Messages posted by Guy

Thanks for the reply Barry, it's certainly something I will try.

I don't have an HD TV as yet (still on an old 32in widescreen CRT) but I will get one at some point so I want all this footage to look as good as possible on that when the time comes.

Is there anyway of removing some of the visual noise that my captures seem to have (I guess it's because it's from an analog source).

Thanks

Guy

Hi,

Like many, I have many old Hi8 tapes which I am now trying to record into the PC and store on a harddrive (not DVD).

I have captured the tapes using a Sony Digital8 camcorder (Sony DCR-TRV110 I think but can't look it up as I'm at work).

This stage has been successful, although I had to use Windows Movie Maker to do it as PD7 stopped every few seconds whilst recording.

What I now need to know/understand is what is the best format to Produce at (MPeg 2, DivX etx) and what bitrate to use.

I've tried MPeg 2 using a bitrate of 10000 and this doesn't seem to bad. It converts 19 Gb (1.5 hours footage) into about 6Gb. Using the default bitrate for MPeg2 didn't produce very good results.

Is this the best option or is there a better/more suitable format to use.

Thanks

I'm running Vista64 and the only problem I was getting was that it was taking SIX minutes to load the program up.

I eventually got round this by running in XP compatibility mode.

" just right click the shortcut and click properties, click compatibility tab and force it to run in windows xp sp2 mode and it starts up just fine"

The program now loads in a few seconds. I know it's not the same as your problem but it's maybe worth trying anyway.

Good luck

I've tried all sorts of different programs to create the files that I want and so far, by far the best (and quickest/easiest) is Windows Movie Maker.

I can create a 1080p or 720p file and they both play on the Xbox 360 (wirelessly connected) without any buffering whereas every other software I've tried either creates unplayable files are ones that create buffering issues all the time.

I know when I installed PD7 it was taking over 6 minutes to load up. I'd see the loading splash screen and just have to wait but it would eventually load.

I had to change the shortcut to run under Windows XP compatibility mode (I'm running Vista 64) and now it loads up in seconds

I've just had a quick search and found someone else with a similar problem. Their solution was

"just in case anyone runs into this again, just right click the shortcut and click properties, click compatibility tab and force it to run in windows xp sp2 mode and it starts up just fine"

This seems to do the job so it looks like there's a compatibility issue somewhere.

That's the load time sorted out (from 6+ minutes to mere seconds). Now I need to sort out the 'produce' time. It's still 3 hours for a 1 hour recording (reduced from 3.5 hours though).

Trying different output formats (that probably won't work with the xbox).

Mpeg 4 : 1hour 30 mins produce time
Dv-AVI : 30 mins produce time

All different attempts use the same input file (1 hour 1080i)

The camera is recording in 1080i and I'm, converting using the "Windows Media Video 9 HD Standard Quality" setting.

I'm importing from the camera and immediately producing the output with no editing.

The source file is approx 10Gb and the final output file is roughly 2.5Gb.

My PC is a Q6600 quad core with 4Gb RAM running Vista premium 64bit. I am also using 2 SATA 2 drives.

How long should the conversion be taking.

Even my PD7 takes about 6 mins to load up (I've contacted support and followed all their instructions but it still takes forever to load). Everything else on he PC runs nice and fast as expected.

Quote: easiest method is to render them as WMV -HD under the streaming category that what am using on my xbox from pd7 and it works like a charm.

Thanks for that, just given it a try and it seems to do the trick (it does take a rather long time to convert a 1 hour recording though (3.5 hours roughly) but I can live with that.

I'm having to use the "Windows Media Video 9 HD Standard Quality" and not high quality as the high quality creates some buffering issues over the wireless network.

I tried various other tools to do the conversion but they never seemed to want to render the (widescreen) source into a widescreen wmv file.

Hi All,

I'm trying to record all of my old tapes from my Camera and render them into a format suitable to be played back (via the network) on my Xbox 360.

I've tryed all sorts of different formats (using PD 7) but have been unsuccessful to date. I thought the XBox could handle DivX but that doesn't work either.

I usually end up getting a message about an incompatible codec when trying to playback the videos. I know the XBox works as it plays back other (downloaded) stuff that I have.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Not trying the hijack the thread, just reporting some facts (please delete if required).

I often get sound issues with PD.

I can record directly from the camera and no sound will play back during recording, however the sound has been captured fine in the resulting file. On these occasions I have to reboot my PC before the PC will produce any sound at all. It's like PD disabled the sound card.

I did a recording the other day (again with no sound), the resulting video file did have sound (as usual) but this time it was just pops and crackles and nothing else.

I'm running Vista 64 with a Creative Labs Audigy 2 sound card. I know that Creative driver support for Vista 64 is poor so I'm looking to change sound card. Hopefully this will sort the problem out.

* Update *

I left it for about 10 mins on this and it finally found the camera.

I guess PD7 on my machine is just slow. It still takes about 6 mins to load up (after a reformat and clean install of Windows before anti-virus and firewall installed).

It's a quad core (Q6600) with 4gb RAM running Vista 64 so shouldn't be too sluggish .

Hi,

I've plugged in my Sony HDR-HC5 and PD7 has found it ok. However, when I plug in my old Sony DCR-TRV110E (after a reboot) it tries to detect the device but stops at 70% saying "Initializing digital device... Please wait".

If I use windows movie maker (in Vista 64bit) the camera is found fine and allows me to record. Why can't PD7 find the camera?

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help. I've uninstalled, removed entries from the registry (as per instructions), reinstalled and it still takes an age to load.

I'll contact technical support.

Hi everyone,

I've bitten the bullet and just purchased Powerdirector. I've downloaded the software and installed it.

The problem lies in the fact that when I run the program I see the splash screen, I see it for a little longer then a little longer still .... (you get the message).

In fact I get to see the splash screen for over 5 and a half minutes before the application is fully loaded.

I'm running PowerDirector Deluxe 7.00.1829.

I'm running Vista 64 on a quad core q6600 with 4Gb ram and a GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb GFX.

I love the application (it's my first foray into video editing) but not so keen on the initial waiting.

Any ideas?