High-definition (HDV) editing in Movie Maker works again

I meant to post earlier that I was able to resolve my issues regarding editing of HDV video. I still don't know why the problem occurred, but I have a fix. After several calls and chat sessions with the Windows Vista SP1 Support group I found that loading the FFDShow codec fixed the problem. I can again see my HDV video (in dvr-ms format) and can edit it in Movie Maker.

Something about the steps still leaves a weird taste in my mouth because this did work before SP1, and the MPEG-2 codec and corresponding filters should have worked after the SP1 upgrade. Why I had to load some 3rd-party codecs for this scenario is still a little puzzling.

If I get a chance, I might restore the image from my Windows Home Server just before the SP1 upgrade and try it again... or I might just leave it alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it... right?

Still trying to get HDV video to work consistently in Movie Maker

Well, shortly after I finished my prior post, I realized I still had a problem. Though the Hotfix in KB 943195 fixed my green video problem (captured HDV video (.ms-pvr format) would appear green during playback in Movie Maker, in Media Center and in Windows Media Player), I discovered I still had a problem during capture. I wouldn't get anything appearing in the capture preview, yet the video was coming in fine and I was able to edit the video after the capture was done. I decided I would live with the issue for awhile and see if Vista Service Pack 1 would fix anything.

So late last week, the update to SP1 happened on my computer. The first thing I checked was playback of HD video. It worked fine. Then I tried capturing and *it worked!*. I was so excited, at least until I tried to edit the video. It now appears as all black (sound but no video) when I try to edit. This is true straight from the collection or from the project timeline. It's even true when I open up a project that just last week was working fine.

Hmm... anyone have an idea? Could it be related to the ATI HD2400XT video card or the drivers? It seems likely since swapping video cards to an nVidia got everything working as expected. However, I have the latest Catalyst drivers for the card.

Oh well, the saga continues.

What it Takes to Edit High-Definition (HD) Video

Back in 2006, I reviewed the Canon HV10 and toyed with the idea of purchasing a high-definition camcorder for our family. At the time limited availability, high cost and limited editing options were all issues. Fast-forward 18 months and these issues are being resolved. Perhaps this is the year when HD video finally turns the corner with respect to general consumer acceptance. At least it has in our family.

I've been following HD camcorder choices for awhile. I've had my eye on the HV20 since it has garnered praises from reviewers and consumers alike. But finally last month several things happened. First since Canon announced the release of the next model (HV30), the prices on the HV20 began to decrease. Several sites reduced the price a lot, and certain stores even had clearance sales where the HV20 went below US$300. That's when I picked up ours.

The second factor is that software now regularly supports editing of HDV tapes. The latest packages from Adobe, Pinnacle, Sony and Ulead can handle HDV. In addition, the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions come with a version of Movie Maker that can handle HDV capture and editing.

Since we had one PC in the house with Vista loaded, I figured it would be a good time to test the process of capturing and editing the video. Just like standard definition video from a mini-DV camcorder, it is a simple process. You connect your camcorder via a firewire cable, turn it on and set it to VCR/Playback mode. From there on, after a prompt or two, Windows Movie Maker will automatically rewind, capture the footage and place it in your WMM collection.

Things were going well at this point, so I figured editing would go as smoothly. I was wrong. What I discovered was that our Pentium 4 (3.2GHz) with 1GB of memory was not enough to prevent some skipping and lagging in the video during editing. While I probably could have managed well enough to get it edited, I figured a new PC was in order. Several online forums recommended going for a "quad core" processor, 3 to 4 GB of memory, lots of disk space, a decent video card, etc. so that's what I got. After a hiccup or two with an incompatible ATI video card and a Windows hotfix, the system was finally able to preview and edit the HD video.

So there you are, with an HDV camcorder, a suitably modern PC and the included version of Movie Maker, you can edit HD video. If you'd like to see the results, I've uploaded some video I shot last weekend.

Windy Day Fun with Granny and Gramps

No doubt over the next few months I'll have more experiences to report, so stay tuned. This is only the beginning.

Windows Vista available at the end of the month

I've been beta testing Windows Vista with the newest version of Windows Movie Maker and DVD Maker for several months now. I even have a pre-release of the final version installed. For those of you that can't wait to try it you only have a little more time to wait. Windows Vista is supposed to be widely available at the end of this month (January 30, 2007). Start counting down...

Jahshaka Revisited (2.0 RC3)

About a year ago I played around with an open-source real-time animation and effects program called 'Jahshaka'. At the time it was at version 1.9 alpha. They are now at 2.0 RC3. To test it out I created a sample animation that might work for the World Cup... tell me what you think of this World Cup Intro Clip.

Some details:

Soccer ball is an imported 3-D object

Sample clip shows how layers can be 'keyframed' to change location, rotation, scale, transparency, etc.

This clip probably took about 2 hours to put together. I had to render it in Jahshaka as a series of images. Then I used VirtualDub to put those together as an AVI. Finally, I used Windows Movie Maker to add the sound effects and music. What do you think?

Jahshaka - Realtime Editing and Effects

Jahshaka is a touted as a realtime editing and effects program and is an open-source project at sourceforge.net. It appears to have some real promise, but at the moment they are hyping version 3.0 when they are still at 1.9 alpha. Having said that, I wonder if there aren't some things for which it might be useful... I'm going to have to download it and play with it a little bit.

Edit: Okay, I've tried out the Animator module and the Effects module. The Animator module allows you to bring in stills, texture maps, 3-D objects, text, etc. and then animate them. The Effects module allows you to modify your picture with various 3-D transformations (or 2-D effects like Blur, Mosaic, Inverse Color, etc.)

Edit: Check out my post on Jahshaka Revisited.

VideoHelp.com

Good link for reviews of DVD media and compatibility with DVD players:
VideoHelp.com

Morphing Software

When I get an interest in Morphing Software again:
Morphing Software