Running video thru VDub (for filtering) without recompression?

[luvinfun]

Hello,

I have attempting searching for the answer to this topic but have been unable to find one.

I'm wondering if it is possible to run video through VDUB in order to access the Neat Video filter but have VDUB not alter the compression (like MP4CamtoAVI does?)

I know that I can save the avi uncompressed but the file becomes to large to use effectively in Ulead Video Studio (with my system.) I was hoping to save a compression step in how I bring in and edit video.

Essentially I'd like to:

1. copy the video file from the digital camera
2. De-noise
3. Edit in UVS
4. Burn, save or whatever using UVS and compression.

Currently I need to:

1. copy the video file from the digital camera
2. Compress 1st pass (Xvid)
3. 2nd pass with de-noise
4. Edit in UVS
5. Burn, save or whatever using UVS and recompression.

Any help is appreciated. I tried creating an AVS script but UVS does not open these and using the Link2 wrapper program did not work with UVS 10.

Thanks!

L

[edDV]

Where to start?

OK, lets start with the make/model of the "digital camera".

"Running video thru VDub (for filtering) without recompression?"

That could be done with an uncompessed source from the sensor like a broadcast camera so long as the destination is uncompressed. Most consumers don't have access to uncompressed source.

[redwudz]

If you filter or resize in VirtualDub, you will have to re-encode. What's the format of the file from the camera? I wouldn't re-encode to Xvid, especially if you need to edit. Xvid is a very poor format for editing.

What I use for this process with a DV input is the Panasonic DV Codec and output in DV. DV is one of the best AVI type formats for editing as each frame is a keyframe and you can do frame accurate editing. Xvid at the default settings has a keyframe every 300 frames, so frame accurate editing is difficult or impossible.

DV does use a set framesize, so your video has to be compliant. DV has a fairly low loss when re-encoding, especially when compared to Xvid. You could also use HuffyUV or the Lagarith Lossless Video Codec.

And welcome to our forums.

[luvinfun]

Thanks for the quick response!

Sorry, the camera is a Canon S3. The video files it creates is in mjpeg format. I assume another video compression type.

When I say uncompressed I really just mean to pass the video through the filter but essentially keep it the same size or type. If anyone has used the MP4toCamAVI program and used the Source Video (no resompression) option in the video format drop down. This is the type of behavoiur I was hoping for... This may well not be possible.

[luvinfun]

I did not know that about keyframes and such. Great information. I wonder if UVS 10 even has frame accurate editing capabilities I just started using it...

Thanks for the welcome.

I guess I'll look into using one of the other codecs. Hopefully the file sizes are manageable on my elderly system. I had the Panasonic DV codec installed (when I borrowed a friends MiniDV) but it caused issues with my system so I have since removed it.

Thanks,

L

[edDV]

MJPEG from Canon cameras have entact but extremely compressed frames. I'm not sure if ULead VStudio still supports MJPEG as a codec. In past versions it supported MJPEG codecs installed to Windows.

Digital Still Camera video is very poor quality. Compression is extreme. I'm sure you realize this isn't a good quality path.

What are you trying to do?

[jagabo]

If you want to stay with MJPEG try the Picvideo MJPEG codec. It's fast, you can select the quality level, it even has 4:4:4 (they call it 1:1:1), 4:2:2 and 4:1:1 YUV subsampling options.

[luvinfun]

I'm codec agnostic really. My wife and I had limited funds and were tired of carrying around both a video camera and a digital camera so instead of upgrading both units we purchased the Canon S3. While the video quality is not as good as a high end video camera it is very comparable to a low end one, which is what we would have purchased anyways.

Filtering the video through Neat Video does an incredible job of cleaning it up (hence why it is a part of our video editing process.)

UVS 10 does support the mjpeg video format directly but their noise reduction filter is terrible and the only other third party filter that works directly with UVS 10 did not do much better. If Neat worked as a plugin to UVS I would be a happy clam.

Which brings me here looking for a simpler pre-edit process. Ideally (assuming I didn't need frame accurate editing) I could use the Neat filter with AutoGK to save the orginal files in a simple process... Does anyone know if it is possible to use a VDub video filter in AutoGK? I did try using the AutoGKTweaker but it crashed each time I tried using it.

We aren't videophiles, just looking to take satisfactory video of our baby and send dvds to family members.

Thanks for responding!
L

[redwudz]

I just tried the Cedocida DV Codec and so far it works well and seems faster than the Panasonic codec for encoding. DV is about 13GB per hour of video, so it does take up some space. But if your videos are short and Ulead accepts DV format, it may be worth a try with VD filtering. DV does have a framesize limitation. It needs to have a file that is 720X480 for NTSC video or 720X576 for PAL. If you have to resize to use it, it may not be any advantage, except for the editing.

If you are just doing cut and paste editing, you could do that in Ulead in MJPEG format first and then use VirtualDub to filter and convert to Xvid, if that is the final destination format. That would work if Ulead can output MJPEG, then you wouldn't need to encode to another format before filtering.

But if you are just doing cut and paste editing, Virtual Dub can do that also. I use Virtual Dub Mod for most AVI type file editing. If I want to convert to MPEG format for DVDs, I frameserve directly from VDM to TMPGEnc encoder. Frameserving eliminates a in-between edited file and saves hard drive space.

But, I would still avoid using Xvid format for editing. I would rather do cut and paste editing first before any encoding or filtering.