Settings to allow SmartRender to work in MSP7 with g450eTV files?

[Hulk]

I'm having quite a time finding settings in MSP7 that allow MPEG-2 files created with the Matrox g450eTV to SmartRender.

Here are the properties of the clip from MSP7:

Video
MPEG-2
24bits, 704x480
29.97fps
8192kpbs

Audio
MPEG layer 2 audio
44.1kHz, 16bit stereo
384kbps

I have tried the above settings with Field A, Field B, and Frame settings to no avail.

I have also tried CBR and VBR bitrate both at an above the rate specified above.

I have also tried removing the audio and only rendering the video. Although if the video was compliant with project specs but audio was not, preview window would remain gray while audio was re-encoding.

Upon every attempt to smart render the preview window cycles through each frame, encoding, and no smartrendering.

Has anyone found setting that work?

Mark

[Sciascia]

I have the same issues with my ATI card capturing MPEG2. I have never been able to create profile to capture or to edit that won't smart render. Same exact bitrates, resolutions, fps, whatever, it never takes it as the same. Even using all I frames is hit and miss. MPEG2 isn't really an intermediate format anyway, it is more of a final product (as you know). The format itself just doesn't lend itself well to editing. One of the principles is to get the best quality for the file size and by doing it the decoder requires that the I,Pand B frames are buffered alot to create the next frame, whether it is the next one or even the previous one when playing or scrubbing. With MJPEG it is a sequence of whole pictures, but with MPEG2 it has to create the frame from the I,Pand B frames. Not only does this use a lot of overhead, but with the the leeway that is allowed in the MPEG2 standard for developers to begin with, a file that is encoded with the Marvel won't be the same as one that is encoded in Ulead. There is a standard for the format so that it is "universal", but the actual way that the encoder/decoders work has a lot of grey areas that the deveolpers can tweak on (this why there is such a difference in speed and quality out there). This is where the problems arise if you ask me. Just as if you took the same clip and ran it through 3 different encoders it would look like 3 different encoders encoded it. Even with similar profiles. All 3 would probably have different file sizes and maybe even different I,P and B frame orders. All 3 would probably playback fine on any MPEG2 decoder, but there is definitely differences among them. Motion estimation, quantization, IDCT, Intra and non-Intra frame encoding, are just a few things left to the developer. Now try to edit that rather than just play it back. A different manufacturer's encoding engine and decoding engine probably would have difficulty.

If I want to edit with MSP I have to capture in MJPEG. MPEG2 just isn't a viable option. Plus it is a pretty lossy compression to begin with. Doing any kind of effects is going to introduce artifacts and other less than desireable results. Plus the thought of re-encoding my entire clip just to be able to edit kind of defeats the purpose of capturing in MPEG2. That realtime MPEG catpure doesn't save you any time at all when it is recompressed and the poor quality is like a sick feeling after the wait. Just not a good situation at all.

It may not be the answer that you wanted, I know that I was pretty miffed, but it is the way that it is. If you are dead set on trying, then the best bet would be to try to capture in MSP with the built in capture tool using the Ulead compressor and then edit. Problem with that is that Ulead isn't that good capturing realtime (compared to my ATI atleast). This would support the theory that I have about the differences in the MPEG engines themselves. If there was a way to capture and edit with the Matrox MPEG engine it would probably have a better chance of working also. Ulead encoded from the start may play nicely.

If you aren't doing anything really intense transition-wise, Womble MPEG2VCR is an amazing MPEG2 editor and does not render anything but the actual frames that you edited. It is a few $$$, but if you are looking to save time and just trim up some MPEG video without losing quality it is worth a look. They used to have a 30 day demo for MPEG2, after that it is MPEG1 only. Super fast as well.

[Hulk]

I'm not looking at doing any serious editing, I only use huffyuv in that case.

I only want to record something from the TV tuner, edit out commercials and burn to DVDRW for later watching.

I understand what you're saying, funny thing is I NEVER have trouble SmartRendering TMPGEnc clips.

I'll give Womble another look.

Mark

[Sciascia]

Womble's perfect for that. That is what I thought that you might be using it for. No sense in wasting time re-encoding the whole thing just to burn some TV stuff.