Rendering segmented AVI files with VF 2.0c. How?

Hiro wrote on 6/23/2004, 6:52 AM
It clearly states in the help file that VideoFactory 2.0c (VF) will automatically render large video files to segmented AVI files if the final estimated size is going to be over the 2GB/4GB imposed limit of FAT32 drives, yet no matter what I do it only creates one AVI file and crashes when it reaches the max file size (2GB for AVI 1.0 and 4GB for AVI 2.0 ODML).

I've read a few older threads regarding this but they were more to do with capturing and not rendering. I've tried some of the suggestions made any way but none have worked. I'm trying to render a 35 minute video (which was captured to segmented AVI files using freeVCR) back to AVI which I will then load in to TMPGEnc (which accepts segmented AVI files and is my prefered MPG encoder) for rendering to PAL DVD MPEG-2. How on earth do I get VF to save to segmented AVI files? I thought I'd cracked it when some one noted that the file name of the AVI to be saved should have a number '1' at the end so that VF will know to split the AVI to 'filename 1.avi', 'filename 2.avi', etc. but even this did not work.

I've tried using the default PAL DV savings and also some custom settings using other codecs (like Divx, Mainconcept Motion JPG) with both OpenDML selected and unselected, but nothing worked.

I was really hoping to use VF for rendering my video as it's rendering speed compared to other apps (which do actually save to segmented AVI files, like Virtualdub for example) is great, plus non of the other apps I have allow you to do things like overlays and add special effects, etc. like VF does.

Any help in sorting this out (if some one has worked the problem out in a thread I have not yet read) would be greatly appreciated. If it says that rendered files are saved to segments then it must be possible.

OS is Win98se
30GB drive with 28GB free.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 6/23/2004, 7:07 AM
A couple of things here, Hiro.

1) Since you're using Windows 98, your files are stored as FAT32, which limits file sizes to, I think, 4 gig. I don't fully understand the implications of this, but it could well be one of the reasons you're crashing.

2) You say you have a 30 gig drive with 28 gig free? I'm not sure that's possible if you're ouputting a 35 minute video. Even if you only have 35 minutes of AVI, that alone would take about 12 gig of space. But, since you're editing and probably not using every second of tape you input, you've likely got even more. Your final output, as an AVI, will take another 12 gig. And, in addition to just storage space, your hard drive needs a certain amount of space as "scratch disk" to write temp files as it renders. So it could well be that you're overloading your drive -- especially if it's at all fragmented.

Regardless, you may want to add a second hard drive -- one dedicated to your video files. This is SOP for most serious video editors, and you can do it relatively cheaply. A 100+ gig drive can be purchased for under $100 and, if you've got any tech savvy at all, you can install it yourself in under half an hour. All the hook-ups for it are already in your computer. Having a second, dedicated video drive remedies a whole host of problems, particularly with capture and output.

3) Finally, a short term solution to your problem is easy. Screenblast has the ability to render only the section of the timeline you highlight if you tell it to. So, even if it won't automatically break your video into bite-size pieces, you can manually output several smaller segments with very little problem.

There! More than you could possibly want to know, right?
Hiro wrote on 6/23/2004, 8:04 AM
Hi grisetti, thanks for the quick response.

Sorry to sound flippant, but I'm aware of the imposed limits of Win98/FAT32, as mentioned in my original post, which is why I want to try and figure out how to get VF to save to segmented AVI files like other apps do (like virtualdub), so I can load them in to TMPGEnc for rendering to PAL DVD MPEG-2.

I should have mentioned that the original capture was done using the MainConcept MJPG codec (from analogue tape through my PCTV card, not via DV) which has allowed me to capture the 35 minutes of video to only a few gigs. The estimated size of the final video using the PAL DV setting is only 7.8GB (it will be even less if I use the MainConcept MJPG codec again, but this will introduce too many compression artifacts as I didn't capture at the highest quality setting to start with). Having 28GB of free space should be more than enough for this, surely.

I had also thought about the 'render only loop' option and saving each loop out to it's own AVI file with sequential file names but I was hoping to do it all in one operation with VF automatically saving to segmented AVI files for me. :o)

Could it be that they forgot to actually add the feature of segmented AVI files to VideoFactory 2.0?
I've been trying to download the trial of Screenblast Movie Studio 3 to try that out and see if it works where VF fails, but every time it gets to 99% the download stalls and then stops.

PS: a new HDD is in the pipe line (I can only have one at a time on my PC), but there is a max to what my board (or is it Win98?) will take. I can't recall what it is off the top of my head, but I seem to recall it was far less then 100GB. Anything over the max the board (or OS) will take is wasted as only so much of it will be found/used (I seem to recall some one with a very similar spec system to mine installing a 60GB HDD but only being able to use about 45GB of it). Also, looking through some of the older threads, others who have the same sort of issue as me have already got 100+GB HDD's installed but are still unable to get VF to either capture or save to segmented AVI files, and again, they are only using about 30 minutes of video.

Addendum: I should also mention that each time I try to save the video out the render stops dead on the max limit of a single file for that format, so for AVI 1 it stops dead on 1.99GB, and for AVI 2 (using OpenDML) it stops dead on 3.99GB, the max for each version. So, as a little test, I have just set up a test render using just 19 minutes of video which gives an estimated size of 4.2GB, but it still stopped at 3.99GB rather than segment it to two AVI files. This leads me to think the problem lies with VF 2.0 since 28GB of free space is more than enough to render only 4GB of video.

Addendum2: I finally got Screenblast Movie Studio 3 to download and after the very annoying and buggy 'register' nag screen I tested it out on my 35 minutes of video. Had no problem saving it out to two segmented AVI files using the exact same settings as in VF 2. Only draw back is that SMS 3 is so much slower at rendering than VF 2. On average VF 2 takes about 3 minutes to render 1 minute using the PAL DV settings, whereas SMS 3 took nearly ten minutes to do the same one minute clip. Also, I can no longer take advantage of the 30 day trial. After closing it down an re-opening it I keep getting nagged about an incorrect 'activation' code, yet I've not entered any activation codes.
pete_h wrote on 6/24/2004, 3:17 PM
On Win98, 2 gig and 4 gig are the maximum file sizes period! (With respect to AVI 1 and AVI 2)

When you capture your video, VF will split the footage into 2 or 4 gig files, named abc.01, abc.02 etc. This allows you to import them into the program, but does not allow you to render a file larger then the 2 or 4 gig limit.

Before I upgraded to a new system using XP, I had to deal with these file size limits by keeping each AVI just under 19 minutes (using OpenDML).

When I made my DVD's, I just had each of the 19 minute segements be a "chapter".

How you got Screenblast Movie Studio 3 to do what you did to that 35 min video is beyond me, unless you saved it to a meg2 format.....

(Screenblast Movie Studio 3 is just VF upgraded, on Win98 you should still have the same file size limits)

Pete
Hiro wrote on 6/25/2004, 3:29 AM
>>On Win98, 2 gig and 4 gig are the maximum file sizes period! (With respect to AVI 1 and AVI 2)

I know this, and so do Sonic Foundry, which is why they use the 'segmented AVI' format to overcome this, just like many other programs, like Virtualdub, which will also save files out in a segmented format at 1.99gig each (doesn' t use AVI2).

>>When you capture your video, VF will split the footage into 2 or 4 gig files, >>named abc.01, abc.02 etc. This allows you to import them into the >>program, but does not allow you to render a file larger then the 2 or 4 gig limit.

>>How you got Screenblast Movie Studio 3 to do what you did to that 35 min >>video is beyond me, unless you saved it to a meg2 format.....

It captures and renders segmented AVI files to overcome the imposed 4gig limit, it states this in the help file (though I do not use it to capture with. I use freeVCR as I'm capturing from analogue, not DV). I got SBM3 to do this because that is what it is supposed to do (or so it says). I didn't have to add any numbers to the end of the file name or anything like that either, it automatically named the segments 'filename.01.avi', etc. And it was saved using the PAL DV setting (I use TMPGEnc for my MPEG-2 encodings).

Funnily enough, after installing SBM3 I thought I'd give VF one more try and this time it saved out to two segmented AVI files. However, when I came to save some more video last night (about 26 minutes) it once again crashed at one file rather than start a second file (same ammount of space on the drive as all previous video had been backed up to DVDRW). Seems to me there is a bug somewhere. In the end I just used the save loop region only option and saved it out to two 3.5gig files. Takes a bit longer, but I can't be bothered to keep messing around trying to find out what's wrong. Plus it's only going to be used now and then as I normally use Pure Motion EditStudio, a far better program, but it doesn't have the ability for overlays (well it does, kind of, but no where near as good as VF/SBM), which is why I downloaded VF2. I needed to overlay some .PNG files with transparent areas.