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adding video codecs


leonard

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stonemason

well i found your entry upsetting because it had nothing to do with the thread -- the ProShow subject has been brought many times before and has been answered most recently here

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....st=entry25282

at 09:59 yesterday morning

If you want to add "a wish " why not put in the wish list started by Igor?

sorry if i upset you

ken

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Hi Ken

You didn't upset me, I just found the tone disapointing, but enough said about that and lets move on. I did put the mpeg output in the wishlist post not long after it was started, and the reference to ProShow was a comparison, not a vote to use it. PTE produces far superior Audio Visuals and in the UK is the standard app for AV competitions. People who use forums need to be aware that new members, possibly with very little AV expertise, or experiance are joining all the time. We must therefor try to answer any query, or comment in such a manner that people are not put off seeking information, or asking questions that to the more experianced of us seem to have an obvious answer. :)

regards

stonemason

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With the nature of the previous postings in this thread, I am a little reluctant to add further comments. However I am indebted to Ken and Al for showing me a way to put separate PTE shows onto a DVD without opening multiple copies of PTE, so I would just like to add some further observations as a results of tests to try to achieve this.

To recap : My objective was to burn a number of related shows onto a DVD with a top level menu that would allow the user to choose a particular show - just like using the "Object Editor" window in PTE to provide a selectable menu of shows. I know that PTE's function is for computer generated slide shows but I sometimes like to show my shows in an environment where a computer is not available or practical.

Al pointed out that a temporary PTE AVI file could be imported into Nero Vision Express and then exported as a permanent AVI file, thus getting rid of the need to have several copies of PTE open simultaneously. Ken pointed out that I can re-import these AVI files back into Vision Express, prepare the necessary selectable menus, and then burn the result to a DVD. (Note that the AVI exported from Vision Express does not seem to be recognised by Ulead Movie Factory, which is the DVD authoring software I usually use).

I have managed to make the whole procedure work. However there seems to be still two disadvantages as follows :

1. The exported AVI from Vision Express is huge. ( In my test, the temporary PTE AVI file was 15kB and the resultant exported AVI file was 238GB - Yes that's correct, I have not made a mistake.)

2. The second problem is that, if a number of converted AVI files are re-imported back into Vision Express as separate files, the DVD menu structure recognises them as separate projects, so that they can be individually selected. However the program still thinks of them as being all part of a series of connected clips. So when you select an item via the menu, the DVD will play that item and then continue to play the next item without stopping and going back to the main DVD menu.

The first problem is not too serious as the large files can be deleted once the composit project is burnded to a DVD. Maybe there is also a solution to the second problem.

Incidently I completely agree with Al's comments regarding the provision of mpeg facilities. PTE is a great program and I hope we can avoid it becoming too complex with too many features. The quality of a show is likely to be dictated more by its content that any fancy presentation effects.

Jeff Evans

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Hi Jeff

I would recommend that you download a trial copy of TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator and give that a try as it will encode to all formats that you may need. The method is the same as creating an avi file but it encodes straight to mpg2 (for DVD) and takes about 20mins for a 5 minute AV on my computer ( 2.5ghz cpu 1.25gb ram). It produces first class results and is worth the time to learn how to use it. The advantage is there is no further encoding by your prefered DVD production app, and the mpeg files can be dragged and dropped into your project. If you have several AV's to encode you can open several copies of PTE each with a seperate AV point TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator at all of them and then go to bed and let it do the encoding through the night. This will produce a seperate mpg2 file for each of your AV's.

hope this is of some help

regards

stonemason

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Hi Stonemason,

Gosh this is an interesting thread. I will take up your suggestion to try the software. However I have discovered another feature of the video encoding provided by PTE. If you start the video encoding dialog box. Then select "creat custom AVi video file", then click on "Video codec" and select "MPEG4 Video Codec V2", then select "configure" and move the compression control slider right the way to the left to the "smoothness end. Then click the "create video" button, a permanent AVI file will be produced which will remain, even when PTE is exited. This AVI file can be imported into a number of DVD authoring programs (Studio 8, Movie Factory etc).

So now I can create a number of discreet AVI files to import into a DVD authoring program and produce a composite show. Also, the resultant AVI file is not too large. I have produced and AVI file of 130GB from a PTE show whose exe file is 42GB.

The problem seems to be solved, except for individual shows running on after one has finished.

Jeff

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... The exported AVI from Vision Express is huge. ( In my test, the temporary PTE AVI file was 15kB and the resultant exported AVI file was 238GB ...

Yes, that is consistent with what I found using Vision Express. I suspect it is generating intermediate images much larger than those used in other avi-creation programs like Pinnacle or Premiere Elements, as their avi files are about 1/4 of the size. The reason why the temporary avi file from PTE is so small is because it is still relying on PTE to provide the image information and so doesn't have to stand on its own. And, you are right, using the custom avi option with custom codecs does produce a permanent avi file, but it may not be compatible with all video-rendering software. In my limited testing I have found that the PTE codec works best. Igor, too, has indicated that this is the preferred one to use.

For menus, I have found Pinnacle's "Studio 8" and Adobe's "Premiere Elements" to be the most user-friendly in setting up break points and "return to menu" control points. Studio 8 seems to have the most options for font types, graphics, and menu and title designs, etc. of all of the programs I have tested. I just received my copy of Elements 2, so don't know yet what it can do.

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The available know how and response in this forum never ceases to amaze me. The best thing I ever did was to join.

Ken : Thanks for the link to solving the multiple show problem. That's all clear

Stonemason : I have downloaded a copy of TMPGEnc and tried it out on one of may PTE shows. Created a temporary AVI file from PTE and loaded this into TMPG for encoding. The result is two files :

a .m2v file which is the encoded MPEG file

a .wav file which is the associated sound file.

I can import the MPEG file into a DVD authoring program in order to produce DVD video files, but I have to also import the .wav file or there is no sound. Not sure what the point of this process is when I can produce a permanent AVI file using the PTE video coding MPEG4 Codec V2 as described in my previous post. I am afraid that I am not very well up on video coding and file formats. Incidently the .AVI file using the PTE encoding is much smaller than the MPEG file produced using TMPG.

Jeff

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Jeff

see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ighlite=tmpgenc

the procedure may be in the thread

if not there is a write up in the forum

in the how to create video section

in short -- i seem to remember you have to select for vcd or svcd, and the resulting file will be the mpg

it was brought up many times when we first had the option to make the avi

if you find the link please include it in this thread

thks

ken

Jeff

follow this thread

quietstorm "Bart Morris" - started it - he is quite knowledgable on the tmpgenc program

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....1335&hl=tmpgenc

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Jeff if you select the DVD option in TMPG it will create a mpeg2 file which has the soundtrack contained within it. It is not the easiest piece of software to get to grips with, but the effort will be rewarded with excellent results. Do a google search on DVD creation, there are some excellent tutorial sites out there. If you have problems let me know the specifics and I will see if I can help, if needs be I will try some screen shots to talk you throuh the process.

regards

stonemason

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This may be an interesting thread but I wish it had been opened originally in "How to create a Video".

Ron [uK]

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Gentlemen,

This is my last post here. I can take the hint as well as the next man. I only continued posting in this thread as this is where the topic started. I did not want to continue in the DVD forum as I do not know how to post a link to another part of the forum so that the topic could be cross-referenced.

Anyway, I have the answers I originally set out to get - thanks to all your contributions. I shall now perhaps tidy up the loose ends by emailing stonemason and Ken Cox separately if necessary, rather than continuing in the forum.

Thanks again for your help.

Jeff

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Jeff

we hope we have helped you out

yes it is too bad you started your thread in the general section but let me tell you are not the first nor will you be the last:)

and the way the thread was going it would take the moderators to move a pile of postings to the video section. Igor should look into making this an easy task for the moderators.

This newsgroup

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sympat?r=536

the moderator quite often move threads when they start to move away from Sympatico related stuff

i have started a new thread in the video section that may be of some use to you

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3962

most important was the wealth info that the thread brought out, so dont let us disuade you from posting to the forum

ken

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