How do I know what codec I require?

[samoyed]

Hi,

I finally understand why VirtualDub increase my video file size after I edit. Its coz I didn't select a codec.

My question is How do I know which specific codec is required?

[guns1inger]

What do you want to do with the video ?

Choice of codec is always a balancing act between size, quality and purpose.

If this is an intermediate file, perhaps between filtering and encoding for DVD, then you might chose a lossless codec like lagarith or huffyuv. The output will be big, but the quality will be very high. Or you might consider frameserving to your mpeg-2 encoder directly.

If this is for playback on Divx/Xvid capable DVD player then Xvid would be a logical choice.

If you are going to do further editing in an NLE then you might output as DV avi with cidocida.

But at this stage your question doesn't have enough detail to get a helpful answer.

[samoyed]

Hi guns1inger,

I have a lot of videos I have taken and they are mostly in Mpeg.
Most videos I just wanna edit, compress and keep.
Some videos I wanna edit, compress and burn onto DVD to play on standard DVD player.

I am sorry my question lacks details.
My inexperience with managing videos may be the reason.

At first I don't understand codec.
Then I thought just need an ALL IN ONE condec .
But realized there is so many out there.

I have not even explore filtering.

Appreciate your help. Rest well.

[guns1inger]

Virtualdub is probably completely the wrong tool. If most of your footage is mpeg video then Womble Video Wizard DVD is a better option. Although it is not free, it will allow you to edit and author without quality loss in most instances.

[samoyed]

Hi guns1inger,

Thanks. I will explore it.
Any free ones I can try?

[Baldrick]

If you are just cutting you can try mpg2cut2. But is not as easy to use as for example videoredo, mpeg-vcr, mpeg video wizard, tmpgenc mpeg editor or tmpgenc authoring works.

[txporter]

I would recommend VideoRedo (one of the ones that Baldrick listed above). You can try it for 15 days for free (fully functional). I have used for many years. It has great support and is a very easy piece of software to use. MPEG2 to MPEG2 editing is done without quality loss. It also has a QuickStream Fix utility that you can use to fix timestamp issues with MPEG2.

Jason

[samoyed]

Hi Baldrick & txporter.

Thank You I will explore them and find one thats suitable for me.

I forgot to add in my previous post that other than MPEG, I have a Digital Camera that records using Mini DV tapes.

Most videos I just wanna edit, compress and keep.
Some videos I wanna edit, compress and burn onto DVD to play on standard DVD player.

What I do now is I capture using WMM then I edit using VirtualDub. But I note that after editing the file size becomes bigger. How to resolve this?

I chose VD coz its free and its supposed to be very easy to to use. I think I simply don't know enough thats why i have issues with it.

Or should I be using an entirely different tool & method altogether.

[guns1inger]

Capture with WinDV instead of WMM if possible. Smaller program, dedicated to DV transfer. If oyu must use WMM the capture in DV AVI format, not WMV.

If you don't filter in Virtualdub, use Direct Stream Copy after editing and you will find that your files won't lose quality, and will be smaller if you have cut bits out, larger if you have added bits in. Either way, they will still be DV AVI. If you do use filters, save as DV AVI using the cedocida DV codec for a good quality/size trade off. I assume you know how to set video compression in virtualdub.

[redwudz]

If you are transferring from your Mini-DV camera via FireWire, try using WinDV for the transfer instead of WMM. Then edit in VirtualDub. VD is actually a good editor for DV, with a lot of options. Well worth learning as it is very versatile and also useful for other AVI type formats. If you want to output again as DV, the Cedocida DV Codec, as mentioned, is a good choice. Just add it to the VD plugins folder. There are also lots of guides for VD at the bottom of the VD tool page.

Or if you want to convert directly to MPEG for DVD after the VD edit, frameserving directly to a MPEG encoder, then authoring and burning is a good method. Or you could put the edited DV from VD into a all in one DVD converter like FAVC, DVD Flick or others that may be able to convert the DV to DVD. Haven't tried them for that. Both are freeware.

EDIT: Looks like guns1inger already gave you about the same answer.

[samoyed]

Hi guns1inger & redwudz,

Thank You.

If you don't filter in Virtualdub, use Direct Stream Copy after editing and you will find that your files won't lose quality, and will be smaller if you have cut bits out, larger if you have added bits in. Either way, they will still be DV AVI. If you do use filters, save as DV AVI using the cedocida DV codec for a good quality/size trade off. I assume you know how to set video compression in virtualdub.

How to add cedocida DV codec to VB?

If I want to filter using VD then what should I do first?

Thank you.

[guns1inger]

Just install it. It will then show up in the video compression codec list.

[redwudz]

If you want to add filters to VD, there are a few here: http://www.thedeemon.com/VirtualDubFilters/

Once you've downloaded the ones you want, unzip them and add the .vdf file to your VirtualDub plugins folder. They will be available when you restart VD in the 'Filters' page.

[samoyed]

HI guns1inger & redwudz,

If I want to filter and also use cedocida DV codec, I have to be using Full Processing Mode?

Wow That's a lot of filters. I will have to read them and understand what their functions are.

Filter first then Compression?

[redwudz]

There are a few hundred more filters available. Yes, you generally have to use full processing for filtering, trimming or cropping. And yes, filtering, then encoding.

If you use a lower loss codec like DV, you won't have a lot of quality loss after filtering if you output as DV again. There are other lossless codecs like Lagarith Lossless Video Codec or HuffyUV that will have less quality loss, but the filesize will be much larger.

[samoyed]

Hi,

Managed to add the filter to VD plugin folder.

If I apply filter, does it apply to the whole video?
What if I want to apply filter to only a certain part or some parts of the video?

[redwudz]

Two choices, Cut the video up and just apply the filter to the parts as needed then rejoin or look for the Conditional Execution filter, this one, I think: http://www.thedeemon.com/cgi/getfilter?id=149 It can apply filters to selected parts of the video. It's in .rar format, so you will have to unpack it with something like 7-zip or WinRAR. There are instuctions for the filter in it's folder. It's a bit of a pain to use.

[guns1inger]

The latest versions of virtualdub support applying filters to only certain parts of the video using the blend function (?). Haven't tried it myself, but a few here have spoken well of it.

[samoyed]

Hi redwudz & guns1inger,

Thanks I will try them out.

[samoyed]

Hi,

I am trying out the filter & blend in VD.
However I got this prompt (see attached).

Where do I change output size?

Thank you.



Edit 16Feb2009:

I found out that I should have used ROTATE2 and not ROTATE.
I no longer get the error message.

Thanks.