Category: Video Editing

Discussions on the topic of digital video capture and editing using various products.

Bad Audio Recording

A Few Headsets

I have a nice gaming headset. Logitech G430. Works fine with Discord. However, it fails when I use it with Corel Video Studio, or with Windows 10 Gaming Capture for captures in a game. It clips and drops parts of the audio, especially at the beginning of phrases. I’m in a very quiet space, so background noise is not the problem.

I decided to purchase another headset by another manufacturer to see if that fixes the problem. We’ll see. But in the mean time, I already have another device to record audio.

Headsets used to be very expensive. The G430 started out at $99 and is now $39, like the EKSA. Lots of choices on Amazon and elsewhere. Looks like they probably all use the same USB – Audio chip.

Older Headsets Have Their Own Problems

Plantronics USB Headset, circa 2000

This older headset has it’s own problems. Turns out the hard plastic parts rub against each other, causing pops and snaps during recording. I guess the plastic got old and sticky over the years. The pops and snaps are so loud that the headset is unusable for recording.

Also notice that I had to replace the muff with some cloth. The foam had rotted away, as foam of that type does over time.

Enter the Webcam

I’ve had this Logitech C510 webcam for a long time. And it still works fine. But has long since been superseded by newer models. However, the problem with this device is that it hasn’t worked for sometime, for audio. Works fine for video, but Windows 10 has not seen the microphone for some time.

Let’s use google to find out why.

Continue reading “Bad Audio Recording”

Get Ready for 4K!

My main computer area has four computers, a KVM switch, and it has for a long time had a single 1080 monitor. Recently I was doing some video editing and moved the recently purchased 2K – 2560×1440 – monitor into that area and hooked it up with a separate cable.

There is the network backup machine – lower left – two Alienware cases – with modern Core i-7 upgrades, and a small Core i5 Linux Mint system. All the systems have SSD system drives of course with various large data / video HDs from Western Digital. And of course there is a 1 GBPS 8 port network hub.

The KVM switch is many years old and is DVI, not even HDMI. It has served well and faithfully, but it’s time for an upgrade.

Some research indicated that IOGear has recently come out with a 4K, Displayport, 2 Monitor KVM switch, so it’s time for an upgrade. This switch is $599 MSRP on the IOGear site, but it’s only $442 on Newegg. Hurray. Update: See below. It’s all working now.

Continue reading “Get Ready for 4K!”

Linux Video Tools

Openshot Video Editor
Openshot Video Editor

Now that I have your attention, I’d like to describe what I have found out recently about capturing, editing and burning DVDs of videos using Linux. I have been editing video and burning DVDs for years on Windows. I started long ago when the tools were barely functional and finding a set of tools that understood a common set of file formats was quite a challenge. The situation on Windows has matured over the years and currently you can purchase for a very small price a set of tools that will allow you to capture, edit and burn both DVDs and BluRay disks with remarkable ease.

The situation on Linux Mint is almost that good. Currently I cannot find software that allows editing and burning the BluRay disk media with titles and menus, but one certainly can edit the videos themselves. Read on for the full story.

Continue reading “Linux Video Tools”

Considering an Upgrade

Intel ci7 3770 box
Intel Core i7

I’m using two of my computers for, among other things, to edit and convert videos for upload to YouTube. Here’s my channel. One of he machines is an Alienware Aurora R2 I obtained used with Core i5-750, circa Q3 ’09. The other is a system I built from scratch, with a Core i7-2600 circa Q1 ’11.

I’m considering upgrading the older Alienware system to an Ivy Bridge 3770 processor. This upgrade of the processor, motherboard and memory will cost about $550. So the question is: How effective will this upgrade be in increasing Video Conversion performance?

A BenchMark

I decided to do some testing to find out whether the two systems that I have are very different in performance before proceeding with the upgrade. When using both systems to edit videos, they perform very well using Corel Video Studio X5 [2600] and X6 [750]. The editing process proceeds with no noticeable delays or lags. Any performance issue has to do with how long it takes to convert the video. Continue reading “Considering an Upgrade”

Adobe Premier Pro CS3 – but alas, not for 64bit Vista

I’m a long time user of Adobe Premier. Most recently 6.5.
The Box

I’ve just upgraded my hot new Alienware Area-51 7500 system to Win Vista Ultimate 64bit to take advantage of all the memory and processor features, but alas, Adobe is still stuck in the weeds. According to the Premier Software Specifications page, Premier does not support 64bit Vista. That seems odd, since there is nothing on the platform that cannot easily be supported, even if they only support it in 32bit compatibility mode.

After all, Windows Movie Maker runs in native 64bit mode. And Nero Ultimate 7 contains Nero Vision which works fine on 64 bit – in compatibility mode no doubt.

Well I guess there is no compelling reason to upgrade my Premier license to Pro CS3, since it won’t run on my system. And Win MM and Nero Vision work fine for capture of DV, editing of mpg and creating DVDs in both DVD5 and DVD9 format. I’ve tried them all.