Once I tackled the [somewhat infamous?] mpg2 activation issue, I spent some time going through the EMC9 Videowave and MyDVD paired applications; I wanted to know if they offered anything new, if they might be useful together with the software I was already using. With that goal I spent added time checking Videowave’s and MyDVD’s input and output compatibility; I wanted to report some of what I found. I’m not trying to write a review and I’m not knocking either program, but pointing out what I think are weak points – I hope that maybe it will help someone having problems related to these weak points.
Roxio made usability decisions that I think limit Videowave quite a bit... To me the biggest limitation is that Videowave doesn’t always handle aspect ratios correctly. If you import full-size video in mpg1, mpg2, or DV formats it apparently behaves itself. However if you’re one of the millions of folks who capture, render, or use intermediate, garden variety avi files, you’re out of luck. Videowave can widen your video [dangerously making your significant other look fat] adding letterboxing or cutting off the sides. That decision meant that Roxio didn’t have to provide a way to set the Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR), and it also meant that users don’t have to know what PAR is.
Full-sized digital video is also complicated by interlacing, and as with PAR, Videowave doesn’t give you a choice and can get it wrong. On-the-other-hand, this is more of a potential problem, something to look at if you have problems with players or with motion looking jerky or reversing itself. Testing mpg2 only, Videowave assumes lower field first, which is fine for DV, but most capture hardware and mpg2 video are the opposite. I found that when I tried to cut/join mpg2 without completely re-encoding, Videowave uses Lower Field First to re-encode a few seconds at the beginning, the end, and at joins; a Top Field First mpg2 on the timeline results in a mpg2 with reversing field orders – a potential problem.
As just mentioned Videowave allows you to cut and join mpg2 video (& audio) without re-encoding. Cuts and joins work at I frames [mpg2 video contains I frames, which store a complete frame, along with P & B frames, which contain only the changes between I frames]. Software like the free Cuttermaran can generate complete frames and encode the results so that you can cut/join anywhere, & it can detect and allow you to select I frames. Testing several sources of mpg2 Videowave did neither. Matching audio is almost always a problem; Videowave caused the audio sync to lag after a join.
Other than asking that something be changed in future versions, I think that these three issues are just things you have to avoid if they cause you problems.... It’s not something that’s broke, caused by something you’re doing wrong, or have installed. DVD authoring programs are in a different sort of software category in my opinion... Unless you spend a fortune nothing does everything, and modifying the output while optional shouldn’t be considered extraordinary.
While MyDVD certainly lacks some functions it can’t be faulted for that, and has only one oddity, producing 1 cell a minute that I could spot. Skipping any long explanation [if you aren’t working with cells already it wouldn’t be useful anyway], it means a MyDVD DVD might not act as expected with software designed to edit &/or manipulate DVDs.
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mikiem
Once I tackled the [somewhat infamous?] mpg2 activation issue, I spent some time going through the EMC9 Videowave and MyDVD paired applications; I wanted to know if they offered anything new, if they might be useful together with the software I was already using. With that goal I spent added time checking Videowave’s and MyDVD’s input and output compatibility; I wanted to report some of what I found. I’m not trying to write a review and I’m not knocking either program, but pointing out what I think are weak points – I hope that maybe it will help someone having problems related to these weak points.
Roxio made usability decisions that I think limit Videowave quite a bit... To me the biggest limitation is that Videowave doesn’t always handle aspect ratios correctly. If you import full-size video in mpg1, mpg2, or DV formats it apparently behaves itself. However if you’re one of the millions of folks who capture, render, or use intermediate, garden variety avi files, you’re out of luck. Videowave can widen your video [dangerously making your significant other look fat] adding letterboxing or cutting off the sides. That decision meant that Roxio didn’t have to provide a way to set the Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR), and it also meant that users don’t have to know what PAR is.
Full-sized digital video is also complicated by interlacing, and as with PAR, Videowave doesn’t give you a choice and can get it wrong. On-the-other-hand, this is more of a potential problem, something to look at if you have problems with players or with motion looking jerky or reversing itself. Testing mpg2 only, Videowave assumes lower field first, which is fine for DV, but most capture hardware and mpg2 video are the opposite. I found that when I tried to cut/join mpg2 without completely re-encoding, Videowave uses Lower Field First to re-encode a few seconds at the beginning, the end, and at joins; a Top Field First mpg2 on the timeline results in a mpg2 with reversing field orders – a potential problem.
As just mentioned Videowave allows you to cut and join mpg2 video (& audio) without re-encoding. Cuts and joins work at I frames [mpg2 video contains I frames, which store a complete frame, along with P & B frames, which contain only the changes between I frames]. Software like the free Cuttermaran can generate complete frames and encode the results so that you can cut/join anywhere, & it can detect and allow you to select I frames. Testing several sources of mpg2 Videowave did neither. Matching audio is almost always a problem; Videowave caused the audio sync to lag after a join.
Other than asking that something be changed in future versions, I think that these three issues are just things you have to avoid if they cause you problems.... It’s not something that’s broke, caused by something you’re doing wrong, or have installed. DVD authoring programs are in a different sort of software category in my opinion... Unless you spend a fortune nothing does everything, and modifying the output while optional shouldn’t be considered extraordinary.
While MyDVD certainly lacks some functions it can’t be faulted for that, and has only one oddity, producing 1 cell a minute that I could spot. Skipping any long explanation [if you aren’t working with cells already it wouldn’t be useful anyway], it means a MyDVD DVD might not act as expected with software designed to edit &/or manipulate DVDs.
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