John

Until you replied and made us aware there was an update, it seems as if I was using 15.0.0.73 but have now updated.

Now I am not really sure how to answer the two further points. I must admit that in the past I have never actually selected anything and just left it on the default settings. Guess I must have been lucky then that it worked, And the Program Settings (Y Key) I have to admit that I think is the first time that I have seen that.

So as a totally new area and not really sure what I am looking at, I thought best to attach screen images, below, if that helps show what I am using.

George

Hi George

. . . . I thought best to attach screen images, below, if that helps show what I am using. . . . .

That is the best way when we need to know settings.

Looking at the export settings I see that you are actually exporting as AVCHD ( .mt2s) and not MP4 ( .mp4).

Try selecting one of the mp4 export selections as shown below - note to get the full list you need to check the option circled.

From your second image you are using the Intel HD codecs, I have test exported mp4 video using the Intel codecs and the video works fine in my VLC - version 2.2.1 (check your version).

HTH

John EB

John

Thankyou for the response. VLC tells me that I have the latest version.

Now I think I have followed your helful pictorial guide, but this morning, have tried a number of times to export either to just MPEG or MPEG-4. Every time it worked in MEP 2015 but not in MEP 2016.

I've then looked at the 'Export Screen' for the two programs to see if I can spot any glaring difference.

and where highlighted, to me, appears to be the only differences.

George

Hi George

Does the mp4 with 'no video' in VLC play OK in Windows Media Player?

In MEP 2015 try changing the interlaced setting to progressive and export to see if it plays in VLC - if it does not play then there is something funny going on with either your codecs or VLC.

The fact that, in MEP 2016, there are only Progressive options available for mp4 appears to be the trending standard now for mp4 - I know of at least two other video NLE's which also export mp4 as progressive only.

This appears to be a recent change and I am guessing that the NLE manufacturers assume mp4 will be played back on mobile devices, tablets and computers only which are all progressive dispaly devices !

The only time you need interlace is for TV.

HTH

John EB

Thankyou John,

This though is a completely new area for me. Whilst I can follow your response, as I guess a result of previous occasions when I've changed audio settings for a new program (possibly Skype) and then found that I could not import into ACL, I am rather wary of changing too many settings.

In view of your comments about 'Interlace' and ''Progressive' and as it is a new program, I have decided to contact Magix Technical Support for their comments.

George

John,

Some feedback. Just for information I have just received the following message today from Magix Support although, to be honest, am not really any clearer.

" You can also export as Interlaced but I am not sure if this is needed. Make sure when you go to file, export Movie as, MPEG4, you select in the preset Display All. I would recommend selecting a preset and not altering it as this sometimes causes conflicts with what the codecs can actually do versus the settings.

VLC uses their own codecs normally so what may not work in VLC may work in most other devices so it is also good to check in other players also."

However I can add that whether in my trialling I've ticked or unticked a box and am unaware, today in another test, I have both video and audio in my MPEG export. There is tjhough I notice 'shimmering' around the trousers on playback but guess that is a question for another day. I will continue to test.

Thankyou John.

Hi George

. . . . You can also export as Interlaced but I am not sure if this is needed. . . . . .

Not AFAICS, the only way to export interlaced is as AVCHD mt2s format, not as mp4 - unless of course we are missing something.

Out of curiosity I have checked every version of MEP from 17 through to 2016 and they are all the same - the mp4 presets are progressive and there is no way to change to Interlaced - it can be done in the advanced settings, however it is not applied/used.

This is something I have not noticed before - I use progressive export for the Internet and AVCHD for plying direct to my TV.

. . . . There is though I notice 'shimmering' around the trousers on playback . . . .

By any chance do the trousers have a check, striped or fine pattern eg like corduroy?

If so then this is a common occurrence and can often be seen on TV - very little can be done except insist the owners wear plain garments if you have control of the scene.

Pleased to hear you have the video as well now in VLC.

HTH

John EB

Hi John

the mp4 presets are progressive and there is no way to change to Interlaced - it can be done in the advanced settings, however it is not applied/used.

I have not noticed before either. I just tried exporting from 2014 some 25i footage using an adjusted MP4 template. I set the advanced setting to "Interlaced Field" instead of Progressive and the Format description box in the export settings showed 1920x1080 25i but the Interlace setting box remained at Progressive and greyed out. Probably what you saw - but the strange thing is that both MEP's clip properties and Media info show the export clip as interlaced but it is clearly deinterlaced when viewing in VLC or MEP!

Further I noticed that there are 3 choices in the advanced export box for Frame type - Progressive Frame, Interlaced Field, and Interlaced Frame. I had no idea what they mean by the third choice but curious I chose this instead of Field and it produced the same deinterlaced look as before but this time MEP's clip properties reported No interlacing and Media Info reported MBAFF instead of Interlaced and Top Field First as before.

Afterdawn.com's site shows the following about MBAFF:-

Macroblock-Adaptive Frame/Field Coding

MBAFF, or Macroblock-Adaptive Frame/Field Coding, is a video encoding feature of MPEG-4 AVC that allows a single frame to be encoded partly progressive and partly interlaced. Maintaining the quality of interlaced video can be a challenge in video encoding because of the larger spaces between horizontal lines in the same field. MBAFF allows an AVC encoder to examine each block in a frame to look for similarities between interlaced fields. When there is no motion the fields will tend to be very similar, resulting in better quality if you encode the block as progressive video. For blocks where there is motion from one field to another the quality is more likely to suffer if encoded progressive, so these blocks can remain interlaced.

In addition to quality improvements, progressive frames require fewer bits making them more compressible for the same quality as interlaced frames. This also applies to individual macroblocs, meaning that by using MBAFF you may greatly improve quality for a given bitrate. Since all the decisions required for MBAFF are made by the encoder it can slow encoding speeds greatly. Being a relatively new technology it's also not supported well among AVC playback software. Unlike many of AVC's advance features, though, MBAFF doesn't affect decoder speed.

George - It could be useful to try this option to help the problem of "shimmering around the trousers" as this may be due to the deinterlacing that MEP applies (it seems, no matter what the MP4 settings chosen....) not coping well with the rapid horizontal movement of the dancers legs. Another improvement may be gained from increasing the Bitrate as well, going by their comments in the second paragraph.

Peter
 

Hi

@ Peter

Thankyou  for the info re exporting interlaced - will go back and check mine again.

You have also reminded me of the de-interlace problem with moving objects called combing see here for more information.

@George - is the Apply anti-interlace filter checked in the MP4 export settings?  If not turn it on - the results of de-interlacing without this filter are truly awful when there is any movement in the video.

HTH

John EB

I have been out and about this week and so have just got back trying to digest all the information and suggestions.

Trouble is that I am a complete novice in this area, and guess I have been spoiled by, in previous version(s), export to Mpeg seemed to work automatically without me even thinking about what the settings were or should be.
 

The trousers by the way are black with no patterns.
 

So now I know it works, I guess I have a choice of returning to MEP 2015 which I know works, and/or continue to experiment with MEP2016 until I find the right formula for export. Interestingly for some reason I tried to export video as a quicktime movie tonight and attached is a screenshot. It is just like looking through a dark veil!. So still need to find that 'winning formuila'

George
 

"The trousers by the way are black with no patterns."

This would have been relavent to John's question as he was probably thinking it may be aliasing or moire, but my comments about trying the different deinterlacing options would still apply if you are seeing a horizontal combing effect around objects moving laterally.

Wow, that veiling effect in your screenshot is pretty freaky. I can not imagine what might cause that!

Peter

Hi George

. . . . export video as a quicktime movie . . . .  like looking through a dark veil!

.. . . . that veiling effect in your screenshot is pretty freaky. I can not imagine what might cause that! . . . .

Check the following:

     - MEP is patched up to version 15.0.0.77.

     - Quicktime is the latest version.

     - the preset used for Quicktime export - if Standard this is very low resolution - change the resolution to match the project eg -

HTH

John EB

Just thought I should do an update. Still not resolved but is certainly a learning experience in more ways than one.

I have also contacted Magix Support and got this reply.

"The difference between Quick Time and MPEG4 is the container. Basically a container is what holds the audio and video streams together. Quick Time is Apples format and requires Quick Time player to be played back. MPEG4 should not require anything as it is more open source standardized container.

That said there is the streams. One for video and the other for audio and these can normally be in different formats. Most often it is H.264 for video, and PCM or AC3 for audio. Going to a higher resolution format usually creates an AVCHD container. This is a more advanced compression method/codec that often shows better results. This is usually what Blu Ray is.

Normally I just recommend select a preset on the export with MPEG4 and not adjust any settings. There should not be much difference (if any) between the two generations of the software. However there has been some slight updates and there is also two options to use for codecs.

There is the optional MPEG4 codec from Main Concept that can also be activated in the program from the programs help menu. This can then be set in the program settings (see screen shot). With some graphics cards it works better, along with turning off graphics card acceleration."

Actually I thought I had already activated the additional Codec's but they were still showing as available within the program. I then activated the install but that action did not seem to go smoothly and commented so back to Customer Support.

In response they have suggested they action a systemcheck to help resolve the problem BUT I then found that this download was blocked by my Norton 360 Anti-Virus who classed it as 'Medium Severity'. I now have that element of doubt at the back of my mind as in my Security History I see that there are a number of items blocked with the same Medium Severity so am wondering if these Codecs were also blocked.

At this stage I am in communication on the Norton Forum trying to find out how I can authorise, first, the systemcheck.

Well all this is certainly keeping those grey cells active.

George