what happened---Virtual Dub Problems

with my painfully written post? Seems the title is visible (at least for me, and I can't remove it), but no content. Ujas, retry using an offline editor... see you later.

Ah, Thanks BoardMod. V2 in the editor I can delete now...

@ kasenit

Could you please try opening a vid in Virtualdub, then select the Xvid codec, then open the xvid configuration panel, now in the Encoding type, have you selected single pass. Then process your vid.

The Two pass function of xvid will produce a higher quality vid but but you have to change the encoding type between each pass. Twopass - 1st pass analyses the source file and produces a log file, Twopass - 2nd pass uses this log file in conjuction with the source vid to raise the bitrate used on high motion scenes whilst reducing it in low motion or static scenes. The first pass only needs to be run once, The second pass con be run several times to further optimize the bitrate. This two pass function is best used with virtaldubs job control option where you can process a batch of vids while you are away from the computer.

Oops - several tries to download and install Ulead Video Studio failed. On installing I get the message that the file is corrupted. This happened from several access sites and with Opera and Firefox. The Help says it has something to do with Internet Explorer, and says to delete a file which is not on my computer :-(((

I discovered another free program named Avidemux, and will try this.

Yes, that program can make a basic DVD for you.

PCM is 'CD quality' audio but at a much higher bit rate - 1536 kbps IIRC. You do not need that for dvd but it can be used. You can use mpeg1 at 224 kbps or AC3(dolby) at anything from 256 kbps. CDs have a frequency of 44.1 khz..DVDs use 48 khz. Do not worry. The program will take care of that for you although it's quicker to make a dvd-compliant mpeg2 clip in the editor first before importing that into the dvd part of it.

@DB: Thanks, that was really helpful. I am just downloading the trial version of Ulead. Am I right that with this program I could also solve my problem of writing DVDs which can be played back on TV ( as I remember the audio has to be in CD format, what it is not now)? As I wrote some months ago, my DVD shows only video, but no sound... :-(

I just uset the default settings of the codec.

@ Shirtfull: no, I don't know what these settings do; they are unselected :-(((

@ kasenit

Have you got smart rendering and/or preserve empty frames selected under the video menu?

If so then deselect them

The problem is not with Virtual Dub but the codec you choose to do the recompression of the original video.

VDub defaults to 'uncompressed' which is why you ended up with that huge file - it's about 2.5 gig per minute for that !!!

There is nothing wrong with using Xvid and Vdub - I do it myself but in a more automated manner as my source material is Mpeg2.

Xvid has a lot of settings, many of these you can simply ignore and just get down to the 'meat' - the compression ratio. Looking at your Desita clip that you just posted and you will note that the video is very blotchy. What you have done is choose too low a compression - it reports to be only 351 kbps. 700 kbps is the absolute minimum but you should select 1400-1500 kbps for reasonable quality (you can only go low with small frame sizes and very good quality source).

The only weakness with Vdub is that it only edits the video. I have never been able to select a different audio codec other than the source. Your codec is 128 kbps ADPCM. This is an uncompressed codec which also serves to kill the video if that compression is too low.

Some may suggest other tools but my tool of choice is Ulead Video Studio. You can do the editing in that and then save the clip direct to Xvid and select a compressed audio codec such as mp3.

Your post:

I'm in the same position as our friend Bellerophon in the thread from a few days ago... just a bit different. Once again I try to edit one of my recordings and prepare a file suitable for sharing/uploading. My recording equipment is a hard disk gadget, connected to the sat receiver. What I obtain are .avi files of about one hour duration, or between 1 - 2 GBytes. These files can be transferred to my laptop via a USB link. All ok up to here. Now I want to extract a part of such a video file. I use the VirtualDub program for this. Basically, what I do is: - load the File in VirtualDub - select (with Slider, and frame movements) a part to delete - delete the selected part This process can be repeated, until only remains what I want to keep Now I have 2 possibilities 1. save as .avi (with a new name), without any other operations. This leads to a GIGANTIC file, which in most cases is too big for what free place I have on my elderly laptop (40 GB). 2. define a compression (under the 'video' menu), where I choose Xvid Mpeg4 Codec. What the other about 16 codecs listed there are good for I don't know. Then save as above, and after a (long) time I have my (small) .avi on the disk. BUT - and now comes the problem: when I play this (eg with VLC), I get the sound just fine, but the picture stays frozen on the first frame. Now a confession: at least once I managed to get a correct file with video and audio, but don't ask me what I have done different - shame over me! It seems that I don't really understand this program ( and it is a bit strange, and the help as usual is not really a help). So it seems I make somewhere a big mistake in the whole process. Any good advice from our video specialists? I'm sure someone knows (or can recommend a simpler program in place of that VirtualDub). Thanks, gents.

[there seems to be a server issue and the topic came in 'un-registered]