What more do I need to make 5DII videos work???

[Blue S2]

Hey everyone...
I have been having a hard time with my 1080P videos!

System:
Intel Core 2 Duo
4gb ram
XP Pro
ATI 512mb HD card (4800 series that recognizes 1080P)
Lots of fast hard drives
System is optimized for graphics and is not used for anything else
(all drivers up to date as far as I know)

I run CS4 suite, I have Sony Vegas, ans well as Adobe Premiere Elements.

Basically the standard files from the 5DII work fine. The 1080P files either skip, ALOT, or do not play correctly. However they play fine in camera, and play fine if I send them out to a TV.

I updated to the latest version of Quicktime, and now quick time crashes every time I try to play the videos. I fully uninstalled and reinstalled quicktime twice and still nothing.

VLC won't even play the 5DII videos at all. Same issue inside any of the video editing programs.

What could possibly be preventing this from running??? Even short clips won't play. In the mean time I work with massive 1gb panoramic files and edit and render effects, etc... on them very quickly! Thanks!

[twofruitz]

There are many things that could be the problem. I would recommend a re-install of Windows as the cheapest and easiest option. Spyware and general pc crap can cause a pc to slow down enough to stop 1080P movies from working properly.

Your next option is to upgrade to a 64 bit operating system. This will enhance your video "bottleneck" and will also utilise your 4gb Ram. I would also make your working directory in the C drive; and then transfer the files off that to the other drives once they are done.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Blue S2]

I have no spyware and all that stuff as this computer is strictly graphics. It doesn't "browse the web." I don't run general PC programs or have extras running. Only graphics.

My C: drive is operating system only.
Programs run from a separate dedicated drive.
All files are stored on separate internal drives.
All drives are 7200rpm SATA.

Everything is kept clean, fully defraged every couple days.

I will be building a 64 bit machine either late this year or next. Right now I have the 3G command line enabled so I can use 3gb. If I go 64 I will be using a lot more than 4gb!

I also have a dedicated machine for audio production, and "two general use." None of these machines will play back a file. I figured the normal ones because I have all my internet protection stuff on them, etc... But a dedicated machine?!

Could this really be a windows issue?

[BrantG]

From what I've been reading, these MOV files are extremely processor intensive due to the high bandwidth (around 40mb/sec) that the files are encoded at. I had a dual core laptop with dedicated video card and I had choppy playback of the videos.

I recently built a new machine using the i7 processor, 12GB of memory and a nVidia 260 graphics card. The videos now play extremely smooth. However when trying to edit them in Adobe Premier CS4, the videos start to play back choppy.

I've seen it thrown around that Adobe has some issues with their products, Quicktime isn't designed to run as well on a PC..etc. I'm not sure who is right. While I believe h264 was the best codec to use, I'm wondering if they went overboard on using 40mb/s. Most Blu-rays don't even come close to that.

[twofruitz]

It's unfortunate that the speed of video technology is moving faster than home PC's.

You need something crazy to be able to edit a movie of large size.

[Blue S2]

That's amazing. I have been around audio for years. Now we are streaming huge multisample libraries through RAM and eat through hard drives for lunch! Mandatory defrags daily! Multitrack audio at insane bit rates...constant data write, playback, erase, edit, etc... all happening at once!

I am amazed that I can do all that stuff on machines I thought were under-equipped, yet still gave professional results. No problem.

This video stuff is insane! I can't justify building a system for video since I don't really have use for it at the moment. We'll see...

[Zepher]

the 5D clips play fine on my machine using Zoom Player. I currently have a GTX 260 SSC in my machine. Sending it in to get a GTX 285.

[Jesse Webb]

buy a macbook pro ;) sorry - but it works fine on my machine.

[echo]

buy a macbook pro ;) sorry - but it works fine on my machine.

Same on my iMac.

I guess it may be something simple such as you're on NTSC drop frame or PAL or something that is causing a mismatch. Could be that you have audio at 48k etc etc....

Final Cut 6 recognizes a new format being plonked on the time line and asks if you'd like to have it set itself for that. I don't know if Vegas makes it that simple?

Are you streaming the video from a USB drive? That will cause issues if it's not reading fast enough. In my old Windows video editing days the swapfile used to be an issue. Is video writing/reading from the system disk? Etc etc etc...

Even Mac's aren't perfect but I'm finding very few hassles compared to the Hell I had to put up with Bill Gates' system.

[BrantG]

Same on my iMac.

I guess it may be something simple such as you're on NTSC drop frame or PAL or something that is causing a mismatch. Could be that you have audio at 48k etc etc....

Final Cut 6 recognizes a new format being plonked on the time line and asks if you'd like to have it set itself for that. I don't know if Vegas makes it that simple?

Are you streaming the video from a USB drive? That will cause issues if it's not reading fast enough. In my old Windows video editing days the swapfile used to be an issue. Is video writing/reading from the system disk? Etc etc etc...

Even Mac's aren't perfect but I'm finding very few hassles compared to the Hell I had to put up with Bill Gates' system.

Don't blame Bill Gates. He isn't the one responsible. PC are much more powerful in terms of hardware than Macs. I believe the responsibility falls on the programs not utilizing hardware or problems with the h264 codec used and not being correctly understood on the PC. Which would mean a software problem(not windows) in both senses.

[osv]

part of the problem is working with a mac format(.mov) on a windows pc... apple did a less than perfect job of cross-compatibility, google up "quicktime gamma shift" for more info.

the smartest thing that pc users can do is to bail out on the mac format b.s., and transcode the 5d footage to a lossless intermediate codec that can be played back easily... cineform neo scene is only $129, you can take a look at it for free with the trial evaluation... the "crushed blacks" that he is referring to is the qt gamma shift garbage, it was incredibly stupid of canon to record the video in the .mov format:
================================================== ======
We have uploaded a new release of Neo Scene today that handles the camera's dynamic range in a much or convenient way, avoiding those crush blacks and clipped highlights. We have extended the trial another 7-days for those who have tried the tool before.

Neo Scene
__________________
David Newman
web: www.cineform.com
blog: cineform.blogspot.com
http://cineform.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-canon-5d-mk-ii-support-with-neo.html

[mellowd]

Don't be so quick to reinstall Windows!

The solution is right here:

http://www.snappertalk.com/index.php/20090129/5d-mkii-video-playback-with-vlc/

Blog Main Site Photographs Multimedia Video AP Contact
January 29th, 2009
5D MkII Video playback with VLC
Posted by Ben in Imaging, Multimedia, Software


The Canon EOS 5D MkII can shoot video in either 640×480 (VGA) or 1920×1080 (1080P, Full HD) resolution, both encoded with H.264 video compression. Playing video files in the former is easy, but the sheer amount of data that needs to be processed with 1920×1080 resolution can tax even quite modern computers.
VLC has been my video player of choice for many years as it is free, open-source, and will play virtually everything you can throw at it - but disappointingly I couldn’t get it to play 5D MkII videos without major stuttering or no playback at all.

Thanks to this post on the Photography Within blog, I’ve now found a trick that enables VLC to play these files very smoothly - you just have to change one setting:

Go to Tools > Preferences
In the lower left of the box click the checkbox “Show settings - All”
Then go to Input & Codecs > Other Codecs > FFmpeg and look for the option called “Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding”
Change it from “none” to “all”
Restart VLC

I’ve tried it on Windows and it works great. I would imagine it would also work for Mac in the same way.

[Blue S2]

BINGO!

Instant FIX! Now my videos don't even take more than a second to load up and play perfectly!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Before this, the videos would take forever to load as well. I figured it was due to the 300+ mb size. Now with the VLC option set, videos open and play instantly!

Now its time to get an editor reinstalled on here and start making some music videos!


Don't be so quick to reinstall Windows!

The solution is right here:

http://www.snappertalk.com/index.php/20090129/5d-mkii-video-playback-with-vlc/

[mellowd]

BINGO!

Instant FIX! Now my videos don't even take more than a second to load up and play perfectly!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Before this, the videos would take forever to load as well. I figured it was due to the 300+ mb size. Now with the VLC option set, videos open and play instantly!

Now its time to get an editor reinstalled on here and start making some music videos!


Glad it worked. This should really be a sticky somewhere...

[JBaz]

OMG, fixed it for me. It works fine on my main computer, but everything else didn't work good, now they all do. Thanks!

[Blue S2]

What a random option to adjust. I never would have thought of that. Funny, the latest Quicktime just crashes with the 5D2 videos.

[JBaz]

yeah same here, QT sucks and .MOV is stupid format

[srk1103]

I'm glad to see that people are finding fixes for this problem. I wanted to warm people that when getting into HD video the biggest bottle neck is bandwidth from the hard drive. Anything over 60-70megibits/second will have problems in playback. That means that if you have an uncompressed HD source you will probably not be able to play back on a standard home pc or mac. You could also run into this problem if you had 2 or more layers of video that you are trying to play back in a NLE like premier or FCP (that is assuming that the above post about these files being 40mb/sec bitrate, I don't know because I haven't looked at these files). The only solution is RAID. By combining multiple drives together you can get your speeds up as high as 800mb/sec.

This is just something for you guys might want to think about if you are going to be doing any real productions with the 5D MarkII

[JBaz]

They also have Flash based hard drives that are just made for these kinds of production. They are only getting cheaper and faster. The biggest bottleneck at that point is the I/O interface chip that communicates between the motherboard and the actual bits on the drive.

[Super-Nicko]

i just installed VLC player - which is playing back my converted h264 files much nicer than anything else (i did that little tweak)

i find that premiere pro cs3 when editing - has choppy playback and editing - although it spits out files that are just fine - when playing back at normal speed i seem to see only about half the normal frame rate although audio sounds the same... i find this the same with any editing package...

im on a quad core 2.4ghz vista 64 8gig ram and an ATi HD4870 video card.... i really would have thought id get seamless editing too - one of these days will do a clean install...

it still spits out nicely edited vids tho - i just wish when i edited it was seamless... ah well the end result is worth it - and i havent done any 5d2 vid in a while... just looked at some of my intial edits and its re-inspired me!

[osv]

nice tip, mellowd, it works for avchd also.

the "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding" is a deblocking filter, so there is a possibility that your picture quality could take a hit when doing this... just keep it in mind.

[TinmansZ]

subscribing

Just got my 5D Mark II lots to learn.

[anu]

I am an aspiring photographer and intend to make short films and photo Journal book and therefore bought a canon EOS 5d mark 2 recently . I attended a basic photography workshop, but the camera has so many features, it's kind of hard to self learn. Wondering if someone can point me to photography workshops, as well as EOS 5d mark 2 video workshops offered in London, New york city or Mumbai in India. As a newcomer to both the forum and the media, I would really appreciate any help..
Thanks,
Anu

[Blue S2]

Best thing to do is forget the features. Put it on manual mode for stills and learn the old fashion way. Shutter, Aperture, and ISO still respond the same way. So learning their interaction as well as classical art composition, etc... will help.

Video is video. Courses for motion picture should still build basics.

[TinmansZ]

Thanks MellowD for the link, my videos were jerking really bad. Works great now, Thank you.

[Youngster]

Hello!

I can not play back any video material from my 5D mk II on my PC even after that VLC setting tweak. Only audio. Quicktime plays the video, but it's extremely choppy.

I'm running a 64bit Vista on a more than decent machine (4gb RAM, etc.) and I don't know what to do. I'm not even looking in to editing yet, I just want to play the darn videos smoothly!

Any help will be appreciated!

[BrantG]

Whats your video card?

[Youngster]

Ati Radeon X1950 (256mb)

I have no issues playing HD videos otherwise. But I can't play anything from the 5D smoothly...

[Tony-S]

Try installing XBMC and see if that helps playback. It is one of the most efficient playback apps you can get, and it's free (but with a clunky interface).

[waynesplash]

Hi there,

I could give you a huge kiss, well maybe not ROL. But a big thank you, as I had the same problems getting my HD videos from my PowerShot SX1 IS to run smooth, and have a high spec comp 3.00 duo core and stacks of memory, but had the same very small frame jumps every second.

Asked on here on another thread, and joined a few forums to try and see what was wrong, but know all is fine.

This should defiantly be a sticky, as there are a few cameras and video cameras now with DH.

What I do not get, is how the PowerShot SX1 IS plays the videos fine, with 4 weak poxy little batteries, and my big powerful comp cant ???

Little about the PowerShot SX1 IS, its so dammed good, I got quite a good shot of the Moon, with craters, just handheld, and close ups are wonderful, and now videos crystal clear and running as smooth as a babies bottom.

Wayne

[smacafee]

I'm really surprised this isn't a sticky. This is by far the most important thread about HD video from the 5D Mark II.

I've found that with the settings tweaked as suggested there is some weird texture-like effect on some stuff. You can see it particularly easily on oof specular highlights because they're so smooth.

I still have to resize the video for editing, but that's ok because you can swap the original in to where the resized one was for exporting full size.

[waynesplash]

I'm really surprised this isn't a sticky. This is by far the most important thread about HD video from the 5D Mark II.

I've found that with the settings tweaked as suggested there is some weird texture-like effect on some stuff. You can see it particularly easily on oof specular highlights because they're so smooth.

I still have to resize the video for editing, but that's ok because you can swap the original in to where the resized one was for exporting full size.

Yes your right, this has to be a sticky.

I had quite a fast comp before, double core and fast processor; however the HD videos would not play very good on all players, except the one listed with the tweak. Lucky me has bought a new comp, quad core, and now they play on anything.

The HD as they are called, actually seem so good, they come out better that real live, all that has viewed their HD videos will know what I mean.

Wayne

[Leex70]

Don't be so quick to reinstall Windows!

The solution is right here:

http://www.snappertalk.com/index.php/20090129/5d-mkii-video-playback-with-vlc/

I''ll guess this trick will work for video wich come out of my brand new 500D?

If so, thanx in advance, I''ll try it now!

[@b@b]

I use on other way, I converted the mov-file with AVS video converter to avi (the video codec is in the program).

The file plays perfect than.

gr Ab

[Leex70]

I use on other way, I converted the mov-file with AVS video converter to avi (the video codec is in the program).

The file plays perfect than.

gr Ab


Ok thats fine, but do you keep the 1080p resolution?

[@b@b]

Yes, see the settings below.

You can even combine files

Gr Ab

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9548/sizedavs.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sizedavs.jpg)

[Leex70]

I admit, I convert the mov's too! (I owned an SX1, sold it, bought a 500d wich I love) But I allways did it with "4media" wich works excellent. But I missed the option to combine the results. I think I'll give this a try.

[Kagemaru]

I haven't read through the whole thread but this is my typical work flow.
Keep in mind that I'm using a Mac Book Pro 2.3Ghz Dual core with 3 Gigs of RAM that I purchased almost 3 years ago.

1. Copy my files to the HD.


2. Convert the files to either Apple Pro Res or DVC Pro at 1080 or 720 to save HD space. Convering to these file types makes huge files! I use compressor to do a batch conversion. Making a droplet really helps with this.

3. Bring them into FCP with matching project setting (Matching Resolution and Codec)

4. Export with Compressor or Final Cut.

If I'm exporting for web upload like Vimeo or YouTube, I'll export it as Quicktime H.264, if I want to play it on my XBOX, I export it as a WMV.

Using the DVCPro or ProRez codec, even 1080p files play very smoothly on my Mac. The files with the native codec do not.

[@b@b]

Hi,

This is the first movie (short one) with AVS Video Editor.

No problems with rendering etc.

Quality is less because of VIMEO at home it looks perfect.

The video is a test one, so not perfect.

Gr. Ab

http://www.vimeo.com/4547521

[MinhThien]

I use the Quicktime, Nero, and VLC player for my video. The quicktime is one of the best player but my video are not playing smoothly! Anyone know why?

My computer sig:
Vista Ultimate 64-bit
SLI- 2 X 640MB 8800gts Video card
FX-60 Dual core @ 2.86ghz
Memory is 4giz

[Tony-S]

I use the Quicktime, Nero, and VLC player for my video. The quicktime is one of the best player but my video are not playing smoothly! Anyone know why?

Quicktime really isn't that great for HD playback. It has a very inefficient algorithm. XBMC (and Plex for Macs) is far superior because it uses ffmpeg.

[MinhThien]

Quicktime really isn't that great for HD playback. It has a very inefficient algorithm. XBMC (and Plex for Macs) is far superior because it uses ffmpeg.
Then what do you recommend?

[Tony-S]

XBMC (Win and Mac) or Plex (Mac) since they use ffmpeg.

[blam]

Don't be so quick to reinstall Windows!

The solution is right here:

http://www.snappertalk.com/index.php/20090129/5d-mkii-video-playback-with-vlc/

holy crap

worked like a charm!!!!!

I was nearly ready to throw my computer out the window and even went as far to buy a new video card.

[olenbay]

Hi Blue S2, I have exactly the same issues and I do use Sony Vegas as well; I am really glad to see this post here and thanks for sharing! I will go home tonight and give it a try.

btw, what kind of set up did you do on Sony Vegas in order to edit those 1080 videos?

thanks

olenbay

BINGO!

Instant FIX! Now my videos don't even take more than a second to load up and play perfectly!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Before this, the videos would take forever to load as well. I figured it was due to the 300+ mb size. Now with the VLC option set, videos open and play instantly!

Now its time to get an editor reinstalled on here and start making some music videos!

[@b@b]

Posted on 26-05-2009
H.264 realtime editing in FCP? (rumor) (http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/05/h264-realtime-editing-in-fcp-rumor/)
Filed Under (News (http://www.canon5dtips.com/category/news/), Video (http://www.canon5dtips.com/category/video/)) by admin



Folks. I think I have been sitting on this news long enough. As you all know, one of the most frustration thing about video editing in HD is that you can never work directly with the original clips without some serious performance hit and frame skipping.
The solution to this issue, so far, has been to either use proxies (http://www.vimeo.com/2641870) or transcode the clip into a format that can be rendered in real time (ex: ProRes 422). Each of these solutions has a disadvantage. Proxies add complexity to the workflow (I wish Premiere (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EUDHEG?ie=UTF8&tag=cod0a-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001EUDHEG)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cod0a-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001EUDHEG or FCP (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PGVK5S?ie=UTF8&tag=cod0a-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000PGVK5S)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cod0a-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000PGVK5S would handle them like After Effects does) and if you transcode to another codec, you are losing some image quality (they don’t handle the color the same way). The lost might be minimal but it is there. That is why some people just keep editing in H.264 and accept the ever present render bar as a necessary evil.
Well, it is time to rejoice because very soon all of these issues are going to be history! I have learned that the next version of Quicktime (coming with Snow Leopard) is going to allow real time editing of the Canon 5DMrkII H.264 clips!
I have yet to figure out if this improvement will be the benefit of Core Video optimization or new hardware coming in the next Macs. I guess we will know about it at the developer conference.
Of course, this is just a second hand rumor so it has to be taken for what it is: a rumor. I publish this because my source is very credible and it fits nicely in Apple video editing strategy.
I have another rumor from the same person that might be of even greater interest to us but before posting it, I will wait for confirmation of this one. After all, I dont want to be known as the guy who keep posting false rumors!

Gr. Ab

[@b@b]

And this one

Gr. Ab

It’s here
LONDON, UK, 27th May 2009: Canon announced today it will release a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II allowing users to manually control exposure when shooting video. The new firmware will be available for download from 2 June 2009 on Canon Europe’s support web site.
Following the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II in September 2008, Canon’s Research and Development team has listened closely to customer feedback to develop additions to the camera’s movie recording functionality.
Allowing EOS 5D Mark II owners to achieve even more stunning video results with the camera, the firmware update will include the following manual controls when shooting video:
* Full aperture selection
* ISO speed: Auto, 100 – 6400 and H1
* Shutter speed: 1/30th – 1/4000th second
The EOS 5D Mark II integrates full HD movie capability into a high-end 21.1 Megapixel camera; opening a multitude of new possibilities for photojournalists and news photographers. Since its launch the camera has proved its appeal to professionals working in diverse fields, from studio and wedding to nature and travel. Now, following customer feedback, Canon has improved functionality for professional video users, further unleashing the potential of the EOS 5D Mark II for cinematographers and photographers alike.
CR’s Take
Great work Canon, you listened and it looks like you have delivered.
Still no 24p it looks like.
Download (June 2, 2009): http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html (http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html)
It’s here
LONDON, UK, 27th May 2009: Canon announced today it will release a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II allowing users to manually control exposure when shooting video. The new firmware will be available for download from 2 June 2009 on Canon Europe’s support web site.
Following the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II in September 2008, Canon’s Research and Development team has listened closely to customer feedback to develop additions to the camera’s movie recording functionality.
Allowing EOS 5D Mark II owners to achieve even more stunning video results with the camera, the firmware update will include the following manual controls when shooting video:
* Full aperture selection
* ISO speed: Auto, 100 – 6400 and H1
* Shutter speed: 1/30th – 1/4000th second
The EOS 5D Mark II integrates full HD movie capability into a high-end 21.1 Megapixel camera; opening a multitude of new possibilities for photojournalists and news photographers. Since its launch the camera has proved its appeal to professionals working in diverse fields, from studio and wedding to nature and travel. Now, following customer feedback, Canon has improved functionality for professional video users, further unleashing the potential of the EOS 5D Mark II for cinematographers and photographers alike.
CR’s Take
Great work Canon, you listened and it looks like you have delivered.
Still no 24p it looks like.
Download (June 2, 2009): http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html (http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html)

[Pearlallica]

@b@b, re: rumours of better core optimization in leopard, that's some excellent speculation, thanks for sharing. It doesn't affect me personally as I just sold my mac pro and am joining the i7 bandwagon (I don't profit from video, just dabble in it). I'm over mac and all the flash... just care to get the job done.

I too was excited about the manual control announcement (firmware update). I've adopted all of the popular workarounds, all of which have been extreme hassles. I'm just glad I didn't become one of those people that bought up a bunch of nikkor primes!

Regarding HD playback, I never cared using VLC. I watch HD movies on my system and rely on CoreAVC playback codec using media player classic (theatre edition). My i7 system isn't fully installed yet, but it played back HD smoothly on my old pentium 4 build. CoreAVC is also better optimized for NVidia cards. As to how this codec relates to apple's mov h264, I cannot say.

[wingnut1]

Thanks very much mellowd, worked fine for me.

[JBaz]

About damn time Canon gave us manual control in video mode. Now only if we could have a custom function feature to use the shutter button to turn on/off the record instead of the set button.

[@b@b]

About damn time Canon gave us manual control in video mode. Now only if we could have a custom function feature to use the shutter button to turn on/off the record instead of the set button.



I agree

Ab

[Theresa Minnette]

I did't see these options in MAC version of VLC. Does anyone know where to find it? I tried using iMovie but it crashes like every 30 seconds. I was able to create the short clip on my blog, but it was painful! It was shot with the 5dmkii.
http://blog.theresaminnette.com
http://www.theresaminnette.com
http://www.vividmemories.biz

[Tony-S]

Theresa,

For playback, you should get XBMC or Plex. Those are the only two that can play 5Dii video on Macs (unless you have a 3 ghz or faster cpu, or quad core Mac Pro).

[JBaz]

^Yeah, I the 5d mkII vids play smooth on the later macs.

My latest thing that I don't like about the manual control is when you change your settings while recording, the exposure is a sudden change, not a gradual change so it's a bit of a bare to shoot a smooth pan and your lighting conditions change dramatically when recording in full manual control. Although you can set your ISO on auto and it works pretty good.

[Stargazerfrank]

Don't be so quick to reinstall Windows!

The solution is right here:

http://www.snappertalk.com/index.php/20090129/5d-mkii-video-playback-with-vlc/ Thank You Thank You Thank You!!! now my 2 month old SX20is works great no more choppy HD video on my 3yr old computer.
Frank

[JBaz]

I can't wait till the firmware update comes to the 5D mkII for frame rate selection. I want my 24p now! lol

[matthewgilbertson]

Here is an video/photo compliation I filmed in HD on the Canon 5D mark ii.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ppIeIwoFjw

[Rmitchell248]

I did't see these options in MAC version of VLC. Does anyone know where to find it? I tried using iMovie but it crashes like every 30 seconds. I was able to create the short clip on my blog, but it was painful! It was shot with the 5dmkii.
http://blog.theresaminnette.com
http://www.theresaminnette.com
http://www.vividmemories.biz

Theresa,

For playback, you should get XBMC or Plex. Those are the only two that can play 5Dii video on Macs (unless you have a 3 ghz or faster cpu, or quad core Mac Pro).


Tony. this is not true. You can use VLC on mac you just have to set the preferences properly. I have a 5 year old 2.16ghz black macbook that plays these files just fine with no skipping at all with VLC.

Under VLC in your menu. Select Preferences. Once the preferences box is up select the "input and codecs" tab. Go down to the "skip loop filter for H.264 decoding" and change it to "all" the select save and you should be good to go.

I downloaded plex and quickly deleted it off of my computer it is clunky with poor user interface.


http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu288/rmitchell248/Screenshot2010-03-05at94611AM.png

[Tony-S]

Tony. this is not true.

It was when I wrote it 10 months ago. ;) Now the best video playback software for 5Dii files is Quicktime, so long as the Mac has a 9400m chipset or the last two generations of Mac Pros. Apple has enabled h.264 decoding on these machines. However, QT still does not support hardware decoding under windows.

Other apps that have improved include VLC, MPlayer (and its offshoot MPlayer Extended) and Movist.

[Rmitchell248]

It was when I wrote it 10 months ago. ;) Now the best video playback software for 5Dii files is Quicktime, so long as the Mac has a 9400m chipset or the last two generations of Mac Pros. Apple has enabled h.264 decoding on these machines. However, QT still does not support hardware decoding under windows.

Other apps that have improved include VLC, MPlayer (and its offshoot MPlayer Extended) and Movist.

haha ... you did write that a while ago didnt you!

[walker]

I may be missing the obvious but normally one can not edit the native h264 canon video format. On Macs we transcode them visually lossless to quicktime prores for easy editing.
Native Canon 5D or 7D Hd vid files wont edit in real time on my Mac Pro quad processor with 13 gigs of RAM running of a 600 meg/sec RAID 5

[Tony-S]

You're not missing anything; the OP had two issues, playback and editing.

[NathanPresley]

really its best to convert all of the canons 5d mark ii into ProRez files before using it. I shot a music video that ended up being 730gbs of footage and I couldn't have done it without converting all those files first. They actually do get bigger like a 1gb might become a 1.8gb file. sometimes more

[kampers]

I am new to digital video recording and play back but I have found a way to play the .MOV files on my old 1990 Dell PC. They play back smooth at high resolution. My Dell Dimension XPS T550 can play the films that my new Canon Rebel EOS T2i records.

I tried to download and use Quicktime ver 7.68.75.0 to play be the .mov MEPEG-4 avch/H.264 compressed files but Quicktime would just freeze up my old computer every time.

I could not play the .mov files using windows media player while Quicktime was installed on my computer. My guess is that Apple likes it this way. :(

So I deleted Quick Time and all associated Apple files that I could find from my Windows XP SP3 Operating System. Then I used CC Cleaner to clean up my registery and hard drive files. It found a lot of bad Apple links and fixed that problem.

NOTE: Nothing worked as long as I had any Apple Associated Files on my Windows XP OS. So get rid of the Apple files. Apple tried to get me to buy Quick Time Pro but I went another route. Now last week I looked at an Apple All in One computer at Best Buy but the saleman was not very interested in making a sale. He acted like he has better things to do. And I don't like the fact that to run Windows 7 compatable software or Windows XP compatable Software I would have to buy a copy of Windows 7 to put on the Mac computer. And then I would have to buy a Apple Software Program to let the Mac work with Windows OS. That would cost $60. And I would have to buy a new Windows 7 64 bit version for the Mac. I have way too much software that only works with IBM type Computers and the MIcroSoft Operating Systems. I did think that the Apple Computer was well made. It's just that the Apple Software is limited to mostly Artist stuff like Photo and Video. IBM is more productivity related . Not sure if Apple Computer are any good at online gaming which is something I like to do. I did look at the Apple laptops too. But again the software that I have won't work with them right out of the box. Note: One of my very first computers was an Apple II. I still have the manuals for that puppy in my closet at home.

Then I read about using third party programs to recode the video files. So I went on line and did a little bit of research. I also found a new codex that would help Windows Media Player work better with the recoded files.

I went to AVS4you.com and downloaded their AVS Video Converter program and gave it a try out. It worked. This was a demo program and I didn't have to pay anything for it. The only draw back is that it prints an text add for AVS on the screen as the mpeg2 video plays back. Yes it take the .mov file and converts it to mpeg2 format so that it will play in Windows Media Player 11.

I also found a problem with the audio or video ( can't remember which) but solved that by downloading a new Codex from ROXIO. I ended up purchasing the:

Cineplayer DVD Decoder Pack 2.3.1 - ESD. I was able to download the file right away and put it on my computer. I also purchased the extended download service and a back up CD in case my hard drive ever crashes.

After installing the Cineplayer DVD Decoder Pack 2.3.1 software I found that after getting rid of all the apple stuff that I can play the .mov files without converting them to mpeg2 format.

I took the SDHC card out of my Canon T2i camera and put it into my SDHC card reader and uploaded it to my computers Hard Drive. The file ending is a .mov.

Now I only have 3 movies on my SDHC card which I have installed on my computers hard drive.

NOTE: I have the latest version of Windows Media Player 11 on my computer now.

I also ended up buying the License Key for the AVS4YOU program. As I understand it I can now download and use the other ASV4YOU programs such as a audio file converter and a video editing program. I pay $60 for the lifetime subscription. The transaction was though On line Media Technologies on behalf of AVS4YOU.

I downloaded and registered the AVS Audio Converter program too but have not had time to play with it yet. I have some audio files that I may want to convert for my digital audio player.

BTW: I have a Creative Labs Audigy2ZS sound card and the Creative Labs Sound Card Drivers and associated Software.

I have a Nvidia 6200 Video Card installed. Also upgraded the 200 Watt power supply with a 400 watt power supply last year in order to install and get the Nvidia 6200 graphic card to work right. Besides it does not hurt to have more power

Back in 1992 or in that range I updated the 550 MHz Intel Pentium III CPU to a I000 MHZ Intel CPU. And I update the Dell BIOS as well.

I added a USB 2.0 PCI card to the computer as well.

I use Windows XP SP3 and Internet Explorer 8 with all the Windows XP and Explorer Updates for security.

I also run Zone Alarm Security Suit at times but found it to be more trouble than it's worth. So I installed a router into the system a few months back.

It took a long time to convert the .mov file to the mpeg2 format. I left the computer running and went grocery shopping to get the job done.

Then the next day I was just playing around and tried to play one of my .mov files without converting it to mpeg2 and found out that it worked in Media Player 11 without doing anything else to the file or my computer.

Needless to say I am now very please. Although I still need to update my computer someday. I hope to either build or buy a new Intel i7 based system 58 motherboard based system or I may try the AMD Athalon 6 core CPU. I Use do play an on line flight Sim game against 200 other people from all over the world and needed a fast gaming computer to compete but that game closed down this Aug 2010 after a 13 year run. So now I am getting into Digital Photography to take up my time.


part of the problem is working with a mac format(.mov) on a windows pc... apple did a less than perfect job of cross-compatibility, google up "quicktime gamma shift" for more info.

the smartest thing that pc users can do is to bail out on the mac format b.s., and transcode the 5d footage to a lossless intermediate codec that can be played back easily... cineform neo scene is only $129, you can take a look at it for free with the trial evaluation... the "crushed blacks" that he is referring to is the qt gamma shift garbage, it was incredibly stupid of canon to record the video in the .mov format:
================================================== ======
We have uploaded a new release of Neo Scene today that handles the camera's dynamic range in a much or convenient way, avoiding those crush blacks and clipped highlights. We have extended the trial another 7-days for those who have tried the tool before.

Neo Scene
__________________
David Newman
web: www.cineform.com (http://www.cineform.com)
blog: cineform.blogspot.com
http://cineform.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-canon-5d-mk-ii-support-with-neo.html

[Kevin Stiller]

Sony Vegas is a horrible program. My experience with it has KILLED my editing mojo. Lol

[amband]

Don't blame Bill Gates. He isn't the one responsible. PC are much more powerful in terms of hardware than Macs. I believe the responsibility falls on the programs not utilizing hardware or problems with the h264 codec used and not being correctly understood on the PC. Which would mean a software problem(not windows) in both senses.


in graphic arts PC are not efficient as macs. It's more than power. Look at pro studios generally. They use Macs

[DKShash]

Hi,

I had some problems editing directly in After Effects and found a few solutions.

Basically I use Avid for all my video editing but because these files opened in After Effects I decided to edit a whole music video in AE.

There were a few problems I encountered, such as things going out of synch etc and I have years of experience editing video and had not encountered problems like this since I was editing back in the day on old Pentium 233 processors.

One of the biggest solutions I found was that to combat general random crashes and taking ages for the clips to load in was to put the files into folders within AE. Obviously with about 200-300 clips having to load in it drew a lot on system resources so I simply "made new folders" in AE and moved about 50 clips into each folder and it solved a whole bunch of problems.

I was amazed how easy a solution it was and I highly suggest anyone using AE as an edit suite should do the same and I wouldn't be surprised if it was exactly the same in Premiere.

Hope that helps anyone.

Thanks

[DKShash]

really its best to convert all of the canons 5d mark ii into ProRez files before using it. I shot a music video that ended up being 730gbs of footage and I couldn't have done it without converting all those files first. They actually do get bigger like a 1gb might become a 1.8gb file. sometimes more

WOW!!! 730gigs is EPIC! I've made about 40 music videos and I usually hit about 500 gigs once I have made uncompressed AVI's of the finished edit in a couple of sizes and all the clips, mixdowns in Avid etd etc. I admire what must have been a lot of determination on your part ;)

I like the idea of converting to ProRez but being on a PC and using Avid I don't have that luxury so could only immagine it'd be pretty much the same as converting to un compressed AVI. An epic job but would definitely solve a lot of problems.

[DKShash]

I may be missing the obvious but normally one can not edit the native h264 canon video format. On Macs we transcode them visually lossless to quicktime prores for easy editing.
Native Canon 5D or 7D Hd vid files wont edit in real time on my Mac Pro quad processor with 13 gigs of RAM running of a 600 meg/sec RAID 5

I don't have experienmce with Premiere but certainly on a PC with After Effects it's doable. Very doable in fact, provided there are not too many clips. I found going over about 100 clips started to bring up untold problems.

I did my AE edit with about 200-300 clips in native H264 on a quad quare 10.6GHz machine and it works fine, provided not too many clips are used. As I said in a previous post, simply putting things into folders in AE solved A LOT of my problems.

[ryansworld10]

After reading the first few pages, I would assume the raw files would play just fine on a Radeon HD 6870 OC.

I don't actually own the MkII yet, but I am buying it in the near future.

[Tony-S]

After reading the first few pages, I would assume the raw files would play just fine on a Radeon HD 6870 OC.

Raw files have nothing to do with video.

[ryansworld10]

Raw files have nothing to do with video.

You misunderstand me.

I am basically saying that his computer hardware is not sufficient to play the files that come straight out of the camera.

[Tony-S]

The video in the camera is h.264, which is a high compression algorithm. Your video card has very little to do with playback unless your software specifically uses the h.264 decoding of the card. Few programs do this - on Macs Quicktime X does. You should consider downloading XBMC to see if that helps. It uses ffmpeg, which is the most cpu-efficient playback algorithm. If it doesn't play suitably, then you need a better cpu.

[clippo]

god this video lark is confusing! :-D

I've been having a play around with 5D videos for weeks now and still haven't managed to get my head around it.

As I understand it, .mov files are pretty useless straight out of the camera as they are essentially uneditable directly unless you have a Mac or a modern and powerful PC equipped with specialist software (OK, I've got them to play with VLC player, but why not just view the clips on the camera instead?)

So, you need to convert them to be able to do anything to them first right? I've tried a few different freeware programmes.. currently use AVS to convert them to AVI or mpeg2 format (is this right? the same clip ends up being much smaller as an AVI... which seems contradictory to what I read about those formats?...).

Not having a particualrly modern PC or being able to afford specialist editing software, I've been tinkering with the converted files using Windows Movie Maker and Pinnacle Studio 11. Both appear to have 1080 output options but when the final image is produced, the quality is pretty horrendous even is the bitrate is set to maximum etc. It almost appears like the file is being recompressed a second time.

Just to add, I'm wanting to upload the final versions (usually on a few minutes max) of edited footage to youtube so it is viewable in 1080 res. Also, I'd possibly like to create the file so it can be put on a disk to be viewed in a DVD or bluray player.

Finally... another thing that has been confusing me... my monitor has a res of 1680x1050. As such, when viewed as 1080, shouldn't the image be larger than my screen? is thre actualyl any benefit to viewing a file at 1080 on a non-HD PC monitor? if not, do people upload such files with the intention of them being viewed on HD TVs or something?

Sorry if these are idiot questions! :-)

[Tony-S]

As I understand it, .mov files are pretty useless straight out of the camera as they are essentially uneditable directly unless you have a Mac or a modern and powerful PC equipped with specialist software (OK, I've got them to play with VLC player, but why not just view the clips on the camera instead?)

Editing and playback are two very different things. The problem isn't the MOV container, it's the h.264 video inside the container. It is not an editable format because it does not have all the frames. If a scene shot at 30 fps does not change for 5 seconds, then the h.264 encoding process effectively writes to the h.264 video file "150 frames exactly the same" and stores only the one frame. Before you can edit it, you have to render the file to an editable codec, such as DV. This rendering, of course, baloons the file size because every frame is in it. This is why h.264 video is so compact, but also computationally-intensive to decode. Most playback software uses the cpu for playback and until recently these cpus have not been very good at it. That's what causes stuttering on playback of h.264 video. In contrast, a low-frame compression algorithm, such as MPEG-2 found in DVDs, is very easy for decoding playback.

Whatever software you use for editing, it must be able to render the h.264 video. If not, you need an application that can, such as MPEG Streamclip. Some high-end software can do it (such as Final Cut Pro), but I'm not that familiar with Windows software.

[patrickqb8]

VLC sounds like a good choice

[PhotoMatte]

Good info about the settings for VLC. I've never had any issues with my .MOV files, since I run a MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and I use only Extreme Pro, UDMA enabled Compact Flash cards. When I first began shooting video on my 5D2 I didn't realize I could only shoot 12 minutes of continuos 1080p video for any one clip but after I found that out, it's been gravy.

[Adaptive]

I have a problem too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all it's just a video of a car that I have for sale.
Nothing spectacular so don't get too crazy and critical...
I'm not trying to be artistic or Martin Scorsese or whatever.




When editing and viewing the video everything works great & there is no issue.
I export the video in 1080p fine, again, no issue.

When I upload to Youtube AND Vimeo....
This is what the video looks like..... wtf....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfKAKylDTgc&feature=plcp


Any advice?

This is my first attempt at making a video with something other than iMovie.
- 5D MK II
- Final Cut Pro 7
- 27" iMac with all the fastest & best goodies inside




EDIT: On a lighter note.... It's too bad the screwed up part doesn't kick in when the dubstep part kicks in LOL

[Trumper]

Having bought the 5d mk11 earlier this year i am trying to use the video.I notice this thread is now quite old and progress has hopefully been made.
I wondered if there are any more up to date hints,help please.There are probably a few new 5dm11 owners now.
I use the Sony movie studio HD platinum v 10 for my avchd video camera but it doesn't like the .mov files.
I am using the canon zoombrowser to try and convert to avi format so i can use the Sony to edit in.
Seems to be converting ok at the moment.
Thanks

[Trumper]

Anyone :)

[Tony-S]

As mentione above, use mpeg streamclip to transcode it to an editable format, such as DV.

[Trumper]

Thank you for that :)

I have just done a quick test video using Sony movie studio HD platinum and it's associated burning tool.
It seems ok but i think the quality is limited by it being an ordinary dvd.

[macui1]

I have a problem too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all it's just a video of a car that I have for sale.
Nothing spectacular so don't get too crazy and critical...
I'm not trying to be artistic or Martin Scorsese or whatever.




When editing and viewing the video everything works great & there is no issue.
I export the video in 1080p fine, again, no issue.

When I upload to Youtube AND Vimeo....
This is what the video looks like..... wtf....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfKAKylDTgc&feature=plcp


Any advice?

This is my first attempt at making a video with something other than iMovie.
- 5D MK II
- Final Cut Pro 7
- 27" iMac with all the fastest & best goodies inside




EDIT: On a lighter note.... It's too bad the screwed up part doesn't kick in when the dubstep part kicks in LOL

do you select youtube and vimeo to auto correct , if so dont as it ruins them everytime ?