YUV and HuffYUV

[Leslie Davidson]

Hi I'm currently using and am really pleased with the G400-TV and MSP v 5.2 to capture and edit for output to VHS tape. I am now wanting to burn some of the edited footage to VCD or SVCD. In reading on this forum I see that the most value (HD space for quality seems to come from using a capture that is not MJPG. There seem to be 2 or 3 things I need to aquire to try this. 1- the Flying Dutchman's YUY2 patch (will this patch allow me to capture YUY2 using the Matrox PC-remote or does it enable something in the Matrox software that gives me the YUY2 option in the capture options of MSP 5.2?) Or 2- Do I also need to get AVI_IO (which if I understand correctly is a separate software for capture, utilizing YUY2)? And 3- It looks like I'll need HuffYUV the compression codec.
If that is all correct then please check my sequence thoughts: I capture using YUY2 (either in MSP with the new choice or using AVI_IO) then bring into MSP 5.2 editor. Edit, Do I save this as a dvp? Then compress with HuffYUV, and prepare it for burn with TMPGEnc. Then I'm hoping that Adaptecs VCD feature will allow me to burn. Using the MJPG and bundled LigosME the Adaptec is NOT happy.
Oh two more quick ones: I noticed that folks had to back up a version of Video tools to 1.52 from 1.54? How come? and Mostly I see people using MSP 6 when they discuss all this, will 5.2 be ok? Thanks so much. I hope you are not to exasperated by my ignorance.

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Bhanga

[Dr Mordrid]

Your sequence is pretty close.

1. install the 1.52 drivers for sure. The 1.54 drivers YUY2 code is seriously broken.

2. install Flying Dutchmans YUY2 patch. This may not be required in the next release as rumor is that YUY2 will be turned on by default.

3. AVI_IO is the way to go and worth every penny of the $25 USD it costs. With high datarate captures only a few minutes of video can fit into a single *.avi file. AVI_IO captures serial (segmented) *.avi's which have no gaps between their content. Great for long captures with any codec. I don't even use the Ulead or PC-VCR program anymore.

4. To capture HuffYUV files: set up the audio, frame size and select YUY2 as the capture Format. Now select HuffYUV as the Compression. Now start capturing.

704zx480 video will have a data rate of about 10 mb/s

352x480 video will have a data rate of about 5 mb/s

352x240 (perfect for VideoCD) will have a data rate of about 2.6 mb/s

Now...for the tricky stuff....

IF you have a version of AVI_IO over 3.15 you can capture to custom frame sizes NOT SUPPORTED BY MATROX!! This means capturing HuffYUV directly to 480x480 for use in SVCD's. Neat.

The way I do it is to set a standard frame size up then set the custom size and capture.

Weird thing: on some systems 704x480 works when capturing 480x480, on others 352x480 works. You'll have to play to find out what yours "likes" better.

I've used Adaptec and Nero and like Nero better. It doesn't have menus (yet. March 9 they come in the next release) but it burns VCD's and SVCD's fine here.

Dr. Mordrid

[Leslie Davidson]

Hi Dr. Mordrid Thanks for your reply. I am gathering my courage to begin. I do have one other question. My finished movies are generally way over the 2 Gig W98 limit so I routinely output my products to VHS from the preview of MSP 5.2. (ala cutlist) How do I get movies over two Gig (with transitionsa and effects) prepared for CD burning? Is there a save feature I haven't come across in MSP that will retain the entire piece as an avi? Or do I need to make <2Gig mini movies and acess them as chapters off the CD? Once these movies are saved in MSP they have a dvp extension. How will TMPGEnc deal with that? Or have I missed something and am just off on some mental roadtrip? (again) Thanks again Leslie

[Sciascia]

You can output the movie in several sections. Make sure that they are under the 2G limit and they are each cut at the exact frame. Load them into Virtual Dub using the append function and frame serve them to TMPGEnc. If you need help doing this, I or one of the many here can help. I prefer this method primarily because I can add a few filters (nothing drastic) to my MJPEG clip like resizing to 480*480 and a little temporal cleaner and smart deinterlace. The final product is outstanding in my experience.

[Leslie Davidson]

Hi I'm not sure where the Virtual Dub part comes in. Please check out my sequence.
1 Replace VT 1.54 with 1.52.
2 install Flying Dutchmans YUY2 patch
3 get and install AVI_IO and HuffYUV to capture and compress with.
4 Bring captured video to MSP to edit and add transitions and effects making sure that each edited section is < 2Gig and save each as sepatate .dvp's.
5 get Virtual Dub to bring the dvp's to TMPGEnc for encoding in prep for for CD burning.
Yowza!
Is this right? I didn't know about the Virtual Dub What does it do?

Thank You. Leslie

[wkulecz]

Encoding your video into seperate small files may not be such a bad idea.

It seems most of the stand alone DVD players I've been testing with home made VCD and SVCD (Nero and TMPGEnc) have trouble with fast forward and reverse. If you have a seperate file every couple of minutes you can jump forward and back between "chapters".

Set the delay between files to zero in Nero before you burn.

It might be better to wait for real DVD-R capability, but I've had some fun playing with this stuff.

--wally.

[Flying dutchman]

Doing the same thing in Premiere is easier, because you can omit the intermediate HuffYuv files and render directly into tMpegencoder. This saves you 50% hard disk space...
Let's all pray that Ben Roudiak will someday write an Avisynth plugin for MSPRO!

[Dr Mordrid]

No kidding. Mebbe a mass mailing will get him moving

I've already bugged Ulead about *.avs file support in the next update....

Dr. Mordrid

[Leslie Davidson]

Hi I switched VT to 1.52 and DD to 5.41 then added the Flying Dutchman's patch for YUY2. I downloaded and installed AVI_IO and am trying to get the HuffYUV. When I unzipped it, the read me said to right click and select install. When I did that I get a message in the 'Copying files' window that says
The file "HuffYUV.DLL" on HuffyuvAVI lossless video codec can not be found
Insert HuffyuvAVI lossless video codec in the selected drive and click OK?
What is it telling me? Suggestions welcome and Thanks Leslie

[Greebe]

.

[Leslie Davidson]

Well I guess 3 really is the charm. On the 3rd try all went well. Now for the tricky part. Thanks for everyones help. Leslie

[cjyo~]

Doc, what's the latest version of AVI_IO? I see the trial version is at 3.16.

The last one Markus sent me was 3.09...

[wkulecz]

3.09 was the last "major" fix that was Emailed to registered users.

If everything is working its safe to ignore the ones he's not mailed out.

He'll send you the "newest" if you ask. You can download the trial and then ask for the full update if it has something you need/want.

As of a few days ago 3.16 was the "newest"

--wally.

[Anatoly Neverov]

I have 03.13.

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Anatoly Neverov
Minsk, Belarus

[cjyo~]

Markus sent me 3.18 and says he's working on the next major release...