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I'm going to guess your AMD 64x2 dual core 4000+ may be part of the problem.
With AMD dual core 5000+ considered the minimum for AVCHD editing in PD7 (and I know you can't even get to the editing interface right now), and mine (AMD 64x2 dual core 5000+) was extremely sluggish to the point I wouldn't even attempt a project with it, you might want to look at something with more processing horsepower.
I'm running PD7 Ultra on a machine with Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz quad core processor and to get it work right I had to change out graphics cards from an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB to GeForce 8800GT with 512MB (it appears that in my machine the 256MB on the graphics card was likely a serious constraint).
I don't know, it's tough to suggest someone may have to get a new machine to use a certain program but I can tell you that what is coming down the road in the way of hi def improvements will pretty much require it.
Good luck to you.
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Hi Ray. Here's another hint about those color boards.
I like to start out every project/production with a few seconds of blank black leader then fade up from black to my first "scene". So I place a black color board on the timeline first and set it's duration to 3-5 seconds. I drop in a fade transition which gives me that fade in from black I want.
In your case you might follow that with your color board plus title. If you place your title on a black color board, you will have the effect of your title fading in, follow that with another fade and another 3 second black color board and you see this:
Black for a few seconds, title fades in shows for a few seconds and fades out to black.
Put your first "scene" on the timeline and a fade transition between it and the last black color board and after the title sequence fade to black you have your first scene fade in from black.
A black color board between 2 fade transitions is very useful for anywhere in your project where you need a fade out to black followed by a fade in from black, usually indicates either passage of time or end of one sequence/chapter and beginning of another.
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Gary,
What you want to do may be simpler to accomplish by using the PiP track. Done right you never touch or disturb the audio track from your A cam video.
Take the scene you want to display from your B roll and drag it to the PiP track just under the position on the main video track. Trim it to the length you want and then click and drag opposite corners until the small PiP image completely covers the image on the A roll.
Now to synch the B roll portion to the A roll, stretch out the timeline enough to be able to see the audio waveform on both tracks. Move the B roll track until the waveforms match and then mute the audio from the B roll.
What you will have is for that scene when the vertical "scrubber" line reaches the point on the timeline where your B roll image is on the PiP track that B roll image will "takeover" but the audio on the A roll never changes. At the end of that B roll segment the main track image picks up and plays until your next B roll segment is placed.
You are using selected segments from the B roll (camera B) as "cutaway" views without disturbing the main video track's audio.
The main trick is in getting the B roll segment lined up correctly so that good lip synch and action synch is maintained.
I do this regularly in handgun training videos where I show the shooter firing and have a small PiP from a second camera showing the hits on target. Using the audio waveform for synch is a simple matter of insuring the spikes from the gunshots appear in the exact same position on both tracks on the timeline, then I can mute the B roll audio.
Hope this helps.
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You can download the current trial version, it is build 1915. Be sure to uninstall the older trial version first and if you can't find the instructions on what to do in the registry download and run the free Wise Registry Cleaner (www.wisecleaner.com/download.html). Then install the new trial version.
Bif,
That's precisely what I did and I still get the older build. Would really like to try the most current!
Something is really going wrong here. About 3-4 weeks ago I downloaded the trial version from http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/trials_4_ENU.html and it was build 1915. If you're downloading the trial version from any other site it is very likely that older build.
Or the uninstall you are doing may not be a full and clean uninstall. And when you uninstall you need to delete and get rid of the all trial versions then download the current one from the URL above.
To clean out the registry after the uninstall I used Wise Registry Cleaner (a free program...do a Google search on that to find the download).
But the current file from Cyberlink is the 1915 and needs no patch.
And when you do purchase the full version I advise ordering the "box" version either from the online store or from a retailer who carries it. That way you avoid the potential for corrupted download files or failed downloads some are experiencing.
A "box" copy from a retailer may very well be an older build but for me it was a simple thing to download and run the patch.
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Well, Dafydd, I attempted to install the patch only to have PD7 say I was not allowed to install it because my current installation is the trial version and not the purchased one. So, if the patch is the fix, I can't find out unless I buy the product first. Seems rather backward to me.
You can download the current trial version, it is build 1915. Be sure to uninstall the older trial version first and if you can't find the instructions on what to do in the registry download and run the free Wise Registry Cleaner (www.wisecleaner.com/download.html). Then install the new trial version.
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Thanks Bif,
Your tip works but the position is not perfect. Try playing the same video in the 1st track and in the PiP (enlarged to match the 1st track image). Then cut parts of the PiP track so it alternates with the 1st track. You will see that it is almost impossible to have an exact match plus the image quality is different.
It just occurred to me that you are probably basing your judgment on what you are seeing in edit mode in the edit window. You cannot judge sharpness in that edit window in ANY of the editing packages I've tinkered with. You will always be dealing with a lo res image to start with.
I'm in the middle of learning PowerDirector by editing a project I couldn't work on in May so I'm doing my trials and experiments on the material I'm working with. The point is I made my judgment from a hi def render of part of the project (I frequently do test renders of part of a project to see what the finished version might look like). While the PiP cutaway is not the same image as is on the main track, I have reviewed the video clips enough so that I know about what their sharpness and image tone is like.
So when I say I see no degradation on the PiP track I am judging the clips performance from a hi def rendered version.
Exact positioning doesn't matter to me so long as I can completely cover the image on the main track. If running that kind of test is important to you, setup a small segment and go to PRODUCE and render it out to an AVI if you're working in standard def DV, or even to a 1280x720 or 1280x1080 WMV file just to see for yourself.
But beware of the "overfocus" syndrome where you study and study so much your eye starts seeing everything as not quite fully sharp.
My advice is don't worry about any "blurriness" you see in the edit window.
What kind of file format are you working from?
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Warren and Ilan:
I'll try to help a bit, too.
Imagine a project that requires 3 scenes, you set up your camcorder and record scene 3 first (because it works out the people and facility are more convenient) then you record scenes 1 and 2.
On your tape (or media card) you have in this order scenes 3, 1, and 2.
Now, on each scene you preroll a few seconds to give some trim/edit room if needed and when the "action" is over you let the recording go a few seconds to again give you some "cutting" room for smoother edit or transition.
You now have 3 scenes that likely need some trimming at both ends and need to be placed in proper order in your production.
On the timeline I place a black "color board" for blank lead in followed by a fade (so that on the first scene I get a fade in from black). Then drag and drop scene 1 onto the timeline and trim the ends until I have a scene that is timed so the action starts and ends just right.
3 ways to trim. On the timeline click and drag the beginning of the scene to the right until you have it starting where you want with a fade in from black. Click and drag the right end (the end of the scene) to the left until it ends where you want.
Or double click on the scene (or click on the "trim" button) on the timeline and an edit window appears with markers at the beginning and end of the scene. You can move the markers to the points where you want the scene to begin and end.
Or the slice and delete method. Move the "scrubber" (the vertical line with the blue triangle at the top) to the point in a scene where you want to "cut" and click on "split", the scene is now split into two scenes, click on the one you now want to discard and follow that by clicking on the traschcan icon. The selected one "goes away". Do the same to discard the unwanted part at the end.
Now do the same with scenes 2 and 3 (remembering that you shot them out of order and are now placing them in order).
I suggest you take your camcorder and shoot 3 short scenes of anything and come back and edit them as described above. This will get you started on some of the basics. Manuals that come with editing software often assume one already knows some of the basics and many of us learned that by doing.
So shoot something and try some of the above, sometimes "doing" is where "understanding" comes from.
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Eric,
Click and drag two opposite corners to the corners of the full frame on the first track. You may have to click and drag on the top and bottom to the topmost and bottom most part of the first track frame if a small band of the first track still shows. Same with the ends.
The video on that second track will play instead of the video on the first (I use this for "cutaways" or to hide awkward jump cuts), however you will hear audio from both tracks so you usually want to lower the volume of the audio on your PiP track to zero.
I'm using AVCHD and so far have not noticed any blurring on the PiP track. I'll go back and check that out.
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If you have them all captured it should be pretty easy.
Click on the EDIT bar, then the IMPORT MEDIA folder just to the right of the clapboard icon, in the dialog box that opens browse to the captured file and open it.
It becomes a single icon so click on that and then to the right of the MEDIA bar find 3 icons. Place your cursor over each to see what it is, the middle one is DETECT SCENES.
Click on that and follow through with what it does. I no longer work with tape but opened an old file and it did a super job of detecting scenes based on content change.
Drag 'n drop the ones you want on the timeline until you have what you want there. Then use the HELP function (or look in the manual index) to find out how to place chapter markers.
I don't know how long your tapes are or what you need to edit out of each one, but you may be setting up a pretty long project. Be prepared for a lot of work.
Good luck
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You're probably on the way. Just keep in mind that any movement is 4 to 6 times more critical with HD depending on the resolution your cam is set for. With that in mind I plan for most of my shots to be done on a locked tripod, with any camera movement only that necessary to tell the story.
Even then some things have to be done with dolly shots or pans to follow movement or action. Forward or back dolly type movement can be less of a problem than lateral movement.
And you have to accept that some motion blur or motion artifacts are going to be normal with enough motion. I'm surprised that the cavalry charge I mentioned above shows the individuals as clean/sharp as they are.
Here's a couple of my latest short films: Select the "Watch in high quality" option
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HF2qncrs2I
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByyZDO_mJRg&feature=user
You'll see some panning in the second one with little if any detrimental effect. These were both edited in Pinnacle Studio 11 before I heard about PD7
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If you could post the spec on your PC it would give more info for others to go on in trying to help you.
When I decided to move to AVCHD I ordered what I thought would be enough PC to handle it. I had been using Pinnacle Studio 11 and they stated for 1920x1080 it took a quad core running at 2.66Ghz min.
I didn't pay attention to the numbers and wound up with a Q6600 quad core 2.4Ghz, just a tad slower than what they specified as minimum. I have 4GB RAM and had an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB. With 1920x1080 17Mbps AVCHD I kept getting warnings about not enough graphics memory. Setting the cam to 1440x1080 12Mbps did result in being able to edit AVCHD but was somewhat slow.
PowerDirector with the same machine would not display video from the timeline in the edit window.
Changing out the graphics card to an Nvidia 8800GT with 512MB solved both problems. Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 seems to handle the full HD AVCHD even tho the processor might be a tad slow and PowerDirector works. In my case I had a graphics card problem.
A machine with AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 5000+ processor, 3GB of RAM and an integrated GeForce 6150LE graphics that I thought was pretty "meaty" a year ago is so agonizingly slow with 1440x1080 I gave up on it. My laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0Ghz processor and 3GB RAM handles 1440x1080 AVCHD but a bit slow.
I'm wondering what it's going to take with the next bunch of cameras coming out.
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Heather,
Post your computer specs (processor, amount of memory, and graphics) in case that gives someone here a clue what to look for.
Also you mentioned having problems previewing the AVI clips that are giving you problems. Are these clips that have been captured from your camcorder or did they come from someone else's camcorder?
Or did you get them from somewhere other than a camcorder?
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Bif,
thanks for checking it out. I appreciate it. Yes, the camcorder's OIS was on when I shot the clips. Since the problem occurs mostly in pans, you could be on to something here.
Well, it's a known complication of OIS. Anytime you are going to have intended camera movement it is strongly advised to turn it off.
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However, since the problem is not present when the camcorder is connected to the TV, or when I use the Sony-supplied software, or Ulead VideoStudio, I wonder if the problem is really inherent in the clips as shot by the camcorder, or whether it is being introduced by PD7. What are your thoughts on that?
Connecting to the TV by HDMI is the most perfect display you are ever going to get. The Sony supplied software is likely "tuned" to the Sony cam imaging characteristics and is more a means of quick review and copy to a PC. Ulead I don't know anything about but that may be what you have to use.
But most everything else is going to "lose" something in processing (down from what you see connecting direct to the TV), nothing is going to look as clean and crisp as the direct connection from cam to TV with HDMI.
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I'll try shooting some clips tomorrow with a lot of panning in a grassy area with OIS off, and then edit with PD.
The grassy area probably has more fine detail to "blur" and that's why it showed up so bad there.
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I'm wondering too whether all the editing software I have loaded on the PC is causing conflicts with PD. Besides PD 7, I have Pinnacle Studio 12, Ulead VideoStudio, Sony Picture Motion Browser, Nero 8 Ultra trial, and Vegas 8 Pro trial. I may try formatting the hard drive, re-installing Vista x64 and PD, with no other software in the system.
I think conflicts are unlikely. I've had so much stuff on my systems, 2 versions of Studio, and trials of other stuff and never had a problem except Nero once tried to take over as default program on every video clip and file on my system.
I would NOT go through formatting and re-installing, I don't think it would solve anything.
OK...I just rendered out the first 3 1/2 minutes of my current Ft Chadbourne project in PD7 to a WMV 1440x810 file. Movements included slow pans and tilt movements to follow slow riding cavalry, and pans to follow 4 abreast turns, and a couple of faster pans to follow cavalry charges.
The project was shot on a Canon HF100 set to 1920x1080 17Mbps and 30p. Motion was not perfect but moving subjects were clear enough and I saw nothing like the jumpy blur in your clip. While some image tones were definitely blurring (mostly background) what I was following remained reasonably clear to the extent I would consider normal when depicting motion.
OIS was OFF.
So see what your tests with OIS OFF show. Make pans as controlled as you can, make some pans following moving objects like cars on the street, try some slow pans like you would to move across scenery. You will likely find the motion artifacts you do get to be acceptable.
So far, I find PD seems to be giving me acceptable results and comparable to what I was getting with Pinnacle Studio 11.
Good luck and I hope I've helped you some.
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Dale,
I looked at it several more times with the player expanded to full screen on my 21.6" Samsung monitor and I see what you are calling pixelization in the grass. While it may look like that it looks more and more to me like OIS trying to correct for motion in your pan. I can almost see rapid "jerkiness" in the motion.
But towards the end of the clip where everything gets still, the quality looks good.
Let me know if I'm right about the OIS being "on".
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Dale,
I don't see any pixelization, what I do see is motion artifacting.
First question: Was optical image stabilization on the camera ON or OFF. OIS should be turned off whenever you are using a tripod as it "fights" with pans and camera movements and to varying degrees will cause what looks like unwanted motion.
I also turn it off if I am going to do handheld pans for the very same reason. Here's what it does. It interprets any camera movement as "unsteadiness" and attempts to "damp" it or compensate for it. So when you have a planned movement the OIS attempts to correct for it usually in small increments. This makes your motion artifacting worse than it would be otherwise.
While your pan in the sample looked steadier than a lot of folks can do, it still looked a bit fast to me and if you had the OIS "off" that may be an indication you have to really "ride herd" on camera movement control.
The image rendition when the camera was fairly still shows no faults of any kind and the software is really not doing anything it shouldn't.
The fact that you don't see this in the Ulead product may be due to some digital image stabilization built into that program.
But if you had the OIS on, try shooting something with the cam tripod mounted, OIS "off" and try for some slower very well controlled pans and see what happens.
With the cam hooked up direct to the TV you will always see a super good clean image you will never be able to match with rendering to a file or disk.
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It's time for any of us following this thread to have a look at what is happening. Upload a short clip that shows the problem where we can have a look at it.
Pans and movement of the cam with any HD consumer grade gear is problematic. But let's see what your problem looks like.
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we could try rapidshare.
Very rarely would your "technique" be causing a problem like this, and I don't think the software is at fault since you're getting the pixelization with two different software packages although to different degrees.
You don't see it playing back from your cam with a direct hookup to your TV, so the cam and TV are not the problem.
I don't think the software is the problem for the reason stated above.
It is possible that the Blu-ray player could be oversharpening or oversaturating in the greens. To see if we can rule that out, try rendering the same scenes to a 1280x720 WMV file and then play that back on your computer with Windows Media Player. If that plays back clean it kind of eliminates your computer and graphics display and may be pointing to the Blu-ray player.
Also if you can find a store with a Blu-ray setup, or a friend with BD or PlayStation 3 take your disks you've already made and see if another setup shows the pixelization.
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Your computer itself should be able to handle it with the fast quad core processor you have. While I would think the graphics card should not have an effect on image written to disk but would mainly have effect on display from the computer, I have read that more and more video editing programs may be using some GPU power to take some load off the CPU.
I wouldn't necessarily jump out and change cards now, but if nothing else solves the problem an Nvidia card would be something to consider.
I think the next step is to post either a freeze frame or very short video clip showing that pixelization so we can see what is happening.
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Post your computer specs and maybe someone here will have an idea.
Pinnacle states editing AVCHD 1920x1080 requires a quad core running at 2.66Ghz as a bare minimum. I have a quad core running at 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, and with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics card I kept getting a warning about not enough graphics memory.
Power director would not display AVCHD from the timeline in the edit window.
After replacing the graphics card with an Nvidia 8800GT 512MB seems to helped with both problems.
You never know what the culprit may be, but once the folks here have some idea of what you're working with they may have some ideas.
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If you are having trouble with the online ordering process and have access to amazon.com you might do a search on that site and see if any of their associated vendors have a "box" copy in stock. That's what I wound up doing.
Just did a quick check on amazon.com:
seaching for "powerdirector 7 ultra" returned one vendor
#
Seller: hermanstreet-music Price is very close to the online store here.
It will likely be an older build but you can download an update patch that brings it up to the current version.
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You should be able to stretch it out far enough to cover the full format of the main video track. I just took the acquarium.mpg clip which is 4:3 and then added a widescreen clip as an overlay on the first PIP track. It showed in the edit window as a small rectangle overlaid on the image of the first track with 6 "handles".
Click and drag on the lower left "handle" and drag to the corner, then the same with the upper right and I have 16:9 but a band of the original 4:3 image still showing on top and bottom. You can't drag the corners anymore but you still have two "handles", one at the top of your overlay clip and one at the bottom.
Click and drag the top one up to the top of the frame and the bottom one down to the bottom of the frame and you will have covered the whole 4:3 with an overlay image that is still holding it's image elements in proper proportion. Basically you are "zooming into" your overlay image enough to crop it to 4:3.
I would feel you can do the same with a main track in 16:9 and stretching a "pillar boxed" 4:3 image enough to make it cover as an overlay.
Hope this info helps also.
I just got Power Director running properly on my quad core primary editing computer. I had to replace an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics card with a PNY Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB card to get it to handle AVCHD 1920x1080 video. So I'm just now getting started on a project that's been on hold for awhile. I have to try some of these things you've been asking about because what I've been using may work a bit different.
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