Remove hardsub in AVI but NOT whole video?

[kpic]

I am used to working with MPEG so please bear with me here. I have an AVI file that has a small section (about 20 seconds worth) in the MIDDLE of the video that has a hardsub on it, I would like to crop or blur that small 20 second section but leave the rest of the video intact. Here is basically what I though I should do - although not quite sure;

Demux the Video\Audio in AVIDEMUX - as the audio should be fine
Load video into VDUB and crop out the offending portion of screen in that section

But here is where I'm confused, how do I get to crop just that small section of the video without applying to the whole thing? I need to cut\crop\re-insert but I'm not sure how to do that and will I have a sync issue with the audio when finalized (lost frames etc?)

I will be converting this whole thing to M2V anyway for placing onto DVD would it be easier to work in that environment or edit as AVI?

Thanks!

[manono]

You can't just crop as that'll leave that one small section with a different resolution. One solution is to cover it up with black. If using an AviSynth script, it's easy enough to accomplish. Say the writing to be covered up is from frames 10000-10500:

A=Trim(0,9999)
B=Trim(10000,10500).Letterbox(0,60)
C=Trim(10501,0)
A+B+C

That says to cover with black however much of the bottom of that one section you have to (adjust the '60' by as much as necessary). Then feed the script directly into your MPEG-2 encoder. This assumes opening the AVI using AVISource, doing any resizing (if necessary), adjusting the colorspace (if necessary) to suit the encoder's preference, as well as any other filtering you might want to do. Maybe you can do the same in VDub, but I wouldn't know, and that method is inferior anyway (slower, with unnecessary colorspace conversion). And then you'll either have to frameserve it out of VDub or save it as a (preferably) lossless AVI, before then using that to send to the encoder, making for a quality degrading and unnecessary step. The length stays the same; the audio won't go out of synch. Of course, if you know nothing about AviSynth ... maybe it's time you learned:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Letterbox

[kpic]

Thanks for the reply. I have downloaded Avisynth before but could never really figure out how to work it (mostly due to my inexperience with the script format). I understand the purpose of the script but here is where you lose me: "feed the script directly into your MPEG-2 encoder". I use Procoder 3 (conversion) or Mpeg-VCR (editing), how would I get that script to run in\after that program?

Are you saying that editing the original AVI is trickier than editing my converted M2V file? I thought I could simply do this to the original AVI and then convert the finished item to MPEG? I do not usually work with AVIs so not sure if it becomes a problem.

[manono]

feed the script directly into your MPEG-2 encoder". I use Procoder 3 (conversion) or Mpeg-VCR (editing), how would I get that script to run in\after that program?

Most MPEG-2 encoders (including Procoder) will accept AviSynth scripts directly, just as they will some kind of video. It's been a while since I've used Procoder and I no longer have it installed, so I can't give you the specifics, but I'm sure someone else can. It should be something as simple as File->Open Video, or even drag-and-drop. However, before opening the script in your encoder, test it out first in VDub(Mod). It'll give you an error message if something's wrong, where Procoder (probably) won't. Procoder accepts YUY2, so it's best to add ConvertToYUY2() (assuming a progressive AVI, ConvertToYUY2(Interlaced=True) if interlaced) at the bottom of the script. I don't know anything about Mpeg-VCR.

Are you saying that editing the original AVI is trickier than editing my converted M2V file? I thought I could simply do this to the original AVI and then convert the finished item to MPEG? I do not usually work with AVIs so not sure if it becomes a problem.

I'm saying editing the AVI, saving it as another AVI, before then sending that to the encoder (or even editing it in VDub and then frameserving out of VDub to the encoder) wastes time and degrades the video unnecessarily. You can do the editing in the script so what has to be done gets done during the encoding to MPEG-2. A sample script (assuming already size compliant for NTSC or PAL DVD) might go:

AVISource("C:\Path\To\Movie.avi",False)#false disables the audio
A=Trim(0,9999)
B=Trim(10000,10500).Letterbox(0,60)
C=Trim(10501,0)
A+B+C
ConvertToYUY2()

Then crop/resize/addborders or filter in other ways also in the script. Check at AviSynth.org in the pages for the filters for the exact wording. Or ask here. Or get the crop/resize/addborders from FitCD.

[kpic]

Ok, thanks - that was very clear!