HOWTO: Edit Motion JPEG (MJPG) in Adobe or even Windows Movie Maker

[rallymax]

This is how VfW decides which codec is loaded.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms713292(VS.85).aspx

It looks to be a race conditition.
it first searches the registry for the (double fourCC) string of "VIDC.MJPG". Then, if it does not find a match it loads each "VIDC" decoder one-by-one and tries to force the stream to it. If it fails it goes to the next one and so on.
That would explain why FFDshow didn't show up in vcswap for "mjpg" and still works.
I'll keep looking to see if there is a way to sort the match order. It might make sense for FFDshow to explicitly add a registry entry so that the "VIDC.MJPG" search gets a hit.

[edited to clear up typos]

[rallymax]

I worked out how it does the search.
By adding the attached entry into the registry there is now a match case for "vidc.mjpg" that is bound to ffdshow.ax

This should make ffdshow always win when trying to find a decoder for MJPG when using VfW.

See attached file, it simply adds the entry next to the others in the registry.



ffdshow%20vidc,mjpg.reg

[poisondeathray]

My line of thinking with vcswap was to deactivate or delete residual vfw codecs that LeChineur had on his system

If you recall he said he tried a few:

The only thing that I have found which works are the shareware/"for sale" codecs, such as Lead, Main Concept and Morgan.

My concern is if the residual vfw decoders haven't been properly deactivated or deleted, they might cause a conflict. They should show up either in the active or inactive codec list if still on the system. If he gets rid of everything except for the one he needs, it should default to ffdshow

My comments with vdub are valid for vfw only if you ensure other plugins are not active (e.g. the directshow plugin). Opening an avi directly should default to the vfw system (it only goes to the plugin if it can't get the vfw decoder to work). So if you use file=>file information, it will identify the decoder used, this could at least provide some info on LeChineur's system. Using the avisource() method ensures you are using vfw

[poisondeathray]

I worked out how it does the search.
By adding the attached entry into the registry there is now a match case for "vidc.mjpg" that is bound to ffdshow.ax

This should make ffdshow always win when trying to find a decoder for MJPG when using VfW.

See attached file, it simply adds the entry next to the others in the registry.



ffdshow%20vidc,mjpg.reg

Nice detective work!

I bet your background in plugins was a big help

[minidv2dvd]

i looked through my vfw codecs and it may be this one being used by pp. the developer is long gone though and i don't know which app. installed it on my system, i didn't.

[poisondeathray]

What about vdub file info, mini2dv2dvd?

I don't have the Paradigm mjpg decoder installed, and it works for PP CS4 here

[rallymax]

Highly Tech FYI:

If you're interested in seeing what VfW compressors and decompressors are installed you can see the list pretty easily..

START -> Run -> Regedit

Then navigate to here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

All the "vidc.****" entries are the installed VfW codecs. They point to the DLLs loaded in the directory

c:\WINDOWS\System32

VCswap is displaying these entries (i think).

If there is a vidc.XXXX entry that matches the stream it WILL win in the race to see who does the work.

Without the registry file I posted adding "vidc.mjpg" = "ffdshow.ax" it is a crap shoot of using one of the other vidc.XXXX entries. I can't even assume that it searches alphabetically - VCswap showed them in installed order (I think) because my new entry came up at the bottom of the list.

So I recommend you make an explicit match with my REG file, and secondly to clean up your system, delete any vidc.XXX entry that you know you don't want anymore. To be even more explicit you can delete the DLL from the harddisk (...\System32)

Here's what my registry looks like:

[minidv2dvd]

vdub file info is the same as yours poisondeathray.

[rallymax]

I imported the file into Windows Movie Maker. It played fine on the WMM timeline... both with and without the Libavcodec enabled, so it must be using another codec as well.

This screams to me that you have another VfW codec winning the "I'll do it" war.
See my posts below your quote, and I guess above this post to see how I'm forcing FFDshow to win the "I'll do it" war.

[rallymax]

Perhaps try uninstalling/reinstalling PP ? Pay special attention to the install options - when you install one of the suites, there is a whole bunch of optional junk, not sure if one of them refers to this mjpg scenario

Unfortunately (?) I know that PP installation doesn't effect MJPEG support so LeC' don't go to the effort of un|re-installing. Windows Movie Maker is proving it's not a tool problem - it's a VfW codec choice problem.

BTW, thx for reminding me that ImporterAVI.prm already existed. If LeC' is using any of the versions since CS3 onwards it's definitely not the root problem. (which incidently wipes out 3+ posts of mine early on theorizing about PP and AVI support).

[rallymax]

I have gone back through my posts and, with notes, edited my comments so that newcomers aren't sent down the wrong path by my now known-to-be-wrong speculation.

[LeChineur]

Poisondeathray said, "You can check, the appropriate dll is ff_vfw.dll , not ffdshow.ax (the .ax refer to directshow filters)".

This got me thinking. So I checked and I indeed did not have the ff_vfw.dll on my system. So I uninstalled the version 3.054 of FFDShow (dated 08/04/2009) which was installed on my system, downloaded and installed version 3.052 (dated 08/03/2009) and voila, I then had the ff_vfw.dll.

That solved the problem. PP now plays the video clip fine, as well as all the other "AVI" (MJPEG) clips from my Canon camera. Incredible!

So rallymax, your original post was in fact correct. Why the version of FFDShow that I first downloaded didn't install the correct dll the first time is still a mystery, but whatever...

I truly want to thank all of you for your time and the help. Every idea posted was helpful in getting me one step closer to discovering what the problem was. As is so often the case, it was something quite simple, but elusive to find.

It's a bit sad that Adobe's own tech support couldn't have made even one of the suggestions that were posted here. Thankfully there are forums like this and folks like you that do have the knowhow and are willing to take the time. For that I'm very appreciative. Thanks again.

P.S. Any suggestions on MPEG2 encoding settings for Standard Definition DVD? I'm using VBR, 2-pass, but what are the best settings for minimum, target and maximum bitrates? How about audio settings?

[rallymax]

WOOHOO! I'm so glad you worked it out. Thanks for the nice note, it makes the effort of me making the post all worth while.
I'm going to put an edit on the first post to summarize what happened here (re 3.052 vs 3.054).
As for data rates, I usually try to aim for 8.5Mbit max, 8M target, 4M min. The reason that I don't go all the way to the max DVD spec is that a lot of players barf at datarates over 9Mbit (total) when they get to the inside of the DVD. If the project doesn't fit, I then scale down the datarate as necessary. (so in summary I'm using the Adobe Encoder preset of NTSC High Quality and then tweaking the datarates). As for audio, I've been exporting to PCM since Dolby Digital is a paid extra on PP CS3. I then bring the exported m2v and wav files into Encore and author there. Fortunately Encore has an included Dolby Digital encoder so I transcode the WAV -> AC3. The m2v video is DVD compliant so that doesn't transcode, it simply is copied to the finished product. The PCM and AC3 settings are the defaults in PP and Encore. 'hope tha helps! And thanks again for validating the value of my post

[LeChineur]

Thanks for the feedback on the data rates. Yours are very close to that for which I have mine set, so it's nice to have that validated. I haven't used Encore yet, but I noticed that Dolby Digital is also a paid extra on PP CS4, so it helps to see how you managed to get there in Encore via WAV/AC3. That will save me some time when I get to that stage. Thanks again. Take care.

[broccoli_rob]

Thank You Thank You Thank You. solved my editing problem between Premiere Pro CS4 and my GoPro Hero helmet cam.

[imveryemo]

This is the only thread on Google that comes close to the problem I'm having, I wasn't going to bump it but broccoli_rob already did so I figured I'd try posting here, even if it is a long shot. I capture XB360 gameplay using a BlackMagic IntensityPro, in MJPEG format (AVI container), and I'm trying to import it to Premiere Pro CS4 for editing, but the video skips frames wildly and only the audio plays (this is the case with and without ffdshow installed, so something else is doing it, and poorly). I set MJPEG to libavcodec in VFW Configuration and ffdshow video configuration, and even tried the registry entry to force it, but even with Premiere Pro open and the file in it/attempting to play, ffdshow isn't even in the tray or task manager (I know it's an MJPEG file for sure because I checked the file information in VDUB). I've been trying everything I can think of over the last 3 days, but am finally giving up and turning to asking for help, can anyone help me solve this riddle? I have several hundred gigs of material and I can't use any of it because Premiere Pro won't allow me to edit any of it. TIA

[aedipuss]

fill out your computer spec in your profile for this forum, so we have a clue what you're working with and upload a 50-100mb sample to a filesharing site. post the link here and it can be examined. http://www.filedropper.com/ might work.

[imveryemo]

Filled out the editing machine's specs and here's the sample: http://www.filedropper.com/mw22 - it's very short and exactly 100 MB, but you know how recording in HD goes, it took me a couple of tries to get it below 100MB. TIA

[aedipuss]

pp cs4 doesn't seem to know how to use it. vlc can play it fine, and vegas pro9.0d has no problem with it either. i'm a vegas user and only resort to pp in special cases, so maybe another pp expert can figure this one out.

[rallymax]

Hi,
'glad google got you here.
I downloaded the file. Are you aware that it's 1280x720 @ 59.9FPS?
At that frame rate Adobe is going to have to seek the file to each frame [edit: assuming your project is 1280x720 30p] (rather than being sequential). If you don't have a fast hard disk this may be the reason.
If you make your project into the same resolution and framerate (ie 1280x720 60i) it might be happier.
---it's only a guess though.
It plays back slowly in my Premiere CS3 on my laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo but with a 128Gb SSD hard disk - thus WAAAAYYYY better seek times to jump around the file so it's probably why it's reasonably smooth (but slow).
In Windows Media Player it runs at true speed coz WMP will play it back at its native 60p.
So... as I suggested above - I'd try to change the project to 60i from 30p and see if it helps.
post back your results!

[holmes6]

One other really simple, duh solution that had me feeling really dumb for trying all the ones in this thread first:
Install Quicktime!
Suddenly my .MOV mjpg files are working perfectly in PP 5.5
Signed up just to post this

[edDV]

FYI Vegas MJPEG and ffdshow

Here is the "Render as" path to installed VFW codecs and ffdshow

Save as type = AVI
Template = YUV (e.g. HD 1280x720 60p)
Custom Settings
Video Format = ffdshow Video Codec
Configure
Decoder Tab - Codecs - Select MJPEG - Set all stable formats to libavcodec

[Cornucopia]

Wow, I wish I hadn't missed this the first 2 or 3 times around - I could have told you guys that:

1. Quicktime still has support for MJPEG (probably now in its "legacy codecs" section, which will need to be re-activated). Having QT/QTPro still helps alot in these situations.
2. I KNOW I have archived at least 2 or 3 (or more) MJPEG AVI codecs (and they're a little older, so there's bound to be a VFW version in there). I have CD/DVD archives of stuff like that going back to the late '90s, just so if web links disappear I won't get stuck (which looks to have happened at fourcc and elsewhere).

If you still need one, let me know and I'll search the catalog...

Scott

[rallymax]

'just tried to put a note in my #1 post to jump to this info but I get a "database error". I'll try again in a day or two.
thanks for finding this out holmes6!