart of the Video Editor is the Timeline. MediaStudio uses a similar approach to Premiere. Two video channels are used, separated by a transition channel. One clip is placed in, say, channel A, and the next in channel B with a slight overlap. A transition is placed in the FX channel for the period of the overlap. Creating a video is largely a process of inserting clips, setting their in- and out-points and the transitions used between them. The process is simple and intuitive, and MediaStudio handles it particularly well.

Video Editor's Production Library includes a set of transitions, audio and video filters and the Media Library. Once your clips have been captured, they're imported into the Media Library's Storyboard. From here, you're able to drag and drop them onto the Timeline. Although you can simply double-click a Timeline channel to import a clip, it makes sense to organise your clips in this visual manner before adding them to the Timeline. The other advantage of using the Storyboard is the option to use 'ripple editing': in other words, if you insert a clip into the middle of a sequence, later clips are pushed further down the Timeline to maintain their relationship to each other. This is a huge timesaver.

The default interface includes two monitor windows: one displaying a preview of the finished video, the other showing the component clips. The Source window is used to specify the in- and out-points of a particular clip - you can view either the video or audio component. The Preview window includes an Instant Playback option that uses a real-time rendering system to preview the Timeline more or less instantly. Although the quality is lower and frames are dropped on slower PCs, this preview facility is by far the best I've seen and makes it possible to get the sequence right before the more long-winded rendering process begins. This is another example of Ulead thinking about the editing process and coming up with solutions for its more annoying and time-consuming aspects.

Video Editor includes a huge range of professional-level facilities for manipulating your clips. Chroma keying and transparency setting can be achieved on any of the three special Timeline channels; Video Editor offers fine control of the level of transparency and a selection of methods including blue-screen, alpha, ink-effects and grey levels.

Unfortunately, MediaStudio betrays its roots in the huge array of transition effects, moving paths and filters it offers. How many BBC programmes have you seen with a rotating 3D checkerboard transition and a punch effect? The fact is that professional productions will use a simple cut or fade most of the time, with the odd special effect such as a vignette for particular productions.

On the positive side, Video Editor can output to just about every important video type and codec in the book, including QuickTime, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, ASF and RealPlayer RM format. The results are excellent, but then most video editors offer good-quality output. It's how you get there that differs.

Ulead aims to cater for all your video-production requirements, including titling, painting and audio-editing applications in the box. The best of these is CG Infinity.

While hardly on a par with Flash, CG Infinity offers high-quality titling and motion graphics and is very easy to use. It includes a range of pre-built styles to apply to your titles, although you can create them from scratch. It's possible to import WMF graphics or you can select from the small built-in selection. Graphics can also be created using Infinity's limited range of tools and then animated along a BŽzier path. Files saved in Infinity's proprietary format can then be imported into Video Editor. It's possible to remove the background using the Alpha overlay setting, giving the effect of the title and graphics sitting directly on the video background. This introduces the possibility of integrating animated drawn elements into a video sequence: what a pity it doesn't support Flash.

Less impressive is the Video Paint application. Video Paint aims to allow you to draw over a video sequence, adding, for example, lightning effects. Unfortunately, Video Paint suffers from two main drawbacks. First, you can't import clip-art of any sort except by using the clipboard; second, it includes very few of the tools needed for graphically challenged people, like myself, to achieve reasonable results. For example, there are no shape or text tools. It's a pity, as there's the kernel of a genuinely useful application here.

Finally, and perhaps even less impressive, is the Audio Editor. Offering a few basic effects and editing tools, the Audio Editor is no substitute for a professional program. Unless your needs are very basic you'd be better off with a low-cost editor such as Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge XP.

MediaStudio outperforms its nearest rival Premiere 6 in a number of key aspects. First, its handling of MPEG-2 gives it a clear edge for DV users and DVD creators. DV users are better supported with the range of auto-control and scene-detection tools, as well as MediaStudio's workaround for the 4Gb DirectShow capture limitation. Instant Previewing and Ripple Editing cut down on the more laborious aspects of the editing process, and the range of output choices means that MediaStudio offers unrivalled flexibility.

I'm prepared to forgive the over-the-top video effects, the poor Video Paint and Audio applications and the sometimes dubious handling of the capture process. Aspects of video editing can be tiresome and long-winded and MediaStudio does a good job of making previewing, Timeline adjustments and rendering as speedy and simple as possible. MediaStudio Pro 6.5 was rock-solid in use and responsive enough on systems with 128Mb of RAM or more. For more than occasional use, however, 256Mb of RAM and a 900MHz processor are essential.

[VTS69]

G550 text excerpt

Only a few years ago Matrox's G400 card was competing on a level playing field with Nvidia and ATi in terms of 3D performance. However, with the release of ATi's Radeon and the immensely successful Nvidia GeForce range of chipsets, Matrox has been forced to take a step out of the spotlight. But despite being overshadowed in terms of 3D prowess, the company has remained an innovator in the realm of 2D graphics with DualHead technology. With the release of its new Millennium G550 card, Matrox is aiming to cement its position in this area, while also introducing a new 3D feature called HeadCasting for visual Voice over IP.

The Millennium G550 is Matrox's first card to feature hardware support for DirectX 8, although it isn't as fully featured as the GeForce3 and shouldn't be viewed as an alternative. The G550's DirectX 8 functionality is centred on what is called the HeadCasting Engine, which is essentially a Vertex Shader unit similar to the one found in Nvidia's GeForce3. However, the sole function of the G550's Vertex Shader is to do something called Matrix Palette Skinning.

Matrix Palette Skinning is a feature that allows complex manipulation of geometry using control points, or matrices. To visualise this, think of a human face described as a complex wire mesh. By manipulating the junctions of this mesh, the face can be animated. The complexity of animation depends on the number of matrices, or the intricacy of the mesh, and the more complex the animation, the higher the demand on processing. Matrox's HeadCasting Engine features 256 registers, which can store 32 matrices, allowing for a far higher level of facial animation than would normally be possible.

One of the primary reasons for this technology is to provide support for visual Voice over IP. To achieve this you must first create an image of your own head using the software supplied, which can then be animated in high resolution using the G550's HeadCasting technology. Your conference partner does the same and you exchange images so that you have a copy of each other's head locally on your system. All that's then required to be sent is the information specific to the animation itself, such as lip-syncing, which is achieved by voice pattern-recognising software, also included.

Seeing this in action is quite impressive, although for full effect both parties must have a G550. However, we're not so convinced of it's usefulness in the real world, as anyone serious about videoconferencing would probably prefer talking to a real head, rather than a computer-generated one.

Aside from the HeadCasting Engine the core of the G550 is very similar to the Millennium G450 (see Labs, issue 79, p131). The chip itself is manufactured using the same 0.18 micron process and the G450's 64-bit DDR memory bus remains. A new feature, though, is that the G550 can now process two textures to a pixel per clock cycle, but this is hardly cutting edge, being a feature of the Nvidia cards since the GeForce2 GTS. It's also worth noting that the DirectX 8 Vertex Shader functionality is only available to HeadCasting applications. That said, even the slight 3D modifications to the G550 should still give it a performance edge over the G450 in 3D. This was quickly confirmed by the benchmark score of 1,790 in 3DMark2000 at 1,024 x 768 in 32-bit colour, compared to the G450's score of 1,203. The lack of full DirectX 8 compatibility results in a low score of 1,140 in 3DMark2001, and Quake III at the same settings was slow at 29.5fps. We also found some minor problems with OpenGL, probably due to the early driver build.

In terms of 2D acceleration, though, the G550 is more impressive. The 360MHz primary and 230MHz secondary RAMDACs from the G450 are retained, but the G550 now features twin TMDS (Transmission Minimised Differential Signalling) transmitters, allowing output to two digitally connected flat panels, although only some of the boards will feature dual DVI outputs. Matrox has enhanced its DualHead technology to take advantage of this feature, while also improving support for independent resolutions and colours depths when using Windows 2000.

In a standard Windows environment the G550 produced a wonderfully crisp display, both through D-SUB and DVI. The VideoMark2000 score of 2,372 is excellent and, if 2D display quality is your primary concern, the G550 will serve you well.

The Matrox Millennium G550 offers little extra over the G450 in terms of general functionality. Only the new HeadCasting feature is of note, but we're convinced that the serious user will find communicating with an animated disembodied head more of a gimmick than a tool. HeadCasting can also be used as a remote presentation tool, although this is also likely to be viewed with scepticism.

That said, the DualHead functionality, as ever, is useful in a variety of applications, and the 2D image quality is as good as we've come to expect from Matrox. The extra 3D speed isn't enough to rival ATi's Radeon VE Dual Display Edition (see Reviews, issue 81, p154), but the better DualHead features and top 2D image quality make it the 2D dual-display device of choice.

[johnpr98]

PCPro said they were going to review MSP 7 this month, must have been a mosprint list manth

This review can be read by registering free at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/

However the Magazine DVD contents aren't included on the site!

Can you tell me if there is anything good on the October DVD edition, they have had some very good ones recently (I have to go on a 30 mile round trip to pick one up, (Computer Video Magazine is also out I hear so it may be tomorrow).

Back to MSP 6.5

Scene detection sounds good, I also have VS5 & you cant' import the VSP file into MSP6 (With pre trimmed clips).

Instant Previewing sounds good stuff to.

Even PC Advisor is getting in on this Video Editing lark & reviewing MSP 6.5.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/about/magazine.cfm

Another mag which has a good DVD now & again

John Price

http://www.johnpr98.com

[Dr Mordrid]

In no particular order;

1. Cool3D project files can now be directly imported to the timeline where MSPro 6.5 will render them. If placed on an overlay track MSPro 6.5 will apply the alpha channel to composite them. No more pre-rendering of uncompressed *.avi's.

2. VideoStudio 5 project files can now be used in MSPro 6.5.

3. The Storyboard has a TON more features than noted. You can import your clips there first for trimming, re-trimming or even cue based trimming. In cue based trimming the clip is sent to the Source window where you can press F5 to apply each cue. When finished you can then cut on those cue marks. The resulting clips will then be entered into the Storyboard in order. Once there you can then re-order if desired or even sort them (by name, discription or annotation).

After the trimming and ordering is finished you can export them to the timeline where they'll be automatically inserted into Va & Vb. The manner of this insertion is definable if you use the "Add to V/B Roll" feature. Here you can define if the clips will be aligned for cuts or overlapped so you can apply transitions. The duration of this overlap is set in the Add to A/B Roll dialog.

In the last 6.5 beta build the overlap could be defined in whole seconds, but the betas suggested (strongly ) using frames. I'm not sure if this will be changed in the release or in a patch, but they were working on it.

4. DV Audio was fixed in all my systems.

5. DirectX audio filters were fixed. Now those that didn't work for me, do.

6. You can do Voiceover tracks. You define the track and start a preview. While the preview is playing you do the voiceover (I use a headset mic thorugh the Santa Cruz at 48khz). This "voice file" is then placed on the track you defined. Very nice feature!!

7. You can also split DV files by scene, cue or position on the timeline. Scene requires that they haven't been previously trimmed.

8. There's now a Fade to Black transition.

9. Instant Preview. Yes, this is essentially realtime previewing. It'll work with plugins, transitions, filters, Cool3D project files etc. etc.

How many layers of effects will be available "instantly" will depend on the speed of the CPU and if the effects support SSE2.

In the beta Instant Preview was only to the Preview window as it still used VfW for this function and scrubbing (just like MSPro6), but after some prodding (those pesky betas again ) they were working hard on making it DirectShow so it'll go to vidouts. If this isn't in the release it should be added in a patch they are already working on.

When this happens then you'll have realtime to the vidouts, which of course will work best in SSE2 capable systems since Instant Preview is one of those new P4 accelerated features.

DV Raptor/Storm RT who?

and on and on....

Dr. Mordrid

[Rob100]

John,

I checked last night (on the PC Pro site) before posting here, but those reviews weren't there! Either that or I'm going mad... Doesn't matter any how as you saved me the trouble.

Sorry m8 I get the CD version. Well actually we get the mag at work and I bring it home before anyone else sees it ;-) We don't have a DVDROM drive at work so I can't really upgrade the subscription :-(

Rob

[paulw]

Doc,

With MSPRO6.5 are you able to save a project as another version. ie MSPRO5.2 or VS 5 ??

[Dr Mordrid]

No, just as its own *dvp's.

Dr. Mordrid

[tilski]

Do I Still Need To Press Play?

Will I still need to press play on my DV Camera when capturing in MSPRO 6.5 Capture as in version 6.

This is only slightly annoying........mainly because the whole package is so good that that lets it down a bit.

And please don't suggest that I use batch capture because I hate that........(mainly because I'm too stupid to get it working)

thanks

tilski

[Dr Mordrid]

I can play, record etc. right from the Video Capture controls from the get-go. No need to do more than plug the cam in, turn it on and go.

Dr. Mordrid