Confusion, Re: Compressed/Uncompressed footage...

[poisondeathray]

might be your graphics card settings

vdub isn't meant to be a player

try options=>preferences=>display => uncheckmark 'use direct x for display planes'

if that doesn't work, in your graphics card settings, look for a higher bit depth setting (might be called color quality or color depth for some graphics cards)

you may have to close & reopen vdub for settings to take change, or reboot if you changed video card settings

(I suspect this is a display issue; it doesn't affect the underlying video, just the display of it)

[takearushfan]

might be your graphics card settings

vdub isn't meant to be a player

try options=>preferences=>display => uncheckmark 'use direct x for display planes'

if that doesn't work, in your graphics card settings, look for a higher bit depth setting (might be called color quality or color depth for some graphics cards)

you may have to close & reopen vdub for settings to take change, or reboot if you changed video card settings

(I suspect this is a display issue; it doesn't affect the underlying video, just the display of it)

Hi again. Thanks for the advice. I did what you recommended and now all looks great. I'm now off to do some frame by frame work in Photoshop. However, be forewarned that I'll be coming back with some questions. In fact, I already have them but I won't get into it yet. I won't bother starting a new thread... I'll just post back in this one.
Thanks again,
Justin

[jagabo]

Hi there. This is odd. The playback quality seems to be sporadic. I mentioned in my last post about how it didn't look too bad, but you could still see a hint of what I was referring to. However, when I played it this time around it looked very bad. I've attached a sample shot.
[Attachment 4558 - Click to enlarge]

It sounds like you fixed this but if not: it looks like you have VirtualDub set to 16 bit output. Go to Options -> Preferences -> Display. Set Output Color Depth to Match Display.

[takearushfan]

Yep, thanks; fixed
Here's a quick question though. After exporting from Photoshop and opening with VDub, even though all worked fine after clicking "okay", I don't understand why I received the message in the attached pic.
[Attachment 4576 - Click to enlarge]

[jagabo]

Normally an AVI file has a list of all the keyframes at the end of the file (for easy random seeking). That error indicates the keyframe index was missing or damaged. I don't know what would have caused that in the steps you listed.

[poisondeathray]

What did you export from photoshop to open in vdub ?

[takearushfan]

I exported an avi. That's why I found it odd that it reported an error.

[takearushfan]

This is a bit off-topic, but I'd be an idiot to start a new thread about it.
What is the general consensus on cutting out footage from a section of a film that you feel is redundant, unnecessary and looks terrible anyway? I ask because 98% of the time I prefer a film to retain as much of its integrity as possible. However, what I've been working on is the panic/bombing scene from The Day After. Now anyone that's seen the film would (hopefully) agree with me that they went a bit overboard with the stock footage. There's about 3 minutes of straight footage that looks like it's from the 20's. I hate to admit this 'cause again, I typically hate butchering a film, but after my editing this clip went from around 5:15 minutes to around 3:30!
I suppose it's not too bad, considering that I hardly ever do it; just wondering what your thoughts are.
Thanks,
Justin

[manono]

A silly idea. Fast forward if you want to skip over something.

[jagabo]

I agree with manono. But I've often wondered what it would be like to take a slow film like 2001 A Space Odyssey and trim it down into a fast paced action movie. It's way too much work to do just for fun though.

[takearushfan]

Hm. On the one hand I agree; typically I'd just fast-forward/skip a portion. On the other hand, I don't believe you should have to skip 3 minutes of the film's pinnacle scene. Er, then again, I suppose the lengthy footage is the whole point *shrug*

[takearushfan]

Hello again,
I'm not about to start a new thread, as that's rude, annoying and a waste of space, so I'll revisit this one...
I'm trying to create a very short video that's a bit of a mockery towards one of the film's scenes. However, when I use the techniques I've learned of in this thread, the A/V is always out of sync. I'm converting the whole film, from the beginning; not even any delay. Yes, it takes a sh*tload of space, but I want the whole thing to be lossless until I know exactly how I'm doing things/where exactly I need to cut, etc.
I've triple-checked the video type, frame type and field order and have done what has worked so far, due to all your help. It's just this one that seems to be a trouble-maker
Thanks in advance,
Justin

(P.S. It's amazing what AviSynth can do. I can't believe I've gone so long without it!)

[jagabo]

If the audio is out of sync by a constant amount through the whole film use VirtualDub's audio skew option.