potwnc
-
Posts
488 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by potwnc
-
-
In the meantime, I uploaded my first slideshow project, the one I want to burn in Blu-ray disc.
Jose,
Can you send me the url from where I can download your project?
-
I will answer these questions - and those from the related post on the Video output board - in the next 1-2 days.
Bottom line is yes PTE can produce excellent, professional quality BDs.
-
Both variants (old and new) use 5 mbit bitrate for video clips. HD ready quality 1280x720 30p. We didn't finish work to find optimal bitrate and parameters of compression yet.
One of current tasks is to reach best smoothness of video playback. We already can support 60p video and interlaced video with good de-interlacing.
Igor,
I understand why WnSoft will need to choose the "bitrate" inside the PTE program code when the output is a .exe file. But what if the output is video? If I have very high quality (= high bitrate) video I would want to be able to choose my own bitrate for the video output so I don't loose quality - or at least frameserve with the PTE codec without loss of quality.
I also understand why you have to de-interlace for .exe output but, again, for video output the user may want to preserve the interlaced source.
Will version 7 provide these options for video output?
-
PicturesToExe almost never exceds 2 GB limit of system memory. Even for very hard slides memory usage is about 400-700 MB.
For encoding video we run two processes (PicturesToExe and VideoBuilder) and both can use 2Gb+2GB of memory.
Igor, my main concern is that the 64-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro cannot open the avi file produced by 32-bit PTE - which for me means I can't have a 64-bit workflow and I have to use the slower 32-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro. All the other software I use now has a 64-bit version except PTE.
-
John,
Copying the files to the 64-bit directory will make no difference. PTE is a 32-bit application whether you run it on a 64-bit or a 32-bit version of Windows.
Barry,
See the discussion at http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12402&st=20. There are many reasons to have a native 64-bit version of PTE. My own personal reason is because it will make rendering HD video much easier and faster. But even for .exe files if the .exe is very large it will not run smoothly as a 32-bit application even on a very powerful PC.
-
I think this is a good argument for a 64-bit version of PTE. Today the .AVI that PTE outputs with the PTE codec cannot be read by the 64-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro that I use (version 8.1, but I'm sure the same will be true of the latest version, 10). So I have to use the 32-bit version which cannot see 6GB (I'm sure you meant GB and not MB) of RAM - only 2GB. That makes AVC encoding even slower!
Ray
I can now confirm that the 64-bit version 10 also does not see the .avi files created with the PTE codec.
-
Here's a lengthy article with more information than probably anyone needs: http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/x264_options_page1.html.
The explanation, as Lin said, lies in the compression "smarts" of the H.264 encoder. "The calculation of video file size should then be: (no. of bytes per frame x frames per second x seconds duration)" is only true of raw, uncompressed video, which produces file sizes so large it is effectively impractical except for very short durations. One reason why H.264 is so popular is because it is very "smart" when calculating how to encode/compress and store the information required to move from one frame to the next. Generally, the greater the actual pixel difference between the two frames the larger the data required to encode/compress that information.
-
Jose,
There is an appendix about HD production in the unofficial PTE user guide. The step you are missing is the step to author the actual Blu-ray conent (this is the equivalent step where you use XILISOFT AVI TO DVD CONVERTER for DVD content authoring). I use Sony Vegas Pro, which is one of the more expensive programs. There are many consumer level (cheaper) programs that can do this, such as Pinnacle Studio, and I believe there are some free ones (I haven't tried any of them). If you search Google you will find many programs to do this step.
The Blu-ray standard is something that is still evolving, but basically BDAV is a simpler format, whereas BDMV is the format for modern, professionally authored content. If your software allows you to choose then go with BDMV.
-
By experience, AVCHD video editing requires very powerful PC configuration (quad core processors and more than 6Mbytes RAM).
I think this is a good argument for a 64-bit version of PTE. Today the .AVI that PTE outputs with the PTE codec cannot be read by the 64-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro that I use (version 8.1, but I'm sure the same will be true of the latest version, 10). So I have to use the 32-bit version which cannot see 6GB (I'm sure you meant GB and not MB) of RAM - only 2GB. That makes AVC encoding even slower!
Ray
-
When it comes to importing video I wonder how anyone feels about the following issue that it will inevitably introduce.
If I have a current PTE project I can set the frame rate of rendered video to anything I want: 25fps for most of the world, 29.97 for NTSC countries, 24p for Blu-ray etc. But when I (or someone else) shoot the video I intend to import I can only shoot at a pre-determined rate. So if I import, say, 30fps video that a friend in, say, Canada shot (being from Canada it is likely to be 30fps) but I want to render out my final video at, say, 25fps because I live in Europe, how should PTE handle the conversion? It may sound simple but when you add in factors like interlaced imported video to progressive final video output etc. it becomes complicated. This is an issue that the digital video industry at large has to deal with and there is no one solution. What do we want PTE to support in these scenarios?
-
Hans,
I don't use VideoBuilder so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. I'm sure there are others on the forum who can.
-
My animated flowing Mekong river example is here.
-
I used the map route technique to "animate" the Mekong river flowing through a map of Southeast Asia. I can post a PTE project demonstrating this if anyone is interested.
-
Igor,
Did the DVD arrive yet? The executable is far too big to send or upload - around 10GB!
Ray
-
Lin,
I just wanted to add my own thoughts to this thread. Although I only know you from this forum, it is known to us all here that you are the kind of person who makes us realize what is important in this world in life - and, now, in death also.
I hope your memories of Sherry will help comfort you through this time of loss.
Ray
-
Peter,
All points well taken and no disagreement. I also use PTE for projects other than full-length documentaries and my workflow is different for those projects than how it ended up for this project.
What I'm proposing is definitely not along the lines of "for this kind of transition you should use a 2-second circle fade from the center" since that is always a matter of artistic preference. Most of it would be specific to large and long (let's say over 30 minutes) projects intended only for video output and with a vocal/narration track (with or without music). But lot's of it would apply to any large project where video output is the inention - especially HD video output.
So far there hasn't been lots of interest shown so I'll continue to monitor this thread and decide later in the year whether I want to spend the time to write it.
In the meantime if anyone has any specific questions about this are of PTE/video production I'm always happy to try to answer.
Ray
-
Some of you probably already know that I just finished producing (and my foundation just released on DVD and Blu-ray disc) a full-length documentary (details are at www.peoplesoftheworld.org/sea).
As you might imagine I learned many lessons about using PTE for video output, and video production in general, from completing this project. The post-production took me about 3 years to complete.
If there is enough interest on the forum I am willing to write about these "lessons learned" for the benefit of others who might be interested in using PTE for a large project with professional-quality video output. It would not be a tutorial; it would be an essay on my personal insights into how to plan your workflow and your technology platform. And it would be toward the end oif this year before I could find the time to finish it.
Let me know.
Ray
-
Igor,
I will send the DVD to you in the next few days.
Ray
-
Daniel,
I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to DVD or Blu-ray disc here? I don't know what a "Blu-ray DVD" is.
-
The documentary is now generally available. The original announcement has been updated.
Igor, please contact me via the forum if you would like me to send you a copy on DVD.
Ray
-
Daniel,
I don't use the deluxe version of PTE because the mp4 files that it outputs cannot be read by my Blu-ray authoring software, Sony Vegas Pro.
-
Daniel,
What you describe is correct, but the Blu-ray format is also capable of supporting 25 and 29.97 progressive fps - even though most commercial Blu-ray movies are stored on Blu-ray at 23.976 progressive fps.
I think that if PTE does not support 1920x1080 video at 25 or 29.97 progressive fps then the "Interlaced video" checkbox should be disabled for these fps rates - otherwise the user is led to believe they will get progressive video output if they leave that box unchecked.
-
"... I cannot create output other than an EXE with this version..."
Actually you can. One of the standard options is to create an AVI (video) file. Depending on what other software you have on your PC there are all kinds of things that you can then do with that AVI video, including putting it on a web site, converting it to flash, burning it to DVD etc.
Ray
-
I've only tested this (but exhaustively) with 5.6.4 and 6.0, so maybe 6.5 will fix this.
When creating AVI Video Output at 1920x1080 with the PTE codec I have noticed consistently that a setting of 29.97 fps (NTSC - I haven't yet tested 25fps, PAL) is always rendered interlaced even if I leave the "interlaced" box unchecked. The same PTE project rendered at 23.976 fps (FILM) (and without exiting PTE in between) is always rendered progressive when I leave the "interlaced" box unchecked.
This is not a problem for me because 1920x1080x24p is exactly what I want anyway to burn to Blu-ray disc.
To those who have already burned to Blu-ray using PTE, did you also notice this? And if you didn't burn at 23.976 fps how did you get around it if you wanted the burned disc to be progressive?
Ray
Create Blu Ray Disc
in General Discussion
Posted
Powelly,
See my recent post in the main PTE forum. I will try to answer your questions soon. It would help me if you could upload your PTE project to a server that I can download it from and it would help me to know which country you are in.