Re-Capture a DV-AVI Source File - PapaJohn's Newsletter Archive

I've mentioned before... if you need to recover from a missing or corrupt DV-AVI source file situation, you can re-capture it from the digital camcorder tape. But what steps are involved? In this issue, let's simulate losing a large file that's been used for an important project. We've invested dozens of hours of editing and some of the frame syncing needs to be 'spot on'.

More importantly, we'll see how easily and well we can re-capture the file, and re-sync it with the project file... using only the project file that's now full of red-X's, and a newly re-captured source file.

We have no notes in our database about the original source file, and we don't remember what the file name was or what folder it was in.

By doing it as an exercise, we can do it without the emotional loss and be prepared if we ever need to do it for real... hopefully never.

It'll also be a mini-tutorial about making a video that includes a freeze frame and a few freeze-frame-like overlays. These are the things that a WOW type of effect to the video, but make the 'spot-on' syncing so critical for the recovery efforts.

Click the picture at the left to view the video, the first draft of a movie trailer for Olivia, one of our grands. Note how the freeze-frame-like overlay images stick onto the screen as the video keeps going beyond them.

There's a special Windows Gallery in San Francisco next month, New York City in December, and Chicago in the spring... I'll be there to present Doing Amazing Things with Movie Maker and Photo Story. If you're in San Francisco on Saturday, November 19, stop by. I'll let you know later where it'll be, and the other dates when they're firmed.

The weeks keep rolling past... a year ago issue #78 was so far away, and now it's right around the corner. The issue marks the beginning of the renewal cycle for many readers... the last issue for those who have been reading them since I changed to a subscription-based service.

I'll be sending individual email notices. For those who continue on, the sign-up process for another year is the same, the PayPal button(s) on the main page of my website... those who sent checks, cash, money orders, etc... feel free to do it again.

Paint is an app I use a lot, more and more lately in conjunction with IrfanView, when making overlay images such as those for the video in this newsletter.

Somewhere between Paint and Photoshop is a developing software app named Paint.NET. It's an ongoing school project at the University of Washington... far enough along at this point to start using.

... with all the familiar features of Paint, and lots more... a magic wand, layers like PhotoShop, history states, etc.

The figure at the right shows some of the features... the Layers > Adjustments branch of the menu.

I'll devote newsletter #77 to it... at this point it looks promising, something we can effectively use to enhance our image preps for Movie Maker and Photo Story.

For a test clip that uses a large DV-AVI source file and some critical frame placements, I made the first draft of Olivia's movie trailer for 'Danger Girls' . She and her friend Kaitlyn were bouncing around on a trampoline as they sketched the trailer. Here are some notes about how I put it together:

Here are the 4 overlay images after processing the frame snapshots through Paint and IrfanView. By using them as overlays with the background transparent, I was able to freeze the figures in the scene, while letting the video continue.

The clip following the freeze-frame, and the positioning of the clips behind the overlays are highly dependent on the source file being spot-on relative to the frames used for the freeze and overlays. The rendered movie from this project is what you see when you click the link in the opening paragraph.

Let's simulate the deletion (if the recovery doesn't work, we can get the original file back) by renaming the source file, changing its extension from .avi to .av_.

This has the same effect as deleting it... when Movie Maker can't find it, the collection and project are full of red-X's.

Let's assume we know the tape it was captured from... even without notes, you should know that. But we don't know the exact starting point for the capture... nor do we know the folder or file name originally used.

We'll start the re-capture about where we think the first tape capture started, put it any folder on the hard drive, and try the 'Browse for Missing File' to link to the new source file. That doesn't work... all we get is.

It's another of those messages that is close to being accurate, but misses the mark. The file is close enough to the original. It's not in the same folder, and doesn't have the same name. But most of the frames are the same and we can get it to work.

To find the original folder and file name, right click on any of the red-X's and check the properties. It'll include a reference to the needed location and file name.

Make a new folder if needed with the same name Captured Video, and put the new file in it. That isn't enough. You get the same message when pointing to the new file with the different name...

Create the folder if you need to. Put the new file in it and rename it to align with what the project file needs - Trampoline.avi . You won't have to browse for the missing file... when Movie Maker is opened, it'll see the file and replace all the red X's with clip images. If it doesn't, just touch a clip with the mouse to nudge it along.

The next, last and trickiest step is to 'adjust' the new source file so it aligns with the project file... we don't want to have to do any further tweaking of the project file, as it was perfect before we lost the source file. If you try to shift the clips in the project timeline, you would have to do each one, and many would be too difficult to do right.

Leave the project file alone... use it just to help determine how to adjust the new source file, not to make any changes.

Preview the project a bit and you'll that the frame/clip alignment isn't the same as the original, not even close. We started the re-capture at a different point on the tape... and Movie Maker assumes the new file starts at the same frame as the original. That's why it's out of sync.

What we need to do is determine how much it's out of sync by, and make the needed 'adjustment'.

Find just one frame, any frame, that needs to align exactly with the original.... here's one, Kaitlyn was in the air, her legs and hair were only at this point for one frame, as she was moving pretty quickly. It's the point that I used to make the freeze-like-overlay image. Previewing the project with the newly captured file shows that the overlay doesn't start at that frame, which it should. It's one of the perfect points to use for the 'adjustment'.... and we only need one point to realign the whole file. Let's use it.

Note the start time for the clip in the project is 0:01:15.81. The frame isn't there now, so let's look for it.

The clip name in the project file is 9/17/2005 8:00 PM (2), a subclip of the original with that name. Looking at the new set of clips from the re-captured file shows two clips named 9/17/2005 8:00 PM... preview them and see where that frame is... here it is, at the 0:00: 28.95 point in the new clip.

We know from the project file that we want that frame to be at 0:01:15:81 point of the timeline. How far away is it?

Browse the project timeline to find the frame... here it is at the 0:01:05:93 point... that's 9.88 seconds earlier than it was before. That means we started the re-capture 9.88 seconds after the original.

To make the new file align with the original, we need a 9.88 second 'adjustment'. We need to splice a 9.88 second leader to the beginning of the file in order to push that frame to the right by that much.

We'll do it by adding a black image (or any still image) of 9.88 seconds to the beginning of the new file, and render it to a new DV-AVI file... using Movie Maker. In that new file the frame will start that much later, and if all is well, the re-alignment will be finished.

Import the new clip as a single one without auto clip splitting > drag it to the timeline of a new project > add a still picture to the beginning > grab it's trim handle and pull it to the right to make it 9.88 seconds. 9.87 seconds is what we get... let's call it close enough.

Render the new 'adjusted' file to a new DV-AVI file. With no editing or complexity, the rendering is quick.

Once rendered, put this new 'adjusted' in the same folder and give it the same file name. It's time to open the project, preview it, and see if the new file snaps the project back into sync. Every frame in it should be positioned as it was originally including the freeze frame, the overlay images, and the project in general.

It worked great... amazingly, I couldn't tell the difference between the originally rendered movie from the original file versus a new one made from the re-captured and adjusted file. The project is ready for further normal editing and use.

I knew that a recaptured video file could be used if the original was lost, but I've never been faced with having to go through this kind of recovery.

It was a good exercise. Nice to know that it'll work if and when you ever need it. I hope you don't.

I look forward to comments and discussion about this and other newsletters on the forums at:

I'm involved in many things that support users of Movie Maker and Photo Story, and adding more regularly. Some are free and others reasonably priced.

TheDVShow is the only weekly Podcast having more useful information about desktop video editing and production than anywhere else on the Web. Digital video editing, nonlinear editing, streaming media, software releases, tutorials, business tips, technical help, download of the day and news on the latest products to make everything easier. It's where professional and consumer desktop video users go to stay on the cutting edge.

Call the phone mail machine to get your technical question answered on the air... call (206)-203-3516

The radio broadcast is from Boston, and the website has downloadable podcast files. The June 19th 2005 podcast was the first 'bi-weekly' show with a segment about Movie Maker 2.

Movie Maker 2 - Do Amazing Things (with its online companion on www.papajohn.org), published by Microsoft Press

Movie Maker 2 - Zero to Hero - with support on the publisher's forum - Friends of Ed

MaximumPC's winter 2005 quarterly special... had a 7 page tutorial 'Make a Killer Home Movie with Maker 2'. The special edition of the video made for it is now on my website as a file download.

The November 2005 edition of Maximum PC had a well done reworked 6 page reprint of the same article, starting on page 42 after the Happy 20th Birthday article for Windows.

Learning VirtualDub - published by Virtual Dub

Packt Publishing, is the first book about VirtualDub software. I wrote the first chapter about downloading and setting up the software: VirtualDub, VDubMod and AVISynth.

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org - the site's 3 goals are: an online companion to the Do Amazing Things book, a detailed tutorial for PhotoStory 3, and helping you solve Movie Maker 2 problems.

Forums are open to all for viewing, but require registration of those who want to post. Moderators actively participate to ensure the forum discussions move forward and stay on track.

Newsgroups are wide open for all to view and post... moderation is collective by the participants.

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story newsletter. The annual subscription is $20 and the link to subscribe is on the main page of my Movie Maker website at:

#76 - November 5 - Making DVDs in the MCE2005 version of Windows XP (my new Hummer laptop came with it)

Newsletters that were distributed more than 6 issues ago are posted by Rob Morris to an Archive Site at his Windows Movie Makers website. Links from my website pages to specific newsletters make it easier for the website viewer to see the content of both while browsing a topic.

Drop an email to suggest a newsletter topic... I can use more requests rather than fewer.

Transition Maker 2 (TM2) is a utility for the ultimate in making your own personal and custom transitions for Movie Maker 2. It's a joint product from Patrick Leabo, the programmer, and myself. Version 2 was released a week ago and I'm still working on updating the online tutorial.

I've beta tested some of the Pixelan packages and think very highly of their people and products.

Managing your personal information is more of a challenge as hard drives get bigger and the internet more robust.

My personal database has been an ongoing project over many years, and is now available to others. A tutorial about using it is on the Managing > Personal Database page of my site, and more info is in the database package itself.

It's free for the asking to regular newsletter subscribers... send an email request and I'll return it with the zipped file, which is less than 1 MB.

To others it's $10. To order, use the button on the top of the Managing > Personal Database page.

An online gallery that fully aligns with the main priority of the website is the 'PapaJohn Expert Zone' at neptune.

Check it at Neptune and the Distributing > Neptune page of the website, where there's a developing tutorial about how to use the service.

in conjunction with the Portage, Michigan library, I offer two free training sessions about Movie Maker, an intro session and a workshop. The upcoming scheduled sessions are:

If you can't save a movie because your project has become too complex, e-mail a copy and I'll divide it into manageable sub-projects, and provide detailed instructions about how to render the parts and assemble them into your final movie. $49.95 (no cost if it's not the right solution or doesn't work) - for details, see the sidebar on the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page of www.papajohn.org

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story training and support services start at $50 per hour - send an email - PapaJohn@CharterMi.net and I'll help you determine your needs, and work with you to plan and implement them.

Wedding combo website/video packages - check the bottom branch of the Movie Maker 2 website for a sample of what you can expect for the online portion of the package.

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About John 'PapaJohn' Buechler from Microsoft.com

John "PapaJohn" Buechler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., goes by PapaJohn online. An avid user of Movie Maker since its first release, and a regular supporter of the community of Movie Maker users, John received a 2003 MVP award from Microsoft for that support. In March 2003, he started a comprehensive website about Movie Maker 2 at www.PapaJohn.org. He maintains the website, writes books and articles, teaches, and provides support services - all for the community of Movie Maker 2 users. An engineer by formal education, John is a computer database and multimedia expert by business and personal experience. He co-authored the first book about Movie Maker 2 and is actively working on a second one. You can find his advice in the Windows XP Movie Maker newsgroup and in the Windows Movie Makers Forums.

This newsletter is republished with permission of John "PapaJohn" Buechler.
Please note that this is an archive of newsletters and some information may become outdated. PapaJohn, and the webmaster of this site, provides this information "AS IS" with no warranties.

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