On the other hand, it has new bugs. Ones I haven't figured out. Here they are, in order, with files to demonstrate where I can.
Direct-from-MPEG2 Source
WMM6 can import VOB and MPEG files directly! Woo hoo! However, I found that they become terribly out-of-sync as you navigate the timeline. The audio will always be in sync with the video, but say I go frame-by-frame to 1:00. I then split there because there's a scene change. If I rewind and play from the beginning, the end of the clip (where I split) will be AFTER the scene change rather than right on it.
This is not just a DVD problem, as I originally suspected. I imported an MPEG-2 file from a Sony camcorder that was on my hard drive and it had the exact same issue.
Anyone have experience? Is there a way to fix this, or should I just go back to using AVIsynth scripts to make HuffYUV clips? It'd be neat to edit from DVD directly though...
I don't have files as examples as I can't demonstrate this except in the program itself. If any of you have Vista, try popping a DVD into the drive and importing one of the VOB files. Then try to edit it frame-by-frame. You'll see what I mean... probably.
HuffYUV and XviD Source Part 1
Hurrah! This is what I've been using since the XP days. But for whatever reason, it's not working right in Vista. For one thing, when I imported my old project, it would preview perfectly in WMM6. But once the movie was created, it became distorted. Examples:
Source is originally from DVD, exported to 640x480 HuffYUV clip.
Source is originally from DVD, exported to 640x480 HuffYUV clip. No idea why the border is different.
Source is 120 FPS XviD encode, 704x396. Is not HuffYUV.
The weirdest part is that the XviD encode has the exact same problem.
FIX DISCOVERED. If I turn "FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" on in Compatibility, this problem vanishes. However, upon encoding a video I get hundreds of little FFDShow notification icons. This is annoying (but I can just disable the icons). Why do the DirectShow codecs work fine but the VfW ones don't? This is totally backwards from the XP days when DS would crash WMM.
HuffYUV Source Part 2
Once I got the above working I put together some clips and exported. To my shock and horror, the reds were not quite red and the backgrounds were faded. Here is an example:
Original huffYUV clip.
Encoded video.
This happened with pretty much everything. Drove me insane.
FIX DISCOVERED. I was using the "DVD Encode" function. When I use Scintilla's "VHQ" profile instead, the problem vanished. Why the heck does the encoding profile affect the colors? That's stupid, Microsoft. I shouldn't have to encode in near-lossless just to preserve my colors!!
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In short, WMM6 is a wonderful program. But as per usual, it brings its own share of bugs. Hopefully someone knows the answer to the DVD/MPEG2 thing, because no random experimentation I've been doing fixes it...
