Serato Video General Discussion

Forum
 Serato Video General Discussion
Trying to make the switch...
Talk about Serato Video and Video-SL.

Trying to make the switch...

RaveDave 4:21 AM - 7 February, 2008
Hey guys, here goes my first post. Your going to be seeing more of me, as I am in the process of switching to Serato from VirtualDJ. (and on that note, rather quickly, Serato kicks some serious ass. Best vinyl emulation ive ever seen).

I've been mixing video for over a year now... its been a great experience overall. I am completely baffled by some of the things in Serato though. I know a bit about video, but I would like your experience in the following areas.

I guess to start - here is my system setup:
Core 2 Duo E8400 running stable @ 3.6ghz
EVGA 8800GT Superclocked Edition
3.5TB in a hardware RAID-0
4GB Ram
Windows XP Pro SP2

I've read alot of the forums, and tried a few different things, but still lacking a good answer for the converting thing. Im only interested in hearing what has actually worked and is for PC (I dont use a Mac and I dont have access to one, nor will I ever buy one).

Ive got 2TB of vobs that vary from NTSC to PAL and from LPCM to AC3.

Tried Super Converter. The audio seems very low. Hard to even discern the waveform in Serato. Couldnt find the keyframe settings. Only way to play it was to crank the performance tab of Serato to 2GB.

Took the Super file and ran it though Quicktime, which adjusted the keyframes. Worked much better in serato, but im not really wanting 2 conversions per video. Still low audio.

Tried handbrake. Didnt work for individual files. Ive already got everything named (and its a total bitch to do that) and not going to redo my DVDs again.

What are you PC people using?

Im not concerned about file size, Ive got plenty of room to spare. Im after the quality of the video and audio as well as the stability and responsiveness of Serato.

Thanks for your help.

RaveDave
DJ Mad Matt 4:32 AM - 7 February, 2008
You can give Magic Video Coverter a try

Here is what im running on Magic. Try these settings ...

Pick the mov container box at the top

Click on the dropdown box for Profile (down arrow all the way to the right)

Select Quick Time DVD Quality

Then click the Edit Profile Box and make sure it says H.264 and ACC .. The 2 boxes to the left leave unchecked

Click on the Video tab .. select 2496 or if you want do 4600 about 3 times the file size though and depending on what your using, plasma's, lcds, or projectors It problably isnt going to be noticeable.
Change Dimensions .. selct 720X480
Change Framerate ... 29.97
Aspect Auto

Click the Audio Tab
Channels 2 (stereo)
48000
256kbps bitrate

Encode away!
RaveDave 8:57 AM - 7 February, 2008
Ok, I tried that. It takes about 6 mins per video. Dude, Ive got 2 TB of vobs... thats just not going to work. There has to be a faster way.
DJ Mad Matt 9:25 AM - 7 February, 2008
I feel your pain ... I have 8600 Vids to convert. H.264 conversions are very time consuming.

Faster processor is the only way that I know about and your's isnt slow .. I don't know of any faster ways other than that. I'm going to a Overclocked Quad Core G0.

I think the Elgato Turbo H.264 is only for Macs and only does 128kbps for audio.

Personally, I think 192kbps is the smallest bitrate you should encode with.
Charlie Five 4:57 PM - 7 February, 2008
Quote:
Ok, I tried that. It takes about 6 mins per video. Dude, Ive got 2 TB of vobs... thats just not going to work. There has to be a faster way.

I feel you man. I have had 2 Macbook Pro's encoding for days now (and I only have about 600 gb of videos. Your looking at like a month just to convert, and thats running you computer all day...
matt212 6:04 PM - 7 February, 2008
Quote:
What are you PC people using?


A Mac.

Sorry...that was too good of a setup. lol
RaveDave 10:05 PM - 7 February, 2008
There HAS to be an easier softer way... these videos dont even look as good as the vobs on a 20ft screen. Magic Converter seems to be the best so far... but according to my calculations its going to take 2.5 months to encode everything.

As far as processor goes... Dual core 3.6ghz is faster than you can even buy stock. That should be plenty of speed. But my laptop (pentium 4 @ 3ghz) does it at almost the same speed as the dual core VJ computer..

Please... help?
nobspangle 10:17 PM - 7 February, 2008
ffmpeg is the way to go, run it in batch. Once you've figured out your command line get two copies running at the same time to make use of your dual cores.
Encoding to h.264 takes a long time, that's how it is.
What kind of RAID card are you using for your array?
RaveDave 6:21 AM - 8 February, 2008
Ok, thats a command line utility. Could you post the commands for me?

Its a Highpoint RocketRaid 8 channel card.
a-swift 6:39 AM - 8 February, 2008
Quote:
Ok, I tried that. It takes about 6 mins per video. Dude, Ive got 2 TB of vobs... thats just not going to work. There has to be a faster way.


you're complaining about 6 minutes per video? dude thats damn near realtime. you should be so lucky. H.264 encoding is usually slower than 1/4 realtime on a VERY fast computer if you use double pass. That means about 20 minutes per video. 45 minutes on slower computers or slower encoders (unless you use Elgato accelerator).

I have just as many VOBs as you do and I can encode my entire library in less than a week. Audio normalized, files tagged and all. Takes a lot of computers but I *have* a lot of computers so its no big deal.

But man, if you are complaining about 6 minutes per video, prepare to be dissapointed.
RaveDave 6:34 PM - 9 February, 2008
Ok, well, conversions are in progress. Running 4 PC's using Magic Converter. Setting it at .mov (DVD Quality w/ h264 and AAC). Video rate at 4600. Seems to be progressing well, although I am actually considering buying a mac laptop to run it on. sigh.

One issue I have noticed, and I dont know what exactly is causing it or how to fix it is that all my video files are tagged with information I find valuable. Which promo disc I got the video from, the real BPM of the song, its audio rate, NTSC or PAL and some other shit. Sometimes filenames are long. Videos get converted fine, but I cant play them or load them into serato until I shorten the filename.

Anyone experienced this?
a-swift 7:01 PM - 9 February, 2008
write a script to rename the files and tag the newly renamed file with atomicParsely. thats what i do.
a-swift 7:02 PM - 9 February, 2008
also, i hope you have a MONSTER pc running vsl with 4600 bitrate and H.264.

have you tried playing these converted videos in VSL at that bitrate?
D-Twizzle 7:08 PM - 9 February, 2008
i agree with a-swift, 4600 is overkill. 3000 would be great, but most people are converting between 2000-2500. the higher the bitrate, the more processing your computer needs to do which can affect performance.
a-swift 7:23 PM - 9 February, 2008
if my computer could play back a 4600 bitrate file using VSL without stuttering, that would be pretty freaking awesome.

actually, i have a couple computers that could do it. none i would drag to a club though.