Music Video Help?

[Sakuya]

[New question, look in page 2!]

Does anyone know how to create music videos? I want to use Windows Movie Maker but it won't work on my Windows 2000. I do have Vegas Video but it's so complicated and the video I insert won't play in the preview window for some reason. Premiere is too expensive for me. I don't think Virtualdub would be good in this case. If there's a program out there with the necessary effects such as zoom in or zoom out or any effects...

[dcsos]

I'm gonna advise you to go back and learn that VEGAS...you won't regret it

otherwise, I don't think the other usable programs like PREMIERE or AVID DV EXPRESS are not for you, it sounds like you want a very user friendly program like ULEAD STUDIO 7 EDIT or higher



did you know ther's a friendlier version of VEGAS called SCREENBLAST from SONY that is really VEGAS with "wizard" screeens?
This way you have all the features and its somewhat simpler than VEGAS Vegas to operate

In VEGAS or Screenblast to play back previews you just press play(sideways triangle icon) after putting your CURSOR on the TIMELINE somewhere. the space bar also triggers the play command



As the editor of OZZY's OSBOURNE's "Shot In the Dark"
who used TAPE to TAPE systems for editing most of my music videos,
I've found AVID the most capable 'music video' software

[Sakuya]

I guess I should try Vegas again. Last time, when I clicked play for the preview, the screen stayed black. When I dragged an AVI into the timeline, the frames are all black. I can play them fine elsewhere.

[dcsos]

the cursor goes to the end..so play only works if you select where to start playing from!
Sometimes tho' Vegas doesn't recognize the codec of the file you are trying to edit with..
this only happens if you are editing other peoples files you are downloaing.
if you start with your own fresh material, this won't happen

[Sakuya]

Is there a way to upgrade from Vegas to Screenblast for free? Since you said it's practically the same thing, I doubt I want to spend money for the same thing. I still haven't reinstalled Vegas yet.

Also, my videos all have a TV channel watermark and I don't want to purchase the DVDs just for the watermark-less video. Is there a way to overlay a custom image or logo over the watermark throughout the music video?

Or maybe a way to make music videos with already existing tools on my hard drive such as Virtualdub/MOD?

Edit:
I reinstalled Vegas Video 4 and I dragged a video up into that gray area with the ruler with time markings on it. All the frames are black. I pressed the "Play" button and the preview window remains black as the frame count increases. I tried different videos and the same thing. All of these videos can be played back in a media player. Why is this? I use the FFDSHOW codec. I also noticed that whenever I highlight a video in the Explorer window, the video and audio codecs show. Most of my videos and audios say "Stream attributes could not be determined." They're in AVI format. The only thing that works is a WMV file.

[dcsos]

this works for me when I can't see video from something I want to edit

I find a program, any program .....that will show the video to operate on(you mentioned virtual dub)
I use Vidomi

RE RENDER what you need to edit in one of these above mentioned
programs locally on the machine you will be chopping on

The new copy will certainly now be editable in VEGAS, tho you may lose quality slightly in the TRANCODING stage (make sure to use a high bit rate for your "DIGITAL INTERNEGATIVE")

[Sakuya]

How do I re-render in Vdub? What is re-render?

[dcsos]

In V-DUB you OPEN the file you want to work with..
Mark an 'in and out' point on the timeline at the base of the widow

Then FILE SAVE AS..and VDUB will re-render the inputted clip as an AVI
that will be editable in VEGAS

[canadateck]

Are These XVIDS or DIVX Videos? If so you may just try to Change the 4CC header and Vegas will import your Video.

[Sakuya]

They're mostly Xvid. What do I change the header to? And rerendering in Virtualdub, do I need to recompress or can I just direct stream copy?

[canadateck]

I did some investigation into why Vegas and main concept encoder will not take some DiVX and XViD files if encoded in certain versions of those codecs ... or you just get a green screen ...

I found that if you change the 4CC codes in the AVI file header to :

Description code - DiVX3
FourCC code used - DiVX

for both XViD and DiVX ..

I had no problem importing and viewing the files in Vegas ...

This should be confirmed by someone else though for main concept encoder as i dont have it installed on this system....

Vegas does not always recognize the field order of a mpeg4 file (DiVX, WMV, XViD) -- vegas is not the only program that has this problem .....

[hexxisoft]

screenblast is inferior to vegas. its like... 99 dollars, vegas is about 650 or something. i forget what i paid for it. just learn Vegas. its worth it.

[Sakuya]

I used Nic's FourCC Changer and tried to change to "DIV3,DIVX" and then "DIVX,DIVX" and then "XVID,XVID" but Vegas won't open any of them. I also tried to save direct stream copy in Vdub but it won't open. It also says that the audio stream cannot be determined even though it has support for MP3 (I think?). I tried full processing mode but it takes so long. Fast recompress is the same time as full processing.

Also, how can I remove certain frames using Vegas instead of going into Vdub? I don't like to use Vdub because their cutting tool is not accurate.

[Sakuya]

I tried Vidomi and outputted to AVI using the CInepak codec but it still won't work. Not to mention, Vidomi takes really long to output and when I aborted it, the AVI was all in black.

[Sakuya]

Anyone? Some more information on the XVID file I'm trying to open. In GSpot, it says it uses XVID. In Vdub, it says it uses XVID MPEG-4. And here's my latest codec config on my computer. I have the latest FFDSHOW which is version March 28, 2005. I uninstalled any traces of the standalone XVID. But it still won't work.

I guess the only thing now for me is to compress using Virtualdub. What codec should I use so that it's supported by Vegas. I've tried Indeo, it works but that takes really long. I've also tried using FFDSHOW to encode (I set the encoder to MJPEG or HuffYUV) but it won't open in Vegas.

What's the problem with Vegas? Why can't it use the same codecs as Windows Media Player and play everything?

[dcsos]

What's the problem with Vegas? Why can't it use the same codecs as Windows Media Player and play everything?

I've got 3 MACHINES set up with Vegas here and all can see all installed codecs on my sytem.
Sometimes, I've downloaded public domain stuff from a site like PRELINGER and the mpg streams are 'broken' either due to a bad master or the downloading process itself (bad data).
So I've always been able to fix these steams between
VIDOMI and MPEG-VCR

Vidomi must be allowed to complete the entire JOB or sometimes when you cancel, doesn't make a good file (DUH!)

ok an occasional HICCUP when Vegas sees MP3 or AC3 audio in the steam..Anyone know more about these problems?..Once I could fix an MP3 that mysteriously would not appear in VEGAS along with the picture (not yer problem..me...I fixed this by demuxing the file in MPEG-VCR on the TOOLS drop down)
The only kind of FILES Vegas won't import are VARIABLE BIT RATE in NATURE..so re render these with a constant bit rate thats higher please!!!
(audio VBR screws vegas up sometimes!!!)
USE AN MPEG-4 codec like MICROSOFT v8 that will appear n VEGAS at 6MILLION BITS
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx

[Sakuya]

Uh, off-topic question. I have this scene that I want inside this music video I'm making. It's a split-screen scene where the TV is divided into 4 parts. I only want one of the parts in my music video. Is it possible to crop away the unneeded video and then resize to make it full screen? I don't care about the quality all that much since this is just a test to get into the groove of Vegas. I thought there was a crop filter in Vdubmod but it seems not...

[Silvas]

Use the pan and scan feature in Vegas.

[sdsumike619]

You should use Vegas!! I went from knowing nothing about NLE to still knowing hardly anything but able to produce good looking video! It's a great layout; there aren't layers and layers of menus like adobe; i hate adobe!

The only actualy studying i did on the program was reading Douglas Spotted Eagle's book on Vegas; he's the guru with that program and many others and it's a great book =) Still lots of stuff to know about for sure though!!

I use Vegas for the NLE and Ulead DVD Workshop 2.0 for the DVD authoring; what a great combination for easy and professional work =)

Mike

[sdsumike619]

I did something similiar to the split screen thing with the track motion....ther's actually a .veg file (project file for vegas) on the sundance media vasst website that is free to download that splits the screen into 4 quadrants; might want to check that out?

[Sakuya]

Thank you very much! For people with the same problem on getting the codecs to work in Vegas, I've finally found a way without recompressing! If you already have ffdshow, then you don't have to uninstall it. First, go download DivX 5. After you've installed it, be sure to go into ffdshow to disable all mentions of DIVX in the Video Config and VFW Config menus. Then all of your DivX AVIs should open up in Vegas. It did for me.

Now, the next thing is to get the XVID to open up. This is where my next question comes in. Does anyone know where to find a reliable 4CC changer that does not screw up your video? I can't depend on Google for this one. I've downloaded this certain one where the filename is "avi4ccChanger100.zip" but it doesn't let me change it to DIVX! And I don't want to download the XVID stand-alone codec because I don't want too many codecs on my computer in case everything screws up. What do I put in the parameters of the 4CC changer? Would it be both DIVX, DIVX or something else?

[venomva]

I loved Screenblast, too bad I lost my CD and they don't sell it anymore. Can't even find it to download (trial).

[Sakuya]

A recommended 4CC changer anyone?

[canadateck]

A recommended 4CC changer anyone?

avic.rar

[Sakuya]

Thank you! It worked when I set it to DIVX, DIVX!

[Sakuya]

I'm having some problems. I set certain scenes to appear when a certain audio starts. When I play back my created AVI, the audio doesn't match up. Why is this? It starts off correctly but somewhere, I don't know where, it gets out of sync and then this certain scene that lip syncs to the audio doesn't match up.

[dcsos]

Whenever I have these problems the original file is audio with VBR..
If I demux and change it to CBR before I put the stream on the timeline in VEGAS to create MPG output, Voila, now the CBR stream matches up..
Don't know why this is so

[Sakuya]

It is an MP3 file. How do I change it to CBR?

[dcsos]

open in AUDACITY or SOUND FORGE and save as a .WAV at 44.1 and 16bit
Use the WAV file instead ...all wav files are CONSTANT BIT RATE (CBR)
if you needa MPEG audio file again (if you're not doing VEGAS but need to MUX with MPG video directly)..Then make a new mp3 from the WAV file with constant bit rate

[Sakuya]

Thanks. I seem to notice some interlacing in the resulted AVI. Should I be outputting as NTSC DV (720x480)? What about Pixel Aspect Ratio? It's currently at 0.909. Field Order?

I tried the Pan effect to zoom in on a certain area of the video. But it comes out blurry. In the Pan menu, I merely resized the box with the F in it and moved it to focus on the scene I wanted. In the preview window, it's pretty clear but on the AVI, it's really blurry. I also applied a Sharpen effect to it but it's no use. Is there a better way to do this?