SmartCut64: a smart-rendering editor (my replacement for VideoReDo)

[ConsumerJon]

It certainly does!

Bridgy - the new 1.0.10 update has been published which should fix all your concerns. Let me know how it goes!

[Bridgy]

Bridgy - the new 1.0.10 update has been published which should fix all your concerns. Let me know how it goes!

Just got 1.0.10 portable, testing a 4k AV1 file to Smart Cut and export back to AV1, and Full Recode to HEVC (Smart or Intelligent Recode)

Video load is a lot faster, normal to be precise.

Seeking in the timeline is perfect, preview screen is also perfect.

Output Profile Manager - it looks great, buttons are there as requested, but it has 2 major issues for me.

1 If i click on a profile, including one from VRD, and then hit the Move Up or Down button, nothing happens, the profile stays where it is, and i like my profiles numbered in order of how often i use them.

2If i select a Profile and hit the Edit button, it should open that profile so i can edit it, and save the changes, but no matter which profile i try to edit, it just opens the Default Program Stream Profile, so this would need to be fixed.

Save Video Button - Works as it should, same as VRD.

1 This is where you select your export profile, and if i need to make a minor change to a setting for just one export, then i can edit the profile here as well, but the changes that i make will only apply to that particular export, then it will default back to its original settings once the export has completed, and this is how it should work, and it works like this in VRD as well.

2 In VRD if i want to do a permanent Edit to a profile, it has to be done using the Output Profile Manager.

Intelligent Smart Render Export - AV1 to AV1 (Same as Source)

We should be able to test this in trial mode, i just tried to export a cut AV1 to AV1 using my custom VRD profile and it rendered the whole file, so this for me is a massive negative because testers should be given at least a short time frame to test this Mode.

Intelligent Smart Render Export (Full Recode)

Source File = 4k/30p AV1 @ 120 Seconds Duration - Bitrate 20.9Mbps - 292mb File Size - Cut to 69 Second - Export to HEVC.

HEVC Export took 128 Seconds (2x cut file duration) Bitrate was 24.7Mbps - 209mb File Size.

Worked like a treat, so i can confirm that it will Export 4k AV1 to HEVC Full Recode, and the HEVC File Bitrate seems to be around 20% higher than the AV1 Bitrate, which is about what it should be from what i have been reading in various articles on the internet.

There is another minor glitch with the Profiles box when you click on the Save Video Button but i will leave that for another time, it is a bit annoying but it won't trip me up because i am now aware of the issue.

I almost feel like i am now using an updated version of VRD with a refreshed, but similar Interface.

I will try to do some testing of my normal 4k/60p HEVC files when i can.

Please allow people to test the Intelligent Smart Render Same As Source Mode even for just a day or two.

Keep up the great work.

If you need any screen recordings of any of the issues i find, i will try to do so whenever i get a chance.

[ConsumerJon]

Thanks Bridgy, really appreciate the time you've taken to test and write the feedback. All of this is being incorporate right now into a new update. I'm also allowing a 30 minute full-functionality for the evaluation version

[Bridgy]

I want to congradulate you on your fast response time to our questions and input, i never saw this response time before, so i appreciate the work.

I also want to inform you that i was using a combination of VRD Pro and Smart Media Cutter up till now, because of some minor issues that VRD has with seeking to cut points and video preview in the interface in my 4k HEVC files, but Smart Media Cutter has a way to go with implimenting Intelligent recoding.

I discovered another project that you will know about, called Snipwright, which i heard good reviews about, so yseterday i downloaded it and set it up to look like VRD (Dark Theme) and went thru all of the menu topics and fiddled about with everything, but, there is a lot missing at the moment, and there is not enough stuff in the options tabs at the top of the interface, especially under Tools, and i can't find how to add the same buttons to the right side like in yours, and in VRD.

I need to test the exporting to other formats a bit more, but if your 4k AV1 to HEVC works as well as it does, then i have high hopes for other formats as well.

I am keen to try the Titles with my files as well, currently VRD Titles did not work properly with my 4k HEVC files so i had to develop my own methof of doing them using a blend of photoshop and VRD, but it is a bit long winded, so i hope that your Titles tool works better than VRD.

So far, this tool looks to be my preference as a replacement for VRD, but time will tell.

SmartCut64 can we get rid of the Audio timeline bar, i hate it.

[Attachment 93824 - Click to enlarge]

VRD

[Attachment 93825 - Click to enlarge]

Snipwright

[Attachment 93826 - Click to enlarge]

Smart Media Cutter

[Attachment 93827 - Click to enlarge]

[ConsumerJon]

Honestly, this is the first time I've published an app so I'm blown away that people are actually spending their money - and I'm taking the responsibility of that very seriously. I really want to make this app perfect... it's funny, I've been using VideoReDo for years and years and I'm realising there's so many features I never used or even really knew about!

Had never heard about Snipwright tbh, so thanks for alerting me about that.

Re: titles. Can you tell me more about how you use this, what the aim is, what would be the perfect workflow, etc.?

[Alwyn]

SmartCut64 can we get rid of the Audio timeline bar, i hate it.

I most certainly would not want the audio display to be removed. I often find it most helpful in fine-tuning the exact cut point between scenes.

[Alwyn]

I'd like to see mouse wheel nav added, as per VRD. Scrolling through a video is, I find, much easier than dragging the slider.

[Alwyn]

Here's a problem: this is a TS file from a Hauppauge Win TV 10 capture of digital TV. When imported, there's no preview thumbnails.

I then did a Copy-Copy with AVIDemux to MP4 and it imports into Smartcut64 OK ie with thumbnails.

But when I make one cut and try to "Save Video As" an Intelligent MP4, I get, after a few seconds, "Output failed".

Test file's attached.

[Bridgy]

SmartCut64 can we get rid of the Audio timeline bar, i hate it.

I most certainly would not want the audio display to be removed. I often find it most helpful in fine-tuning the exact cut point between scenes.

And that is fine, i hate it being there in this interface because it distracts me with the bright blue color.

Maybe it can be made so that it can be disabled in a setting, like in VRD.

When i edit a video i listen to the Audio and if there is someone talking i try to move to a few frames past their voice, if it is any other sound then nobody would care where it was cut.

With my travel videos i am the one talking, so i make sure that i don't cut the file until i have finished talking.

So in the end, i have never had a need for the Audio timeline, so to the Dev, can you add a setting to disable it, unless it is there and i have not found it yet.

I'd like to see mouse wheel nav added, as per VRD. Scrolling through a video is, I find, much easier than dragging the slider.

I also don't like the idea of using my mouse wheel for seeking thru the timeline to my cut points, so if this feature is added, let it be by choice.

I also never ever use keyboard shortcuts when editing like a lot of people do, i can't stand it, so i always use my mouse cursor to do everything, that is just my way of doing things.

[Alwyn]

I also don't like the idea of using my mouse wheel for seeking thru the timeline to my cut points, so if this feature is added, let it be by choice.

Huh? Well, just don't touch your mouse wheel. That's your choice.

[Bridgy]

Honestly, this is the first time I've published an app so I'm blown away that people are actually spending their money - and I'm taking the responsibility of that very seriously. I really want to make this app perfect... it's funny, I've been using VideoReDo for years and years and I'm realising there's so many features I never used or even really knew about!

Hi there, if this is your first real attempt to create an editing tool, especially one that tries to replicate VRD, then all i can say is very well done, because i would have thought that you had definitely done this before.

As i previously mentioned up the page, others are trying to do the same by creating a VRD clone, and that says a lot about just how good VRD really was, now from my use of this tool so far (2 days) your tool is a lot closer to VRD than Snipwright is as far as your menu settings at the top goes, and having the 4 Buttons down the right side of the interface, but for the rest of the interface, looking at the 4 screenshots in my previous post i would say that Snipwright looks a bit more like VRD with the preview scree, the timeline, and the button layout below that.

However, that to me is not a concern, as long as your buttons are placed in the correct location, then everything will be fine for me, and as of now, SmartCut64 is fine as it is, with the addition of a few more options.

1. I like to have the same 6 buttons on the right side of the interface as you find in VRD, especially the Add to Batch button as i use the batch tool a lot.
2. give us the option to add Cursor seeking for those who want it.
3. an option to disable the Audio timeline.

I will add more as i continue testing, but so far i am liking your software very much.

Had never heard about Snipwright tbh, so thanks for alerting me about that.

Snipwright has been going on for a while, but i only installed it yesterday and had a quick look thru it, but as of now it has a way to go as far as the Menu Tabs at the top goes, it is lacking several options that your already have, but no buttons on the right side of the interface like yours, and VRD, and i can't find an option to add them.

The rest of the interface resembles VRD slightly more than SmartCut64, but this is not about being identical to look at, even the Smart Media Cutter software is nice to look at too, he has come a long way with his tool this year, but he has not been doing much with it for the past few months, which is a shame, i would have liked him to add Intelligent or Smart Rendering like yours and VRD, but not as yet.

Apparently the Developer of Snipwright has a background with VRD according to some posts that i have read in other Threads here in this Forum, and i have seen the name of the Smart Media Cutter software Developer mentioned over in the Snipwright Thread at github, so i don't know what is going on.

Re: titles. Can you tell me more about how you use this, what the aim is, what would be the perfect workflow, etc.?

I have not played with your Title feature yet, so i will give feedback with that when the time comes.

[Bridgy]

I also don't like the idea of using my mouse wheel for seeking thru the timeline to my cut points, so if this feature is added, let it be by choice.

Huh? Well, just don't touch your mouse wheel. That's your choice.

Well it is my choice, and nobody needs to pick me up about it just because i do things differently, using a mouse scroll wheel is not the way i want to do it, and even if i did, i would still need to place my cursor on the timeline so the mouse wheel can scroll thru the frames, for me, i use the 3 seek buttons to get as close as i can to my cut, then i will just click on the frames in the timeline to pinpoint the frame i want to cut at, pretty dam easy to me.

Your reason for wanting the Audio timeline is non valid to me, i don't see the need for it because i listen to my speakers and cut when i feel i need to.

[Alwyn]

nobody needs to pick me up about it just because i do things differently

You completely missed my point. I have no issues with how you edit and haven't criticised you for your methods. It's interesting how others do things.

My point is that is is illogical to even ask for the mouse feature "let it be by choice". You already have the choice: don't use it. You can't see it, you don't use it, so what's the problem if it is there?

[Alwyn]

Quickstream Fix is failing on the file I posted in post #38; comes up with a message at the bottom:

"QuickStream Fix failed validation; partial output removed".

[hydra3333]

Quickstream Fix is failing on the file I posted in post #38; comes up with a message at the bottom:
"QuickStream Fix failed validation; partial output removed".

Thanks for the report. I was waiting for feedback on QSF before trying it.

[Alwyn]

Some other issues:
Indexing
I'm getting very slow indexing; a 1.3GB UHD H264 file of 2 minutes is taking 12 seconds to index, and a 3 hour TS file (from DVB-T) I had to give up on after 10 minutes. H264/AVC seems much slower than MPEG 2, which was pretty quick (a few seconds).

Hardware Self-Test
I tried running the Hardware Accel Self Test on two different files types (including that file in post 38) but it's throwing up an error.

Time Counter
The time counter above the "Start Scene Scan" button displays incorrect video length. With an MPEG 2 video of 2hr 12min, it's showing 52min 49sec.

And with an AVC UHD video of 2min 50sec, it's showing a length of 3min 24sec.

Preview Thumbnails
I'm getting Preview Decode Failed on that file in post 38, as well as on an MPEG 2. Preview thumbnails are working OK on a UHD AVC.

[Alwyn]

Request: could we please have the option of displaying the playmarker position in hrs-mins-secs-frames.

[Bridgy]

Working on Titles right now.

Just as a heads to the Developer of this tool regarding my original and primary use of VRD Pro for the past 13 years.

I don't have anything to do with TV broadcast, nor do i record tv shows from my TV like a lot of people seem to be doing.

I am a videographer (or i was) and now days i focus mostly on travel related video, recording using various cameras, and for the past 5 or 6 years i have primarily been recording in 4k/60p HEVC, and i basically just edit my files (cut and shut) and sometimes add Titles and credits when required, as well as exporting to other formats for those who need them converted.

Because of this, i was asked by Dan Rosen to be a Beta tester in 2020 until his death, helping him with his iplementation of 4k AVC and HEVC, he got his 4k AVC completed, but his 4k HEVC work was cut just short of completion because of his sudden passing, so i have had some minor issues with using VRD Pro with my 4k/60p HEVC files.

Early this year i started using Smart Media Cutter as it has a very good frame accurate cutting tool, and the seeking and video preview screen worked flawlessly with no lag at all, but it falls down because it has no Intelligent Export Modes like we see in this tool, and in VRD, but the Smart Cut and export to Same As Source Mode seems to work ok.

I started using Avidemux a few days ago (before i found SmartCut64) to cut and convert 4k AV1 files (from a youtube blogger) to 4k HEVC using the CQ-RF export Mode like we see in Handbrake, but it has no frame based timeline, which i found very annoying, and i don't think the cutting tool is frame accurate, but i stand to be corrected on that.

Fast forward to now, from my 2 days of testing SmartCut64 so far, i think i am almost ready to use SmartCut64 full time given that i only need Smart Cut and Intelligent (Smart) recode, and the Titles feature for my particular workflow.

I think maybe others will have some bugs to report because they might be using this tool for other types of editing, and are not using these tools for doing the same as i use them for.

In fairness to Snipwright, i will be testing that tool out as well, but for now, i just want to focus on this one.

BTW, i am going to buy a license for this tool right now.


[Attachment 93834 - Click to enlarge]

[Bridgy]

Have issues with the following.

File 1 = 2 Minute 4k AV1 - 2 Cuts - Export back to 4k AV1 = processing box hangs on 2% for 3 minutes, shifts straight to 26% for 5 minutes, then it shifts to 86% and hangs for 5 minutes, then it finally completes after 15 minutes, file seems to play ok.

File 2 = 44 Second 4k/60p HEVC - 2 Cuts - export back to 4k HEVC = Processing box hung at 2% for 2 minutes, moved to 36% for 2 minutes, moved to 86% for 2 minutes, then the export finally completed after 6 minutes, and there is a glitch at the end of the file on playback (last 60 frames are jerky)

Exporting the Cut 4k AV1 to 4k HEVC still works perfectly.

So there is an issue with Cut AV1 to AV1 taking 15 minutes to process, and the Cut HEVC to HEVC took 6 minutes to export, and this is without Recoding the files.

Interesting to say the least.

Can download the AV1 and HEVC Source Files here in the link below.

https://icedrive.net/s/AVSzFAWh5RR2SZ4yxDRXfj68kXk6

The AV1 is not my file, the HEVC file is mine.

[Alwyn]

There are fundamental issues here, and I think they should be looked-at before the cosmetics are improved.

Basically, the Smart-Rendering/Intelligent recoding doesn't work at all:

-For TS and MPG files, the intelligent recode fails.

-For UHD H264 files, the Intelligent recode took ages and processed at 10 fps. That is not intelligent recoding. Intel Recoding should complete in seconds at a rate of thousands of frames per second. In my test case, VRD did it at 1300fps, SC64 did it at 10fps. However, the MediaInfo of the original and the recoded version matched fairly closely, so I don't know whether there was an intelligent recoding going on or not. Obviously, those sorts of slow rates are unworkable on big files such as movies.

[Bridgy]

There are fundamental issues here, and I think they should be looked-at before the cosmetics are improved.
Basically, the Smart-Rendering/Intelligent recoding doesn't work at all:

For once i totally agree with you.

But in my case exporting a cut or uncut 4k AV1 to 4k HEVC (Intelligent or Smart Render) works fine, and quite fast, but my AV1 to AV1 and HEVC to HEVC took 15 minutes and 6 minutes respectvely to export, when they should have been instant.

I hope it is not my 2 files at fault, so if someone can grab them and test for me then i would appreciate it.

EDIT:

Just a heads up on another 9 minute uncut 4k AV1 to 4k HEVC (AV1 file is 16.9Mbps bitrate)

Smart or Intelligent Render took 19 minutes to recode, and Bitrate was 21.9Mbps, which is what i would expect it to be.

Also cut the same 9 minute AV1 file down to 5 minutes duration and Smart Render back to AV1, it just hung there for 20 minutes doing what my other AV1 to AV1 exports were doing, so i stopped the export, and we need to get this issue fixed for sure.

[Alwyn]

@ConsumerJon, this make appear a little harsh but... your program continues to be unusable, despite your numerous updates claiming improvements. Continually doing the updates and finding nothing has changed in the most basic of tasks ie smart-render an edited H264, is becoming annoying.

I assume you are testing each version as you go along; are you getting rapid rendering? I just tried my UHD 3 minute file again with version 16 and it took 5 minutes to render. That's not right.

I suggest you hold off on new releases until you get the results you want in your internal testing, then release it to us. You should have a dedicated test team to get the program basically functional before releasing it into the wild. In this case it was, and still is, very much in a early-state test phase which you're charging money for. That's not really best practice.

If you want test files, we can oblige, just say the word.

[Bridgy]

I just updated to build 16 and running the same 9 minute 4k AV1 file with 3 cuts (5min duration) and it has hung on various % rates for 30 minutes so far, which is double what it was with build 15 last night.

We need the Smart Render tool fixed (export to Same As Source) before anything else is done, as mentioned by Alwyn.

My exports to other format is fine (AV1 to HEVC and HEVC to AVI etc)

EDIT: Just tried the Title creation tool.

Need to add a 4k (16x9) resolution to the Title Canvas drop down list, i had to select 1080p for my 4k export.

When i type my text in the text box under the title preview screen, it types the text to the left (flipped horizontally)

I then tried to export the AV1 file with the title added, i selected my profile to Smart Render from AV1 to HEVC, and the file did a full recode, but it was still AV1 at the end, with the title text flipped.

Major issues with this as well, although the title seems to be quite ok even tho i had to select the 1920x1080 Canvas size.

VRD gave us the 4k resolution to select if needed, if i used the 1080p resolution canvas the title text would look blury.


[Attachment 93848 - Click to enlarge]

[Bridgy]

I note that the several build up until now (1.0.19) may have resolved a lot of minor issues, but we need the "Same As Source" Smart Render fixed in 4k HEVC and AV1 files.

As for the Titles issue where the Text in the first (default) text frame is Flipped when you type, i can deal with that by leaving it empty and adding a second text box where the text does type the wright way, and appears correct in the video.

I am glad to see you working so much on this project, and i hope we can have the above issues looked at soon.

Cheers