Corel Video Studio and codec visibility issues?

[BruceOlsen]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Trying to edit a test clip with Corel VideoStudio (on sale now for usd 49.99 for the 2020 Ultimate version). I'm planning on editing the clips multiple times.

Clip was captured on PC#1 in Vdub, compressed with huffyuv, and copied to PC#2 for testing the new VideoStudio setup. I installed C:\WINDOWS\system32\huffyuv.dll on PC#2, but frankly it was so long ago I don't know if it's the 32-bit or 64-bit.

Mediainfo verifies the captured test clip FourCC is YUY2 but when I go to save the clip (after a trim and some audio tweaking) I didn't see huffyuv as an alternative... only "Intel YUV" ... what am I doing wrong?

The clip does save OK, and seems to play the same (to my untrained eye), and re-imports OK but Mediainfo reports a number of differences. I pasted the MediaInfo reports below.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Original captured clip:
--------------------------------------------------
General
Complete name                            : C:\Users\Bruce\Tape Cap Tests\Cheapo1.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 328 MiB
Duration                                 : 18 s 467 ms
Overall bit rate                         : 149 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : YUY2
Codec ID/Info                            : YUV 4:2:2 as for UYVY but with different component ordering within the u_int32 macropixel
Duration                                 : 18 s 467 ms
Bit rate                                 : 147 Mb/s
Width                                    : 640 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:2
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 16.000
Stream size                              : 325 MiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : 1
Duration                                 : 18 s 467 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 411.2 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 3.11 MiB (1%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 972  ms (29.16 video frames)

Intel YUV Saved Clip:
-------------------------------------------------
General
Complete name                            : C:\Users\Bruce\Tape Cap Tests\CheapoIntelIYUV.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 277 MiB
Duration                                 : 18 s 485 ms
Overall bit rate                         : 126 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : YUV
Codec ID                                 : IYUV
Codec ID/Info                            : Intel Indeo iYUV 4:2:0
Duration                                 : 18 s 485 ms
Bit rate                                 : 124 Mb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 3:2
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 12.000
Stream size                              : 274 MiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : 1
Duration                                 : 18 s 467 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 3.38 MiB (1%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 500  ms (14.97 video frames)

-- merged --

Sorry -- in the above post I didn't mean to include the Intel YUV, because I know it's compressed.

VideoStudio gave me one uncompressed export option, called "uncompressed" which I hoped would be huffyuv, but it wasn't. How do I tell if VideoStudio can see the right codec?

Here's the MediaInfo for the file that option created. I's in RGB instead of YUV (which is OK as long as I don't have any illegal colors...?) I chose 24 bit color depth (the max) which I assume is necessary..

Uncompressed:
--------------------------------------------------
General
Complete name                            : C:\Users\Bruce\Tape Cap Tests\CheapoUncompressed.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 551 MiB
Duration                                 : 18 s 485 ms
Overall bit rate                         : 250 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : RGB
Codec ID                                 : 0x00000000
Codec ID/Info                            : Basic Windows bitmap format. 1, 4 and 8 bpp versions are palettised. 16, 24 and 32bpp contain raw RGB samples
Duration                                 : 18 s 485 ms
Bit rate                                 : 249 Mb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 3:2
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : RGB
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 24.000
Stream size                              : 548 MiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : 1
Duration                                 : 18 s 467 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 3.38 MiB (1%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 500  ms (14.97 video frames)

-- merged --

I obviously had some misconceptions when I posted the above, which I learned via re-reading a bunch of other posts and experimenting some more. I'd delete it if I could. I'm going to try again with another post.

[lordsmurf]

So ... what did you end up doing differently?

[BruceOlsen]

Thanks for checking in, LS.

My initial screwup was discovered after reviewing the various 32- and 64-bit Windows libraries: I realized that I'd never properly installed HuffYUV. I didn't debug the situation completely but the 32- and/or 64-bit versions were in the wrong-bitness libraries. So all my files were literally uncompressed and neither HuffYUV (nor Lagarith, installed as a test) were visible to Video Studio. I think Windows can natively play HuffYUV and Lagarith files so I initially assumed everything was just fine.

I captured 50 uncompressed tapes that way. 3 cheers for massive HDDs.

To repair, I deleted everything I could find related to either codec, and decided not to use the .exe "installers" or any install scripts. Instead, I

-- downloaded HuffYUV 32-bit
-- moved the 32-bit huffyuv.dll and huffyuv.inf files to C:\HuffYUV32 (they could be located anywhere, but this is a nice short path name)
-- started an elevated command prompt (detail below for anyone finding this in a search)
-- ran the following command
rundll32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\setupapi.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 0 C:\HuffYUV32\huffyuv.inf

And done.

for 64-bit (which VirtalStudio requires)I used a similar setup, except I issued
rundll32 C:\Windows\System32\setupapi.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 0 C:\HuffYUV64\huffyuv.inf
The same command with slightly different operands. Similarly for Lagarith.

Now everything works

This technique is documented a variety of places, with various tweaks based on user preference,

For anyone finding this, you start an elevated cmd prompt by
-- clicking once on the search button (or the window) on the lower left of the Windows task bar
--typing run
-- clicking the right-arrow next to "Command Prompt" in the Apps portion of the resulting display
-- choosing "Run as Administrator"

Happy trails...

[ehbowen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BruceOlsen

Thanks for checking in, LS.

My initial screwup was discovered after reviewing the various 32- and 64-bit Windows libraries: I realized that I'd never properly installed HuffYUV. I didn't debug the situation completely but the 32- and/or 64-bit versions were in the wrong-bitness libraries. So all my files were literally uncompressed and neither HuffYUV (nor Lagarith, installed as a test) were visible to Video Studio. I think Windows can natively play HuffYUV and Lagarith files so I initially assumed everything was just fine.

I captured 50 uncompressed tapes that way. 3 cheers for massive HDDs.

To repair, I deleted everything I could find related to either codec, and decided not to use the .exe "installers" or any install scripts. Instead, I

-- downloaded HuffYUV 32-bit
-- moved the 32-bit huffyuv.dll and huffyuv.inf files to C:\HuffYUV32 (they could be located anywhere, but this is a nice short path name)
-- started an elevated command prompt (detail below for anyone finding this in a search)
-- ran the following command
rundll32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\setupapi.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 0 C:\HuffYUV32\huffyuv.inf

And done.

for 64-bit (which VirtalStudio requires)I used a similar setup, except I issued
rundll32 C:\Windows\System32\setupapi.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 0 C:\HuffYUV64\huffyuv.inf
The same command with slightly different operands. Similarly for Lagarith.

Now everything works

This technique is documented a variety of places, with various tweaks based on user preference,

For anyone finding this, you start an elevated cmd prompt by
-- clicking once on the search button (or the window) on the lower left of the Windows task bar
--typing run
-- clicking the right-arrow next to "Command Prompt" in the Apps portion of the resulting display
-- choosing "Run as Administrator"

Happy trails...

For those of us who installed HuffyUV (and Lagarith) via the install utility (and therefore probably have it in the wrong place), where do we need to look to delete the existing installed files in order to try again?

[BruceOlsen]

One-eyed man here, but I'll do what I can...

First, don't cause problems for yourself. The install utility typically installs the bitness version that matches your OS' bitness, so your setup may be correct. If your NLE sees HuffYUV and/or Lagarith as compression codecs (and renders a readable file), you should leave well enough alone. If not, or if you need 32 and 64 on the same machine, it's probably best to delete everything and be sure.

1. First, check installed programs. I use the free "Revo Uninstaller", which shows both 32- and 64-bit installed versions of both codecs when everything is set up correctly. A screen shot is attached. Windows only shows one entry for each codec and doesn't say whether it's 32- or 64. MS continues to dumb down Windows.

2. If any are shown, uninstall them with revo. Use Revo's "Advanced" scanning mode so it deletes everything it finds (which won't be much). If not, don't sweat it.

3. Look in C:\Windows\System32 for huffyuv.dll and lagarith.dll and delete them (these are the 64-bit versions). If you knew where the .inf file was located you could uninstall them by running a command, but I don't happen to know the command. If someone else does, chime in.

4. Similarly, look in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 for the 32-bit version and delete them if you find them.

5. I rebooted after that

6. Then I ran the free "CCleaner" and cleaned the registry after that. Keep running scans until it finds no issues.

7. I rebooted again

8. I'd had codec issues for a long time, and was pretty fed up by this point so I pulled out all the stops and launched regedit (the MS command) and searched for huffyuv and lagarith to see if there was anything leftover in the registry. I don't recall if I found anything (I may have) and if I did I'd have deleted the entry. I'm comfy with certain registry edits, but if you're not DO NOT DO IT because you can hose your PC. If I deleted something I'd have rebooted, and then rerun CCleaner again until nothing showed up. I may have downloaded and run a couple of other registry cleanup apps by this time, out of desperation, but it was probably unnecessary).

9. Install the 4 codecs.

10. Review with Revo (once after each codec install if you like)

When you're done the video editor will see the codecs as well (Corel VideoStudio in my case) and let you choose them for compression.

I also changed the default app for .avi files to be Windows Media Player (which plays both HuffYUV and Lagarith files) rather than that awful app "Movies & TV", which can't. It's a simple way to review the file after it's been rendered. You can use VLC if you prefer.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

First, don't cause problems for yourself.
If your NLE sees HuffYUV and/or Lagarith as compression codecs (and renders a readable file), you should leave well enough alone.

Yes.

[ehbowen]

Well, VideoStudio reads HuffyUV and Lagarith well enough, but it doesn't see them as exportable codecs. So I'll plan to sit down and follow your (very nice!) detailed recommendations in the near future. Thanks again!