re: DV codec

Sine · Post by **Sine** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 11:23 am

I was using the DV codec to render my animations to AVI. It was working up until beta4. But with the final release, MOHO 5 rejects the codec as incompatible. Is there a specific requirement for a particular codec used by MOHO?

Sine

Post by **Lost Marble** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 5:30 pm

Which DV codec are you using? The DV codec I have here refuses to compress video unless the frames are 720x480 pixels. Be sure that your Moho project settings are set to that.

nobudget · Post by **nobudget** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:25 am

My question relates to this topic so no need to create a new one right? Anyway, I use Pure Motion EditStudio for editing video and I build to DV files using the provided codec. Unfortunately Moho cannot detect this codec while exporting. Pure Motion offered this possibility:

"The DV codec is part of DirectX and is installed and updated as part of the main DirectX installation. There are 2 video systems in use by Windows: DirectX and Video for Windows (VfW). VfW cannot use DirectX codecs, so if your animation program can't see the DV codec then it's probably using VfW."

Is this correct? Is there any way for Moho to support these type of codecs now or in the future? I'm afraid I know the answer because of the cross-platform nature and the integration of Quicktime in Moho but no harm asking I guess...

Thanks,

Reindert.
www.nobudgetvideo.com

Post by **Lost Marble** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:16 am

Yes, that's correct. AVI export is a Windows-only feature of Moho, so it's not a cross-platform issue. It's more of a "Why does Microsoft need to provide multiple, incompatible ways of doing the same thing-type of issue".

The DirectX method is the "new" way of creating AVI files in Windows, but for the most part, the old way works too. I was unaware of specific codecs that could only be used one way or the other, so we'll have to look into it.

Sine · Post by **Sine** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 3:36 am

I'm using the Panasonic software DV codec. I've also tried the SONY DV codec as well before. They both worked although I don't know how it allowed a 12FPS DV file.

I thought DV was pretty strict. ie 720x576 25fps interlaced or NTSC 720x480 and 29.97fps and nothing else.

After more trials, I realised that MOHO5 will render with both the DV codecs if the project is loaded into the workspace but not in batch export. I wonder why? I really need it to work with batch export.

I've tried QT's DV codec at the 'best' setting but strangely, they looked horrible. They looked like a highly compressed jpegs.

btw I'm using the windows version on XP pro.

Post by **Lost Marble** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:35 am

Here's why it's not working in batch mode:

In batch mode, when you set up the compression options, it's based on very generic settings, since you have the option of batch rendering an assortment of files at different resolutions, frame rates, etc. So, when you are asked what codec to use, Moho can't tell the codec what the resolution is going to be (since it may be different for each file). This ends up causing a strict codec like DV to reject the settings.

One "solution" would be to provide the codec with the dimensions of the first file in the batch list, and hope they're all the same. However, if a later file has mis-matched dimensions, batch rendering would choke on that one - maybe in the middle of the night.

The only thing I can tell you right now is that it is possible to run multiple exports at the same time (not in batch mode). Just start one, open a new file in Moho, and choose "Export Animation" again. That's one way to do it if you need to render out multiple files in DV format, and don't want to wait for each one to finish. Of course, that approach will go much faster if you use a multi-processor machine.

Sine · Post by **Sine** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:46 am

Lost Marble wrote:One "solution" would be to provide the codec with the dimensions of the first file in the batch list, and hope they're all the same. However, if a later file has mis-matched dimensions, batch rendering would choke on that one - maybe in the middle of the night.

How do this? provide the codec with the dimensions of the first file?

Post by **Lost Marble** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:09 am

Sorry - I meant that as a possible future solution for us to implement in Moho. It's not something you can change as a user.

The best workaround for you right now is the last thing I described - manually starting multiple export jobs.

Sine · Post by **Sine** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:45 am

okay.
TIA

nobudget · Post by **nobudget** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 11:48 am

"I've tried QT's DV codec at the 'best' setting but strangely, they looked horrible. They looked like a highly compressed jpegs.

btw I'm using the windows version on XP pro."

Although DV codecs have some quality differences this seems extreme. I don't use the Quicktime export myself but you could try and check the properties in Windows Media Player. It is possible the player displays DV at half resolution by default and you can change it to full resolution. I don't know why half is used as default but I noticed it with XP myself, rendered files looked quite bad. After some searching it turned out the files were fine but the display quality was set to low.

"The DirectX method is the "new" way of creating AVI files in Windows, but for the most part, the old way works too. I was unaware of specific codecs that could only be used one way or the other, so we'll have to look into it."

I was unaware of it too but now I understand why different programs show different options. I wouldn't rule out that MS will stop Vfw at one point because of the obvious overlap so I'm glad too see you'll look into it.

Good luck,

Reindert.
www.nobudgetvideo.com