What's new in VidToDisc 1.2 20100121
Jan 22, 2010
- Happy New Year 2010! VidToDisc 1.2 "Deshake" release !
- I am finally releasing a new version 1.2 of VidToDisc. This version has the three following main focuses:
- improving and correcting the capture and the process workflows (non modal capture, final audio synchro, file merging speed, conversion tools improvements...)
- adding a new software video deshaking feature! To summarize, it will give a near pro look to your hand-held videos!
- ensuring Windows Seven compatibility (tested on a 64 bits version).
- VidToDisc stays ascending compatible, that is, you can still open older projects with the new version.
- Deshaking
- The deshaking was implemented using the Deshaker filter from Gunnar Thalin. It was included in the process at a very early stage, within the Capture process, and not as a later Effect filter. The reasons are the following:
- this filter takes care of every details of each particular source type (SD/HD, DV, PAL, NTSC,...even the "Rolling Shutter" effect of CMOS sensors),
- it deshakes at the full source definition limiting the details loss (in the HD case, you loose field of view due to filter zoom, but hardly details, as the final video is produced into a HD Ready 720p format),
- at last, it performs internally the necessary post-processing, i.e. the de-interlacing, the frame doubling and the resizing.
- Note that if you use a Canon camcorder from the HV series (HV10, HV20, HV30 and HV40), you are in luck as I did a special init script for them (file "hv30_init.avs"). I input there the levels and gamma corrections according to this post on HV20.com (answer #215 from RedSandro) and I input in the deshaking parameters, the "Rolling Shutter" amount I computed (79%).
- There is now a new column in the Edit grid for the clip Deshaking state (column "Deshake", possible states: "ON" or "OFF"). In the "Settings..." box, a new check button "Deshaking" tells the software to compute the deshaking during the Capture session. If not checked, the captured clips are made with their "Deshake" state to "OFF", leading to the usual behavior (no deshaking). You can then set this value to "ON" if you want to deshake a particular clip afterward.
- All the new information about deshaking was gathered in the Deshaking article.
- Windows 7
- With the new Microsoft OS, Windows Seven, I had to make some modifications and corrections in order the software to work:
- the user's folders must be in the user's space (in the "My Documents" folder). Allowing the user to write into a "Program Files" folder was not a good idea anyway. These folders are: temp, tools, user and the default "capture" and the default "video" folders.
- the OS memory management changed and I need to upgrade to AviSynth 2.5.8. To help you in this (straigthforward) upgrade, use the button "2.1) Install AviSynth", in the VidToDisc Post Install Setup utility program.
- As always, you can read the Changelog and take the software from the Download article. Remember to upgrade to AviSynth 2.5.8 during the install!
- Hoping this new version will please you again!
New in VidToDisc 1.1 20090625 (Jun 26, 2009)
- Still here? Here are some news at last. I struggled for months with VidToDisc to get it as stable as I could and to add new capabilities. Indeed I made two quite important additions to VidToDisc so I decided to increment its minor version: VidToDisc is now in version 1.1! These two features are the following:
- the software gets now a new "camera files capture" capability. Its first goal is to allow the input of video files from digital cameras.
- the software gets an help boxes mechanism, with preview, for all filters (Replace, Effect, and Transition). This is a "plugins" system ; for instance, if the plugin library (dll) for a given Effect filter is present, you will get an help box when double-clicking in a the "Arguments" column cell in the Effects grid for a clip. I think it greatly helps the filters use and may encourage their development (see the article How to develop a filter help box).
New in VidToDisc 1.0 20090116 (Jan 19, 2009)
- Edit grid: adding the missing Effect column tooltip.
- Effect column: a text without a trailing comma (effect with no argument) issued an exception. Corrected.
- Replace, Effect and Transition boxes: the unknown filters were discarded and replaced by a default one. Corrected: the filter is added to the list.
- Transition box: Erasing the current filter, will now default to "Dissolve" filter, like expected.
- Boxes with grid(s): Last edited row was discarded when clicking on the "OK" button. The line is now correctly saved.
- The filters list available in filters boxes were cleaned and completed.
- Effect function VID_Pixellate: correction of a bug when tile size value leads to a bad resize.
- Effect functions VID_BlackAndWhite and VID_Sepia: correction with a color matrix problem.
- Effect function VID_SteadyNightSky: new filter that freezes crawling dots when the gain is high.
- Effect function VID_CorrectColors: new filter that corrects a wrong white balance.
- Vid2Disc: its "Setting" box now closes with an "OK" button (instead of "Quit").
- The french title of the edit group box has a missing acute accent (!)
New in VidToDisc 1.0 20081228 (Jan 6, 2009)
- I got few hours to work on VidToDisc so I was able to correct some problems people at doom9 found:
- Problem after installation with VirtualDub (allow to see clips when hitting the "Play" button): the default executable name was wrong (I left there "VirtualDubMod.exe" as default, a VirtualDub fork I previously used). It is now "VirtualDub.exe" as expected. I also tested installation at a non-default directory and it worked well.
- Misleading "Quit" button labels: on various boxes the "Quit" button is changed into "OK", otherwise the user could think he is closing the application using the button.
- Application crash corrected when Playing/Viewing script on the "empty" clip row (before any capture occured).