Suddenly Movie S is not decoding Lagarith or Huffy encoding correctly

clement5 wrote on 8/4/2022, 9:02 AM

Suddenly after exiting and coming back to my project the input files are not being decoded properly. As I playback the input, MS displays random frames from various parts of the file. Some sections play properly and then some have random frames inserted. There are also blank frames inserted. The thumbnails display black in some sections.

I tried several other formats and Uncmpressed, x264, and x265 all work.including non lossy X265. Huffman encoding exhibits the same symptoms as Lagarith. When this happened there were no Windows 11 or Movie Studio updates. I have tried uninstalling MS and putting it back. I also checked playback of a file that has problems and it plays perfectly in other programs such as VLC, VirtualDub, and Cyberlink Power Director, so the problem seems to be in MS Platinum 2020. I tried setting various methods of acceleration in Program Setting/Device Options. Nvidia and CPU both have the problem, but it seems to be slightly different for each.

I have a PC with 16Gb memory, Intel processor, and about 1Tb of hard drive free for the project.

As MS does not offer a non-lossy output format other than uncompressed, my use of Lagarith is for being able to do multiple pass editing without any losses or added artifacts. So how do I fix this problem for my massive project with many short segments all in Lagarith codec?

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clement5 wrote on 8/9/2022, 10:19 PM

Apparently, the problem is in the section of the MS code which decodes Lagarith. I deleted the Lagarith codec from my pc, but MS still could read the Lagarith files, but could not write them. They have their own embedded decoder which may also be used for Huffy decoding. Both of them have difficulties. As usual I have not heard back from Magix about the problem or its resolution.

I did a complete analysis of the various available exports for MS and found some inconsistencies. One of them would setup to export in PAL format even for a standard NTSC SD video. When NTSC is selected the interlacing defaults to bottom first, but NTSC uses top first. All of the export menus clear the 3D selection if an "Advanced" option is selected, except for the AVI menu. The AVI menu changes the aspect ratio and makes the frame rate of 23.976 to be 23.980 if a CODEC is selected. Putting the frame rate back to 23.976 doesn't work properly. The metadata for frame count is shortened and the duration is also wrong. The frame count is OK for a short clip, but for a 1h4 48min video the count is short by 26 compared to the actual number of frames. The count/duration is then 23.98. The 23.976 frame rate is encoded as 23976/1000 instead of the correct NTSC 24000/1001. However the default settings for AVI output are OK. When selecting an AVI CODEC the aspect ratio is set to the frame width/height which is not correct. The display aspect ratio is independent of the pixel aspect ratio for both PAL and NTSC SD videos. HD videos often have them both the same. MS notices that the reset frame rate does not match the movie rate and gives an error, but there is no way to set it back to the correct value.

I am really tired of having to find their errors and diagnosing them. I am switching to IYUV codec by converting the Lagarith files using VirtualDub. It seems to work OK, but the compression is not as good. I am also buying a bigger external drive so I have room to spare for my big projects!

BTW MS 2022 messes up the 3D display to passive monitors, and I have put in a complaint about that also. They are probably tired of my complaints. They messed it up once before with an update, and now they have done it again!

johnebaker wrote on 8/10/2022, 10:34 AM

@clement5

. . . . I deleted the Lagarith codec from my pc, but MS still could read the Lagarith files, but could not write them. They have their own embedded decoder which may also be used for Huffy decoding. . . .

I get this message when trying to load a Lagarith encoded video file: - same program and version as MMS, only has the old name.

I get the same message with Video Pro X14 which is the Magix pro video editing software.

Check the Lagarith X86 and x64 codec files and registry items have been uninstalled.

John EB

clement5 wrote on 8/10/2022, 8:11 PM

I located both of the Lagarith codec files and deleted them before this test and noted that I could not export in Lagarith. The name of the codec in the MS file info implied that it was decoding Huffy. So something was screwy?

AAProds wrote on 8/10/2022, 9:16 PM

@clement5

I deleted the Lagarith codec from my pc, but MS still could read the Lagarith files, but could not write them. They have their own embedded decoder

You're not uninstalling LAGS correctly. I have LAGS installed and MEP can read and export LAGS files. I then uninstalled it using Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features and then MEP/MS would not import a LAGS file: "cannot be read".

I reinstalled LAGS via the installer and then MEP would open a LAGS file.