2 Gb barrier

[mmshah]

Using W2k with Marvel g200:

This is really a pain in the ass. I am trying to capture a large video stream 10Gb+ and would like to then edit out the commericals and then transcode to 650Mb mpeg2 files. What should I be using? I have tried VirtualDub, PC-VCR, AVI_IO, Ulead MSP6 and Ligos. But when I create avi files >2Gb with Ulead and try to play them back in Windows Media player it chokes as does Ligos in encoding. I thought Ulead MSP6 creates OpenDML type AVI so then Ligos would be able to encode it as per their faq. And why won't Media Player play it properly? Trying with Virtual Dub now. But Virtual Dub also give the page locked blue screen after exit after video capture. Anyone else doing anything similar, would appreciate if you could elucidate me with your magic recipe.

Thanks for any help

[DrMordrid]

I read on Uleads MSPro6 support page that at least some versions of the Matrox codec are not OpenDML compatable.

You might want to try creating those files with the PICVideo MJPeg codec as it IS fully OpenDML compatable. I got that right from Pegasus tech support.

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

Hmmm...

Sounds to me like the problem is on capture, so I don't see how a software codec can help (unless you capture direct to MPEG). You need to have a "DirectShow" capture driver (this is what it apears the Marvel can't do at present) *and* NT, W2K or some kind of NTFS on win9x driver to break the 2GB/4GB limit on capture files (a single fat32 file can't be bigger than 4GB). OpenDML on fat32 only gets you to 4GB which is still far short of the ~13GB for an hour of DV or best quality Marvel MJPEG.

Sounds to me like AVI_IO is the solution -- Markus' capture utility that breaks a long capture into a set of 2GB chunks without dropped frames. Import the captured 2GB pieces into MSPro, edit and encode (render) the timeline to your final <2/4GB MPEG file using the built-in Ligos GoMotion. IMHO, you'll need to edit the ulead32.ini file to enable the "advance" button and up the quality and motion estimation settings from the defaults to get good results. But that's another issue that could be answered by searching this forum.

For $25 AVI_IO is hard to beat!

--wally.

[DrMordrid]

AVI_IO *is* of advantage during capture time of course, but that wasn't the original question. It was "when I create avi files >2Gb with Ulead and try to play them back in Windows Media player it chokes....".

Creating files of >2 gigs after editing out the commercials is exactly where the PICVideo codec, and its support for OpenDML, would be an advantage.

Even so you're right in that it only gives you 4 gigs with FAT32.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 10 May 2000).]

[wkulecz]

I don't think mmshah told us everything we need to really help him out. I thought his goal was to produce 650MB (CD-R sized) MPEG2 files from a ~10GB capture.

From my playing around with MSPro6.0 under w2k it seems that only an OpenDML capture driver can do >2GB captures. Is the Marvel w2k beta drivers openDML? VfW? or both? How can MJPEG captures claim to be openDML if the Marvel MJPEG codec isn't "directshow" conformant?

I did an ~8GB DV capture with the Pyro and W2K Media Player appears to handle it fine. Can't do anything useful with it in MS-Pro6.0 due to audio sync and noise problems, fix has been due from Ulead "friday" for almost a month :-(

OTOH, perhaps his problem is trying to play MPEG2 files back with Media Player, or has this capability been added in w2k? (I've not played with MPEG2 encoding because I thought "DVD player" software was needed to play it back so its of no use to my friends with P200 class machines.

I've had no success with Virtual Dub captures with either my G200 Marvel or a cheap Hauppauge Win/TV card, although I don't think I've tried the very lattest version yet.

Wouldn't Marvel MJPEG captures output to PicVideo MJPEG force a re-render of the entire 10GB (minus the edited out commercials) which would then have to be rendered again to MPEG2 via his stand-alone Ligos? That's why I suggesed AVI_IO and creating MPEG2 directly from the MSPro timeline so it only has to render once.

I won't try to convience him that its not a PITA! :-)

--wally.

[mmshah]

I don't have any problem playing back mpeg2 files on my computer.

The author of VirtualDub has stated that Ulead MSP6 is not really OpenDML compliant, and VirtualDub is capable of doing the simple edits that I need to, but I still can't get large captures to play or encode, mjpeg or raw.

Also if I use MSP6 to create a >2Gb file from AVI_IO files or PC-VCR files, I still have the same playback and encoding problems.

I don't think the Ligos mpeg2 encoder in Ulead has enough functionality for me. I use the Ligos encoder 3.0 and I still have'nt tweaked it fully to get the optimal quality. I might be wrong on this so if there is alot of mpeg2 functionality in Ulead please let me know and how to access it.

I don't mind using RGB capture if I can get it to work. So far RGB capture drops an insane number of frames even at 9MB/s when I have a SCSI A/V HD with an average STR of 23MB/s and its defraged.

I guess if I have to, I can live with 4Gb captures, because at my mpeg2 data rate that corresponds to 650MB CD-R's, but then I must use mjpeg. Would the Morgan mjpeg codec be OpenDML compilant?

Thanks

[This message has been edited by mmshah (edited 10 May 2000).]

[wkulecz]

What app plays MPEG2 file for you? I'm asking because since I've not played with MPEG2 (only MPEG1) perhaps I can learn something to save me some time and hassles down the road.

I believe if you add Advance=1 to your ulead32.ini file you'll find tweakability pretty close to the stand alone LSX encoder. The VBR button doesn't work though, definite bug, and this is a fatal flaw if you really need VBR encoding. Try this and render your MPEG2 from MJPEG in the timeline. After enabling "advance" button and increasing motion vectors to 80/40 and setting quality to match I got very good VCD format MPEG1 from MSPro6 timeline rendering of DV. Took about 5.5 minutes to encode 1 minute on my P-III 500m hopefuling going to MPEG2 with a higher data rate would be faster to encode.

Looks like OpenDML is not so open if two of the first apps to support it have trouble exchanging files -- thanks again to Billy G & Co.

Use the forum search feature to find the exact ulead32.ini file changes needed to enable the advance button. I'm not at my editing computer and I don't remember the [section header] to put it under, but I learned it here.

--wally.

[mmshah]

LSX encoder 3.0 comes with the LSX player, also WinDVD and PowerDVD have the ability to play mpeg2 files. I have been using VBR, is this supposed to be fixed by ulead? Encoding takes a long time. 20min takes ~8 hours on dual P3/500. Also should I use the Rainbow Runner ulead32.ini changes on ulead's site with my marvel g200?

Thx