Musicvid

Thanks - but as I see it you have to do that every time you open a file - and I have over 40 000. I used to be able to just click on the file and it would open correctly. Hence my assumption I have accidentally changed a setting.

So I am afraid this isn't the answer I was looking for.

In the old days we had to match Media settings once for every project.

I didn't know if the auto match project feature was present in MSP12, thus the conservative advice. Thank you for recognizing it as such.

As for doing something every time you open a file, -- then are you reporting the metadata in 40,000 files as all wrong?? Check your media properties, and if that is the unlikely case, then check in "nicely" over at the Scripting forum and see what's about.

Whenever I open a WMV file by clicking on it in Windows Explorer it opens with Movie Studio in the "default" format (800x448 pixels at 15 fps) , but if I click on the clip and check its properties, they are the smae as those given by Windows.(say 640x360 pixels at 30 fps).

I don't get this: Why do you open a file by clicking on it in Windows explorer for opening in Movie Studio.
When I don't use Project Media I open it in Movie Studio by selecting it in the Movie Studio explorer and drag it to the timeline.

I am confused, are you wanting the Project settings to match the file or do you want the files to match the project settings? You can only have one project setting at a time so if you have 40,000 different file resolutions, you have to trade off somewhere.

I believe the original question is solved with Match Media Settings, once per project.

I also believe OP is engaging in a good deal of hyperbole that is counterproductive.

I don't get this: Why do you open a file by clicking on it in Windows explorer for opening in Movie Studio.
When I don't use Project Media I open it in Movie Studio by selecting it in the Movie Studio explorer and drag it to the timeline.

I am confused, are you wanting the Project settings to match the file or do you want the files to match the project settings? You can only have one project setting at a time so if you have 40,000 different file resolutions, you have to trade off somewhere.

Sorry, I obviously need to elaborate - I was trying to keep it simple, but clearly that back-fired.

I am using 4 webcams attached to different laptops so that I can record activity in bird nests 24x7 x365. I record in approx 8-12 hour segments (files). The reason for the different templates is that the laptops only last 1-2 years before being hit by lightning, hence I buy the cheapest possible - and that limits the resolution and frame rate.

I open each of these large WMV files using the appropriate template for each webcam in Movie Maker and mark the small segments where there is activity and render them into separate WMV files at exactly the same resolution (so there is minimal quality degradation). In case it is relevant, I also rotate the original files by 180 degrees (for practical reasons the webcams are easier to mount upside-down) and  adjust light levels and contrast in early morning and late afternoon or when light levels need correcting for specific clips. So now I have lots of small WMV files.

I also do the same (except without rotation) from 2 camcorders which run in 1960x10870 at 50 fps in M2TS format and are processed the same way (except I don't have to rotate them).

Because outside of the breeding season I only find 1 clip per 10 files, I do not keep the original files, so none of the resultant WMV or M2TS files have any associated project files. Space is also a consideration as I already have filled 2 8TB drives with clips. So the only project files I have are the templates which are blank but have the appropriate resolution and metadata (e.g. copyright).

When I review clips, I often need to view them frame by frame and/or extract frames as JPG files for illustrations. Because I have Movie Maker, it is obviously easier to use the software I am used to, so I have set Movie Maker as the default for M2TS and WMV files.

That's the background.  The problem occurred when I set up my latest PC earlier this year (lightning killed its predecessor), I thought I had loaded everything I needed and set it up as before.  Everything else is working fine - but not this aspect of Movie Maker.

Now comes the crux of the problem. I used to be a very experienced PC user (having worked on PC's since before IBM released its first "PC" in 1980, including assorted programming) but a few years ago my health deteriorated rapidly and I was recently diagnosed with progressive selective dementia. So it now appears I must have forgotten a key step in the reinstallation of Movie Maker, or (given your responses so far) lost an interface program.

So the sad truth is that I can't remember how I had previously resolved this issue but I am 100% certain I had it working before (I have been using Movie Maker for the last 5 years).  as mentioned originally, I was just assuming it was a simple Movie Maker switch.

But if I had written a small piece of code, there is no chance of me re-writing it in my current state, unless I can remember exactly how I did it. One clue is that I have always included the resolution and frame rate as part of the filename of every clip - so it I may have written a small program to open it with the correct template (which also include the resolution and frame rate in the filename).

I just can't remember how I did it last time. Just one of the joys of my dementia.

Any suggestions will be more than welcome,

Another possibility would be a suggestion of another way of viewing the files that allows frame by frame viewing and for frames to be extracted - which can read WMV files in very unusual resolutions and frame rates.

Amethystina

You are now talking about Movie maker, the Windows version.
That is totally different from Vegas Movie Studio 12 from your first questions.

But if you are mistaking and means the Vegas Movie studio 12, than to me the best way to work should be:

1. Decide from which laptop or camera you get the best result ( as template) for making your end-video and take that template to rerender all the parts from all the camera's and laptop you have used, make that a project properties template and use it for all you are going to do.
Or use the one that are the most video's from.

2. Say that template will be 800x450 pixels (widescreen) or 800x600 pixels ( standard old screens) or more or less, than make all your pieces of video from every camera or laptop that size of template to render those pieces to a wmv you will later on use for your end-movie.
You can do so for each template you got from your equipment and use the pan/crop and/or track motion options to let them all get your standard template size.

Pan/Crop

Track motion

3. Now you are able to use the made properies template for all the made short clips to finish your end-movie.

You are now talking about Movie maker, the Windows version.
That is totally different from Vegas Movie Studio 12 from your first questions.

But if you are mistaking and means the Vegas Movie studio 12, than to me the best way to work should be:

J-V

Sorry, I of course meant Sony Movie Studio 12.0 Platinum.

Your suggestions make perfect sense, but sadly Microsoft doesn't work that way.
I am using the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema as my webcam on the basis of its size and robustness (it survives most lightning strikes that kill my laptops and/or USB 3 cables). The downside is that one has NO control over what frame-rate it uses, you can only select the resolution. For each laptop, trial-and-error testing identifies the maximum resolution that can be used - it may apparently record at a higher resolution, but the output file has errors, so you have to find the largest size that has no errors. Often the results are apparently strange in that if it fails at 800x448 (MS selects a sped of 15 fps) it may succeed at 640x360 even though MS has selected a speed of 30 fps - which is a higher total pixel count per second (maybe the compression algorithm allows for a higher frame rate).

The end result is that my files have the following formats - the two marked with (*) comprise approx 70% of the total WMV files, but all files are of scientific significance:

WMV
--------
1280x720 @ 10 fps
1280x720 @ 15 fps
800x448 @ 30 fps
800x448 @ 15 fps (*)
640x360 @ 30 fps (*)
640x360 @ 15 fps
420x240 @ 30 fps
960x544 @ 15 fps

M2TS
---------
1920x1080 @ 50 fps
1920x1080 @ 25 fps

MPG
-------
720x576 @ 25 fps

For now, let us ignore the M2TS and MPG formats, because a solution to the WMV format can be expanded to the others, although I will need a separate routine due to the resolution differences.

The different fps rates are - in my opinion - the problem. If I work in 30 fps on a source file taken at 15 fps, Movie Studio interpolates the extra frames by combining the 2 frames on either side - making it blurry. So this would force me to got to 15 fps, but I would lose significant data due to the speed at which birds move. For obvious reasons I prefer the highest possible resolution as it allows me to identify the food items fed to nestlings more easily. However, the speed at which birds operate means that I cannot identify many items at the slower frame rate due to blurring. However, at a lower resolution with a higher fps, I get a sharper image, but with less detail. On balance, 800x448 @ 15 fps is fairly comparable to 640x360 @ 30 fps in terms of the number of food items I can identify - hence I don't force the resolution down to 640x360 when it can run at 800x448.

[Off-topic - Microsoft claims that the webcam can run 720p HD - but even on a PC with a top-end Intel i7K chip it doesn't - and I haven't seen anyone on the web able to achieve it either]

So your suggestion of "combining" files - as I understand it - would mean creating a new template for each of the above resolution and speed combinations, and ending up with all at 800x448 @ 30 fps. I would have to exclude the 1280x720 files because I would lose detail. I would have to use the pan/crop feature to retain each resolution as its original size or I would get blurring as it interpolates to the 800x448 aspect ratio.

At this moment, I haven't tried what you have suggested (I am busy on something else today), but I see 3 potential problems:

(1) Does the Movie Studio pan/crop feature allow you to retain EXACTLY the original resolution and aspect ratio? I assume yes, but I have never tried it before.

(2) How do I stop Movie Studio interpolating extra frames when the source is at 15 fps and the output is 30 fps?

(3) How do I automate the process? I assume Movie Studiohas a command line form, so I can create a DOS batch file with all the required filenames, but how would I automate the rendering so that it would write out to the correct filename (i.e of the input file, not the template (I can keep a copy, so it could overwrite the original input file). I obviously do not want to process 40 000 files manually.

As usual, any suggestions most welcome,

Amethystina

Match Media Settings is an icon at the top right corner of your Project Properties. Using that and honoring it in render may may solve most of your problems.

A modern webcam would also make your life easier.

(1) Does the Movie Studio pan/crop feature allow you to retain EXACTLY the original resolution and aspect ratio? I assume yes, but I have never tried it before.

No, thats why you have to choose 1 template to edit all your files in order to make a total project at least.
That will be this project I read with the following properties

You have to choose this project before beginning to edit and make al the edits fill the previewscreen of that type of project through pan/crop and/or trackmotion as first edits.

(2) How do I stop Movie Studio interpolating extra frames when the source is at 15 fps and the output is 30 fps?

By rightclicking on a selected videofile and choose the switch "Disable Resample"

(3) How do I automate the process? I assume Movie Studiohas a command line form, so I can create a DOS batch file with all the required filenames, but how would I automate the rendering so that it would write out to the correct filename (i.e of the input file, not the template (I can keep a copy, so it could overwrite the original input file). I obviously do not want to process 40 000 files manually.

I don't know, its your way of working and you have to solve this problem yourself.

It should never be my way of working, nowadays there are a lot better and cheaper solutions than to make video's with laptops and its webcams.
For instance with the proposal of Musicvid.

I had just sent a reply to Musicvid, just before I received the reply from J-V, but it seems to have gone missing - maybe it will show up.  It actually relates to both replies.  I am sending this just to see if the message did get lost, in which case I will re-write it.

Muscisvid and J-V

OK, my last message did get lost for some reason

We are talking at complete cross-purposes here.  My objective is to end up with 40 000 separate clips.  They are not going to be joined into one or more projects.

Each clip is part of a large "database" which has a totally separate front-end.  It allows users to access any clip they want just by clicking on a link.  It then opens up in their default video viewer.  I run this part of the database on a separate PC - actually using Windows Media Player to view the files.

What my query here relates to is my own personal work while sorting out the data before I load it into the database. I create the clips in Movie Studio by using my old templates. That's fine.

It is when I work on the small rendered clips that I have the problem.  They are not part of a project and I have never intended that they should be.  They are sorted within folders and carefully named. I just want the quickest and easiest way of opening them from Windows Explorer into Movie Studio so I can edit them or view them frame by frame, or whatever. I used to do this just by clicking on them - but as I said, I have forgotten how I did this.

I thought it was something simple inside Movie Studio.  It is now becoming clear I had developed a neat "trick" that did this for me - but I can no longer remebber how I did it.  From your answers and your expertise (having looked at your profiles), it may be that I didn't do it within Movie Studio.  Yet I definitely feel that I did.  That is what is beginning to annoy me - but that is just the dementia side of things and not your problem.

Any lateral thinking from your side - or am I on my own?

Amethystina

I had just sent a reply… but it seems to have gone missing

Some of us incl. myself have experienced this occasionally. Copying text to clipboard before clicking "COMMENT" might be a good precaution.

I had just sent a reply… but it seems to have gone missing

Some of us incl. myself have experienced this occasionally. Copying text to clipboard before clicking "COMMENT" might be a good precaution.

Did it with all my previous replies - forgot to do it with this one!

My objective is to end up with 40 000 separate clips.  They are not going to be joined into one or more projects.

Sorry I did not see and understood that.
That makes a lot different.
Than for every clip you want to edit you have to set the projectproperties at "Match Media Settings" of your VMS 12 Pl. bij pointing to the file you want to edit and do your thing.

Store them the way you wish (wmv probably) Nothing to do with Windows Explorer or Windows Mediaplayer.

Sorry I did not see and understood that.
That makes a lot different.

For those still following this topic, I have half solved it.  I have re-established the technique I would have used - I now just have to write the required code, which in my current state could be quite a challenge.

Anyway, the solution is very simple in concept, but I may struggle to explain it.

If you click on a .vf file in Windows Explorer, it opens the project in Movie Studio.  If you were to view it in a DOS window (accessed by running cmd.exe) and you wanted to open the project "Movie_A" it would look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Sony\Movie Studio Platinum 12.0\MovieStudioPlatinum120.exe" "Movie_A.vf"

So when I changed the Windows .WMV extension to open with Movie Studio, and opened a video file called "Video_X" it would look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Sony\Movie Studio Platinum 12.0\MovieStudioPlatinum120.exe" "Video_X.wmv"

So I just tested combining the two, and it does indeed work.  So long as Movie_A is empty, but has its project settings set up correctly, if you create a batch file with a single line (including quotes) as follows:

"C:\Program Files\Sony\Movie Studio Platinum 12.0\MovieStudioPlatinum120.exe" "Movie_A.vf" "Video_X.wmv"

it will open the video with the correct settings.

As I stated in a previous message, all my clip files contain the resolution and speed such as:
"BR_Webcam Melaenornis_pammelaina 2012-12-29 13h15m05s (dur 00h00m29s dim 640x360   30 fps).wmv"

For this file type I have a template file (which also includes a copyright notice) called:
"WMV 640x360 30 fps copyright.vf"

So now all I need is to write a batch file that extracts the dim and fps settings from the video file name use them to create the appropriate .vf template name, and then open them together. I then set the default program for .WMV files to be the new batch file ( the .BAT extension can be changed to .EXE if that is necessary).

Many people are probably unaware that DOS batch files contain a surprisingly powerful programming capability with hundreds of commands (not just the few listed in Help) - that was something I learnt when PC's first came out, and I have continued to use them as they provide a neat tool that can be used which is invisible to the user (if written correctly).

Hope this makes sense, but it if I can just write the script (it should be only about 30 lines of code), then I will have solved the problem.

But thanx for your help J-V and Musicvid - you pointed me in the right direction (though you may not have realised it)

Amethystina

So it turns out you are looking for batch production management, which is again entirely different than what we read earlier.

Vegas Pro has advanced production management and batching possibilities through scripting you never imagined, and loads advanced tools like Production Assistant and Vegasaur! That's where your head has taken you; please don't fault an entry level product for not having all the bells and whistles.

These features are not available in Movie Studio.

That said, just learning the basics of modifying and SAVING custom project and render templates in Platinum 12 will put you a lot closer toward meeting your needs. Really. J-V is not shooting blanks.

Poke around the Vegas Pro Scripting forum for future ideas, and good luck.

So it turns out you are looking for batch production management, which is again entirely different from what we read earlier.

Musicvid

Sorry, I thought I was going to have problems explaining the trick I am using - and clearly I did.

The batch file just opens one clip (file) but with the matching project template. It does nothing else.

The complexity in the batch file is to strip out the resolution and speed from the file name and then to create the name of the matching template. There is no "batch processing" of any sort. Simplistically, it is just a matter of FIND, CONCATENATE and then a series of IF / ELSE pairs to complete the match.

I am aware of scripting in the more expensive program, but since I don't have have that, I knew that that wasn't the trick I had used before. A batch file is perfectly adequate for the very simple task it has to undertake - to open a WMV file in Movie Studio using the matching resolution and fps project settings without any user input.

I hope this now makes more sense. If not, just forget about it. You have helped me solve my problem, and that is all I asked for. Again, thanx for your help,.

Amethystina

Note that though Movie Studio versions do not have scripting, the Vasst FasstApps "script-like extensions" are again available to buy. Some of them might be of help as they work in VMSP 12 as well.

And do let us know how it works out. You seem to be asking for a lot from a Movie Studio product.

You might want to look at VideoRedo for batch renàme / join / GOP remuxing (better than cocatenation and just as fast). It has a free trial.

No nonlinear encoder I know of, including Vegas, performs the kind of muxing and smart render operations you need to create a valid program stream from long-GOP source, although it may be playable.

I'll try out those extensions in MSP13, thanks vkmast.

You might want to look at VideoRedo for batch renàme / join / GOP remuxing (better than cocatenation and just as fast). It has a free trial.

Musicvid

Oh dear, my dementia must be worse than I thought - I am not getting my message across correctly.

The FIND, CONCATENATE and IF / ELSE pairs are all valid commands that can be used in a DOS batch file - I am doing NOTHING in Movie Studio.

If you don't know the DOS Batch file capabilities, I suggest you look at the following website

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/batch_script/batch_script_quick_guide.htm

It has a good reference section of the various commands available. You can click on each command for an example of it use.  Every section on the left-hand menu contains groups of different commands - don't think that it is limited to those listed under the "Batch Script - Commands" section. I will have to use commands from the "Batch Script - Strings" and "Batch Script - Decision Making" to create my DOS batch file that will generate the required Movie Studio Command line to open any WMV file with the correct project settings.

I am no video expert, so I use the most basic tools available.

Amethystina

I am doing NOTHING in Movie Studio.

I'm out. 😂😉