Variable vs Constant Encodes & SVRT Issue

The_Sandman

Newbie Joined: Jun 19, 2018 14:46 Messages: 6 Offline

Solved by

Dec 09, 2018 20:05

Hi,

I recently upgraded to PowerDirector 17 and was having some issues with SVRT. Seeing other posts in the forum in relation to SVRT issues that were addressed with a new patch I updated to the latest version 17.0.2314.1

When working on large video projects I typically edit in smaller (approx) 25min segments and then at the end use SVRT to combine the clips without needing to encode them again. Since upgrading to 17 SVRT would report that the majority of my video would require encoding again.

For testing I had two clips both produced using the same MP4 profile. If i checked the SVRT info on each clip individually it would report that SVRT was available on 100% of the clip. Once I dragged both clips to the timeline and checked SVRT it would state 50% would require encoding. I then checked MediaInfo on each clip and found that one had been produced with a variable bitrate and the other constant. The frame rate modes for both are constant but the bitrate is different which I assume is the issue when trying to use SVRT on both as they don't match?

The video with a constant bitrate was one where I had made several cuts on the original video. The video with a variable bitrate was one where I didn't make any cuts to the original video. I then tested this by taking the variable video and cutting several sections from it and encoding it again and as I suspected it produced a video with a constant rate.

Is there a setting I need to change to tell it to produce it using a constant rate for clips where I'm not making any changes? I never previously had to do this on older versions of PowerDirector so I'm not sure if this is now by design or something?

I've attached a comparison for both clips if this helps as there are a few other differences as well - it reports different codec IDs but I don't know how as I used the same profile for both? I don't really know an awful lot about video editing to be honest, it's just more of a hobby so any help or advice anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comparison

The_Sandman

Newbie Joined: Jun 19, 2018 14:46 Messages: 6 Offline

Dec 10, 2018 18:19

I done a bit more research into this issue this evening. From what I can tell PowerDirector should really be encoding these clips with a variable bitrate - which makes sense given the option states 'Average Bitrate' in the Video tab.

My issue is then that it's encoding the majority of my videos with a constant bitrate instead which it seems to do when I edit segments out of the original. I then can't use SVRT to join them. Has anyone else experienced this issue or able to reproduce?

I took the same two source clips as mentioned above and edited them using PowerDirector 16 and the same profile I was using in 17. Both clips (one cut and one intact) encoded in PowerDirector 16 produced both videos with a variable bitrate and I was able to use SVRT to join them.

This appears to be an issue specifc to version 17 so I'll raise a support ticket and report back if I get sorted.

Thank you.

SoNic67

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 27, 2014 14:14 Messages: 1308 Offline

Dec 16, 2018 00:36

Quote I done a bit more research into this issue this evening. From what I can tell PowerDirector should really be encoding these clips with a variable bitrate - which makes sense given the option states 'Average Bitrate' in the Video tab.

My issue is then that it's encoding the majority of my videos with a constant bitrate instead which it seems to do when I edit segments out of the original. I then can't use SVRT to join them. Has anyone else experienced this issue or able to reproduce?

I took the same two source clips as mentioned above and edited them using PowerDirector 16 and the same profile I was using in 17. Both clips (one cut and one intact) encoded in PowerDirector 16 produced both videos with a variable bitrate and I was able to use SVRT to join them.

This appears to be an issue specifc to version 17 so I'll raise a support ticket and report back if I get sorted.

Thank you.

Did you try to set the edit profile to match the Sony PSP as the input video?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Dec 16. 2018 00:37

pmikep

Senior Member Joined: Nov 26, 2016 22:51 Messages: 285 Offline

Dec 16, 2018 01:57

I know that you're talking about PD17, but here's some trivia about my experiences with VBR and PD15’s SVRT.

When I was recording OTA TV using ArcSoft's software (that uses VBR), SVRT would "work." But sometimes, especially with movies longer than an hour and a half, SVRT would miss my cuts. (Where I had cut out commercials.)

Of course, PD's ScreenRecorder 2 works okay with SVRT.

Lately I've been experimenting with OBS. So far I've found that SVRT works okay with OBS's version of VBR. Although I haven't done any cutting of commercials, since I'm now recording full length movies that don't have commercials.

My point is that if the range of variableness in VBR isn't too extreme, then SVRT might work okay.

The_Sandman

Newbie Joined: Jun 19, 2018 14:46 Messages: 6 Offline

Dec 18, 2018 12:00

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it.

SoNic67 - The Sony PSP seems to just be what MediaInfo reports the type as. I wasn't actually trying to create a video for use with Sony PSP. The profile on the left is actually the exact same profile as on the right. The only difference is one video had segments cut from it and the other didn't - PD 17 is drastically changing the output on the same profile depending on segements being cut or not.

pmikep - Interesting you found that previous verion was hit and miss with VBR. My issue here is actually the reverse - it works 100% on videos with VBR but not on those with CBR. The same video encoded with the same profile in PD 16 produces a video with VBR but in PD 17 it produces it with CBR. That's essentially where my SVRT issues then come into play because of the mixed bit rate types of the videos.

I'm still talking with support but to date they haven't quite grasped what my issue is. They keep talking about updating to the 2314 patch which as mentioned I'm on. They then asked for pictures of SVRT option greyed out - again that's not an issue as it isn't actually greyed out. I'll try and get my point across to them and hopefully they recognise this as a defect with PD 17. To my knowledge it's no longer even possible to produce videos with CBR in PD? There was an option for it in lder releases but I thought that was removed a while back.

Thank you!