Configuring VideoStudio for Marvel

[RonM]

I have had a Marvel 400 for a few months now, but am only now trying to start video editing.

Having discovered that Avid had been discontinued, I decided it was not worth my while to master a program that would not be around in the future, so I got a copy of Video Studio 4 to use instead.

Unfortunately . . . while the bundled Avid was preconfigured for the Matrox 400, Video Studio has templates, global setting, etc., which must be set to work with the capture card. Some of these settings I understand, but not all of them, and I must be missing something, because my captures are low quality, frames are dropped, and sound is not being captured at all, or so faintly as to be inaudible.

I edited the ulead32.ini file as recommended on the Ulead web site.

My system is a Pentium III 650 on a BX chip motherboard, 256 meg of memory, Win98SE, IBM new 45 gig Ultra-ATA hard drive (with the swap file on an older 9 gig drive).

Can anyone point me at a reference explaining how to best configure Ulead Videostudio 4 to work with the Marvel 400, or else help me through the configuration process?

[Patrick]

Which drive are your applications and OS on?

[RonM]

The OS and programs are on the capture drive.

While I recognize that this is not the ideal arrangement, I don't think it accounts for my immediate problem. This is because
a) I tried capturing in AVID Cinema a couple times before switching to Ulead, and I was able to capture video without the problems I am experiencing with VideoStudio. Everything else, including the capture drive, was the same.
b) I haven't been trying to do anything substantial in VideoStudio - I have tried only 10 second captures in order to see if I have it configured correctly. I have 256 meg of memory, only about 60 meg of which is busy with other things, so it would seem to me I ought to have plenty of cache memory to absorb the entire 10 second capture, which would make disk access unimportant, wouldn't it?

[Patrick]

Not having a Marvel or VideoStudio I can't be too specific, but I feel your pain. (I use a Mill2/RR-S with MediaStudio Pro5.2.)

In regards to your audio problem, there used to be all kinds of complaints here about audio levels and the BOB. I believe one solution was to bypass the audio connections on the BOB and connect directly to the sound card instead. Also open your audio mixer panel and make sure it is configured to record from whichever input you've selected and that the levels are turned up.

Make sure whatever mode (Preview?) you use to play back your footage is configured the same way as your capture settings are. Things such as frame order (B for the Marvel), frames per second (usually 29.97 on our side of the pond), frame size (usually 704x480), compression schemes for both video (Matrox Mjpeg) and audio (PCM), etc.

Try that and see if it helps. In MediaStudio Pro there's also a bunch of settings under File > Preferences, but VideoStudio may be different. Weekends are quiet here on the forum, but there's a ton of information to be found here if you use the Search function. Let us know how you make out.

By the way, what's your capture quality like if you use the Matrox PC-VCR Remote? This might indicate whether you're having a hardware or a software problem.

[RonM]

The VCR captures in a lower resolution than I was trying to do with Ulead; however, it works pretty well. I dropped one frame in a 22 second capture, and the sound was fine.

So I think the problem is in software rather than my hardware.

[RonM]

Rereading your post, I did manage to figure out one problem. I found two different places in the software where audio capture settings had to be set, and they were not set the same. Fixing that solved the audio problem.

The short video capture I created looked pretty grainy, especially when I played it back full screen, and this was capturing t 704x480 @ 29.97 frames/sec., so I think there is a good chance I still have some setting messed up.

Incidently, I did not skip a frame in a 20 second capture, so perhaps my frame skipping had something to do with the messed up setting!

[Patrick]

It's good that the audio appears to be working now, but obviously something's still not right. There's no reason why Matrox PC-VCR Remote cannot capture video that's as high resolution as video captured using VideoStudio. Did you run Matrox HD Benchmark? What were the results?

[RonM]

The reason PC-VCR was capturing only in lower resolution was that I had not found the menu that permits you to change it to a higher resolution capture.

Do I understand correctly that one could capture in PC-VCR and then edit in VideoStudio, if there was some problem capturing in VideoStudio?

[Patrick]

No, I'm NOT suggesting that at all. I'm trying to determine whether this is a hardware or software problem. If you can capture and play back high resolution video with Matrox PC-VCR Remote, then you can rule out hardware problems.

You never addressed my questions about the Matrox HD Benchmark results. There's a reason why that test MUST be run.

[RonM]

Ok. 12.99 mb/sec, which is no problem, as I said earlier.

[Marijn]

RonM,

it is possible to import avi-files into VS4. There is only one small point though, you cannot set the frame capture rate to an exact number. PC-VCR just records as the frames as they come in. With my camera, this hardly ever (read never) is exactly 25fps. Every file you record will have it's own fps. A transition between two of these files will be very jumpy. With the capture options of VS4 you are able to lock the number of fps to an exact number (like 25fps). But recordign with VS4 works for me like recording with MSP, no special settings. Maybe you want to download the MSP trial and see if you can get that to work.

You may also want to search through the forum on ' ulead32.ini '. You will find many 'hidden' settings on MSP, although I don't know if they work for VS4 (I don't use it that often).

Marijn

[RonM]

I want to thank folks for their help. I think I have finally gotten to the bottom of this problem.

There are various menus and submenus in Video Studio where configuration information must be set. In this regard, it is not very user friendly, unless you are both well-versed in the technology and patient in exploring the menus and submenus. The VS4 manual, btw, is too sketchy to be much help.

Some of my configuration errors I discovered in investigating queries in this thread. Ulead tech support just sent me a brief email, which did contain enough information for me to track down my remaining error.

For the benefit of anyone else who happens across this thread, I include the text of that email below:

"If you want to using G400,I would suggest you try to chnage your capture plug-in to VFW capture plug-in,because G400 is a Motion Jpeg capture device,that is mean it is a AVI base capture device,also please in capture step click video menu button\video format\select Matrox codec."