Ok, so, I did a search and read through about 3 pages of the some 25 that popped up, and noticed they're all the same... but my problem's a little different.
I made about a 4 minute AMV in Premiere Elements 3.0. When I exported it with the default Cinepack codec and saw that it was 800 something mbs, I wasn't really all that surprised... I had to compress it. But this is where things get ugly.
-Exporting the file with Cinepack made it unrecognizable with VirtualDubMod. It refused to even attempt to open it, saying that it requires a Video for Windows compatible codec and can't use DirectShow codecs.
-Exporting the video in Huffyuv just doesn't work. 2gb file of un-sync'd trash with trashy pixels at the top, where VDM just crashes about 20 seconds into compressing the file.
-Exporting directly in XviD made APE3 crash before even rendering 1 frame.
-FFDShow (XviD) made a 750mb .avi that crashed VDM just by browsing to it. Trying to drag and drop the file crashed Windows Explorer every single time I opened the folder. Using the MPEG2 option made an AVI that played like a normal MP3 in WMP and wasn't recognized in VDM. Changing the extension to MPEG did absolutely nothing... it was still a 181mb MP3.
I've tried all of these methods with different settings at least 10 or 12 times. Every single time, the file is either unreadable, crashes VDM, or is horribly out of sync with the music. The only thing that's worked is exporting with the built-in Cinepak codec, but that isn't recognized in VDM or anything. It'll play just fine in WMV/zPlayer, but it's 800mbs, and I can't distribute that. The only things I haven't tried are exporting in FFDShow with MPEG4 filter (next thing I'm trying), using the Lagarith codec (attempt after that), and with the Cinepack codec using the Square Pixel aspect ratio (which I don't think will do a thing).
Honestly, I've just about given up on this. I've received lots of compliments on it (even if it is my first) from my friends when I tossed the DVD around so I want to share it with everyone, but I can't seem to compress it to post online or anything.
The clip is 3:36. I've tried the Microsoft AVI and DV AVI file types. Default FPS is 29.97, but I've tried encoding at 23.976 as well. I've tried resolutions of 720x480 (native) and 640x480. I use Square Pixels for the Aspect Ratio, though I tried a few times with D1/DV NTSC but I think it's a lost cause.
I've tried to follow the A&E Technical Guide up until the compressing stage, but it's rather out-dated, and I've had to experiment with the extra settings. Outside of APE3, I follow the guide's instructions to the letter, and the issues seem to be occurring between exporting and compressing. I know it's not hard drive space, because I have at least 50gbs on the drive, and another 200gbs for storage. I've un-installed and re-installed the AMVapp suite some 3 or 4 times.
While I'm not an idiot when it comes to computers, I'm extremely new at this, so if someone could give me some sort of a Reader's Digest step-by-step guide on how they get AMV's exported for distribution through APE3, I would be extremely grateful.
TIA





