DVD Maestro Preview

[SiC]

What do I need to get the preview to display in Maestro?? Whenever I start up Maestro it gives me an error saying real time preview is disabled because no decoder was detected. It's really difficult to work with if you don't have a preview. Right now I'm setting chapters by loading the mpeg2 files in Ulead Media Studio Pro to scroll thru the video files and to remember the chapter points. It's a pain in the ass..........

[malzahn]

you must have a mpeg hardware decodercard for realtime preview like the cinemaster card for example.

regards
malzahn

[Chumboy]

will it work if i have a Dazzle Hollywood Bridge (external firewire) deocder?

[SiC]

Thanx malzahn, now I know what to buy next :):)

[MickeyNBK]

Hardware decorder card? So would a Hollywood Plus dvd decoder card work?

[malzahn]

Hi guys,

the discussion "will realtime preview in DVD Maestro work properly only with a hardware decodercard" is still going on.So first have a look at this thread:

http://rilanparty.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=11644

A friend of mine tried the ravisent cinemaster 2000 with Maestro version 2914c and he reported that he had no audio at all in preview, so I'm still not convinced that cinemaster 2000 works properly with maestro, but you should check this out by yourself. I'm using scenarist NT vers. 2.0 with a cinemaster softwareplayer and it works, but if I step forward in preview audio gets completely asynchronous to video, so this is also not the perfect solution.

for some additional infos i checked the web and found a interesting site about the cinemaster softwareplayer and decodercards:

http://www.eyescream.se/~niclas/dvd/cinemaster/documents.htm

As you can see it's really confusing, there are so much different decoding engines and in older version of maestro (vers. 2.0) a special software encoding engine for Win NT was included, so properly working with only a softwareplayer seems also to be dependent on your version of meastro.
I think the best idea would be if one of you would write a email to this guy and ask him which decoding engine he would recommend and if it doesn't work with a softwareplayer which decodercard he recommends.

@chumboy,MickeyNBK

I guess that your cards won't work with Maestro (99%):

"The majority of systems of authoring DVD ("Daikin" Scenarist,"Daikin" DVD Informer, "Spruce tech." DVD Maestro) use CineMaster ™ card for check and emulation DVD projects."

hope I could help a little

regards
malzahn

[SiC]

Thanx for the reply, I installed Cinemaster 2000 and the error went away. I get a preview now but no sound........ Guess I'll look into it and see about getting sound to work now :)

[Taxidermista]

To have sound in your preview you should check that little square box with a number at the beginning of the audio track you want to hear. Subtitles work the same.

[SiC]

Taxidermista & Malzahn you are my heroes!! :) :D

[malzahn]

I replaced my old cinemaster decoding engine for Win NT with the engine of cinemaster 2000 and the preview in scenarist NT works perfect now.

conclusion: I have to correct my first statement completely, there's no hardware decodercard needed for mastro and scenarist, just install the cinemaster 2000 softwareplayer.

[mikeathome]

Well done folks you found it out by yourself !

I would have helped you before but saw the post to late, sorry.
So why I am posting anyway, ok just one add'l hint for you all:

- try to avoid crashing Maestro under W2K while using this method
-> hey, stupid wish, NO, I am not kidding, just a little story:

- I DVD-R lots of DVB material from a Satellite
- some of that material is 480/544/524 x 576 (PAL)
- Maestro does not accept this by default
- I patch it to 352x576 import it (yes works !) and patch it back to 480x576 just before compiling (or straight after import!)
- the resulting DVDs are accepted by most of the modern (C-Cube, ESS NOT Zoran) MPEG encoder chips working in the Standalone Players
- so far for introduction

- yesterday I did a mistake (patched while it was opened by Maestro) and crashed him -> shit, I am soooo stupid
- this led to the following behavior -> CineMaster was gone
- even a re-install did not solve the prob
- I had to re-install W2k from a backup copy

So what happened
- Maestro recognises the SoftCineMaster Encoder and installs a driver which comunicates with the softengine (you can see this with the Hardware manager in W2k -> choose 'Display Hidden Devices'
- since I crashed Maestro, he did not shut-down this service, which was now on 'ON-stage' even after reboot
- this sufficiently avoids every restart of CineMaster Software decoder engine under every application (not enough system resources), even the player won't work
- the re-install does not solve this, even Regedit tweaking didn't solve it, just a W2K reinstall

So this is for you folks, be aware of this. All the rest to say: YOU DON'T NEED A HARDWARE DECODER BOARD, just install Software CineMaster 2000. The Elsa/ATI Movieplayer are based on the Cinemaster engine WON'T work !!!, because this communication interface used by Maestro is not onboard with this versions, so unfortunately you need the full 24MB Cinemaster version.

Last but not least if you install Cinemaster decoder: DO NOT attemp to install another MPEG-2 video decoder engine (SoftDVDPLayer) in parallel. You may end-up in an inoperable MPEG-2 playback, which can be resolved only by reinstalling windows.
Unfortunately Cinemaster does not properly playback 'normal' MPEG2 content, like .m2v/.mpg/.vob via Mediaplayer.

So what to do:
- download Elecard MPEG decoder, consist of mpg2dec.ax, ac3dec.ax and mpg2dmx.ax, which are the MPEG-2 Splitter/Demuxer + the Decoder + the AC3-Decoder
- make yourself two .bat files of the follwing content

1) RegCineMaster.bat
regsvr32 /s /u "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\mpg2dec.ax"
regsvr32 /s /u "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\mpg2dmx.ax"
regsvr32 /s /u "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\ac3dec.ax"
regsvr32 /s "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\qidvdf.ax"

2) RegElecard.bat
regsvr32 /s /u "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\qidvdf.ax"
regsvr32 /s "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\mpg2dmx.ax"
regsvr32 /s "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\mpg2dec.ax"
regsvr32 /s "c:\Program Files\Common Shared\Ravisent Shared\ac3dec.ax"

*) Notes:
- put the Elecard *.ax filter in the Ravisent folder, just for location
- adjust the folder accordingly

What does this: Ok it registers/unregisters the filter of Elecard and/or CineMaster.
This works like a charm. Before you want to play a .m2v (MPEG-2 Video) with Mediaplayer you doubleclick RegElecard.bat and before you start CineMaster CinePlayer (in IfoMode !) or Maestro you doubleclick RegCineMaster. You get full flexibility !!!

mike

[jeffnoone]

Great and detailed reply, Mike

Any advice on where this leaved PowerDVD which is the DVD player I like to have (and have) installed under Win2K

CAn all 3 exist (Elecard/PowerDVD/Ravisent)?

Or do I need more elaborate regsvr commands which will diasable both Elecard and PowerDVD, and enable Ravisent (and vice versa)?

Or just PowerDVD and Ravisent installed?

Any idea which are the PowerDVD codecs/filters?
Thanx
Jeff

[mikeathome]

Hi,

I know by heart LIGOS will ruin your system in this configuration, Have been thru this...

I don't know whether PowerDVD cooporates with CineMaster.

Why do you want to install PowerDVD while you have CineMaster installed ? CineMaster is way better picture quality than PowerDVD and it does play back all DVDs I've tested so far. Navigation works like a charme. DVDGenie can regionfree it. So, what do you want more ?

For playback of bare MPEG-2 content if would rather recommend the Elecard as described above.

In CineMaster navigate to the Video_TS and select Video_TS.ifo and you're done.

mike

[talman]

I'm looking at ravisent's site and see Cinemaster there but nothing that refers to Cinemaster 2000 only Cineplayer 4.0, Cinemaster DVD decoder pack, etc. Any ideas?

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by talman
I'm looking at ravisent's site and see Cinemaster there but nothing that refers to Cinemaster 2000 only Cineplayer 4.0, Cinemaster DVD decoder pack, etc. Any ideas?

YES an Idea BUT no solution,
You won't find it on ANY official Site, sorry for the bad news.

It's a leaked OEM version never officially distributed.
Again, unfortunately the ElsaPlayer Version does not meet the need, it's crippled and does NOT contain the adavanced features, like the encoding part, the screen capture part and, what is essential, the virtual driver part to link with Maestro (or Scenarist).

Look in the IN for the full Download ~24MB. I saw it on some chinese pages.

mike

[Jestorius]

ElsaPlayer is just doing the job to get a prewiev in Maestro or Scenarist. If you have a Elsa card , try it.

[SiC]

You don't need an Elsa card. I have an old Elsa card that came with the Elsa DVD player software and I'm using it with my non-Elsa card.:D

[Jestorius]

Do you have preview in Maestro?

[SiC]

I sure do!! :D

[mikeathome]

Hi,

ooooh,

thank you for the info, that's really new to me. I have an ElsaCard as well (Eraser III) the ElsaMovieplayer which was delivered with it didn't work in the past with Maestro. On top of that I got lots of reports from people unsuccessfully trying ATI/ElsaMoviePlayer with Maestro (for reference look in the Flexion.org board, but hurry up it is going to be shutted down next week or so, btw. Arky may remember our discussion from there as well). So my report have been related to some REAL testing.

I may need to get an update on the Elsa Movie Player. Can you please provide the exact version number and if possible as well the version of the decoding engine. Right Click on the ax-filter (qidvdf.ax) file usually located in the system(32) or Shared Common folder.

That would be of great help and highly appreciated.

More info regarding Software CineMaster:
http://www.eyescream.se/~niclas/dvd/cinemaster/software.htm

mike

[SiC]

I did an Explorer search for that qidvdf.ax file but couldn't find it. I didn't even install the software DVD player, I just installed the codec. During the setup it asks me if I want to install the Codec, DVD player, or both. I just selected the codec. As for the version, I opened up the readme file on the CD and it says ELSAmovie CD-ROM Version C-2000 and it came with my old Elsa GeForce 2 Ultra.

Hope that was enough info.

[Jestorius]

the quidvdf.ax is a 1.2.01.0116.

[Roveer]

I have a pinnacle DV-500 in my machine. I don't think I've put the drivers on for it, do you think that would work with DVDMaestro?

Roveer

[Jestorius]

What do you mean?

It has nothing to do with DV500.
The pinnacle mpeg2 file fits for all the authoring software.

[Roveer]

What I mean is that I also get the error "real time preview is disabled because no decoder was detected" when I start DVDMaestro. I was thinking that maybe my DV500 can be the 'decoder', and maybe all I have to do is to install a driver of some sort. I don't think I configured the DV500 on this partition (multi-boot system), so maybe it will work if I put the drivers on.

Roveer

[Jestorius]

DV500 isn't a decoder card it's a Firewire video/encoder card which has a hardware accelerated mpeg2 encoding.

You can't play mpeg or VOB files through this card. SpruceUp using InterVideo WinDVD as a decoder. Try it maybe it works.

[Roveer]

I think you are right. I remember Pinnacle having another product that included mpeg playback. Although, when I have the drivers installed and Adobe Premeire installed it will 'playback' files that have been rendered. The 500 has a dongle that supports Audio/Video In (RCA and SVIDEO), as well as Audio/Video Out (RCA and SVIDEO). Whether it will work with DVDMaestro is a different topic. I think I'll give the drivers a try and see if the error in Maestro stops and I can get playback.

A quick google search revealed the following:

news
... 1. Version 2.5 DVDMaestro - Build 2198f - size 6MB -( posted 1/21/01 ... work with Canopus
Cards and with the DV500. The limitation of the trial-version are: it ...

I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.

Roveer

[Jestorius]

I have a DV500 installed here. It didn't work with Marstro as you describe. But after installing Cinemaster(Elsa) I can use the preview.

[Roveer]

Thanks, you just saved me some time. Now, is this "Cinemaster(Elsa)" a software/hardware combo, or is this software that maybe I can use to get preview using my DV500? I'm suspecting that this is sw/hw and I won't be able to use.

Roveer,

[Jestorius]

It's only a software.

[GlenC]

Hi,

I have a RealMagic card installed on my xp machine. Maestro appears to recognise it, as it doesn't state that I cannot playback the movie. However when I go to the play button, I get the message

"Decoder connection not established" has anyone come across this before, and does anyone know how to fix it?

Cheers

Glen.

[talman]

Does anyone know if the Cinemaster Decoder Pack with work with the Maestro preview, or will only Cinemaster 2000 work? It's pretty cheap but I figured I'd ask before I'm tempted to find out...

[Jestorius]

RealMagic Hollywood Plus doesn't work. Only the Cinemaster dvdcodec. It is a part of the Elsa Cinemaster DVD-player. If you still get a error , just start Cinemaster and stop it. After this all goes well.

[nullinvoid]

Originally posted by mikeathome


It's a leaked OEM version never officially distributed.
Again, unfortunately the ElsaPlayer Version does not meet the need, it's crippled and does NOT contain the adavanced features, like the encoding part, the screen capture part and, what is essential, the virtual driver part to link with Maestro (or Scenarist).

mike

I have DVDMaestro and was able to locate Cinemaster 2000, which work well together on my Win2K system. Unfortunately, Cinemaster 2000 (Ver. 1.0) doesn't appear to have any screen capture capability. Is there another configuration that will work with DVDMaestro that does offer screen grabs? I visited some of the sites that list the different versions but they were more confusing than helpful.

Thanks,
Nullinvoid

[Jestorius]

You can have more than one software player, just install PowerDVD and you have screen capture.

[easy2Bcheesy]

Installing the Matrox DVD player software you get with RT2500 works just fine for preview functionality (this is a Cinemaster software variant), but nothing beats getting hold of a hardware Cinemaster card and running Maestro under NT.

[nullinvoid]

Originally posted by Jestorius
You can have more than one software player, just install PowerDVD and you have screen capture.

Thanks. I'd heard a lot of warnings against having two players installed at once, but I guess they were referring to ones that used the same playback engine. I installed PowerDVD, and it and Cinemaster 2000 seem to get along fine.:)

[m4551m0]

@mikeathome
jesus u succeded to fool maestro!?!
can you please tell me how you patch dvb material
480/544/524 x 576 (PAL) in something that maestro can import?
I do sometimes dvb recording via scsi with a nokia mm9600 decoder,
but i cannot author the material.
Until now i just use ifoedit095 (dvd authoring section) to compile the material in dvd compliant, readable as u said by many dvd set top players. But of course no menus etc...

your help would be much appreciated
m

[mikeathome]

Hi,

- use DVDPatcher: http://mitglied.lycos.de/dvdpatcher/
- patch the Headers Only !!! to 352x576
- now importz material into Maestro Asset Bin
- now close Maestro or just open a new project (so that Maestro no longer keeps the files open)
- immediately patch the the headers back to original resolution
- use as normal

mike

[m4551m0]

Hi mikeathome
thank you very much for the trick,
i'll try and let you know
best
m

[m4551m0]

it worked like a charm!!!
Thanx

one more question

you said
- immediately patch the the headers back to original resolution

what's happen if i leave the resolution in the header patched???

Since maestro keeps opening the file patched or patched back to the original resolution.
I guess because is fooled by the parsing file .PRV.
So I don't see why is needed to patch the file back to its original resolution.

best
m

[dpcpro]

I installed Cinemaster 2000 and I can now preview the movie in DVDMaestro, but I don't get any sound. I checked out the settings and didn't find anything.

Is it supposed to be this way?

Thanks

dpcpro

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by dpcpro
I installed Cinemaster 2000 and I can now preview the movie in DVDMaestro, but I don't get any sound. I checked out the settings and didn't find anything. Is it supposed to be this way?
Thanks dpcpro

Hi,

typical nb issue ;-) You need to switch the soundtrack 'ON' by clicking the square in front of the track in the timeline view. This is used to switch the audio track for preview. It becomes red then. Same for subpicture and angle video.

@m4551m0:
If you don't patch the headers back you'll be burning coasters. No player will be able to play the shit correctly. It's a good idea to immediately after import patch the header back and it is essential when you mix different resolutions on the timeline. You won't be able to perform the patch back later on the generated VOB's. So, do yourself a favor and follow my howto.

mike

[dpcpro]

mikeathome, thanks. There is also an option to have Maestro auto select the track after being dragged. Under 'Preferences' in the 'Display' tab, Check 'Auto-Select Track for RealView(TM) after Asset is Dragged'

dpcpro