Muvizu | Banging my head against a wall... - Tech Help

31/05/2012 09:33:10

Dylly
Posts: 555

I was unsure which section on the new site to place this post...now let me lie down on the Trick Cyclists couch...

I had an uneventful childhood... adolescence...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding}...Marriages ...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding...for a long time...a really long time} and then last night...

I ran into a number of problems whilst making a Muvizu clip last night. Problems I could only partially resolve or totally failed to resolve and have me frustrated & banging my head against the wall. I can totally empathize with some of the problem's that new users have been having of late.

Codecs....

Could someone from the team please take a look at this area. It's like wading through a quagmire. Dreeko bravely tried to address the subject & ended up nearly trashing his system. The only codec I can get to work is the Xvid codec. Which is OK until you come to try and edit the clips. Most of the video editing software I have cannot handle this codec for some reason. Even Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 (now that's a gob full) struggled. Whenever I edited a clip with Sony the resulting edit was so pixelated it was unusable. (thanks clamtom and gimmick for helping out there). On top of this Sony is ghosting the scenes, like its adding extra frames into a clip...very messy.

In desperation I checked my codecs were up to date and downloaded the latest versions. A new problem...
EEF's greying out of clip thumbnails...it happened to me! Whenever a clip is rendered from Muvizu using the Xvid codec the thumbnail of the resulting clip just shows a grey area and not a frame of the clip it represents...annoying! This must be something to do with the latest codecs I presume.

As a last desperate attempt to get my film made I used the Muvizu clip editor thingy...it crashed everytime. But then like a pillock I didn't take a screen shot for the testers...it was 3am and my temper was a little frayed.

Now I wouldn't class myself as a new user but in some respects I'm...oh look I have a brain like a computer in that you have to 'punch information into me'...I'm a bit thick in other words.

Please guys could someone have a look at this area of using Muvizu, if I'm finding it frustrating then new users must be too.

Thanks for listening.
My name is Tim and I'm a Muvizuholic!

I'm using 64bit Muvizu
Have 32bit and 64 bit K-lite codec packs installed

31/05/2012 10:05:14

gimmick
Posts: 179

For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec"

settings:
MJPEG 1 pass quality
quality 100
min quantizer 2
max quantizer 4
edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012

31/05/2012 11:08:57

Dylly
Posts: 555

Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu! Woo Hoo!

31/05/2012 11:20:50

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

gimmick wrote:

For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec"

settings:
MJPEG 1 pass quality
quality 100
min quantizer 2
max quantizer 4
edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012

I too use the above, but as Dylly pointed out, the path to codec nirvana is one fraught with angst.

I've been down that horrible path and somehow managed to get my system back to where it was before I started.
I was not a happy sock puppet at the time. If I had met a codec creator in a dark alley that week, I would still be on the run just now!

My advice is - If you have things working nicely don't change a thing!

Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!

Hope someone out there can put together a simple solution for this.

Cheers
D

31/05/2012 11:23:15

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

Dylly wrote:

Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu! Woo Hoo!

Wow! great!

Sticky required for this I feel!

31/05/2012 12:13:37

Dylly
Posts: 555

Dreeko wrote:

Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!

D

The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated!

Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 .

31/05/2012 13:25:38

Dylly
Posts: 555

Add another bug type thing...just received this error message before Muvizu shut down

This application requested the runtime be shut down in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team fro more information.

What I was doing at the time was unchecking the antaliace as I had another dodgy render.

31/05/2012 14:49:45

Dreeko
Posts: 1257

Today is not your day is it Dylly!

14/06/2012 06:18:50

chuckles
Posts: 126

I have had the same problem as Dylly (31-5-2012) for over a year now! I can no longer import mp3s without them being severely distorted and slowed down as well. Wav files are fine, but they take up so much memory it makes it very difficult to do much. This happens with All mp3s, whatever the codec, whether mono / stereo or whatever. Of course they all play fine in other programs. I have all the latest codecs and 64bit version of Muvizu.
With my recent "John and Jon" efforts, I was unable to add any special effects (Low fog). When I tried, my whole screen blacked out a few times then Muvizu crashed.

15/06/2012 15:05:57

bigwally
Posts: 399

Dylly wrote:

Dreeko wrote:

Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!

D

The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated!

Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 .

I have *never* been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one.

17/06/2012 12:46:19

Jamie
(Account inactive)
Posts: 609

bigwally wrote:

I have *never* been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one.

Hmm... Could you email in some example mp3 files bigwally? I'll take a look at them and see if I can track down the problems cause.

--
Direct, don't animate!

17/06/2012 19:26:27

chuckles
Posts: 126

Hi It won't make any difference if Big Wally or anybody sends you an mp3 file. I went through all this a year ago, and sent in many files. Nobody then could help, so I gave up.
It happens with ALL mp3 files. Once those files are converted to WAV files they import fine, but when converted back to mp3 using Audacity, they won't.

17/06/2012 20:37:04

Dylly
Posts: 555

Here's a bit of additional information regarding this problem Jamie. During the last round of testing I noticed that after a fresh install of Muvizu it would allow a single instance of an MP3 import and play that file correctly, just the once. The MP3 would then revert to distorting, and from that point on Muvizu would only play a wav file.

18/06/2012 12:02:23

Jamie
(Account inactive)
Posts: 609

I'm not giving up on this Chuckles, I remember luscan looking into it about a year ago.

I've had a quick look at this and loading existing mp3s (the music I listen to during the day) I've no problems except for the mp3s that have a bit rate of 225kbps, those give an error saying it can't be imported though. Anything lower works fine.

In audacity, I've opened some of the WAV files used in the community review videos and converted them to MP3 files.

I've used these settings:

Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stero - mp3 files loads and plays back perfectly.

Also tried quality = 256kbps - again it works fine.

Tried changing bitrate mode to average, but it still works fine.

I've saved all these mp3s into a set file, restarted muvizu and loaded the set file, again no issues with audio.

When I did this I didn't have anything in the scene, only the mp3 files that I've imported.

Could you let me know the settings you are using for exporting from audacity? (There is an option button when you go to export an mp3 that will tell you this info). Secondly, what else are you doing in the scene? Are you loading a set them importing audio? Importing audio then creating a character?

Lastly, if you create a new empty blank scene and import audio - does it work then?

--
Direct, don't animate!

18/06/2012 16:45:38

chuckles
Posts: 126

Hi Jamie
I did everything you suggested - used these settings:Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stereo
It made no difference. It makes no difference whatever settings I use. I've sent, to the other email address
a small mp3, which contains part of the mp3 before importing, followed by the distorted version, recorded through the Mic using audacity.
Maybe we are all using the same laptop? Mine's a Dell XP5.
Cheers
Paul

18/06/2012 18:06:40

clamtom
Posts: 15

Just a shot in the dark here, but often antivirus software will interfere with sound files.You might try defeating your AV software while playing the mp3 in Muvizu

Tom

14/07/2012 05:59:19

31/05/2012 09:33:10 Dylly Posts: 555	I was unsure which section on the new site to place this post...now let me lie down on the Trick Cyclists couch... I had an uneventful childhood... adolescence...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding}...Marriages ...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding...for a long time...a really long time} and then last night... I ran into a number of problems whilst making a Muvizu clip last night. Problems I could only partially resolve or totally failed to resolve and have me frustrated & banging my head against the wall. I can totally empathize with some of the problem's that new users have been having of late. Codecs.... Could someone from the team please take a look at this area. It's like wading through a quagmire. Dreeko bravely tried to address the subject & ended up nearly trashing his system. The only codec I can get to work is the Xvid codec. Which is OK until you come to try and edit the clips. Most of the video editing software I have cannot handle this codec for some reason. Even Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 (now that's a gob full) struggled. Whenever I edited a clip with Sony the resulting edit was so pixelated it was unusable. (thanks clamtom and gimmick for helping out there). On top of this Sony is ghosting the scenes, like its adding extra frames into a clip...very messy. In desperation I checked my codecs were up to date and downloaded the latest versions. A new problem... EEF's greying out of clip thumbnails...it happened to me! Whenever a clip is rendered from Muvizu using the Xvid codec the thumbnail of the resulting clip just shows a grey area and not a frame of the clip it represents...annoying! This must be something to do with the latest codecs I presume. As a last desperate attempt to get my film made I used the Muvizu clip editor thingy...it crashed everytime. But then like a pillock I didn't take a screen shot for the testers...it was 3am and my temper was a little frayed. Now I wouldn't class myself as a new user but in some respects I'm...oh look I have a brain like a computer in that you have to 'punch information into me'...I'm a bit thick in other words. Please guys could someone have a look at this area of using Muvizu, if I'm finding it frustrating then new users must be too. Thanks for listening. My name is Tim and I'm a Muvizuholic! I'm using 64bit Muvizu Have 32bit and 64 bit K-lite codec packs installed
	permalink
31/05/2012 10:05:14 gimmick Posts: 179	For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec" settings: MJPEG 1 pass quality quality 100 min quantizer 2 max quantizer 4 edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012
	permalink
31/05/2012 11:08:57 Dylly Posts: 555	Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu!
	permalink
31/05/2012 11:20:50 Dreeko Posts: 1257	gimmick wrote: For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec" settings: MJPEG 1 pass quality quality 100 min quantizer 2 max quantizer 4 edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012 I too use the above, but as Dylly pointed out, the path to codec nirvana is one fraught with angst. I've been down that horrible path and somehow managed to get my system back to where it was before I started. I was not a happy sock puppet at the time. If I had met a codec creator in a dark alley that week, I would still be on the run just now! My advice is - If you have things working nicely don't change a thing! Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag! ..I do images and videos I do! Hope someone out there can put together a simple solution for this. Cheers D
	permalink
31/05/2012 11:23:15 Dreeko Posts: 1257	Dylly wrote: Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu! Wow! great! Sticky required for this I feel!
	permalink
31/05/2012 12:13:37 Dylly Posts: 555	Dreeko wrote: Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag! ..I do images and videos I do! D The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated! Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 .
	permalink
31/05/2012 13:25:38 Dylly Posts: 555	Add another bug type thing...just received this error message before Muvizu shut down This application requested the runtime be shut down in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team fro more information. What I was doing at the time was unchecking the antaliace as I had another dodgy render.
	permalink
31/05/2012 14:49:45 Dreeko Posts: 1257	Today is not your day is it Dylly!
	permalink
14/06/2012 06:18:50 chuckles Posts: 126	I have had the same problem as Dylly (31-5-2012) for over a year now! I can no longer import mp3s without them being severely distorted and slowed down as well. Wav files are fine, but they take up so much memory it makes it very difficult to do much. This happens with All mp3s, whatever the codec, whether mono / stereo or whatever. Of course they all play fine in other programs. I have all the latest codecs and 64bit version of Muvizu. With my recent "John and Jon" efforts, I was unable to add any special effects (Low fog). When I tried, my whole screen blacked out a few times then Muvizu crashed.
	permalink
15/06/2012 15:05:57 bigwally Posts: 399	Dylly wrote: Dreeko wrote: Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag! ..I do images and videos I do! D The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated! Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 . I have never been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one.
	permalink
17/06/2012 12:46:19 Jamie (Account inactive) Posts: 609	bigwally wrote: I have never been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one. Hmm... Could you email in some example mp3 files bigwally? I'll take a look at them and see if I can track down the problems cause. -- Direct, don't animate!
	permalink
17/06/2012 19:26:27 chuckles Posts: 126	Hi It won't make any difference if Big Wally or anybody sends you an mp3 file. I went through all this a year ago, and sent in many files. Nobody then could help, so I gave up. It happens with ALL mp3 files. Once those files are converted to WAV files they import fine, but when converted back to mp3 using Audacity, they won't.
	permalink
17/06/2012 20:37:04 Dylly Posts: 555	Here's a bit of additional information regarding this problem Jamie. During the last round of testing I noticed that after a fresh install of Muvizu it would allow a single instance of an MP3 import and play that file correctly, just the once. The MP3 would then revert to distorting, and from that point on Muvizu would only play a wav file.
	permalink
18/06/2012 12:02:23 Jamie (Account inactive) Posts: 609	I'm not giving up on this Chuckles, I remember luscan looking into it about a year ago. I've had a quick look at this and loading existing mp3s (the music I listen to during the day) I've no problems except for the mp3s that have a bit rate of 225kbps, those give an error saying it can't be imported though. Anything lower works fine. In audacity, I've opened some of the WAV files used in the community review videos and converted them to MP3 files. I've used these settings: Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stero - mp3 files loads and plays back perfectly. Also tried quality = 256kbps - again it works fine. Tried changing bitrate mode to average, but it still works fine. I've saved all these mp3s into a set file, restarted muvizu and loaded the set file, again no issues with audio. When I did this I didn't have anything in the scene, only the mp3 files that I've imported. Could you let me know the settings you are using for exporting from audacity? (There is an option button when you go to export an mp3 that will tell you this info). Secondly, what else are you doing in the scene? Are you loading a set them importing audio? Importing audio then creating a character? Lastly, if you create a new empty blank scene and import audio - does it work then? -- Direct, don't animate!
	permalink
18/06/2012 16:45:38 chuckles Posts: 126	Hi Jamie I did everything you suggested - used these settings:Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stereo It made no difference. It makes no difference whatever settings I use. I've sent, to the other email address a small mp3, which contains part of the mp3 before importing, followed by the distorted version, recorded through the Mic using audacity. Maybe we are all using the same laptop? Mine's a Dell XP5. Cheers Paul
	permalink
18/06/2012 18:06:40 clamtom Posts: 15	Just a shot in the dark here, but often antivirus software will interfere with sound files.You might try defeating your AV software while playing the mp3 in Muvizu Tom
	permalink
14/07/2012 05:59:19

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