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OK, a field with searchable keywords.
I will add this to the VB program too so it can be searched. And a search input as well to tell Access what search is required.
Will take a day to do it and publish. Thanks 'rider
DONE
You can now sort by any column, search for multiple keywords, export text, it still does not affect any PD Files e.g. the .pds file
HOW TO USE IT
As you go through a set of VHS tapes, or AVI files or any video tape system, viewing them on say a TV or a PC editor,
Make a note of the Tape Identity and Format and possibly the Disk path to the file c:\files\Nov2006\
As you watch the tape you can add records like
Party at Joes + Tape Position + Length of Clip _+ Comments
BBQ at Joes + Tape Position + Length of Clip _+ Comments
Poolside Party at Joes + Tape Position + Length of Clip _+ Comments
It remembers the tape ID etc for you
When you have done a couple of tapes you can review the database, sorting by any column, and add keywords as you go or edit any field any time. You can sort columns and search keywords.
You can print a list and get it into your clipboard (Copy) and paste it elswhere any time.
Then when you are ready to do a big edit of say that party you can sort by subject and see what tapes to get out of your library and corral them into the editor, roughly clipping at the start/runlength times and now you are ready to do the PowerDirector editing proper. This way you wont spend hours with PDR open while browsing dozens of files cuz you already did that part and saved it in the database.
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heres a screen shot
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News:
I have created a small stand alone VB program which is a VideoClip Database complete with a well behaved SETUP program.
Features:
1. Its FREE
2. You can use it to collect the following information about your clips
Name or ID - of each Tape
Format - e.g. VHS BETA WMV MP4
Subject - Description of the clip
Time Posn - Time on the Timeline beginning of each clip
Length - Running time of each clip
Comments - Up to 256 characters per clip
Database is MS Access but it exports to a textbox which you can simply right-click select and copy as comma and quotes delimited text
You can Add,Update Delete records and there is a grid view too.
Any field can have any kind of text, numbers quotes and punctuation so you are not limited by my design. e.g you could use the TapeName or Subject fields for any other use you like, indeed any field can be used as you like.
It works in any Microsoft PC - I tested it in Vista.
You can sort the display as well, so all your birthday clips can be grouped easily. Its not 'connected' to PowerDirector in any way though if I can figure out how, I might make a better version in the future. Eventually I would love it to be able to build a .pds file but thats a long way off I think.
Want a copy ? PM me please
You dont need Access installed to use this program
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I just ran a check in PDR8 and examined the .pds file OUCH - no way I would try to parse and edit that file in Visual Basic anymore. Its full of sort of encrypted stuff now like
><Buffer>/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDAAMCAgMCAgMDAwMEAwMEBQgFBQQEBQoHBwYIDAoMDAsKCwsNDhIQDQ4RDgsLEBYQERMUFRUVDA8XGBYUGBIUFRT
OK I would fall back on creating a simple notepad history of tape # and time along the tape of what you see when you scan through a tape like
Tape #1
0.00 Vacation
5.30 Birthday
17.20 Ball Game
Tape #2
0.00 Birthday
15.30 Birthday
27.20 Anniversary
and can at least search the notepad to see what tapes you need to import
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I know what you want and the simple answer is, to date , no.
It might be a good after-market product for someone to make.
A searchable database where you could skim through a video and tag by time different content. so birthday, christmas, vacation etc.
Then at another time search the database and retrieve all relevant tapes, clips of vacation and build an edit file.
The real world: You can open a new project in PDR and bring in your first video to the timeline. Roughly chop out everything but the vacation. Save the project. Drag in the next video and repeat and save.
Now your project knows that two video sources exist and two clips from them are wanted on the time line.
Repeat as many times with as many video sources, saving each time.
Next time you load PDR and load the saved project it will assemble all your clips on the time line as it was saved originally.
If your project was saved as "all-vacations" then you got waht you want, but thats not the same as having a VHS with a bunch of items and being able to database the items in a sort of future directory of content.
Not yet anyway.
Actually, the data in the .pds file COULD BE CREATED by a Visual Basic add-on Hmmmmm maybe I will research this another time.
Wonder how many PDR users would want such a tool and how much it would be worth.
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Its possible with any video software which has PIP tracks.
Take the video for the green channel (unless you already taped it using a green filter) and remove the green by doing a chroma key PIP using a pure green color board as the eye dropper color.
Do same for the red channel using a pure red color board as the chroma key eye dropper color.
Save and publish the two videos and then re-combine them as a single video with two side by side PIPs with a small vertical gap between them
like this http://www.videocentricity.net/video/3DTest.wmv
View the video with red/sgreen glasses and there will be a fair 3D video
If you filmed it with a red and a green filter on the camera lenses then you wont need to do the first stage.
Ideally you want electronic goggles like IMAX
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You can try importing them into a compressed format like MPG rather than AVI and that saves about 50+% as your source file, however you get loss of detail too.
Recording to AVI will definitely be about 1gig for 45 mins.
PDR7+ has video deNoise filter but beware it consumes tons of memory to perform it so either have tons of ram or a long wait.
I wonder if outputting the VHS as RGB and inputting that signal into a HD or Mini_DV camera RGB input would help with the initial low quality. The HD camcorder might do some signal processing on the fly to improve the video.
Then input the DV signal normally into PDR. I would check with some of the VHS forums and Google.
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read this wiki article for details of AVCHD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD
I suspect that either the codec is proprietary and or there is something we dont know, going on.
I recently downloaded a codec off the web which allowed me to import and edit/watch a 1080p25.mov file which I think is AVCHD but it was not a free codec and was overlaid with a copyright mask.
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MPEG-1
Bitrate 17.85 Mbps
Frame rate 29.97
File type VCD
File size 120.36 MB
I did a quick comparison with two of my own files
away.mpg
2.37mbps
25fps
49 Mb
2m 36s runtime
howto.mp4
8mbps
29fps
829 Mb
13m 51sec runtime
For your file to be twenty minutes runtime it would need to be either about 1Gigabyte long (or more) or its bitrate would need to be more like 4 or 5 Mbps
Go try the same properties on a different file.
My calculation was that your 120Mbyte file would runtime around 36 seconds so 2 mins would be in the same ballpark, not 20 mins.
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Sorry to read of your problem, really.
Lets take this piece by piece, and see what's wrong if possible.
You say the editor works OK and presumably allows cutting, enhancement etc etc. At that point can you play the edited changes in situ using the small screen display on the editor ? Yes?
Now, can you play it again but in the larger display [preview in media viewer] ?
As to using the KLM codec, I have installed K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 4.8.5
and it works very well, so its probably not an incompatibility.
Just for testing can you try producing the following...
Output a small size (Finished <50Mb) video to .AVI then .WMV version 8, .WMV version 9
if that works try a larger file until it crashes or slows down too much.
On version 7 Power Director I found that in Vista with 1.5Gbytes ram a video of X minutes long would take about 2X minutes to produce.
With Version 8 and 4Gigs ram in Vista it takes about 1.3X to 1.5X depending on how much editing and PIP tracks are involved in the video.
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more info please.
Whats the size of the file in gigabytes?
can you play it OK in Windows Media Player?
what format .AVI or .MPG ?
any info would help.
When you bring it in to PowerDirector can you play it before trying to drag to the eitor line?
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Do I presume your text editors like Microsoft Office work this way because you select the Country Code or something and Cyberlink does not offer such during install? How do other programs like Paint behave?
You might need to Google the web for a simple utility to reverse all the text in a document and then cut-n-paste the strings into PDR
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I visited your site and watched. Congratulations, maybe it was luck and you did not have a close-up shot of the singer.
I have had bad luck matching audio to video. I used an mp3 digital audio recorder and even employed clapper-board visual clues to sync at the start AND the finish. I found that the sync wanders + and - throughout the recordings, even using clean cameras and new DV tapes. I was trying to do multi-camera work but even a solo camera was a problem.
Ultimately I dumped the cameras which had no external mic audio in and purchased a Sony camera with external mic inputs.
I think the problem exists because on a camera the audio+video tracks together when recorded together (either on-camera mic or external mic) but there is no central timebase sync on consumer equipment to sync-up with say a digital audio recorder. I saw the most noticeable effect when doing close-ups of drummers when the drumstick beat did not match the video movement.
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As a last resort, spell your text phrase backwards like
Have a nice day = yad ecin a evaH
Then the 'bug' will flip it again for you
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Are you aware that in Vista you can go to Properties for the PDR7.EXE program and check the checkbox "Run as an Administrator"
When you run the program you will be prompted each time if its OK to do so.
It may help you overcome the limitation mentioned earlier.
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This is an old problem, been occuring for months, see Google 'no youtube sound'
I think it started when Youtube started hosting HD vids and re-encoded a lot of existing vids. So its Youtube to blame not you. If you have your own vids up there, delete them and re-submit.
You might find google links saying re-install your sound card etc but it did not help me. Aslo is your windoze OS patched to microsoft latest?
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I found this topic when searching for "failed insert timeline" error message
Using PD7 V. 7.01.1714 with 1.5Gig ram + Windows Vista Home Basic
I created an 85 minute running time project with around twenty WMV clips and exported to AVI as a single 18.6 Gigabyte movie.
With the time line still being the twenty WMV clips and no chapter headers I decided to test create a DVD but on loading the DVD Create Disc page it ran about 16% progress in the popup message "Initializing" and then popped an error message "failed to insert timeline data"
I exited the current PD7 and restarted.
Loading the 18.6 Gb AVI on the timeline I tried again and got as far as being ready to burn, however the project requires 5.1Gb of DVD space.
Trying again I produced a single WMV (768Kbs WMV 9) which was 860 Mbytes. which should burn OK on DVD though I have not tried yet.
So the question is "Why did I get the error when trying to assemble twenty WMVs for the DVD Create Disc ?" I guess its related to the size of the project, though I have burned multi WMV files before of smaller runtime.
Should I send this info back to DP7 Development?
(Beta Team Member)
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Its an interesting thread this one.
What I clearly see here and in other threads is on one side a pragmatic approach, possibly even an investigative approach by some users.
When something seems to be broken in PD7 the next step by "The Prags" is to ask - "Well what does work or how can I get around it?"
When video projects using gigabyte size files are being processed in so many computers by users with such different pc configurations and operating systems, you have to ask, is it me or the pc or what?
Dragging timelines, adding subtitles and so on make PD7 build ever larger PDS project files and then we get black screens as reported here as a symptom. As a symptom - not a bug or a design error. That can easily be proven by testing with smaller files. If it is a recurring testable symptom with small files, then it might be a bug.
When I see these same symptoms on my own pc, and I do, as well as freezes and crashes ("Program not responding, kiss your unsaved work goodbye...") I instinctively know I pushed the envelope of my pc configuration too far.
Either the video subsystem or memory allocation or just plain Bill Gates may be responsible. Maybe it is the architecture of PD7 and/or memory leakage or too many pending subroutine clicks or whatever in the C++ -program module (it is written in C++ ??) which was responsible.
As a knee-jerk reaction I can scream at Cyberlink and go out and buy an $800 editing suite from one of the big guys and fume over the new learning curve or as a "Prag" I can learn to handle smaller files or at least save my work after any new file or title or transition was added to the project. [I bet Final Cut Pro would also crash my pc configuration]
If this was Microsoft product we would be a few million users and Gates/Balmers Boys would spring into action sometime soon to fix the bug or architecture or maybe not.
I'm not an employee or reseller for Cyberlink, just a user who saw PD6 as a well-featured easy to use platform. I tested as many free download competitor products in the $60 - $200 range before I bought it and now have PD7. With the added PIP tracks and a few other new features in PD7 I still think it was the best buy and yes it still crashes on me when I get over enthusiastic in editing. I have Vista Home Edition with 1.5 Gigabytes ram and a 2Ghz AMD processor
My Hints
Save your work often
Do fancy multi-PIP and motion tricks in small clips, then import that AVI into the big project
Save your work often
Don't click-n-drag too rapidly
Save your work often.
/RANT OFF
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I had not tried this since upgrading from PD6 to PD7.
I took a commercial DVD made by Hollywood and copied one of the .vob files to my hard drive and renamed it as .mpg
Then i imported it into PD7 and edited the video track with no problems. I boosted the audio by raising the video track sound level and it plays flawlessly with no deterioration from the original DVD.
What does this tell me? PD7 is not guilty. Try exactly this scenario with any commercial DVD you have at home and edit a clip from any .vob track on any DVD.
I presume when you want to transfer filles from the camcorder to the pc you connected them using a USB connector and the camcorder looks like a disk drive, You then copied the DVD files,
A capture card (Firewire interface) is used to tranfer live video at video bandwidth rates from a camcorder in playback sending data over to the pc running an edit program like PD6/7 or MS MovieMaker which saves the data usually as AVI or MPEG So I doubt if having a capture card is necessary.
This leaves only the DVD files written to your camcoder disk as suspect.
The fact that you needed an additional converter tells me that the files your camcorder creates are not MPEG2-PS files. or at least not exactly to the MPEG2-PS specification codec.
Please try importing a store-bought DVD of your own and see if you agree.
By the way if you did buy the firewire card you could playback the file in the camcorder and send the video signal over the firewire to PD7 and let PD7 capture the video to your pc. This ignores the DVD feature in your camera and would prove if the video out from the camera is capable of being captured. The video out must be used with a firewire connection since USB does not have the bandwidth to handle video.
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Do I guess you run Vista?
What happens when you do just a small file like a one minute AVI output as WMV
Does it freeze while you are editing Titles? swapping timeline segments, what?
I have my Vista ACL set for Admin and it cured a lot of freezes, though is still happens especially when re-editing titles in larger 5 minute moves with multiple PIP.
I only have 1.5Gig ram and Vista with a 2gig cpu.
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Three comments. All probably due to Windows image subsystems , memory and CPU especially when working on large files.
!. when watching the viewer window you may not see the PIP and Video appear in sync. Even when playing both in the project window (I mean upper right view window of the workspace)
2. I find for critical work I edit a five or ten second segment of the main video as a sub-video export as avi and do any PIP overlay on that - save it as a new AVI and patch the result back into the main movie.
With a five second clip the CPU processor, image processor and other Windows software can better handle the live action in realtime.
3. No disrespect but I had to learn to use the PIP motion contols as an artform using the yellow and blue sliders and the points of data along the motion line (humps in your example) until you are able to get the motion doing what you want. but it is an artform and not really explained in PD7 user guides.
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