Wide World of Women

So here is the problems. I recorded some video via firewire today like I have in the past. I went to vlc to start capping and it came up with a black screen and no audio. I was recording FNC. So I checked Nero and it seemed to play it fine. How odd is that. So I thought well maybe there is an update with vlc. Sure enough there is a new version. I install the new version, go to my .ts file and still nothing.

So I go to click on one of my divx files and....no video???? then after about five seconds it starts. no sync issues though, video started in sync with the audio. so now i have like a five to ten second delay when playing divx files.

The .ts thing isnt too bad since i do have nero so I am covered there. Just curious if anyone has an older version of vlc.

Nevermind...

I can still cap hd, just having to use nero now for some reason. VLC doesnt wanna play my ts files anymore for some odd reason. Just more upset because Im using a different method now. Not that its any more difficult, just different.

I don't think VLC could play .ts files. Anyways... I always use Nero to make my caps and ACD Systems to rename and convert the pics from bmp to jpg.

Before I used vlc...guess I will be using your method now rocky

Seems to work equally as well, plus donkeed has been suggesting nero to me for some time.

Nero plays a lot of things other players wouldn't. It doesn't hurt to just try everything.

Media Player Classic is handy player for some files as well.

Can I try Regina?

She does look pretty good in that snug top on his sig.

I'd work my thumbstick into her media slot!

She is incredible isnt she

Okay sorry back on topic. So as far as .ts files nero seems to be the way to go. I did do another test and vlc now plays them. Weird huh. Probably just a one time fluke. Its just frustrating sometimes because you have a method that works well then something happens out of the blue for no reason, so you have to find alternatives to try and do the same thing. And now Im back to doing it the way I was originally. Guess thats life with Windows

Kind of off topic, during the vlc incident I was messing around with different media players. I noticed something I never really noticed before. I have always used vlc as my go to for video. It has never failed me except the one time above. It seems to play any file you throw at it. However, I have been editing my vids down with divx author and saving as divx files. I do this because 1) divx author is real easy for me to use for editing vids 2) its great to use for frame by frame, especially for making animated gifs for avatars 3) the finished product makes the file smaller than mpeg. So I would save as divx and just out of habit would watch them with vlc. As I was messing around with other players I used divx player to play a divx file and wow it is incredible quality. Check out the quality of a divx file played using divx player vs vlc (okay I know what an example to use but its actually a great example due to the colors of not only the bra but skin tone and Rhonda's red fingernails)



VLC is left, DIVX is right

I could not believe it. The divx file played using divx player actually looks great. I would even go as far as to say it looks as great as the original mpeg file. Not only is the bra more vivd and sharp, but even the hsn graphics on the description. VLC is not near as white as the divx player. Even Regina's hair has more color to it.

Now like I said, when I would save as divx, I would use vlc to play the file just out of habit. I have always noticed it didnt look as sharp as a raw mpeg file but thought that was just because the file was converted to divx and it lost a little quality due to switching the file over from mpeg to divx. But divx actually retains mpeg quality at a lower file size.

I did go a step further just to test a raw mpeg file with divx player vs vlc and quality was the same. Avi files seemed to play the same with both players as well. So just a heads up, if someone posts a divx file, try it with divx player and see if you notice a difference (all vids I post are divx). Just thought you guys would be interrested in knowing this.

Oh and the examples used. I did not take screen caps of those. I paused both vids next to each other and just did a print screen of my desktop and cropped them down, if that makes sense. Because I have noticed that when you do take caps using vlc, the cap DOES look the same as divx. But when played back it loses some quality.

Oh and dont think I didnt notice this

grrrrr

The .ts problem might have just been a particular file. Some files are recorded strange and certain players handle them better. There's really no one player you will be able to use for everything.

Just a note on playback....VLC doesn't have many settings for picture adjust, but other players do. DivX player is a great free, low resource player, but it only plays avi's and mpeg's. A quirk about DivX Player is that it doesn't recognize stretched pixels. Most of my videos are from a 480x480 source with a 4:3 pixels which should display as 4:3, but the player only recognizes the 480x480 resolution and it looks 1:1. I can force the aspect to 4:3 to make it look right, but it's tedious to keep doing it for every vid.

Actually vlc has adjustments for picture quality, but I never mess with it. Same with other players. The above examples I post was just a quick play without adjusting anything with either player. As I am sure you could adjust the picture quality to get it to look like the divx, the divx is playing at that great quality without any adjustments.

As you said about adjusting from different aspect ratios in divx, I would rather do that then have to adjust colors every time with another player. Now THAT would be tedious

If source is 480x480, then its 1:1 ratio and not 4:3. So divx is playing your file correctly. If it was true 4:3 it would be 640x480 wouldnt it? Regardless it would be tedious do have to adjust it from 1:1 to 4:3 every time. Wonder if there is a way to save it as 4:3 in divx preferences and it would force all vids to do that. That might help.

Curious why you are recording at 1:1 instead of 4:3?

Update I noticed when I do play my divx files they sometimes stretch out a little further than 4:3, not quite 16x9 but not exactly 4:3 so I do sometimes have to adjust it to 4:3. Funny thing is when I make divx files it gives me a horde of options for ratios, including two 4:3 ratios. One says US 4:3 and the other one just says 4:3. May try to do my next vids twice in each ratio and see how they turn out.

I don't record it by choice. Directv's feed is 480x480 and the DVR just records in the native resolution. The reason it displays at 4:3 is because the pixels are stretched. If you have 480x480 pixels, but the pixel shape is rectangle (4:3) instead of square 1:1 then it would display at 4:3. It's the providers' way of saving on bandwidth. That's why I always prefer OTA recordings even for SD shows because it's at the original resolution.

If you want to do the math you multiply the Storage Aspect Ratio (1:1: ) by the Pixel Aspect Ratio (4:3) to get the final Display Aspect Ratio. Another example is DVD's. The resolution is 720x480 which is 3:2, but the pixels are 8:9. The pixels are squeezed instead of stretched in this case. Multiplying them out you get 24:18 which is 4:3. You can also get 16:9 DVD's by stretching pixels instead of squeezing.

Here's a quick sample of they type of vid I'm working with. Play it with DivX player and it will looked square, but VLC plays and other players play it right.

2MB

http://www.mediafire.com/file/fyygqozwknj/AlySample.mpg

So you are saying Directv's feed is 480x480 and the DVR is recording at the native resolution and the dvr is causing the pixels to stretch to become 4:3 as opposed to the 1:1 (480x480)? Lets say Direct tv did not feed at 480x480 but at the 4:3 aspect ratio, would the pixels still be square?


So is OTA 4:3 by defualt or is it 1:1?

Just want to make sure Im understanding correctly, I think I do. I wasnt aware directv did that. So I guess that means most media players out there would be more concerned about ratio than pixels. Say vlc is just going to play at 4:3 or 16x9 (or whatever ratio) whereas divx is more concerned about pixels, as in these pixels have been stretch but need to be square, so divx forces the pixels square to make it 1:1 instead of 4:3

Let me see if I can clarify. Most codecs like mpeg-2 have 2 properties when it comes to video. There's the Storage Aspect Ratio (SAR) and the Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR). The SAR is the actual number of pixels in the picture. The PAR is the shape of the pixels. The combination of the 2 is what the Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) will be.

So...

You can get 4:3 in many different ways. Directv does it with a 1:1 SAR and 4:3 PAR. If they didn't care about bandwidth they could do a 4:3 SAR which would be 640x480 with a 1:1 square pixel PAR. DVD's use 3:2 SAR and an 8:9 PAR for 4:3. OTA in the US has to be in one of the NTSC formats. I've checked some SD shows, and it's 704x480 which is a 22:15 SAR and 10:11 PAR to get to a display of 4:3.

If the numbers don't make sense then just think of a combination of total quantity of pixels as and the shape of each pixel to give you final outcome.

So technically it's not the DVR that forces the aspect ratio, but it's just the properties of the vid that decides the final way it looks. That was the point I was originally getting at with DivX player is it doesn't recognize pixel shape and just playsback in the whatever the SAR is. That's why that sample vid I posted plays back square on it when it should be 4:3.

You can gspot to check the properties of the vids, and one of the things it lists is the SAR and DAR.

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Okay gotcha, just had it backwards. So divx is more concerned about the number of pixels (SAR) and could care less about the shape of the pixels (PAR). I knew about SAR and PAR, just got a little confused on which one divx was more concerned about.

But anyways yeah divx is pretty good. Those two examples are so different in quality. I wont watch any other divx files with anything else but divx player for now on though. They just dont look as great through vlc. But thats not a knock on vlc by any means, still a good player, especially for .ts and .mkv files