VirtaulDub / AVIsynth error: cannot read from file "null":%s

[Pertwee]

Hey chaps

Kowderoi, you say that all you had to do was install the canopus DV codec to open the video files in VDubMod? I was unable to do this without first using the canopus file converter to convert the file to a type I DV file. Is there something else I am missing here? My captured files are via Premiere from a Sony DV cam.

I think you are right with your comment about not needing to de-interlace if you are producing SVCD for viewing on an analogue TV. However, if the finished product is going to be viewed on a PC then de-interlacing produces much clearer results but introduces many more problems of its own. Certainly if you are going to extract stills from the footage then these need to be de-interlaced (except if there is no motion!!!)

There is only one way to perfectly de-interlace and that is to shoot the footage in progressive scan mode, but I am unaware of any pro-sumer DV cams that can do this at 25 fps (PAL) or (29.???? fps NTSC). I am using a Sony VX2000 (PAL) DV cam which I was told was a sensational camera only to find that it films at 12.5 fps in progressive scan. This pissed me off.

I find that the only way to get to grips with the miriad of combinations of formats in the DV multimedia world is to totally immerse yourself in the cess-pit and come out stinking of effluent but slightly more knowledgeable for your troubles. I am de-interlacing by opening my files in VDubMod (after file conversion with canopus) and AviSynth. Using AviSynth to split the footage into separate fields, and de-interlacing with a nice filter from Gunnar Thalin (the smooth de-interlacer) which can be found at

http://biphome.spray.se/gunnart/video/

This produces a 50fps, almost perfectly de-interlaced file. The downside is that the file sizes are massive, the encoding takes forever (because it relies on AviSynth to split the frames into fields), and the final product is very CPU intensive to play. If you then want to import the 50fps movie into Premiere for editting, extracting digital stills etc, then more problems surface. More monsters lurk (esp. with audio synchronisation) when Premiere exports the timeline as a finished, compressed product. I am trying to find a good way of de-interlacing in VDubMod which produces a 25fps file, at full resolution which can then be imported into Premiere for editting. I have tried some of the area-based de-interlacing filters but get too many movement artifacts.

Any suggestions???

Kind regards

Pertwee.

[kowderoi]

Pertwee,

To be honest, a lot of what you're asking is a bit beyond my level of knowledge, but if it's any help, here's my experience. Remember, I haven't gotten down to the nitty-gritty yet, so I'm sure to have a lot more questions in future.

VDub(Mod), as far as I remember, can only work with one type of AVI (can't remember if it's type 1 or 2, but I'm pretty sure it's the one with seperate video and audio feeds - check on that). Converting or not depends on how your camera and software interact. This seems to be a minor problem, as files can be easily converted, although time might be a consideration on slower computers with bigger files, I guess. UncasMS kindly gave me a link to a Ulead DV converter earlier in this thread. This said, the Canopus DV codec was the deciding factor for me, as far as I can tell.

As for the cess-pit, I've only been up to my toes in it, and I've already got athlete's foot.

50 fps seems needless high to me, especially as your software is just interpolating the extra lines in some way, which to my mind is close to guessing and will never be perfect. I've tried out the Smart Deinterlacer plugin for VDub (very briefly) and it seems to do an ok job, though I've never compared with your Smooth Deinterlacer for quality. It's supposed to be better than the built-in de-interlacer in VDub. There may be others. The best place to look is http://neuron2.net/, Donald Graft's site, which is replete with info and plugins.

Hope this helps.

kowderoi

[Pertwee]

Kowderoi

Thanks the info has helped, Donald Graft's site is a great resource.

Good luck with your project and the toe fungus.

Regards

Pertwee

[Pertwee]

UncasMS / Kowderoi

One thing leads to another and so more problems. I think I have finally gotten my head around deinterlacing my raw footage and it works well.

Thank you for all your help.

On another de-interlacing issue........

I have extraced hundreds of thousands of digital stills from my interlaced footage and so naturally they all look flickery when viewed as a still in photoshop. I have been using the FILTERS > VIDEO > DeInterlace option (Interpolate NOT Duplicate) in photoshop and it does a good job but sometimes overcalls the amount of correction introducing some artifact in non-motion areas of the still. I have found that I can reduce this artifact considerably by applying the same filter to the still once again but changing from "odd field" to "even field". This seems like a strange thing to have to do. Are you aware of any programme that allows some degree of customisation to de-interlacing stills so that some threshold can be applied?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Pertwee