Canopus codec: Use it for all my DV footage?

[frenchFry]

Hello,

I own the ADVC110 and captured about 50 hours of footage to my PC using WinDV. The captured video has a FourCC ID of DVSD which I am able to decode using a couple of different codecs. Unfortunately I would like to use the Canopus DV codec for these files however it only decodes DV files with a FourCC ID of CDVC.

I know there are utilities that can easily change the FourCC ID of a file but I would rather simply have the Canopus codec be associated with DVSD. I tried modifying my registry to associate the Canopus codec with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32\vidc.dvsd but that didn't work.

What do I need to modify in order to associate my DVSD files with the Canopus DV codec?

[GrassValley_BH]

If you're using EDIUS or ProCoder it'll automatically use the Canopus DV codec for decoding DVSD (Microsoft DV) AVIs.

DVSD AVIs are more universally-compatible since they are "known" by other applications and even platforms as AVI files containing DV data. The same is unfortunately not true to CDVC (Canopus DV) AVIs.

[frenchFry]

Hi Brandon,

I only own the Canopus ADVC110 however I would like to use the Canopus decoder codec to open these AVI files. It works if I manually modify the FourCC code in the DV files to CDVC.

Are you saying there isn't a way to associate the Canopus decoder codec with AVI files that have a FourCC codec of DVSD?

[GrassValley_BH]

Not that I know of... but Microsoft fixed the DV codec back in Dx8 or so, so unless you have a really pressing need to use the Canopus DV codec for decoding, it's not really worth the effort or added incompatibility.

[frenchFry]

Hmm. Ok, well the reason I wanted to do it was because the Canopus codec was the only one that worked with my NLE and MPEG2 encoder for some reason. My other DVSD codecs seem to cause everything to crash during editing/encoding.

Oh well... Thanks for the info!

[GrassValley_BH]

Ahh I see... Interesting. What NLE are you using?

[THoff]

If you've ever installed one of those dreadful "codec packs" that are floating around the Internet, that may well be the cause of the crashes. Those "codec packs" take a jumble of free and not-so-free codecs that are sometimes conflicting and cobble them together in a single monolithic install. The emphasis seems to be on claiming support for every single audio and video format ever devised and outdoing the other guys doing the same thing.

You may want to get Headbands GSpot or Sherlock the Codec Detective and let them try to diagnose your system for codec problems. Fixing them may be as simple as manually re-registering codecs that are partially installed or whose registry entries were damaged by other codecs, or by unregistering and removing buggy codecs from the system.

[frenchFry]

I have tried to avoid the codec packs however I did have ffdshow installed for a while. I have since uninstalled it and am only using Cedocida to decode my Type-2 DV files. GSpot does indeed confirm that Cedocida is doing the decoding of my DV files.

I am using aviSynth/VirtualDub and CCE Encoder in my editing/encoding process. This is just a home movie conversion project so I don't have much money to spend on more expensive tools unfortunately.

The problem crops up during the encoding process while using the Cedocida codec for DV decoding. When I modify the DV file to look like a CDVC file (and thus use the Canopus codec) then the encoding works fine.

[THoff]

The problem crops up during the encoding process while using the Cedocida codec for DV decoding. When I modify the DV file to look like a CDVC file (and thus use the Canopus codec) then the encoding works fine.

And the same files play fine in Windows Media Player and make it through the decode stages in GSpot (using the 1-2-3 buttons in the lower left)?

[GrassValley_BH]

Last time I used VirtualDub, it loaded Microsoft DV AVIs fine - without any additional codecs installed. What version of VirtualDub are you using?

[frenchFry]

Last time I used VirtualDub, it loaded Microsoft DV AVIs fine - without any additional codecs installed. What version of VirtualDub are you using?

Actually it is interesting you mentioned that...

VirtualDub has an internal DV decompressor it uses to decompress 'dvsd' files. If I try to open the captured DV AVI files (that came directly out of my ADVC110) the file opens just fine.

My problem is that I am using aviSynth to edit the DV file first and essentially "frame serve" to VirtualDub. I do not have a decode DV codec installed that handles 'dvsd' so aviSynth complains that it doesn't know what to do with 'dvsd' files.

If I tell aviSynth to open the DV file with a FourCC code of 'CDVC' it works perfectly because I have the Canopus decode codec installed.

I guess my only choice is to force aviSynth to use the CDVC code instead of the dvsd code.

Finally, does anyone know if the current Canopus DV decode codec still suffers from the chroma upsampling bug?

[frenchFry]

Actually it is interesting you mentioned that...

VirtualDub has an internal DV decompressor it uses to decompress 'dvsd' files. If I try to open the captured DV AVI files (that came directly out of my ADVC110) the file opens just fine.

My problem is that I am using aviSynth to edit the DV file first and essentially "frame serve" to VirtualDub. I do not have a decode DV codec installed that handles 'dvsd' so aviSynth complains that it doesn't know what to do with 'dvsd' files.

If I tell aviSynth to open the DV file with a FourCC code of 'CDVC' it works perfectly because I have the Canopus decode codec installed.

I guess my only choice is to force aviSynth to use the CDVC code instead of the dvsd code.

Finally, does anyone know if the current Canopus DV decode codec still suffers from the chroma upsampling bug?

Does anyone know an answer to this question or a way to test for it?

[GrassValley_BH]

AFAIK, the current decode codec does not suffer from the bug.