Marvel G200 + Premiere 6 => very upsetting

[ppravier]

I have a MarvelG200 and I try to use it with Adobe Premiere 6.
I capture my video files from a camcorder, using Virtual Dub. I use this software because this is the only one which allows me to capture a long sequence, which lasts more than 2GB without losing frames.

When I use Adobe Premiere, The timeline windows doesn't work very well. The most upsetting thing is that when I try to position to a specific frame of the sequence, either by using the +- keys or by using the sliding thingy below the picture, the frame is black. While I try to do that I can briefly see a dark green frame, quickly replaced by a black one.
If I try to use the directshow trick in the prem60.ini file, I works better, but I can be victim of upsetting things such as the impossibility to stop the clip....

Therefore I envisage to use the Morgan Codec while I am editing. However it proves very painful. I am trying to use the method where one defines a dmb2 and a MJPG type of video codec, in order to keep the dmb1 type safe (in order to be able to capture with the hardware for example...).
AVI.exe doesn't work with files generated with Virtual Dub ... The offset it uses to store the codec 4 letters are not the same in fact.
Therefore I am looking for a hex editor (or a better thing than avi.exe) which doesn't want to load all the file in memory ...

Alternatively, there is maybe a way not to be forced to modify the codec's four letters in the AVI file. Unfortunately the Morgan's doc rubbish. They talk about the paradigm codec, which doesn't exist anymore. They don't explain the registry key for their own product !! Instead they talk about the paradigm one !
Moreover, Morgan is now providing the version 2 of their Codec, which seems to work slightly differently.
I don't understand what to do with the FourCC option of their codec...

Can you help me please ?

[Sciascia]

First things first, Adobe Premiere does not list the G200 or G400 as products that they support for Premiere. There is a reason. If you are going to use another codec such as Morgan, then in my opinion you are defeating the purpose of having HW compression. My first suggestion is to go with another editor such as Media Studio Pro. If that is not an option then you can try to struggle with Premiere, but it is not going to work properly no matter how many hacks, cracks, patches, snap, crackle or pops you apply to it.

Try using AVI_ IO by Marcus Zing to capture your video. It is a lot smaller and a lot better for capture than VDub. It is a $25 program that about 90% of us use. It does segmenting as well as keep the framerate locked to 29.97 and A/V sync.

The AVI.exe changes the FourCC code of the avi. This is a code embedded in the avi stream that tells the computer what codec to use with it. These are all in your system.ini file under the drivers section. So what this means is in your .ini file there will be a line that says "vidc.dmb1=rriclm.dll" or whatever. This means if the vidc(FourCC) is dmb1 than use the rriclm.dll (Matrox codec). You can have this set to identify another codec with the same FourCC code, but then it would use this no matter what. This is where AVI.exe is handy. You can set a rule that says "vidc.mjp2= morgan (whatever the dll for morgan is)" and then change the FourCC code with AVI.exe. This way you can capture with HW compression then use SW decompression for editing without actually changing the file.

Another tip for using Premiere, you can try using 24 bit resolution while eding for your desktop. it changes the characteristics of the alphga chanhnel and frame advances will update the windo (sometimes).

Best bet is to get MSP 6. It works great and after you get used to it, you'll never want to go back to Premiere.

[ppravier]

Thanks for your answer. Unfortunately, you doesn't anwser to my main question :

- How to use the Morgan codec instead of the hardware codec when I edit ?

This is basically all I want.

A side note : AVI.exe doesn't work with files generated with Virtual Dub, because it uses wrong offsets.

[ppravier]

Something that is mind-boggling as well :

If I change the system.ini in order to use the Morgan codec instead of the hardware by doing this in the system.ini :

;VIDC.dmb1=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RRIcm.dll
VIDC.dmb1=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\m3jpeg32.dll

It doesn't work !!! The media player for example will still use the hardware.
By the way, the media player exhibits the same problem than Premiere : accessing a specific part of the sequence in pause mode doesn't display any picture ....

[ppravier]

Last detail :
I use the Powerdesk 5.55 and Video Tools 1.54

[Dr Mordrid]

1. to use the Morgan codec for captures you'll find it more workable if you enable the G200's YUY2 capture mode. You can't do that with the 1.54 capture drivers as their YUY2 support is kaput. Use the 1.52 drivers instead.

2. once you're running 1.52 you can download the Flying Dutchmans YUY2 patch from http://www.murc.ws . It's in one of their D/L pages.

3. NOW you can capture using AVI_IO or VirtualDUB using "segmented files". This will allow you to capture long segments consisting of 2 gig pieces.

When you go to capture using one of these utilities select YUY2 as the capture "format" and the Morgan codec as the "compression". As long as you have a 600+ mhz system full frame shouldn't be an issue.

Exporting is easier. Just select *.avi as the format and the Morgan codec as the compressor.

As far as getting Premiere6 to work with a Matrox Marvel card goes, good luck.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 30 April 2001).]

[cjyo~]

I had quite good results with my Marvel G200TV and Premiere 5.1c. However, I have not tried Premiere 6 with the G200. You might try the older version, if you are having trouble with 6.0.

For 5.1 you could try putting the Prem50.ini file(included on the Marvel Install CD) into your Premiere folder. I always capture with avi_io, which is far better for use with Marvel cards. It beats the 2GB file limit, keeps sync with dropped frames and actually sustains a given frame-rate, unlike the PC-VCR.

In Premiere 5.1c, I only had minor problems (mainly, I would lose control of the source window playback, so I avoided using it). Otherwise the timeline, scrubbing and Monitor worked well - quite responsive to mouse or keyboard playback commands or frame by frame movements. I could see the picture fine in all windows (both monitors), in the timeline and also on my TV-out.

Another trick for 5.1c, is that you need to stay with Quicktime 3.x (whatever version comes on the Premiere 5 CD). Quicktime 4 and higher can cause problems with playback and video windows drawing incorrectly.

I was having the best luck with the old PD4.26 drivers and VT1.21, though I think you can use PD5.41 and VT1.52 or VT1.54.

I never had to use any other MJPEG codecs or change headers to edit in Premiere. In fact, when I used the Pegasus MJPEG codec for high-quality transcoding and subtitles, I could not see the video in the timeline. In that case, I overlayed a dummy track of video in the Matrox codec to tell what the video looked like. Anyway, the Matrox hardware MJPEG is the only codec that worked well for me in Premiere.