recreating avi file after AVIsynth processing

[smalani]

I am planning to add date and time stamp to the video that I download from my DV camcorder (Canon ZR60).

For that I am using Avisynth and dvinfo plugin. I got AVIsynth to work on my machine by downloading Panasonic DV Codec.

However, I am not able to frameserve to Ulead VideoStudio (i.e. read avs files in Ulead). Neither am I able to create an avi file that Ulead can then read. The Avisynth and the plugin are working fine now, thanks to numerous posts here.

If I can get help in reading Avisynth files in Ulead that would be great. Thank you!

[Tommyknocker]

I haven't been able to do it either. But you can have Virtual Dub or TMPGEnc read the files for you, and if you set your project settings to match TMPGEnc output file settings, the VS smart rendering will only re-encode your changes. Oh yes, VS hates those DivX codecs, but gets along with Xvid and Huffyuv okay from my experience.

[deadpac]

@smalani,

I see 3 possible solutions to your problem IMO.

1) Process the avs script in Vdub and just save an entirely new AVI using some form of compression ie huffyuv, mjpeg, dvix,....etc . Probably the best solution to your problem but with one major con, disk space.

2) Open the AVS script in Tmpgenc and save a Tmpgenc Project file and then pass it onto VFAPI Reader where you can then save a dummy AVI file that "should" be readable by Ulead VS.

3) Pass the AVS script to Link2 and save a dummy AVI file

Link2 - This tools enables you to read Avisynth files or Virtualdub framserve files in any program that reads AVI files (Like Premiere, CCE SP, Ulead Media Studio Pro).

note: you have to pay $15 for full functionality in Link2

[smalani]

Thank you for the help!

I am also starting to conclude that my best bet might be to create another avi file. Let me state my understanding from what you have described. and if you can comment on this, it would really help me.

1. I download type-2 avi file from Canon ZR 60.

2. Using Avisynth and Panasonic Codec I manage to read the avi file. Is Panasonic Codec the best alternative here? Is there a way to specify which codec Avisynth should use to read the downloaded avi file?

3. Using Virtualdubmod I read the .avs file.

4. I do not really know how to save it now as an avi file. I will download huffyuv as you are suggesting I do. However, am not sure how I should create the avi. Should I "Save as" avi? And if so should I make sure that I choose some options right so that the loss in avi quality is a minimum, if at all?

5. I will then go ahead and process this avi file. So that should work out.

Thanks very much for both your replies!

[Tommyknocker]

Once you have Huffyuv installed and the video loaded by Virtual Dub mod, select Video-->Compression. Select Huffyuv from the menu. Select Save as AVI, name your output file and you're done.

[liquid217]

look for the makeavis utility found packaged with ffvfw. With this tool, you can create a "pseudo" avi what can be opened in any application that can open avis. For compatability, you might consider using the "store uncompressed audio" option in makeavis if you have audio trouble.

P.S. I recommend sh0dan's ffvfw build, found here.
http://cultact-server.novi.dk/kpo/avisynth/avs_cvs.html

[smalani]

I tried both of the above solutions.

Creating the AVI with Huffyuv creates the avi successfully and fine. However, the size of the output avi is 4 times the input avi. And all I have done is added the date and time stamp. That is not an ideal solution . Is there a way for me to keep the size same, while using Huffyuv?

The ffvfw solution did not work. The avi that it creates cannot even be read in Windows media player .

Thank you very much!

[liquid217]

I forgot to mention that makeavis needs to have all of the source functions in the avs script to have fully qualified names. As an example:

Avisource("myclip.avi") #This would not work

Avisource("d:\vproject\myclip.avi") #this would work

Also, you may want to include a converttorgb24() at the end of your script.

[smalani]

I just spent a lot of time trying to get makeavis to work. But to no avail . It does create a fake avi. Gspot says that the codec on that file is AVIS. And I could not find that anywhere. In any case, neither virtualdubmod nor Windows Media Player open the fake file. There is something that I am not getting right.

I am open to creating a new AVI altogether. However, with the huffyuv codec, the size grows 4 times. There must be a way to keep size the same as it was before...

Thank you for the help!

[deadpac]

@smalani

Have you tried a lossless codec like PicVideo's MJPEG codec. At a setting of 19 (out of 20, 20 being the best) your resulting AVI should be nearly half the size of the huffyuv avi and with almost no noticeable difference. A setting of 18 will yield you an even smaller avi file with the slightest hint of degradation. And if you're a savage you could try your hand at Divx or Xvid; *shudders* at the the thought of 2pass, 1pass quality, sbc,....... etc

Have you trie VFAPI Reader. Just open the AVS script in TMPGEnc and save a project file that has the settings you want the resulting video to come out to and just open that project file in VFAPI Reader and just save a pseudo avi that UL VS should be able to open. (I think VFAPI should be able to open up the avs script without having to use TMPGEnc to save a project file, but don't quote me on that; you'll have to try that one out on your own. I don't have a good history with VFAPI .)

[smalani]

I tried the TPGenc and VFAPI method. The VFAPI avi is indeed read by Ulead. However, if I try to do any processing on the AVI it crashes. In particular, it crashes if I try to split by scene in Ulead.

So I created an AVI out of it and tried to split by scne in Ulead. And it crashed even on the AVI, when I tried to "split by scene".

I tried the shareware from http://www.geocities.com/dts8888. That seems to work, and I am getting set to buy it and use that. The shareware has somewhat less flexibility as to how the date and time appears.

I am surprised though that Avisynth cannot be used to create a file with some edits and everything else, including codec remaining the same...

[deadpac]

@smalani

I am surprised though that Avisynth cannot be used to create a file with some edits

Yes it can with the simple use of Trim() and UnalignedSplice. All you need to know is the exact frame numbers where you want the cuts to occur; easiest way would be to use VirtualDub and find out the start and end frame numbers for each segment. There's a whole section in the AVISynth documentation that's dedicated to editing.

For example here is a 30minute tv show where I've cut out all the commercials and anything before and after the actual show. I used a ever so slight Fade In and Out transition between segments to prevent a sudden jump into the next segment.

AVISource("E:\Some30minuteshow.AVI")
seg1=Trim(5732,13204).FadeIO(5)
seg2=Trim(16810,29116).FadeIO(5)
seg3=Trim(34532,52460).FadeIO(5)
seg4=Trim(56368,57523).FadeIO(5)

seg1+seg2+seg3+seg4

and everything else, including codec remaining the same...

I think you miss the point of AVISynth, just like VFAPI and Link2 it is a frameserver. It is not meant to become a replacement for the original video. It's supposed to be a middle-man in between stage before you're final output. As long as the program can read the avs script then there is no conversion done in between as if the original avi had to be re-encoded. Passing an AVS script to a program like TMPGEnc will almost always gaurantee no loss in quality from the original avi; most of the time, there are times when filters are applied and the output will of course look different from the original but that doesn't look like the case with DV since you only used it to display the timestamp.

Just curious but what is the tool that is supposed to be located at http://www.geocities.com/dts8888? site seems to be down. Why pay for something you can do for free and is almost exactly the same if not better?

[smalani]

I do understand that AviSynth is a frameserver, and hence I should not need to generate the Avi with the timestamp. However, I am unable to use the .avs file in Ulead (where I want to split scenes automatically). I tried to create the VFAPI fake avi, however that also causes problems.

The shareware at http://www.geocities.com/dts8888/download.htm, does the time stamping very easily. I would want to use AviSynth not only because it is free, but also because it opens several more options.

I am sure there is a way to replicate what this shareware does by using AviSynth. However, I have so far not succeeded in using AviSynth to create another identical Avi with the time stamp using the Avisynth plugin(I need to create a new Avi because Ulead seems to have problems with .avs and VFAPI avi file). It seems like it should be very much possible.

What I need to do with AviSynth, is as follows:
- Insert timestamp using Avisynth.
- Recreate the Avi of exact same size with all other information stored as earlier. With this shreware, it even keeps the scene information that Ulead gleans from the Canon ZR60. I get to know that when I read the Avi modified by the shareware in Ulead. Also, this shareware does not change the size of the file, so it is doing something different from what I achieved with AviSynth.

It would be great if I could use AviSynth for this!

[Icarus3000]

I am looking for a solution to the exact same problem!

The link for your shareware file is down, so noone can tell what you are talking about.

The best (very flexible and free) method I have found for timestamping is the DVTimestamp Avisynth function found here:

http://mvideo.nm.ru/

The Autotimestamp works great!

But like you, I would love to be able to open this up in a video editor (Pinnacle Studio 8 in my case). I have been told that MakeAvis should work for this, and will try that as well as the VFAPI reader later today.

- Icarus

[feenix]

Just an observation.

Makeavis does appear to work OK if you take the 'store uncompressed audio' option. It creates a bigger fake avi obviously but it does then open in WMP and an old version of Ulead Video Studio I have.

[smalani]

MakeAVIS did not work for me . I will try to use it with the option that you have indicated.

The plugin for AVISynth works fine. However, in the process it seems that the video loses quality. It appears to me that happens because of multiple codecs. Panasonic codec to read in AviSynth. And then VFAPI codec to serve to Ulead.

The shareware seems to maintain the codec (or at least it seems so, because from the shareware processed file Ulead can pick up scene intervals using DV time). So at this point I am inclined to use the shareware... unless you master this solution!

[Icarus3000]

Smalani:

Makeavis didn't work for me either. What did you end up using to framseserve to Ulead?

[smalani]

i have all but given up on using AviSynth. You can use VFAPI to create a fake AVI from a TMPGEnc project. The TMPGEnc project can read the .avs file.

however, i am planning to use the software at http://www.geocities.com/dts8888/

[thing914]

Am I missing something? I haven't tried this myself but wouldn't this work:

If I was just editing commercials out of an avi I'd load it in VirtualDub, edit then do a Direct Stream Copy so it doesn't reprocess anything.

I use AviSynth and I know that VirtualDub can read a .avs file from AviSynth. So couldn't you just open the .avs in VirtualDub and do a Direct Stream Copy to make the new avi?

[feenix]

It will work but...........!

Direct stream copy from VirtualDub copies out the file as it came in (ie xvis will still be xvid, huffy will still be huffy etc) but only if the avi was opened directly with Vdub.

Direct stream copy from VirtualDub using an avs input will output a stream of totally uncompressed video (regardles of what codec it was encoded with)

So if you don't mind an enormous file size..........

[thing914]

Ah, I knew there had to be a catch I was overlooking. So a fast recompress with Huffy would probably be the best in that case if not a lot of HD space?

[feenix]

I guess so.

[smalani]

even if you output using huffy, the output becomes about 3 times in size. for a 1 hour DV tape, where the original DV file is 12GB or so, that amounts to 36GB. somewhat large...

that said, kudos to the author of DV Time Stamp who has accomplished all this (what i believe is) without any change in the DV codec...