Moo's video editing tips

Updated 25.11.2002

I have some experience on editing and encoding DV video and I decided to publish a list of my tricks/problems. Here is a lot of general information and some of this information has been really under a rock. I hope sharing the knowledge of my efforts help DV editing newbies and maybe some more advanced persons too.

Tips aren't in any specific order, they are quickly written and very technicial. I guaranteed this page to be as chaotic as possible ;-)

I have been using Adobe Premiere 6.0, Ulead Media Studio 6.0 and several freeware applications.

Please feel free to contribute and comment this list. Everything here might not correct, since I wrote the list from my memory without doing too many checks. Send mail to moo@gdnmail.net

Table of contents

1. History
2. How I do things
3. How much hard disk space and CPU time video editing requires?
4. Adobe Premiere specific issues
5. Ulead Media Studio Pro specific issues
6. VirtualDub specific issues
7. DV format explained
8. Video, audio & media formats
9. Video compression
10. DV codecs
11. Audio compression
12. Players
13. Hardware issues
14. Other issues
15. Sites for more information

History

[25.11.2002] Fixed title (was: edititing). Renamed page from DV editing to video editing. Added a correct DV format explanation and finally fixed those bitrates. Added time and space consumption example.

[23.11.2002] Added OGM, XViD, VP3 and Theora. Added some commercials about myself . Added separated DV codec section. Added link list. Fixed broken links. Small fixes and new descriptions. Added players. Removed inter-software issues.

[27.8.2002] Fixed DV datarate, fixed FAT32 file limit, added table of content, added info about real-time editing, added Media Studio Pro titles information

How I do things

• Capture video using Premiere.
• Edit video in Premiere. Some tasks (like video painting) might require external tools. Deintelace video before external editing.
• Export the movie from Premiere to VirtualDub using a frame server plug-in
• Let VirtualDub apply deinterlace filter.
• Compress final AVI using DivX 5.0.2 (setting all frames are progressive, VirtualDub handles deinterlace) and Lame MP3 ACM codec.

How much hard disk space and CPU time video editing requires?

• An example answer follows:

--- <pnguyen2@xxxxx.xxx> wrote:
>i've enjoyed reading your website.. i just have a couple of questions
>because i'm a newbie. how much storage space would you need if you
>were to edit a 2 hour DV tape and would want to record it to a dvd.
>when i use media studio pro 6 it ripps the dv to an .avi format. how
>can i convert that to the dvd format so i can record to a dvd using DVD

DV has bitrate of 3,5 MBytes/sec. Therefore the input feed requires

2 hours * 3600 secs/hour * 3,5 MBytes/sec = ~ 25 Gigabytes

You need to also store the final MPEG-2 file on your hard disk before you burn a DVD. DVD has usually 4,5 Mbit/sec bit rate for video and 0,4 Mbit/sec for audio

4,5 MBit/sec + 0,5 MBit = 5 MBit/sec = 0,625 MBytes/sec

2*3600*0,625 = 4,5 Gigabytes.

So you need about 30 gigabytes of hard disk space for editing 2 hours DV video and making a DVD from it.

>workshop. I tried converting it to DVD format but it takes aabout 10
>hours for 45 min. is that normal?? i'm newbie and i need help if you
>have time.

Yes. Lossy video encoding (packing) requires very complex calculations which leads into high CPU usage and there is dozens of gigabytes of a material to process.

Encoding (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) long movies usually takes 4-10 hours. I usually do editing during daytime and leave my computer turned on for encoding video for a night. Some codecs might be optimized better than others and they might perform tasks faster. Sorry, but I do not have any encoding time comparison information anywhere.

You can have never enough CPU power for video processing.

 

Adobe Premiere specific issues

• Adobe lacks video painting tool similiar in Ulead Media Studio Pro. I didn't find a way to do a partial dynamic mosaic effect for cencoring stuff in Adobe. I had to export a partial AVI into Ulead Video Paint, modify it there and import back to Adobe Premiere.
• Get a frame server plug-in for Premiere so you can use VirtualDub as compressor and filter for Premiere. I couldn't get AVISynth plug-in to work with my Premiere 6.0. Luckily there was a shareware Video Server plug-in which worked better.
• Remember to save the project often with different filenames. This software tends to crash and sometimes project files are corrupted.
• You cannot open files captured in Premiere 6.0 with Media Studio Pro 6.0 and vice versa (complains about invalid AVI format or something)

Ulead Media Studio Pro specific issues

• Media Studio Pro 6.0 cannot encode sound with ACM MP3 encoder directly -> Save audio as PCM at repack AVI file in VirtualDub
• There is no frame server plug-in for Media Studio 6.0 currently (26.8.2002)
• Media Studio Pro cannot read MP3s directly. You have to convert them to WAVs first. Use WinAmp DiskWriter plug-in which comes with WinAmp full installation.
• Remember to save the project often with different filenames. This software tends to crash and sometimes project files are corrupted.
• On larger rolling titles Media Studio Pro internal title editor becomes slow. Edit title textes in an external text editor (notepad), create a new project for titles and export this as AVI-file. Manipulating AVI-clips is many times faster than on-the-fly titles.
• The best (the smallest) video format for exporting titles with a plain color background is Microsoft 8-bit RLE packed AVI with 6-6-6 levels palette. RLE is a lossless packing method for large plain color areas.
• You cannot open files captured in Premiere 6.0 with Media Studio Pro 6.0 and vice versa (complains about invalid AVI format or something)
• Question: How unlink audio and video in Media Studio Pro?

VirtualDub specific issues

• VirtualDub is very handy freeware encoder/little editing software with very good error messages. If a codec doesn't work with Media Studio or Premiere, it probably works with VirtualDub.
• VirtualDub can fix broken AVIs (end missing)
• VirtualDub has the best deinterlace filter (blend fields together)
• VirtualDub is the best tool for capturing stills from DV video. Search a frame with VirtualDub, apply deinterlace filter whichs discards other interlaced field so that the image's height is halved. Then copy output frame to clipboard. Paste it in Paint Shop Pro, apply edge preserving smooth filter to remove noise and double the image height back using smart image resize.
• To manipulate DV video, VirtualDub and some other applications need third party Video for Windows DV codec installed in Windows. See DV codecs section for further information.

DV format explained

• Digital camcorders record and output video through FireWire connecters in DV format.
• Many people seem to be confused how video data is stored in DV format. I was also unaware of the true nature of DV until recently. DV is not uncompressed raw video data. It uses discrete cosine transform (DCT) aided lossy data packing.
• An extraction from news groups:

  Hope this helps un-confuse you.

  DCT is "Discreet Cosine Transform". It is used by nearly ALL video compression systems marketed today as a way to convert picture information into a DCT table of numbers based on frequency bands. DCT is NOT compression. It is the step taken prior to compression. It is the step that allows the data to be analyzed in such a way that it CAN be compressed. Various compression schemes are available J-PEG, "Motion" J-PEG, DV, M-PEG, etc. Within each of the "PEGS" there are many possible variations. The "DV" compression algorithm is one of the few real "standards" out there. All of the manufacturers using DV compression for video products follow the same standards and, yes it is 5:1 for 4:1:1 products, 3.3:1 for 4:2:2 DV products, and 7:1 for upcoming HD products.

  ...

  GBoren, Panasonic Broadcast and Digital Systems

Video, audio & media formats

These usually pop-up during DV and computer aided video processing.

• DivX: DivX from DivX Networks is the superior video compression technique for desktop computers and lower bitrates. DivX codec is free MPEG-4 compatible encoder/decoder. The latest version is 5.0.2 ( 26.8.2002).
• VCD: MPEG-1 compressed video on CD. Some non-computer DVD-players can play this. Very poor quality.
• SVCD: MPEG-2 compressed video on CD. Some non-computer DVD-players can play this. Poor quality.
• DVD: MPEG-2 compressed video on DVD. The standard DVD format. Video date rate is about 4,5Mbit/sec
• DV: See DV format explained
• MPEG-4: The latest MPEG video compression technique. It's aim is good image quality on lower bitrates. DivX is MPEG-4 encoder/decoder.
• MP3: Audio compression standard developed for MPEG videos.
• Ogg Vorbis: Free audio compression standard. It contains two parts, stream framework (OGG) and audio codec (Vorbis).
• OGG: Ogg Vorbis audio file extension
• OGM: Ogg movie. Open source community response for replacing Microsoft AVI format. OGM capsulates Ogg Vorbis audio and encoded video material into OGG frames. OGM is more advanced than AVI allowing dynamic bitrates, but it still lacks good support in applications.
• WAV: Uncompressed Windows audio format.
• AVI: Windows standard media file. It can contain audio, video or both.
• ASF: AVI successor. Microsoft propietary format. Avoid this.
• WMA: Microsoft's audio compression format. MP3 & OGG are superior to WMA.
• RealMedia: Various commercial compression and streaming techniques offered by Real Networks. Used to be a leader in very low bitrates.
• QuickTime: Apple's concept of media formats.
• XViD: (DivX backwards) Free GPL-licensed MPEG-4 encoder. Both DivX and XViD base on the same orignal source code. Still under development and cannot match DivX in terms of quality.
• VP3: Video codec which was previously On2's property. Now this codec has been open sourced and it is a base for Theora project.
• Theora: Xiph.org Foundation (Ogg Vorbis makers) maintains this open source video codec. It's purpose is to do the same for video that Ogg Vorbis did for audio. Theora is scheduled to be released in June of 2003.

Video compression

• DivX from DivX Networks is the superior video compression technique for desktop computers and lower bitrates. DivX codec is free MPEG-4 compatible encoder/decoder. The latest version is 5.0.2 ( 26.8.2002).
• If you think distributing your movies on CD or in Internet, DivX is the only reasonable choice in terms of quality and a file size. 800 kbit/sec is enough for decent quality in 720x568 resolution with DivX. DivX is free and ported for many platforms so Linux or MacOS users won't get angry when you distribute content in DivX format.
• Use DivX strong or normal preprocessing option for DV content. DV image is very noisy at least with my cheap camera and noisy image tends to pack poorly. Preprocessing reduces noise.
• Do not use advanced MPEG-4 packing options (GMC, bidirectional frames, subpixel motion estimation) if you are planning to view 720x568 size packed video on older computers. These options require a lot of computing power from decoder. Even my 700 MHz laptop chokes with those options.
• Do not create ASF files. Microsoft video compression isn't very good and patent issues prevent (see VirtualDub + ASF) importing ASF files into non-Microsoft software.
• Always remember to deinterlace DV video before compressing it. Otherwise there will exist ugly rendering artifacts. Deinterlace should be the first filter applied on video.

DV codecs

In Windows world there exists two software interfaces for video manipulation: Video for Windows (older) and DirectShow (newer). New Windowses ship with DV codec for DirectShow. Software which uses Video for Windows interface (VirtualDub) cannot use DirectShow codec and Microsoft doesn't provide Video for Windows DV codec with OS.

• Nowadays when you transfer your video from a camcorder to PC through DV interface capture software places both the audio and video into AVI file
• Commercial software (Adobe, Ulead) uses their internal decoders to open this files, but most of the shareware and freeware applications require Video-for-Windows codec installed on your computer to manipulate captured AVI files
• There are several Video-forWindows DV codecs available to do the job:
  • MainConcept DV codec. Shareware. Only demo version available. The free version of Mainconcept codec leaves Mainconcept watermark to video, you can get rid of this with some $$$.
  • Canopus DV codec. Freeware, but supports only decoding.
  • Sony DV codec. Some guy send me this for testing months ago. It's still in my inbox unopened due to my limited time :-(
  • Panasonic DV codec

    There is highly unsupported and undocumented Panasonic DV codec for Video for Windows. I assume this was orignally freely downloadable at Panasonic Japanese site, but has been later removed. Some rare copies still exist in Internet. You can download one from my homepages. Zip contains PDVCODEC.DLL and PDVCODEC.INF. There is no installer. Manually copy PDVCODEC.DLL to your Windows\System32 folder and manually make required registry keys as descripted in INF file. If you are not a professional computer user this option is not for you. Hey, it is free, what can you expect ;-)

    Panasonic DV codec PDVCODEC.DLL crashes or causes problems with some applications (Media Studio Pro). You can disable it temporary with Windows Regedit tool.

    • Open key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32
    • Search for value vidc.dvsd
    • Rename vidc.dvsd to xvidc.dvsd
    • Now when you open AVI files PDVCODEC.DLL is not used. No reboot needed.
    • To get PDVCODEC.DLL back just rename xvidc.dvsd back to vidc.dvsd

Audio compression

• Ogg Vorbis the superior sound compression technique. It has the best quality on lower (< 192 Kbit/sec) bitrates, it is royalty free and open source.
• There is not yet (26.8.2002) ACM codec for Ogg Vorbis 1.0 so that you could export AVI sound as Ogg Vorbis. But you should use Lame MP3 ACM for AVI audio, since Ogg Vorbis is natively variable bitrate codec and that's why it doesn't work with AVI framework.
• Lame ACM codec and Ogg Vorbis ACM codec don't support VBR (AVI restrictions). If you want encode VBR audio you must export audio to WAV, encode WAV with command line tools and merge audio with a final video. You must probably also capsulate the movie to other format (OGM) instead of AVI.
• Some applications have problems with 32 KHz audio used in DV. There are a lot of workarounds for this. E.g. in Premiere you can switch audio rate for the project from 32 KHz to 44 KHz.

Players

• Though all playing software on Windows platform tend to use the same OS codec framework for playing files, there is still difference which player you use to play movies.
• Many badly coded players don't optimize use of surface and don't take the advantage of the hardware acceleration of graphics chipsets. This results jerky play on slower computers due to higher CPU usage.
• Players can offer postprocessing settings to remove packing artifacts especially for lower bandwidth blocky videos. These effects just to try to fake an eye since information is already lost in an encoding process.
• Try to set DivX decoder configuration postprocessing settings to minimum if playback is laggy or image comes behind audio. Postprocessing is very CPU sensitive task.
• Advanced players provide for example equalizer, multichannel audio and aspect ration controls which are important if you are playing movies through home theater and 16:9 TV.
• Some players can also display subtitles outside video track. Subtitles can be distributed as separated files (.TXT, .SRT, .SUB) or embedded into a video file (.OGM). This is important in many non-english speaking countries.
• BSPlayer is the best available video player, though it seems to be unstable in error situations like file corruptions and wrong display driver settings.

Hardware issues

• Cheaper Europen DV cameras lack DV-in since it causes extra tax style costs for devices in many Europen countries. DV-in is usually disabled in camera software and can be re-enabled with rom flashing or similiar hacking tricks. Anyway getting video back to a DV-tape from a computer can be difficult...
• Windows 98 SE was the first OS supporting FireWire. There is no FireWire support for older Windows 98.
• Some old software support AVI files only up to 2 GB and FAT32 filesystems (Windows 98, Windows ME) support only files up to 4 GB. One hour of raw DV-video takes something like 12 GB space. Upgrade to Windows 2000/XP and NTFS filesystem for video editing purpose. There are multi-file workaround plug-ins for this issue, but relying hacks like these is not recommended.
• Theoretical maximum speed of FireWire is 400 Mbit/sec but DV needs only 3,5 MBytes/sec (25 Mbit/sec).
• You need a decent hard-disk for reading DV data from a tape to a hard disk. Modern hard disks have high enough write speeds for this, but earlier editing required two RAID connected hard drives.
• Do not have other tasks (screen savers!) running during capture process since a lot of CPU time is required for capturing. An unexpeted swapping or other operation system task leads to lost frames.
• Real-time editing (live editing) sets even higher hardware requirements. For real-time editing, there exist specific edititing cards which have hardware chips to perform operations like transformations and compression.

Other issues

• Remember to distribute content with both the audio and video decoder codec. Older Windows Media Players don't have even MP3 decoder in default distribution.
• Nimo Codec Pack has the latest codecs and mini-tools for most editing purposes
• Question: What is a good tool to create multi-font, multi-color scrolling titles

Sites for more information