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Editing video with Virtualdub?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 05 21:35

I have been trying to edit some videos that I took with my small camera; I converted them to .avi, and downloaded Virtualdub which seems to have the editing capabilities that I need. I am able to open the file; then go to Video > Filters > Add > highlight (Brightness/Contrast, and adjust it to my liking, and click Preview: the picture brightness/contrast is indeed improved. But there is no way to save it. I was told that in order to a filter, I need to go through a series of steps (which I am attaching), which I was able to follow up to where it says that I need to click "Advanced Options". I cannor find any such "Advanced Option". This is all very new to me, nor am I tech-savvy. Is there an easier way of editing videos? (my ultimate goal is to put them on DVD, together with some slides.) Any/all suggestions are highly welcome. temp-1.docx

Bjs posted 2009 Nov 05 21:47

To save ... video must be re-compressed when applying filters ... depending on audio format it too may need re-compression (unless vdub supports it). And save such documents in windows 2003 format or RTF rather than docx (2007)

guns1inger posted 2009 Nov 05 21:50

Click on Video -> Full processing (probably is already if you have added filters). Click on Video -> Compression and select a codec and configure it. Click on File -> Save As and browse to where you want to save the video, give it a name, and click OK

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 10:32

to BJS: HOW do I recompress it? I went through some steps (see attachment to previous message) and then got stuck when it asked me to click on "Advanced Options". - When do I save? Under "File" there are 4 Save options: AVI Old Format AVI Segmented AVI WAV none of which is Windows-related. To gunslinger: I did just that and clicked on Xvid MPEG-4 Codec and then got stuck - see above. Please help!

Baldrick posted 2009 Nov 06 10:51

File->Save as AVI. And as you are going to convert it to dvd later do NOT convert to xvid as you will lose a lot of quality. Convert to a lossless codec like huffyuv or lagarith. The files will be huge but you wont lose any quality. If you still still prefer xvid then you don't have to use any 2-pass encoding, use constant quality encoding with highest quality setting

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 11:18

File -> Open Video File Video -> Filters... Add... Brigntness/Contrast, adjust as before Video -> Compression... select and config codec, HuffYUV or Lagarith if you're going to DVD later File -> Save as AVI The file will be very big but since this is an intermediate (before compressing to MPEG 2 for DVD) you want to retain as much quality as possible. If you just want something for watching on the computer try Xvid, "Load Defaults", change the Target Quantizer to 3.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 11:35

Neither Huffyuv nor Lagarith is on my "Select" options. I am attaching a list of options. By the way, the DVD should be TV-watchable.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 11:36

sorry here's the attachment temp-2.docx

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 12:21

rosmari : Neither Huffyuv nor Lagarith is on my "Select" options. You will have to download and install them.

redwudz posted 2009 Nov 06 13:40

rosmari, please do not use .docx documents here. Very few of us have the capability of opening them and you are just wasting your time. Use Notepad or post a screenshot: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic271697.html#1322414 redwudz

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 13:47

redwudz : rosmari, please do not use .docx documents here. Very few of us have the capability of opening them I thought it was just me! LOL

lordsmurf posted 2009 Nov 06 15:33

.docx is why I installed Open Office. The import crap tool from MS messed up my Outlook 2000.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 16:02

OK - I downloaded Huffyuf since it seems a little less complicated than Lagarith. I opened Easyzip that came up (p.1 of attachment): I have no idea what to do with the 3 options shown. Then I went to Easyzip-Help and picked Virtualdub, and started following their instructions, but got stuck at 4) - my Easyzip window gives me 13 options ??? (p.2 of attachment). IF I then will have no problem following the rest of the instructions - will that allow me to save the filters that I edit? I am sending the attachment as pdf - or I can send it as .doc if you prefer. temp-2.pdf

redwudz posted 2009 Nov 06 16:17

After you have extracted the HuffyUV files, R click on the .inf file and you should see 'Install' near the top of the menu. L Click that and you should be done. When you open 'Compression' in VD, you should see the HuffyUV codec.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 18:11

I assume you mean to R click Huffyuv.inf of p.1 in previous attachment. But all I get is "Open/Add/Delete/Extract/View/etc". Or is there another way to extract the HuffyUV files?

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 18:17

Extact the files from the archive first -- for example drag them onto your desktop (or other suitable location). Then right click on the INF file and select Install.

Bjs posted 2009 Nov 06 18:36

Windows xp > right click on zip archive and select "extract all" and follow prompts ... when asked to view files click yes ... then right click the inf file and select "install" ... done. What has easyzip help got to do with vitualdub ??? Maybe this is due to you not having extracted vdub from the zip as well ? ... if so you should extract it as well ... then use the program as intended. Ahh ... clever buggers ... rename docx to zip and extract it ... tada ... I can now see what your talking about in vdubs video compressors, lolll Close vdub and relaunch it after the other video compressors have been installed as mentioned by others ... if you dont they simply will not appear as available video compressors.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 18:36

where IS the archive - how do I find it? I'm sorry I'm so dense, but this whole video area is new to me. But thank you for your patience!

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 18:43

The file you downloaded is the archive. When you double click on it your archive software (EasyZip, apparently) will show you the contents. Drag the three files (huffyuv.dll, huffyuv.inf, readme.txt) onto your desktop or some suitable folder on your hard drive, like c:\temp. Close the archive program then right click on Huffyuv.inf and select Install. After installing you can delete the files on your desktop.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 18:56

Alright - it worked so far: I left-clicked "install" but nothing seemed to happen. And when I checked in the Virtualdub Compression selection, it was not there. I was under the impression that it would be added ??? A picture of that selection is on p.3 of the attached pdf temp-2.pdf

redwudz posted 2009 Nov 06 19:05

If VD was open when you installed, you need to close it and open it again before the codec shows. You usually see a momemtary flash on the screen as it installs.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 19:14

YES! Now I've got this Menu box with 4 choices (p.4 of attachment). What do I click? And what other steps will I need to be able to save the filters? temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 19:55

I suggest the following: YUY2 compression method: Predict Median RGB compression method: Convert to YUY2 All other options off.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 20:27

Thank you. I went to Virtualdub, opened my file > filters > Brightness > adjusted that to my satisfaction, then clicked OK. But the picture still was dark. Then I went to File, Saved as AVI, hoping that would help - but the picture remains dark. ???? Thanks again for your patience.

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 20:30

Did you leave Video -> Full Processing Mode enabled? Did you leave the little checkbox box at the left of the Brightness/Contrast filter (in the Filters dialog) enabled?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 06 20:47

yes, the little checkbox is on. Then I click OK, and the Filter window disappears, and the picture is back to its original darkness. It did show the correction in "Preview" (same window as used for adjusting).

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 06 21:31

I've never had it fail to work. You should see the difference in the output pane after closing the Filters dialog:

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 00:38

I'm attaching 3 shots: 1) before and after (as seen in Preview). 2) I clicked OK 3) this is what came up - i.e. the original darkness What do I do wrong? Shouldn't I save that filtered picture ? How? You say that I should see the new picture in the "Output pane". What do you mean by output pane? Also, I notice that you have "CBR.1pass.mpv" after Virtualdub 1.9.5 in the field above your picture; mine doesn't say that. Maybe that's the step I'm missing ?? temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 06:22

You should have two panes within the VirtualDub window. Like my sample image shows. One pane displays the input video (before filtering) the other displays the output video (after filtering). If your videos are too big to see all of both panes you can right click on a pane to reduce its size. In the image I posted both panes were being displayed at 50 percent so I could post a small image. The default is to display the input on the left and the output on the right. But there are options to reverse them or stack them veritically instead of horizontally. Each pane can be disabled or enabled via View -> Input Video Pane and View -> Output Video Pane. This disables display of the image within the pane. The pane remains visible but will no longer be updated. If you press the Play button with the small "I" on it (near the bottom left corner) VirtualDub will play the input video (also available through File -> Preview Input). The Play button with the small "O" will preview the output (also File -> Preview Filtered). The "CBR.1pass.mpv" in my title bar is simply the name of the video I was using. You see "DSCN0383.avi" because that is the video you opened.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 10:24

No, I have only one pane; again, my procedure is to click "open" after having "previewed" it. And it opense with just this one, old, pane. For it to play, I have to press the first little arrow; the "I" at the beginning of the scale line doesn't do. Again, see p.1 of attachment. --Just curious: your message was posted at 4:22 AM; you must be a night-owl or located at least a quarter around the world from me - I'm in California. I do appreciate your hanging in with me. temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 10:34

Right click on the pane you do see and select one of the smaller scale values -- like 25 percent. Do you see a second pane now?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 10:41

yes! But when I click the little arrow, neither starts playing. And how can I save the output (in a different file)?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 10:49

I got it!! I just found out how to play: by clicking file > Preview output from start - and both in- and output play simultaneously. And I saved it "Save as AVI". THANK YOU! PS - my next step will be to burn it onto a DVD together with some slides ...

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 11:21

rosmari : But when I click the little arrow, neither starts playing. The play buttons start playing from wherever the frame slider is. If it's at the end of the video the video will not play. Move the slider to the start or somewhere in the middle of the video and it will play via those buttons. And, as you've discovered, you can use the Preview Output From Start. By the way, in your first post you mentioned that you had converted the files from your camera to AVI. What were they originally? VirtualDub can open many other types of files with the right source plugins. See the Import Plugins section here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Virtualdub

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 12:00

The original videos were .mov, and, indeed, Virtualdub seems to handle it. I'll try that next time. Since you seem so very knowledgeable (that was not idle flattery), maybe you can help me with a DVD problem. Using DVDSlideshow GUI I created a DVD, in which I then incorporated some small videos (which I had needed to convert from .mov into .avi). The slide show is great; I can determine each slide's duration, transition, and text, plus add music to the whole of it. I am able to intersperse videos, but they play at a faster speed, which turns speech into gibberish. I am not wedded to DVDSlideshow Gui and would be perfectly happy to use another program - do you know of one that could accommodate both sllides and videos intermingled?

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 16:58

rosmari : Using DVDSlideshow GUI... I am able to intersperse videos, but they play at a faster speed, which turns speech into gibberish. I don't use that program. But I suspect the frame rate of your videos isn't the normal DVD frame rate and the audio isn't the normal sampling rate. So the program is speeding them up. Use MediaInfo to check the characteristics of the videos. NTSC DVD requires 29.97 fps video and 48 KHz audio.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 17:51

I cannot make out what the fps number is for my video; the audio appears to be 44.1 KHz. (see attached) How does that info serve me? I.e. can I upgrade the characteristics? - I have, these past few hours, added several of my filtered videos to my existing DVDSlideshowGui, with less than satisfactory result: the sound stops, or the sound of one video jumps onto another one. It appears that DVDSlideshowGui is really not geared to accept videos. I am therefore searching for some other program that would be capable of putting a combination of slides and videos onto DVD. Any suggestions? temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 19:06

Near the bottom of the MediaInfo window you can see that the frame rate is 15 fps. That is not legal for DVD so DVDSlideshowGui is probably just speeding it up. When you filter with VirtualDub you can change the frame rate to a DVD legal 29.97 fps using the Video -> Frame Rate option. In the middle section enable the "Convert to fps" option and type in 29.97: You can also change the audio sample rate to 48 KHz by selecting Audio -> Full Processing Mode, then Audio Conversion. Set the Sampling rate to 48000, Precision to 16, Channels to Stereo, and enable High Quality:

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 19:32

Well - the Audio seems to work for the one I tried on DVDSlideshow, but the video for that one is hardly moving anymore. I'll change the others too and see what happens when all have the correct ratings.

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 19:49

Check the frame rate of the AVI file you produced with MediaInfo. Maybe you typed the value (29.97) in wrong? Does the AVI file play at normal speed with a media player?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 20:56

I did put in the correct frame rate (and Audio rate). But what happens is that when I save it to "Save as AVI" , the Virtualdub Status window pops up showing the old rates; see attached 2 pictures. And it takes forever. Is it saving the input instead of the output? temp-2.pdf

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 21:34

I've now corrected the rates of 4 videos and placed them into the DVD Slideshow. It's bad: First of all, even in the Virtualdub window they are hiccupping. But in the DVDSlideshow, the sound goes haywire: it jumps from one to the other, and the music which is part of the show and which in prior videos (the ones that I hadn't edited) would be replaced by the too-fast gibberish, now starts playing in the middle of the video.

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 07 21:39

The Video Rendering Rate is not the frame rate of the video but rather how fast VirtualDub is processing the video. What does MediaInfo say about the resulting AVI files? In MediaInfo select View -> Tree or View -> Text to see more details. With the latter you can copy text to copy/paste buffer. Do the AVI files play in a media player? Did you remember to select HuffYUV as the compression codec?

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 22:39

Here are the pictures of Mediainfo - frankly, much of it is too technical for me. The Huffyuv codec had disappeared (it was back at Uncompressed RGB), and the Audio had regressed as well: from Full Processing Mode back to Stream Copy, and the Conversion back to the No Changes. The attachment is based on the latest correction. But the sound and pictures are still problematic: In the Virtualdub window they are at least synchronized, though too slow; but in the DVDshow they are not synchronized and jump from one video to the other.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 07 22:39

sorry, forgot the attachment temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 08 06:39

If you are talking about playing the videos in VirtualDub as they are being filtered, since the program has to do all the filtering while the video is playing your computer may simply not be fast enough. A 1280x720, 29.97 fps, HuffYUV encoded video may simply be too much for your computer to play smoothly period. The audio properties are now correct. The only thing that was off in the video properties was the size of the frame, 720x1280. NTSC DVD requires a frame size of 720x480. I don't know if DVDSlideshowGui will automatically resize for you. 720x1280 is a bit odd. Was it originally 1280x720 and you rotated it 90 degrees? If you have to resize in VirtualDub you can use the Resize filter. I would add it before the brightness/contrast adjustments (it will be a little faster that way). Assuming a 720x1280, square pixel source and VirtualDub... For a 16:9 NTSC DVD: resize to 224x480 then use the "Letterbox/Crop to size" option to bring the frame up to 720x480. For a 4:3 NTSC DVD: resize to 304x480 then use the "Letterbox/Crop to size" option to bring the frame up to 720x480.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 08 12:35

No, I played them way after everything was saved - in fact, I just pulled four of them up again on Virtualdub and replayed them' the onethat I had rotated by 90 degrees is still plainfully slow, though picture and sound are synchronized. But all of them had reverted from Huffyuv to "Uncompressed", and in Audio from "Full Processing Mode" to "Direct Stream Copy" ; and, after I put them back in "Full Processing" and checked the Conversion, they were all back to "no changes". So I did the whole process all over, saved it again, closed Virtualdub, reopened it and checked those four videos - - they all had reverted to all the old modes. It seems to me there is something wrong with my Save method. There are 4 other Save options: - old format AVI - Segmented AVI - WAV - processing setting; I tried this and saved it as .vcf ??? I checked the original frame size (in .mov) - it was 320x240, with a ratio of 4:3. The new one, in.avi, must have automatically turned into 1280x720, with a 16:9 ratio. I'm happy with either ratio. The DVD will be played on my TV, which can accommodate either. The DVD I had created from DVDSlideshow GUI (slides only, no videos), does not spread over the whole screen - I'm not sure whether that means that it is a 4:3. I followed your resizing instructions. I'm assuming that my ratio is 4:3. As you can see from the attached pdf, the 304x480 is not acceptable. I don't know the whether DVDSlideshow automatically resizes; I can't find any reference to it or to what size any of their pictures are. It seems to me that the priority now is to be able to save the various settings in Virtualdub. Thank you so much for your continued help. temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 08 18:43

You need to set Aspect Ratio to Disabled. Then change the height to 480, not 540. Then letterbox to 720x480. Input and output panes displayed at 25 percent: You can use File -> Save Processing Settings and File -> Load Processing Settings if you work with files that need similar processing all the time. You should really open your original 320x240 MOV files directly with VirtualDub and do all your processing from there.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 08 21:10

I'm unable to open .mov videos, see p.2 of attached pdf. Resizing: the relative % of the 480 is 100, not 37.5, see p.3 of attachment. Reducing the panes to 25% gives me a weird second pane - what's up? (p.3) Today I inserted the old uncompressed and unaltered Audio files into a dvdslideshow file and proceded to export it to DVD. P.1 of the attachment shows the process, and as you will notice, it gives the resolution as 720x480 and the ratio as 4:3. Would that mean that I don't have to resize? The videos are, as they have been in the past, speeded up. I think they are not quite synchronized with the Audio, but it's hard to tell. So, Virtualdub has been helpful lightening the pictures, but the big question still remains of how to have them play within my slideshow at a normal speed temp-2.pdf

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 08 21:37

rosmari : I'm unable to open .mov videos, see p.2 of attached pdf. As noted earlier, you must install the correct source filter to read MOV files. You need to install the quicktime plugin. The VirtualDub page here has a link to a ZIP file with lots of plugins. You need to put quicktime.vdubplugin in VirtualDub's plugins folder and quicktime.ini in VirtualDub's main folder (the same folder with VirtualDub.exe). rosmari : Resizing: the relative % of the 480 is 100, not 37.5, see p.3 of attachment. The numbers on the Relative Percent line are not being used because Absolute resizing is enabled. Note that the VirtualDub screen shot you posted is not showing a 720x1280 (WxH) frame but rather a 1280x720 frame so the resizing is should be different. rosmari : Reducing the panes to 25% gives me a weird second pane - what's up? (p.3) We've discussed this several times too. VirtualDub ALWAYS displays two panes. The input (before filtering) pane and the output (after filtering) pane. You never saw the output pane before because the input pane was bigger than the entire VirtualDub Window. By decreasing the size of the input pane you are now able see the output pane. rosmari : Today I inserted the old uncompressed and unaltered Audio files into a dvdslideshow file and proceded to export it to DVD. P.1 of the attachment shows the process, and as you will notice, it gives the resolution as 720x480 and the ratio as 4:3. Would that mean that I don't have to resize? It does sound like dvdslideshow is resizing for you. rosmari : The videos are, as they have been in the past, speeded up. I think they are not quite synchronized with the Audio, but it's hard to tell. So, Virtualdub has been helpful lightening the pictures, but the big question still remains of how to have them play within my slideshow at a normal speed Use MediaInfo to check the frame rate of the final AVI file you used as an input to dvdslideshow. Is it really 29.97 fps? Regarding audio sync, MOV files can be very difficult to handle under Windows. Audio sync problems are common. You can delay or advance the audio in VirtualDub using the Audio Skew function. But you should worry about that later.

rosmari posted 2009 Nov 08 21:49

God, this IS complicated. I am leaving tomorrow for an extended trip; I'll be back for about ten days in December, and then will again be away through the Holidays. I absolutely intend to get it right and hope that you'll be able to help me if and as needed, when I'm back. Meanwhile, thank you so very much for your great patience.

Bjs posted 2009 Nov 12 04:54

To be honest ... jagabo should not have told you to change the frame rate using vitualdub ... this is incorrect. As the frame rate is going to almost be doubled many software applications fail to do this correctly ... ulead videostudio 8 or higher dose a pretty good job at this and is still my preferred method for fps conversions. Mov to avi Free MOV 2 AVI ... works ... but still video is stutterish using a 10 second sample with 15fps Super ... well same results and didn't look as clean going directly to mpeg2 conversion Dvdflick ... all in one program with similar results thou video did look much cleaner ... if you don't have a lot then I'd say go this way because it's free

jagabo posted 2009 Nov 12 07:40

Bjs : To be honest ... jagabo should not have told you to change the frame rate using vitualdub ... this is incorrect. I'm not sure why you say this. They symptom she described indicated the slideshow software was playing the 15 fps video at 30 fps. Since she was already using VirtualDub for filtering changing the frame rate is a trivial addition. VirtualDub will duplicate each frame and set the frame rate to 30 fps in the output file. The audio will not go out of sync. Pretty much the same thing the programs you listed will do. It looks to me like rosmari's biggest problem is she keeps forgetting steps while setting up VirtualDub and using settings specific to a particular source file with a different source file.

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