Old 03-19-2017, 06:32 PM   #1
Cableaddict
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,910
Default VIDEO RENDERING QUESTIONS

I am rendering video for the first time.

(Note, I run Reaper on Windows, but I edit video on a Mac, using Final Cut ProX.)

I have read a bunch of tutorials about this, enough to make me dizzy, and I’m making some progress. So far I can both view video in Reaper, and also render AVI format video to some extent, but I still have several issues. I’d rather not bloat those other threads. Hopefully someone can help me out here, directly.
=================================================

My Questions:


1: NEWEST VERSION OF FFMPEG?

- Do we even HAVE to still manually download & install this? the various wiki pages and tutorials are MADDENINGLY confusing.

I have installed a somewhat old version of FFmpeg, the one referenced in the first tutorial I read. It appears to be from 2012.

I downloaded the latest version of FFmpeg, v 3.2.4, but while this installer has all sorts of files & folders in it, there is no "BIN" folder, and no DLL's.

Can someone explain where I should be looking, or suggest a different, but current, download? I've also downloaded v 3..1, and that DOES have DLL files, but they are from April 2016.
———————————————

WHICH CODEC?

Here’s what works, and what doesn’t:

DV: Does not render at all.

MJPEG: I works fine with files at around 1 minute long, but rendered videos over 3 minutes long stutter badly when playing back.

FFV1: it renders, but the resultant video is black. (The audio does play.)

Huffyuv: This seems to work perfectly. The rendered file is very large. I assume this is because it’s uncompressed, yes?

Since I want to further edit my new videos in Final Cut Pro, I assume that using the lossless HuffYuv codec would be best, correct?
- but FCP does not accept AVI files, it needs MP4 types. Yet, when I choose to render MP4 in Reaper, there is no lossless codec available. The only choice, MJPEG, creates an even smaller files than the AVI / MPEG combo. This is not acceptable.

CAN THIS BE FIXED BY INSTALLING SOMETHING ELSE? PERHAPS SOMETHING FORM THE NEWEST FFmeg?

If not, is my only option to render as a lossless AVI, then convert the AVI to MP4 in my Mac, before importing it to FCPx?

————————————————

2: RENDER WITH 320K AUDIO?

I am trying to do some post on a few home-made "band performance" videos. My consumer camcorders only record audio at 128K. I can’t help that now, but after doing my audio tweaks, I’d like to render the NEW videos with audio at a higher rate. 320K, I guess. Most people now view videos from a computer or tablet, so I don’t see why this should be an issue.
- BUT I CAN’T:

I can currently render AVI video (which is fine) using three of the four visible codecs: MJPEG, FFV1, and Huffyuv. HOWEVER, I cannot select any audio bit rate other than 128K. The selector is greyed out.

Is this just the way it is, or could this be due to my using the 2012 version of FFmpeg?
———————————————

3: REPLACING THE AUDIO:

I want to replace one video’s camcorder audio, with wav that was simultaneously ecorded in a portable reaper rig. I DID manage to do this, but I want to make sure it’s the “proper” way. I’ve read of some other ways which are more complicated, and don’t let you view the new audio together with the video before rendering, which seems absurd.

What I did was: I put the new audio onto a separate track, below the video’s embedded audio. Because you can’t turn off the video track, I simply pulled the original audio’s level down to zero. I rendered my new video (again, to only 128K as I had no choice) with both tracks open, and it seems to work just fine.

So, is this OK? No potential issues?
Is there really a better way to do this?

————————————————

4: SESSION SAMPLE RATE?


If I load a video with 48K audio, into a session that is at 44.1K, then I render at 48K, is this a problem? (i.e. unwanted conversions) I assume that the session’s bit rate only affects audio recorded directly into that session, not imported audio, correct?

Also: Is it important to render a video with 48K audio? I know that’s the video standard, but except for commercial DVD’s, there’s no NEED for this, is there?

Last edited by Cableaddict; 03-19-2017 at 11:57 PM.
Cableaddict is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 09:44 AM   #2
Fran Guidry
Human being with feelings
 
Fran Guidry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Posts: 805
Default

Sounds like you downloaded the Static build rather than the Shared build. The Shared build makes the dll files available.

http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds

Select 3.2.4 / 64 or 32 bit to match your REAPER installation / Shared

That should get you the dll files.

Your approach to audio replacement works for me.

Once you have the shared libraries in place you should see the h.264 codec. As far as I know that's the highest quality render available for mp4/mov container.

I was able to choose 320 kbps aac for this render. I was also able to choose 24 bit PCM. Not sure if Final Cut will ingest a .mov with uncompressed audio, but it's worth a try.

Fran
Fran Guidry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 12:56 PM   #3
hopi
Human being with feelings
 
hopi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Right Hear
Posts: 15,618
Default

so Fran... when you dl that you get a zip file... that opens to a folder of other files...

do you put that whole folder into the reaper folder or what exactly?

thanks for step by step info for dummies!
__________________
...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl
https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva
hopi is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 02:02 PM   #4
hopi
Human being with feelings
 
hopi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Right Hear
Posts: 15,618
Default

oh maybe never mind I also got the static build but just went back to get the shared ver.
__________________
...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl
https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva
hopi is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 03:03 PM   #5
Cableaddict
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,910
Default

Thanks, Fran!

This is a good start.

-------------------------

Still hoping for answers to the rest of my query. Sadly, the WIKI article is badly out of date, and the sticky thread contains a lot of VERY old, out of date info.


We badly need a completely new tutorial, with nothing but 2017-correct info.
Cableaddict is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 03:07 PM   #6
Cableaddict
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,910
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by hopi View Post
so Fran... when you dl that you get a zip file... that opens to a folder of other files...

do you put that whole folder into the reaper folder or what exactly?

thanks for step by step info for dummies!


You only need 4 DLL's, which are found (along with other stuff) in a sub-folder titled "BIN."

The four are, as always, avcodec-xx.dll, avformat-xx.dll, avutil-xx.dll, and swscale-xx.dll. - The "xx" is the release number, which changes with time.

From what I can see, the most current DLL versions (from FFmpeg 3.2.4) are identical to those in 2016's FFmpeg version 3.0.1. So, currently:

▪ avcodec-57.dll
▪ avformat-57.dll
▪ avutil-55.dll
▪ swscale-4.dll
===============================

### UPDATE:

this info, which came from various online sources, is INCORRECT.
You actually need ALL of the DLL's.

See further below in this thread.

Last edited by Cableaddict; 04-04-2017 at 11:07 PM.
Cableaddict is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 03:21 PM   #7
hopi
Human being with feelings
 
hopi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Right Hear
Posts: 15,618
Default

thanks for that addict... I did have older versions in there so maybe these will be better
__________________
...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl
https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva
hopi is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 12:10 PM   #8
cretaceous
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 122
Default

Cableaddict - sorry no experience here, but I have a thing I want to do with video/audio and haven't decided between After Effects (which I know) or Reaper.

Why can't you do everything in FCP?
Or if you have to process the audio in Reaper, can't you output full length lossless audio for each video file, and do a replace on the audio in FCP?
cretaceous is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.