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Activity Forums Adobe Encore DVD Cutting from black to video – getting clean frames?

  • Cutting from black to video – getting clean frames?

    Posted by Ben Wharton on April 9, 2005 at 1:14 pm

    This is probably an encoding/editing issue rather than an Encore issue, but I thought someone might know!

    A compilation of sequences either fading up from black /cutting from black then fading to black / cutting to black

    Encoded with Procoder CBR 6500 Video rate, Highest Quality setting. Source material composite output dumps from client DVDs converted to DV codec

    Fade ups/fade downs are perfect. But cuts FROM black to picure tear/flash across 2 or 3 frames.

    Question: Is this to do with the position of the first frame of video within the GOP structure OR is this to do with the fact that when the sequences were edited (on Avid Xpress Pro) there was nothing on the timeline before the first frame of video?

    And whatever the reason is there a way to fix it? Any help / pointers massively appreciated.

    (I get the feeling this is an old subject so apologies if this has been asked long long ago)

    Ben

    Roadkill replied 19 years, 10 months ago 2 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Roadkill

    April 9, 2005 at 3:54 pm

    The problem sounds as if ProCoder didn’t start a new GOP on the cut from black. If you are using ProCoder 1.x, did you update to 1.5?

    If I understand the workflow correctly, ProCoder transcoded DV AVI files to MPEG-2 and these DV AVI files were created from MPEG-2 video on a DVD. If that is correct, the problem could have its roots in the MPEG-2 on the DVD which was used as source. I would suggest to carefully inspect the frames directly after the cut for any artifacts.

  • Ben Wharton

    April 9, 2005 at 4:27 pm

    Roadkill –

    Thanks for the reply.

    More precise workflow (and I’m suddenly thinking it’s QuickTime) all in PAL domain:

    1. DVD->Composite Output->OpenDL AVI (DV Codec)

    2. OpenDL AVI -> OMFI Avid Files (i.e. import into Avid Xpress Pro)

    3. Edited sequences -> QuickTime Reference Files (everything rendered beforehand/mixed down)

    4. Procoder 2 -> PAL MPEG2 Elementary Streams

    5. Author with Encore (but you can see issue in MPEGs beforehand)

    To clarify effect: First frame takes 2 frames to appear, like it’s interlaced, but it’s actually a frozen frame, then after that clean frozen frame appears, the video actually starts.

    I’m using Avid Xpress 4.3.1 with QuickTime 6.5.2 – I’ve had issues with QT Ref before and I;m wondering if I exported the sequences as AVI files instead the thing would work without a flaw.

    Any thoughts?

    Ben

  • Roadkill

    April 9, 2005 at 4:39 pm

    Ben,

    No real thoughts as I normally try to avoid anything with QuickTime in its name. 😉 (Not because I dislike Apple, but based on a few unhappy and confusing problems I have had with QT sources.) But it should be an easy and quick test to feed the DV AVI (as captured from the DVD player’s composite output) into ProCoder, set in and out points around one of the troublesome cuts from black, and see if the output is better than from the QT ref file.

  • Ben Wharton

    April 9, 2005 at 4:45 pm

    Roadkill –

    Unfortunately there is no quick test. The original captures from DVD contain no cuts from black – they’re all created in the edit. So have to render out AVI files from Avid instead.

    Yawn.

    Also now Encore is acting up! – not jumping back to the start of a new sequence which the end point says it’s supposed to. It jumps back to the start of the same sequence instead. Problem is, this is INTERMITTENT. Another bug me thinks…

    Ben

  • Roadkill

    April 9, 2005 at 4:51 pm

    [Ben Wharton] “Also now Encore is acting up!”

    Could it be that you have used the “override” option in the Properties of the timeline? If so and you aren’t using it to do a special navigational trick, revert it to “Not Set”.

  • Roadkill

    April 9, 2005 at 4:54 pm

    [Ben Wharton] “So have to render out AVI files from Avid instead.”

    In that case I would suggest to render out a small section to test with. It would be a shame to waste a lot of time if the problem turns out not to be with the QT ref source.

  • Ben Wharton

    April 9, 2005 at 6:12 pm

    Well I just did a quick re-author without the Override option and so far it seems OK. But when Encore throws up errors essentially saying you have to set them…

    Meanwhile, yes, I’ll just do a short section and test. I’ll tell you what I find.

    Thanks again.

    Ben

  • Ben Wharton

    April 9, 2005 at 6:52 pm

    Oh, yes, you gotta love QuickTime…

    I rendered out a few cuts as a DV AVI file, went through Procoder and voila.

    QT ref – what a CON!

    Ben

  • Roadkill

    April 9, 2005 at 7:27 pm

    So both problems solved? 🙂

    The troublemaker in this case is probably the “ref” part of QT. A reference file is more or less an “edit decision list”; it tells the application that reads it which bit of source file to use where and what to do with it. Which is okay as long as the app being fed the QT ref file is 100% comfortable with it. Apparently ProCoder isn’t.

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