Auto Color only on certain portions?

[MrPink]

Howdy, everyone.

 

Well, I am at wit's end with this product, and am hoping someone here can help.

 

I want to apply Auto Color only to certain portions of the finished video. Here's the scenario:

 

VHS video, recorded to DVD recorder and resulting file ripped to MPEG file. Video already contains a continuous music track, in addition to audio contained in the scenes.

 

I want to use Auto Color on MOST of the file, but not all. It works well on the dark portions, but washes out the light portions of the video.

 

Can't seem to find a way to do this. The only thing that seems to work is to split at the points I want to switch modes and turn it on or off for individual scenes. But there's a problem when I render, and that is that the audio is clobbered at the edit points. It's really audible. It seems that at edit points, the assembler fades out and fades back in, quickly. This results in a very audible artifact at assemble points. (But. hey! The color is good...!)

 

This is ugly. The help files are worse than useless. (Heck, when I have to GOOGLE "fade-to black" to find a procedure for the most common effect on the planet, we know we're in trouble!)

 

This shouldn't be this hard. All I want to do is turn the processing on and off at particular points in the file, and render the result. Am I missing something amazingly simple? Can anyone help with this?

 

Thanks,

 

-Pink

[sknis]

Thanks for the reply. It's appreciated. Let's start from last first:

 

I did use the search function. That's how I discovered how to do fade to black. This was a minor point, trying to illustrate the inadequacy of the help files. Instead of this being in the help files (where it ought to be), I had to go out looking for an answer for it. This issue isn't in help, either.

 

I don't want to get into <confusedmode> but you did say you "Googled" for it. I'm old fashioned enough to understand that to mean that you actually used the Google search engine. My comment about spelling was meant to agree with you.

 

From the help files

Tip: You can extend the length of your production past the amount of personal content you have by adding a color panel at the end of your production and changing its duration to suit your needs. For example, add a Black color panel, insert a fade to dissolve transition, and let the title credits and music continue to play.

 

 

OK, it doesn't really spell it out as such.

<confusedmode> Do you mean don't trust preview for how the auto color processing looks? Do you think that scenes that look terribly washed-out in the preview won't look that way when I look at the mpg file in another viewer application, or when it's burned to DVD? Could you please elaborate on this?</confusedmode>.

 

I'm not sure how washed out it will appear if it were on a disc. Often artifacts seen in the preview are not seen in the finalized project. The preview is a low quality in situ rendering of the project. To see how it would really look, encode the project to the iso file and look at it in Disc Copier.

 

You must mean that if I wanted to continue to build the project this way (split scenes, with processing turned on and off as desired) that this will have some sort of a positive effect on the audio artifacts at the edit points. I'd like to understand this better. This is an exceptionally capable machine, and I've never had trouble with DirectX on it. Could you explain what is going on, and why you think this will help?

 

From experience, some people have been able to solve their audio issues by reducing the audio acceleration. This will cure some of the distortion you may hear. Since I don't seem to have that problem, I can't try it for you.

And last, while I hate to be picky (and I am not trying to be disrespectful or flippant), my original question still stands. Is it possible to toggle auto color as desired on one continuous clip? If so, how?

 

From the previous post, there is no way of doing what you want to do with out splitting the file.

 

Any possiblity of "hiding" the audio issues with a short transition?

[ggrussell]

There is only one solution:

Extract the audio to a separate WAV file and then add it back to the production. Then mute the native audio track. Since this is a music track, sync isn't as critical as with voice.

[MrPink]

Well, here's an update:

 

I ran the encode with processing on, and it definitely washes out the bright scenes to almost a white-out. It's really nasty. So, that's out. It's too bad, because it makes a nice difference on the other scenes.

 

I had the same idea that GG had- the trouble is that sync IS important, because there are lots of shots with people gabbing and such. I suppose I could try this anyway and see what happens (heck, HDD real estate is cheap!).

 

I worry about one or two frames being added or dropped at cuts and then having sync slowly creep. I guess the only way to find out is to try.

 

The REAL solution is go back to the raw footage, capture/encode it all, cut it back together and overlay the music track (I can recreate that too). This is something I planned to do at some point in the future, if for no other reason than to save a gen of bad videotape. But everyone would like to see this now (it's been years since it was shot), so I was hoping I could make some small improvements before I gave it to everyone as a teaser.

 

I'll try the audio overlay technique sometime over the weekend and report in.

 

Haven't had the DirectX error return, but I also haven't done much since I initially reported it, either. If it returns with the cut-scene version, I'm gonne be... erm, upset. <g>

 

Is it Miller time, yet?

 

-Pink

[MrPink]

Thanks for the reply. It's appreciated. Let's start from last first:

 

Perhaps the better options would be to use the search function at the top of this board. you would have found this.

I did use the search function. That's how I discovered how to do fade to black. This was a minor point, trying to illustrate the inadequacy of the help files. Instead of this being in the help files (where it ought to be), I had to go out looking for an answer for it. This issue isn't in help, either.

 

Don't trust the preview. Burn the project to an iso file and them preview it in Disc Copier.

<confusedmode> Do you mean don't trust preview for how the auto color processing looks? Do you think that scenes that look terribly washed-out in the preview won't look that way when I look at the mpg file in another viewer application, or when it's burned to DVD? Could you please elaborate on this?</confusedmode>.

 

Reduce your audio acceleration via DirectX (dxdiag from the Windows>start> run control).

You must mean that if I wanted to continue to build the project this way (split scenes, with processing turned on and off as desired) that this will have some sort of a postive effect on the audio artifacts at the edit points. I'd like to understand this better. This is an exceptionally capable machine, and I've never had trouble with DirectX on it. Could you explain what is going on, and why you think this will help?

 

And last, while I hate to be picky (and I am not trying to be disrespectful or flippant), my original question still stands. Is it possible to toggle auto color as desired on one continuous clip? If so, how?

 

Thanks again,

 

-Pink

 

(edited for typos)

[ggrussell]

And last, while I hate to be picky (and I am not trying to be disrespectful or flippant), my original question still stands. Is it possible to toggle auto color as desired on one continuous clip? If so, how?

Unfortunately, how you did it is the only way that I know to accomplish that task. As for the audio, also unfortunate, but that's the way the program works and Yes, many have complained. We agree that when the user makes a 'cut', the audio SHOULD NOT fade in/out. At this point, there is nothing we can do except let those in charge know how we feel.

[MrPink]

Come on, you don't like "confusedmode?" <grin>

 

Appreciate the replies very much. Sorry, I wasn't clear about the search thing. First, I searched on "fade to black" in the app help files, and a number of related terms, and came up with nothing. Then I went out to Google and searched on the term and "videowave", and found this forum, and that technique. Sometimes it's simpler to simplify for clarity (you like that one? <g>) and not spell out every detail. Technically, Google already searched the forum for me. And now that that is out of the way...

 

I have to agree with ggrussel. There should be nothing weird going on at edit points unless I specify. If I want a raw cut with no audio processing happening to hide possible "defects" at the cut, that's what I should get.

 

As far as calling the problem "distortion," that's not really it. This is clearly something Videowave is doing at the cuts. It's very audible, and is very much like the action of an incorrectly set compressor/limiter. You can hear the audio get taken down and then ramped back up at each cut. This might make sense to try to help mask any glitches at the edit points (DC shift, etc), but in my case, its a bad thing.

 

Any possiblity of "hiding" the audio issues with a short transition?

Unfortunately not. This is a tape full of scenes shot years and years ago with several different camcorders and formats, and it was then all cut together with a continuous music track behind it all. The idea behind the assemble edits was to change processing where I needed to change it, but the audio dropout at edits blows that idea.

 

I'm running a new encode now with auto color turned on full length. I'll see what the bright scenes look like.

 

On another issue, (I'm on my way over to the "errors" section after this), has anyone else had trouble with MPEG renders returning a generic DirectX error of "no common media between these pins" and "could not create the renderer object?" The software will sometimes barf when trying to encode to MPEG-2 DVD Best, but not always. I haven't found a common pattern to these errors, and when the error occurs, if I try to encode to something else (say MPEG-1 or AVI), it works fine. I've just rereg'd sonicmcdsdv.ax as a guess, and it's working now, but I don't know if things will keep working... heh.

 

Ah, the wonders of technology. Sometimes the days of "640K ouught to be enough for anybody," really appeal to me.

 

Thanks, guys.

 

-Pink

[sknis]

Come on, you don't like "confusedmode?" <grin>

On another issue, (I'm on my way over to the "errors" section after this), has anyone else had trouble with MPEG renders returning a generic DirectX error of "no common media between these pins" and "could not create the renderer object?" The software will sometimes barf when trying to encode to MPEG-2 DVD Best, but not always. I haven't found a common pattern to these errors, and when the error occurs, if I try to encode to something else (say MPEG-1 or AVI), it works fine. I've just rereg'd sonicmcdsdv.ax as a guess, and it's working now, but I don't know if things will keep working... heh.

 

Ah, the wonders of technology. Sometimes the days of "640K ouught to be enough for anybody," really appeal to me.

 

Thanks, guys.

 

-Pink

 

 

I ran into this just recently after I did a lot of editing on a video and then tried to output it to a file. I made sure I saved it and then shut down video wave and EMC and restarted. I did not get that error again. Perhaps filling up the proxy files?

[sknis]

Howdy, everyone.

Well, I am at wit's end with this product, and am hoping someone here can help.

I want to apply Auto Color only to certain portions of the finished video. Here's the scenario:

VHS video, recorded to DVD recorder and resulting file ripped to MPEG file. Video already contains a continuous music track, in addition to audio contained in the scenes.

I want to use Auto Color on MOST of the file, but not all. It works well on the dark portions, but washes out the light portions of the video.

Can't seem to find a way to do this. The only thing that seems to work is to split at the points I want to switch modes and turn it on or off for individual scenes. But there's a problem when I render, and that is that the audio is clobbered at the edit points. It's really audible. It seems that at edit points, the assembler fades out and fades back in, quickly. This results in a very audible artifact at assemble points. (But. hey! The color is good...!)

This is ugly. The help files are worse than useless. (Heck, when I have to GOOGLE "fade-to black" to find a procedure for the most common effect on the planet, we know we're in trouble!)

This shouldn't be this hard. All I want to do is turn the processing on and off at particular points in the file, and render the result. Am I missing something amazingly simple? Can anyone help with this?

Thanks,

-Pink

Reduce your audio acceleration via DirectX (dxdiag from the Windows>start> run control).

Don't trust the preview. Burn the project to an iso file and them preview it in Disc Copier.

Like a dictionary, you can look up how to spell a word if you know how to spell it. Perhaps the better options would be to use the search function at the top of this board. you would have found this.