Some issues with Connect HD at DVinfo.net

Tim Ashbrooke · January 9th, 2005, 07:00 AM

I have just purchased Connect HD v1.5.2 for Vegas 5 via the Sony website.
I fired it up today to capture some footage I'd taken on the weekend.
Well, what a surprise I got! I captured the tape using defaults, which includes scene detection. It whirred away, but I noticed it was creating a LOT of clips, some only 8MB in size?! The scenes on the tape totalled about 15, but CHD had created 65 clips in varying sizes, some only lasting a second!
When I view the clips in Vegas, they were HORRIBLE! - pixellation galore and jerky motion! I deleted all the clips, disabled scene detection and tried again.....no pixellation this time but didn't seem to capture the whole tape, seemed to miss the last 10 mins???
The captured audio sounds a bit funny.... has that "low sample rate" sound about it in the background noise.
I have also noticed a blue line on the right-hand side of the frame, and a yellow line on the left-hand side of the frame. Both are vertical lines and aren't very wide, but noticeable.

What is going on here???? Anyone else in the same boat??

Cheers
Tim

David Newman · January 9th, 2005, 11:24 AM

Sounds like MPEG errors were producting false scene breaks. You can verify your cabling, by capturing to M2T files first without the auto-conversion. See if those files play with MPEG errors (if they do have erorrs, something is wrong between the camera and FireWire port.) If they look correct perform a manual conversion using the convert tab with HDLink. Confirm how they look. If the problem continues tech support will need to get involved.

Steve Crisdale · January 9th, 2005, 02:51 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by David Newman : Sounds like MPEG errors were producting false scene breaks. You can verify your cabling, by capturing to M2T files first without the auto-conversion. See if those files play with MPEG errors (if they do have erorrs, something is wrong between the camera and FireWire port.) If they look correct perform a manual conversion using the convert tab with HDLink. Confirm how they look. If the problem continues tech support will need to get involved. -->>>

Sounds more like Tim has been looking at the Vegas 5 preview to evaluate his clips.... Am I right?

Also sounds like he has that preview set to (quality wise for preview speed) 'Low - Auto', which displays bars on either side of the video and appears to have lots of artifacts. Just select a higher quality preview mode and you'll see the difference. N.B. The higher you go in quality the slower scrubbing, playback and zooming of the timeline become.

Use the 'Best - None' preview mode for making frame grabs of exactly where the play-bar is on a clip, via either the 'copy to pasteboard' command icon or 'copy to disk' icon.

If this doesn't help then you have got problems!!

Tim Ashbrooke · January 9th, 2005, 04:08 PM

Thanks for the replies guys.

David - I will do the m2t capture thru HD Link first, which I know works well with no errors (perceivable anyway) using CapDVHS, then convert to CFHD avi. I'll let you know how it goes.

Steve - You're right! I was using Preview-Auto to preview the footage in Vegas, but I also checked it on Best-Auto as well and the pixellization was still there, only clearer ;-)

Tim Ashbrooke · January 10th, 2005, 06:16 AM

UPDATE

I have captured to m2t using HDLink. The footage was all there- no missing bits!
I then captured to CFHD avi no probs and resulting picture was perfect, EXCEPT for the vertical line down the right hand side of the frame. It appears to be the opposite colour of what it's sitting on top of. ie. if its a landscape, the line is a pinky red on the blue sky bit and a different colour for the rest. I can send frame grabs if you like - just tell me where.

What does this say about the direct capture to avi files? buggy? should I take this up with Cineform support?

cheers
Tim

Steve Crisdale · January 10th, 2005, 06:33 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Tim Ashbrooke :
Steve - You're right! I was using Preview-Auto to preview the footage in Vegas, but I also checked it on Best-Auto as well and the pixellization was still there, only clearer ;-) -->>>

Don't forget that the preview has to be built from the full HDV resolution. Now I'm assuming your preview window is quite smallish - like mine is, compared to full screen. Kinda postage stamp size compared to what the full screen could show.

Simplistically put; the software has to downsample all that data, and then present it to the video card for display, and of course there's more than can be displayed in that size image, so artifacting occurs when a display pixel is forced to display nearby changes in a preview image, that would appear smooth and un-pixellated at full-screen.

Until you play back your edit at full-screen (not just large window) any HDV playback will display artifacting because of this technological restriction. It's one reason I read some reviews of HDV quality based on viewing on a computer screen with a grain of salt. Crikey!! There's probably even people who haven't set their monitor resolutions to at least 1280x1024 who are criticising HDV.... After seeing some set-ups still running at 800x600, I wouldn't be surprised.

It may seem an act of faith; but believe me if the cam and firewire connection are working correctly, and you edit your clips in Vegas the way you want - using preview only as a guide for positioning cuts, rough timing of transitions and general 'feel', you should be pleasantly surprised when you playback the rendered product full-screen in a quality player like VLC.

BTW, when playing back full-screen, make sure there's nothing else running - no other appz, like defrag, anti-virus etc, etc - as these can cause 'hiccups' in playback smoothness....

Tim Ashbrooke · January 10th, 2005, 08:13 PM

Hi Steve

It's not a vegas preview problem. This pixellization was also present using VLC and windows media player. After I disabled the scene detection all was fine. It was only happening when I was capturing straight to CFHD avi files using scene detection.
I have the vegas preview window set to half the HDV frame size which gives me a good preview frame rate (I have dual monitors).
I am only getting the best results capturing the HDV as m2t files, then encoding to CFHD avi.

Anyone else have the line at the edge of the frame? Not capturing the whole tape, or the sections you want to capture????

cheers
Tim

John Lorince · January 16th, 2005, 11:39 AM

Hey guys !

What program is VLC?

Dylan Pank · January 16th, 2005, 01:40 PM

It's a media player for mpeg 1/2/4 files and streams - www.videolan.org

January 9th, 2005, 07:00 AM	#1
Tim Ashbrooke Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Grafton, NSW, Australia Posts: 38	Some issues with Connect HD I have just purchased Connect HD v1.5.2 for Vegas 5 via the Sony website. I fired it up today to capture some footage I'd taken on the weekend. Well, what a surprise I got! I captured the tape using defaults, which includes scene detection. It whirred away, but I noticed it was creating a LOT of clips, some only 8MB in size?! The scenes on the tape totalled about 15, but CHD had created 65 clips in varying sizes, some only lasting a second! When I view the clips in Vegas, they were HORRIBLE! - pixellation galore and jerky motion! I deleted all the clips, disabled scene detection and tried again.....no pixellation this time but didn't seem to capture the whole tape, seemed to miss the last 10 mins??? The captured audio sounds a bit funny.... has that "low sample rate" sound about it in the background noise. I have also noticed a blue line on the right-hand side of the frame, and a yellow line on the left-hand side of the frame. Both are vertical lines and aren't very wide, but noticeable. What is going on here???? Anyone else in the same boat?? Cheers Tim

January 9th, 2005, 11:24 AM	#2
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Sounds like MPEG errors were producting false scene breaks. You can verify your cabling, by capturing to M2T files first without the auto-conversion. See if those files play with MPEG errors (if they do have erorrs, something is wrong between the camera and FireWire port.) If they look correct perform a manual conversion using the convert tab with HDLink. Confirm how they look. If the problem continues tech support will need to get involved. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

January 16th, 2005, 11:39 AM	#8
John Lorince Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Northeast Ohio Posts: 75	VLC? Hey guys ! What program is VLC? __________________ John Lorince Http://capturemotion.tv

January 9th, 2005, 02:51 PM	#3
Steve Crisdale Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Katoomba NSW Australia Posts: 635	<<<-- Originally posted by David Newman : Sounds like MPEG errors were producting false scene breaks. You can verify your cabling, by capturing to M2T files first without the auto-conversion. See if those files play with MPEG errors (if they do have erorrs, something is wrong between the camera and FireWire port.) If they look correct perform a manual conversion using the convert tab with HDLink. Confirm how they look. If the problem continues tech support will need to get involved. -->>> Sounds more like Tim has been looking at the Vegas 5 preview to evaluate his clips.... Am I right? Also sounds like he has that preview set to (quality wise for preview speed) 'Low - Auto', which displays bars on either side of the video and appears to have lots of artifacts. Just select a higher quality preview mode and you'll see the difference. N.B. The higher you go in quality the slower scrubbing, playback and zooming of the timeline become. Use the 'Best - None' preview mode for making frame grabs of exactly where the play-bar is on a clip, via either the 'copy to pasteboard' command icon or 'copy to disk' icon. If this doesn't help then you have got problems!!

January 9th, 2005, 04:08 PM	#4
Tim Ashbrooke Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Grafton, NSW, Australia Posts: 38	Thanks for the replies guys. David - I will do the m2t capture thru HD Link first, which I know works well with no errors (perceivable anyway) using CapDVHS, then convert to CFHD avi. I'll let you know how it goes. Steve - You're right! I was using Preview-Auto to preview the footage in Vegas, but I also checked it on Best-Auto as well and the pixellization was still there, only clearer ;-)

January 10th, 2005, 06:16 AM	#5
Tim Ashbrooke Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Grafton, NSW, Australia Posts: 38	UPDATE I have captured to m2t using HDLink. The footage was all there- no missing bits! I then captured to CFHD avi no probs and resulting picture was perfect, EXCEPT for the vertical line down the right hand side of the frame. It appears to be the opposite colour of what it's sitting on top of. ie. if its a landscape, the line is a pinky red on the blue sky bit and a different colour for the rest. I can send frame grabs if you like - just tell me where. What does this say about the direct capture to avi files? buggy? should I take this up with Cineform support? cheers Tim

January 10th, 2005, 06:33 AM	#6
Steve Crisdale Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Katoomba NSW Australia Posts: 635	<<<-- Originally posted by Tim Ashbrooke : Steve - You're right! I was using Preview-Auto to preview the footage in Vegas, but I also checked it on Best-Auto as well and the pixellization was still there, only clearer ;-) -->>> Don't forget that the preview has to be built from the full HDV resolution. Now I'm assuming your preview window is quite smallish - like mine is, compared to full screen. Kinda postage stamp size compared to what the full screen could show. Simplistically put; the software has to downsample all that data, and then present it to the video card for display, and of course there's more than can be displayed in that size image, so artifacting occurs when a display pixel is forced to display nearby changes in a preview image, that would appear smooth and un-pixellated at full-screen. Until you play back your edit at full-screen (not just large window) any HDV playback will display artifacting because of this technological restriction. It's one reason I read some reviews of HDV quality based on viewing on a computer screen with a grain of salt. Crikey!! There's probably even people who haven't set their monitor resolutions to at least 1280x1024 who are criticising HDV.... After seeing some set-ups still running at 800x600, I wouldn't be surprised. It may seem an act of faith; but believe me if the cam and firewire connection are working correctly, and you edit your clips in Vegas the way you want - using preview only as a guide for positioning cuts, rough timing of transitions and general 'feel', you should be pleasantly surprised when you playback the rendered product full-screen in a quality player like VLC. BTW, when playing back full-screen, make sure there's nothing else running - no other appz, like defrag, anti-virus etc, etc - as these can cause 'hiccups' in playback smoothness....

January 10th, 2005, 08:13 PM	#7
Tim Ashbrooke Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Grafton, NSW, Australia Posts: 38	Hi Steve It's not a vegas preview problem. This pixellization was also present using VLC and windows media player. After I disabled the scene detection all was fine. It was only happening when I was capturing straight to CFHD avi files using scene detection. I have the vegas preview window set to half the HDV frame size which gives me a good preview frame rate (I have dual monitors). I am only getting the best results capturing the HDV as m2t files, then encoding to CFHD avi. Anyone else have the line at the edge of the frame? Not capturing the whole tape, or the sections you want to capture???? cheers Tim

January 16th, 2005, 01:40 PM	#9
Dylan Pank Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 611	It's a media player for mpeg 1/2/4 files and streams - www.videolan.org