AVCHD Timestamp Issue

[C13Y3R]

Hi everyone new member here with my first of probably many posts relating to random mindblowing issues I am having. Quick intro, im a self taught video editing noob for a risk management firm while I attend school. I've always used Pinnacle studio and captured videos off tapes and cards via analog. However im trying to step it up and take advantage of the hd quality that is out there for the clients sake. Currently I extract files from my camera to the HD Writer that came with my Panasonic Camera. From there I condense all frames into one movie which comes out as an AVCHD file. From here I need to timestamp. I am familiar with DVMPro and have used it however it is incredibly slow. As a result I looked elsewhere and found one called VisualTimestamp. The speed is somewhat quicker, and appearance much more professional.

Upon completion of timestamping the video, my video starts off at the correct time however as it continues it doesn't correspond with the video. So as an example a video that is 20 minutes long and should go from 7 am to 5 pm instead shows on the time 7 am to 7:20 am. Is there any way to correct this? I've researched for hours, played with settings, and really am just at a loss. Also if there isn't, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on how to speed up the timestamp process? I use a new well equipped dell xps so I doubt hardware is the issue. Why the timestamp doesn't automatically transfer in the first place is beyond me. I'd appreciate any help or advice. Thanks guys - Chris

[Krispy Kritter]

Time stamping after creation is simply marking the video playtime. Hence the 20 minute video running from 7:00 to 7:20. That's 20 minutes.

What it sounds like you are wanting to do, is time stamp a time lapse video. Those type of time stamps should be encoded onto the frame during creation/capture. Aside from individually stamping each frame, I don't know how to do what you are trying to do.

[bajra79]

you're talking about getting the date time stamp on the video right? If you're doing any manipulation that involves re-encoding, than you're losing the metadata on the individual clips. so it's just pulling the start time from the single clip and running the timestamp of that.

if you have multiple clips, i usually Date/time stamp them first prior to merging into a single video. at least that's my process. someone else might know a more efficient method. I used both DVMP and superdvdate. I think you migth be able to use TSMuxer to first combine clips before adding the timestamp. not sure if that will work with your program.

[C13Y3R]

thank you both for your replies they definitely have helped. What im now trying to do is timestamp each individual file before combining them into a movie which now shows the correct time. This brings me to my next question. Does anyone know what the best format is for fitting a hd video to either a cd or dvd? Keep in mind some videos may exceed an hour and it would be ideal for me to fit everything on one disc.

[bajra79]

Using FFMpeg, i convert to MP4 using the following settings for HD video with x264 codec. ends up being about 1hr per gb

"-an -aspect 16:9 -s 1280x720 -f mp4 -vcodec libx264 -vprofile high -b:v 2500k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 2500k -threads 0 -movflags faststart"

i'm not a command line wiz, this comes from a couple weeks of searching various forums. This works if your video is shot in landscape, if it's in portait, you might need to change the lines about so it doesn't stretch the video

[Krispy Kritter]

What is the current format? What are the file sizes involved?

CD = 700MB
DVD-SL = 4GB
DVD-DL = 8GB

I'd choose format based on the requirements for playback and then use the disc type that will hold the file. I'd only convert if absolutely necessary (ie: file size exceeds 8GB).

[tiresias]

Re the speed of dvmp pro. Remember that you can choose from any of the compressors on your PC. The installation default is Uncompressed video which gives good quality but is fairly slow and produces larger files. Instead try choosing the free Cineform compressor and it will go like the wind! Their are some other suggestions here

www.dvmp.co.uk/codecs.htm#compressors