MSP 6.5 & analogue video?

[Fred H]

What is the (main) benefit of upgrading MSP 6.0 to 6.5 when I am only able to capture analogue video, in the present (no DV/DV8 camcorder, yet )?

Fred H

[Brian Ellis]

Fred

When I got back from China on Wednesday evening, I found my 6.5 had been delivered. I installed it on Thursday evening (no problem). I used it to capture the stuff I took in China for my UN work, via Marvel G-200 at 704 x 576 best definition Matrox MJPEG (no problem - 1 drop at a transition in c. 20 min of capture). I then did an animation of a map (Video Paint), some moving path titles (CG Infinity) and edited the video, adding transitions, with one or two retouches of the audio, to produce a 12 min 15 sec document, rendered into an Indeo 5.1 codec .avi file at 357 x 288, using a tad less than 200 Mb on CD-Rs. Total time taken about 6 hours, including 2+ hours of rendering. As this was done in a hurry, I did not have time to deliberately examine the new bits and pieces, but what I did find was that the preview from the timeline is fantastically useful, provided that you wait a few seconds before trying to use it (I guess it does an invisible rough render). I have the impression that the Smart-render feature is much better. I found one bug, though. Even when unchecked, the New Dialog Box comes up at each Editor start-up (not had time to find out why). I also have a problem with the DVD, but this may just be a set-up error on my part. I haven't used it yet, but the Voice-Over feature looks useful. My disappointment: seamless capture (and a few other features) is strictly DV only.

Summary: I think the upgrade at $99 is worthwhile.

[wkulecz]

The 6.5 update breaks Netshow Tools 3.0 and you loose the ability to produce *.asf files that will play in Media Player 6.

The WME that Ulead rudely installs without asking will not produce a file that is playable without Media Player 7.

I'm not a fan of streaming video but I have been creating short *.asf clips and Emailing them to cleints/colleauges for quick editorial feedback on key project sections, but now Ulead and Microsoft demands they do non-reversable updates to their systems in order to read my files.

There is no option to un-install WME!!!!!
This is not progress.

I'm re-installing Netshow 3 tools now in hopes I can somehow still create the old *.asf file format. (Didn't work!)

--wally.

[Fred H]

dumb Q: what is WME? Win Media Editor?

Fred H

[Dr Mordrid]

WME = Windows Media Encoder. The replacement for the NetShow tools Wally is so in love with.

As for working with analog, there are plenty of advantages in 6.5 for it too. One biggie is the ability to do cuts on cue.

Cut on cue is best used from the Storyboard, another great new feature. It lets you cut a long capture into multiple pieces by placing the clip in the Source Window and using it to scroll to each cut point. Once you find a place where you want a cut you just press F5 to mark it. Once you have them all marked you just select the Cut On Cue menu item and they're all done at once.

Once they are separated you can then notate (and these notes can be used to sort the clips), delete, trim and arrange your clips right in the Storyboard. The Storyboard contents (or parts of its contents) can then be automatically exported to the A/B timeline with transition overlaps in place which have a pre-defined duration. Once there all you have to do is drop the transitions in place.

Clips can also be exported with cuts-only transitions, which makes the ability to only export part of the Storyboard to the timeline a distinct advantage.

Each of these can save a load of time arranging and setting the duration of transitions all by itself. Using these features together is a REAL timesaver.

There are a lot of other timesavers and neat features that apply to analog too and yes, the VoiceOver feature is more than a little handy. With it you can record a running commentary while playing a preview of the sequence involved. A headset mic is very handy for this.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fred H]

Thanks Doc and all for helping.
OK, keeping in mind the advices in this thread and Docs earlier description of MSP 6.5, I'm convinced to upgrade to 6.5 as soon as possible.

Fred H

[wkulecz]

Hey I'm not in love with anything form Microsoft.

Fact remains something that was part of MSP 6.0 that I was using (ocasionally, but really needed this weekend) was rudely removed by the MSP6.5 update without warning.

Apparently once the WME is installed you can't produce *.asf aimed at Media Player 6 users. Re-installing Netshow tools doesn't work and there is no way to uninstall WME!!!

Making IRREVERSABLE changes to my system software without my approval when installing an update is just plain unacceptable and I'm very PO'd about it on principle!

--wally.

[Dr Mordrid]

Wally,

If you try to play a WM7 file in MediaPlayer 6.4 it tries to connect to Microsoft to download the codec. Once this is done MP-6.4 can play WM7 files quite nicely.

I just did this a few hours ago after installing a fresh Win98SE build to one of the removable beta drives.

Can I assume your contacts can connect to the net for this purpose? If they can then I see no reason to keep producing files in an outdated format.

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

What WME template did you use? When I tried to play the one I had created, MP6.4 connected to try and find a codec, but said there wasn't a suitable one available for download.

I'm on W2K, the folks I send them to have Macs Win9x, & W2K. An automatic codec download they could handle if one is availabe for all the platforms.

I'm recreating a clip using the "Video for Email and 128Kbps for dual channel ISDN" template again now. I was using the 100 Kbps "presentation video" and 300 Kpbs templates for *.asf in MSP6, so this seemed the closest "match".

Ok, it seems there is a *.wmv codec for Media Player 6 available now that wasn't there last Thursday, Friday or Saturday. This makes my complaint moot, but it doesn't change the fact that it wouldn't work right after the update when I needed it, which is why I complained about it!

*.asf may be outatded, but it did the job I needed, sometimes "better" is simply a waste of time, as I'm not impressed by my first 128 Kpbs *.wmv, not that I was impressed with most of the *.asf either, although a couple of times I got "lucky" and got surprisingly good quality for ~1 min clip in ~850 Kbytes.

--wally.

[Dr Mordrid]

Hehe...sounds like you have more of a complaint against M$ than Ulead

I was using Video for broadband @256 kbps on that play, but now it'll play about anything I feed it.

Dr. Mordrid