Acoustica User Forums

I have a computer that I got from walmart and it glitches under certain conditions while editing video. The video that I just got done with is in avi format. My next one will be in wmv to see if that helps with the glitches. Can anyone help me so maybe I can save some time? I have 8 gigs of RAM but it doesn't have an ad on video card. If I ad on, what would you recommend that is inexpensive? I work for a poor school district.

Hi,

AVI is generally uncompressed, so the file size is enormous. WMV is compressed. Give it a try, it might be easier to work with.

Greg

Acoustica Greg wrote:AVI is generally uncompressed (...). WMV is compressed.

Unfortunately I have to kindly disagree. AVI is a container format, containing audio and video streams. In so far it basically does not differ from WMV. It is a matter of the used CODEC (COde / DECode) software how it is compressed. There is no obvious way to determine from outside, what is inside the container. This is why sometimes a video stream cannot be deciphered, if it was rendered with a codec that is not installed on the PC used for display.Typically happens on downloads.

From my past experience with Adobe products I know that highly compressed video files such as MPG-4, as it may appear in a WMV easily, can lead to synchronization problems during video editing, which is why they are not liked too much. Also, these are lossy. You do not want data loss even before you are rendering.

If an older PC leads to problems during editing, that stem from pure data throughput, it is true that a compressed file may alleviate this. However, upon final rendering this is of no consequence anyway.

A possible solution would be to use AVI with a lossless codec like HuffYUV. That´s easy on both CPU und HD.

As mentioned, the glitching is of no consequence to rendering (which happens in non-realtime), so you are absolutely OK to ignore it.

Although you appear to have a fairly young PC (64 bit I presume), your on-board graphics might be a bit overwhelmed, although it may be the HD that chokes. I did all of my video work with a cheapo passively cooled graphics card that was very inexpensive.

The final video format and container format you decide upon, is a different bag of beans. If you upload to Youtube for example, it gets converted anyway.

-h

Hi,

Let's just say that if you generate an AVI file from Mixcraft, it will be uncompressed and very large. If you wanted to upload to YouTube, you'd save time with WMV files.

Greg

Ah, if Mixcraft creates the file that way, thats so.
-h

ggman wrote:If I ad on, what would you recommend that is inexpensive?

You can get a great deal on a used NVIDIA card from EBAY.

It might just be me but I believe the audio sounds better on videos done in the AVI format. -h

You can also render in .avi and then use any video converter to convert your file into a format that suits you.
It always depends what you want to do with it later.

Ideally, Mixcraft should give you an option, because not only the output formats are very limited, but also the input formats.
There is room for improvement, folks.

-helmut

Mixcraft 8 appears poised to bring us MPEG4 integration, which appears to be a fairly popular format.

As to the performance problem described, time will tell. I haven't used the video features much in 7, but attempting to use them in 6 led me to think editing in a dedicated video program was a better plan, then import and create/edit a soundtrack in Mixcraft. Perhaps the newer versions of Mixcraft are/will be improved enough in the video department to change that.

Mark Bliss wrote:Mixcraft 8 appears poised to bring us MPEG4 integration, which appears to be a fairly popular format.

As to the performance problem described, time will tell. I haven't used the video features much in 7, but attempting to use them in 6 led me to think editing in a dedicated video program was a better plan, then import and create/edit a soundtrack in Mixcraft. Perhaps the newer versions of Mixcraft are/will be improved enough in the video department to change that.

It's definitely a step in the right direction, especially for creating a music video for existing audio. I do think, though, that mixcraft is not a DAW to use for creating backing audio for a video if you do not yet know what tempo to use or if you're trying to spot the video for event markers (think of cartoons - the music lines up with every little movement, and someone had to spot each action so a tempo could be established). I love mixcraft to death, but when it comes to scoring video, it's better to look elsewhere for now.

The video feature in Mixcraft can be actually quite handy for stitching together little party videos and the like. It was so simple that I was already on my way with my first video before I kind of fully realized that I was making a video that could be posted to YouTube. Didn't know that you could do edits, add text, etc.

The stumbling block for me with Mixcraft is that for AVI's and WMV, the files that Mixcraft renders are HUMONGOUS compared to the source files I use, like 10X the size in some cases, even just going from AVI to AVI. I don't know why this is or would be, but it has rendered (pun intended) Mixcraft much less useful for video tasks. I need to try the new rendering to MP4 to see if it is an improvement at all.

I haven't performed any video editing for some time, so I'm working from memory here, but I've always found that the popular Xvid codec within the AVI wrapper works well. Having never used Mixcraft for video editing, I don't know whether the Xvid codec is available by default.

If you don't mind experiencing a somewhat steep learning curve, I suggest you try using the free standalone (it doesn't require installation) 'VirtualDub' as a post-editor, ie. to finalise what you've already done with Mixcraft - a bit like mastering audio after the mix - but only if you think it needs it. It downloads in a compressed archive that can be dragged and decompressed into a folder on your desktop. This software is particularly useful if you need to correct video or audio issues such as synchronisation, loudness, brightness, etc. and it will also allow you to save without having to re-render (called 'Direct Stream Copy'), thereby avoiding further loss of quality, but this method keeps the file the same size as the original. It also sets everything up nicely for a quality upload to YouTube. There are forums on the internet with advice and tips with regard to VirtualDub. Note: By default, VirtualDub only accepts AVI as a source format. It can be made to take others, including lossless, but for this it requires particular plugins to be loaded - but that's another headache.

I usually save my work with my primary video editor (in your case, Mixcraft) using a high bitrate of around 1500kbps or so in order to maximise quality, and then save to the AVI wrapper. How high the bitrate can easily go depends on the specification of your computer - the higher the number, the longer it takes to render. I then load the file (by dragging it) into VirtualDub in order to correct any sync or other issues, and then render it with the Xvid codec to a lower, more convenient bitrate and save it to the AVI wrapper.

VirtualDub can be quite overwhelming and frustrating at first, but with experimentation it gets easier. I wish there was alternative inexpensive or free software that was easier to use in order to perform these post-editing functions, but as of yet I don't know of any. I would also suggest that you install the latest version of K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, which will provide a good choice of updated codecs to use.

VirtualDub: http://www.virtualdub.org/

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (the download link is at the bottom of the page): http://www.codecguide.com/about_mega.htm

I have used Avery Lee's VitrualDub almost since it's conception and has often proved to be as good as any commercial & expensive video converter, plus it's does much more then simply compress & convert, but is not the easiest to use.

For today's trend of video and social media, (YouTube etc.) there is an able and effective alternative in Handbrake.
Very easy to use and will produce quality video conversion for all modern formats, at an impressive speed too. Best of all like VD it's completely free, both in monetary terms and ads.

https://handbrake.fr/