newbie asks: where's the automatic scene detection?

[seastars]

I'm new to using Nero Express for moviemaking. (I previously used WinDVD, the software bundled with Plextor conversion hardware.)

I have a digital file (the conversion of my 20-minute camcorder tape) that Nero accepts, no problem. I'm searching for some sort of automatic scene detection, though, to break it up into, well, scenes. If I have to do this manually I will cry.

Where can I find the button/page to do this?

Other newbie tips?

[CowboySlim]

OK, I tried this once before but didn't like it so it's been a while and I'll try to stumble through it as I go.

1. Open up NeroVision Express and choose "Make Movie."
2. The box on the upper right should say "My Media Files" and at the lower left corner of that box is a round icon with a folder and a magnifying glass, click on that to select "Browse."
3. Do the usual up and down folders/browsing stuff to find the MPG file that you want to work with, select it and click on the "OPEN" button.
4. The file will appear in that box displaying the first frame.
5. Hover the cursor over the 2nd icon from the right, or four over to the right from the first icon that you clicked and it will say "Detect Scenes."
6. Double click on that and it will start analysing the file and when it's done, click on the generate button.
7. Look just to the left of the first frame and there will be a small box with a "+" sign it it, click on that and the scenes will appear below.

Now, I've never been able to accomplish my main goal with this editor which is to remove commercials from TV that I've recorded. Therefore, I can't help you past this point.

I've had far better success with file editing and some authoring with Pinnacle Studio and commercial deletion with VideoReDo.

Slim

[edelbeb]

To remove commercial in Nero, you must manually edit the recorded item. If you edit in timeline mode, and zoon in or out as needed, spotting and removing commercial isn't too terrible of a chore. Nero Vision 4, however, sometimes chokes when editing several hours of video. Save your progress as you work.

[seastars]

Cowboy Slim, I tried to follow your excellent directions.

1. When I open Nero, I don’t have a Make Movie choice; it’s “Make Video” or “Make Super Video,” I think. I choose “Make Video.”

2-3 No problem.

4. The file doesn’t show as a first frame; it only shows as an icon.

5. Hovering doesn’t give a “Detect Scenes” option.

I’m more confused than ever.

[CowboySlim]

I'll check again tonight.

[CowboySlim]

What version of Nero are you using? I'm in 6.6

What version of NeroVision Express? I'm in 3

1. Now after opening your mpg file, you see and icon just below where it says "My Media Files" in the box in the upper right?

2. The icon is at the left in a light blue rectangle?

3. Below that icon, at the bottom of the box are 5 round icons?

5. Going left to right: Blue, blue, red, red, and blue?

6. Hovering over the blue button which is second from the right and just to the right of a red, should give your Detect Scenes.

7. This round button has a two frame flim clip on the left and a magnifying glass on the right.

8. Click on that button.

[seastars]

Cowboy, you're a saint for trying to help. I'm really confused.

According to the NERO utton I push when I'm in Nero Express, "visit http://www.nero.com and find out why Nero 6 is the ultimate CD/DVD burning suite." So that must mean I have Mero 6, right? I don't see any mention of NeroVision Express anywhere.

I get stuck right at your #1. When I open my mpg file (after dragging it to the "add the video files you want to burn" screen, I don't see any icon. The "add the video files you want to burn" screen just lists, by text, the mpg file. When I click on that line of text I get a RealPlayer-like window that plays the file; no icons except a "stop" and "play" button.

Specifically, here's what happens when I try Nero:

1. Click on Nero SmartStart
2. Click "make video CD" among choices like burn audio, etc.
3. Drag over an .mpg file onto the "add the video files you want to burn" screen
4. Get a semi-error message: "analyzing file X" followed by "the video file X is not Video CD compliant. The video will be re-encoded to Video CD format before burning."
5. Click OK (only choice)
6. Get a semi-error message: "Due to patent license restrictions, MPEG-2 encoding/decoding/playback is not available. This feature can be installed by installing the DVD-Video Plug-In"
7. Click OK (other choices are to "find out more about DVD-Video Plug-In" or "Purchase DVD-Video Plug-In". I'm back at the "add the video files you want to burn" screen.
8a. If I click "next," it just brings me to the "final burn settings" screen.
8b. If I click "enable VCD settings" and then "next," it brings me to the My Video CD Menu. I can change the layout, text, background for the menu screen that will appear on the final DVD. But still, only my one, giant video file appears here. There appears to be no choice for Automatic Scene Selection anywhere.

So do I need to buy another kind/version of Nero (apparently NeroVision Express, or is that maybe the same as the Plug-In mentioned in my step 6 above)? I apologize if this is an elementary question. I thought "Nero" was just a single piece of software.

http://ww2.nero.com/nero6/eng/NeroVision_Express_3.html seems to be what you're talking about: with the auto scene detection and all. The manufacturer website has it for $80 - http://ww2.nero.com/enu/index.html - or is there a cheaper alternative? Is there a trial version I can test out?

[dodecahedron]

what happens when you click on Nero from Start -> All Programs ?
look at the pics below.
you should have an option (maybe in a submenu) of NeroVision.
that's what Slim is talking about and what you need.
i think you probably have it.

[seastars]

Hmmm. I don't see that. From

Start -> Programs -> Nero

I have these choices (only):

Nero OEM ( Nero CoverDesigner, NeroExpress)
Nero ToolKit (Nero CD-DVD Speed, Nero DriveSpeed, Nero InfoTool)
Users Guides
Nero SmartStart (which takes me to the "choose your catergory: audio, video, etc. screen I describe in my previous post)
Nero Online Upgrade

BUT when I did a search of all my harddrive files for files containing the term "NeroVision," I found three, all 1 KB Internet Shortcuts:

Download NeroVision Express 3.1.0.25 Free Trial
Nero 6 [NeroVision Express 3]
VideoHelp.com - Tools - NeroVision Express

[dodecahedron]

I have these choices (only):

Nero OEM ( Nero CoverDesigner, NeroExpress)
Nero ToolKit (Nero CD-DVD Speed, Nero DriveSpeed, Nero InfoTool)
Users Guides
Nero SmartStart (which takes me to the "choose your catergory: audio, video, etc. screen I describe in my previous post)
Nero Online Upgrade

sounds to me like you don't have NeroVision.
you can try those shortcuts but they probably lead to webpages (first 2 on Ahead's website), that's all.
you either have to buy another piece of software or try and find a freeware that will do it.
www.doom9.org has lot's of guides and links to download free software. and forums too where you can get help.
i'm sure you'll be able to find there what you need but it will take time to study up.

[seastars]

I just installed and am trying out a demo of Nero 7, with NeroVision. Yup - looks different than what I had. Autodetection is going now. Hope this stays as easy as it's starting out!

[CowboySlim]

10-4

[seastars]

Alas, after I properly installed Nero 7 - actually, I cleaned and re-installed three different times, and of course rebooted, without result - I get a new and different problem. Argghhh.

The problem is that Nero Vision crashes/has to close every time I begin a new project by adding a media file. I do these steps:

-Click on Nero Smart Start from Desktop

-Click on Nero Vision

-Click on Make Movie

-Click on icon for Browse for Media, then Browse and Add to Project

-Click on any one of several .mpg files that I want to insert, then Open

I see a screen for a second that says "Please Wait: Adding Media Files" and then immediately an error screen: "NeroVision.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

-Then the Nero screen pops up again and I begin the same routine again, with the same result.

I use Windows XP. I don't run any other programs when trying to do the above steps. I have 7.86 GB free on my hard drive.

What can possibly be the problem? Thanks, Cowboy or whoever can help. This is really aggravating.

[CowboySlim]

I just converted some *.MPGs to burn on DVD Videos this weekend with out any problem and following that exact procedure.

I may have seen that error message in the past,
but can't recall the circumstances now.

Did you try to play the mpg file in Nero ShowTime?
If it plays there, Nero Vision should open it also.

[seastars]

Yes, I could play the files in Nero ShowTime - no problem.

I've emailed Nero customer service, but you know how useless THAT is.

Grrr. I'd hoped there was some easy answer. I can't believe how many months I've been struggling with this program (even more for the crappy bundled-with-my-converter predecessor).

[CowboySlim]

Sorry, SS,

I just recorded an MPEG file with my Hauppauge WinTV and then followed your steps above and all went well.

I'm clueless.

Slim

[CowboySlim]

SS,

If you have a piece of video file that is not too personal and about 2 -3 megs, you could mail it to me to test.

CowboySlim@att.net

[seastars]

Will do, tonight. Thanks.

I tried this morning using .avi files instead of .mpg . No problem - didn't crash. Tried the .mpg again - crash. Many of the .mpg files I tried were big (I'd converted some 20min camcorder tapes to digital, then planned on using Automatic Scene Detection in NeroVision to separate them into chapters), but even the small ones crashed the program.

This may be an incredibly stupid question (possibly leading to an incredibly easy answer: "buy it"), but do you think it's because I'm (still, until I'm convinced that this program runs right and it's what I want to buy) using the Demo version of NeroVision, downloaded from their website, instead of the "real" version? Maybe the demo version has a bug or something? This occurs to me because the demo version also seems to be lacking some of the features (like creating chapters) that I wanted to test.

[seastars]

Alas, my smallest mpg file is 212mb - you wouldn't want that cluttering your mailbox, cowboy! (I was counting on Nero's automatic scene detection to dice it up into bits.)

[CowboySlim]

I use VideoReDo to scene detect and edit out the commercials from captured TV prior to making the video files (*.vob, etc) with NeroVision.

I never have figured out how to do consecutive cuts from an mpg file with Nero Vision.

It will cut your mpg into smaller chunklets.
You can download a free, 30 day trial version.

I don't think that your problem is due to a feature in the OEM version being slightly broken with respect to the full, retail version.
Usually, the features in the OEM versions are just not available period.
Those that are available in an OEM version should be work the same.

[dodecahedron]

AFAIK the Demos from Nero are identical to the full product.

[CowboySlim]

Oh yeah, and if you try VideoReDo and it can't open your file, it would sure look like a file corruption.

When you played it with Nero ShowTime, did you play it start to finish?
I think that Nero Vision looks at it all the way through when you add it to the project.

You might also try Windows Media Player or some other player.

Yeah, I'm thinking that if you didn't play it all the way thru to where ShowTime would have found the corruption, sending me the front chunklet won't tell us much.

If you haven't done so, play it all the way through.
If that works or you've done that already, try to split me a chunklet with VideoReDo.

Slim

10

[seastars]

Postscript: I got so frustrated that I set this project aside for a while. Once I upgraded my memory, this particular problem resolved.

I have a new one though: I can make movies, just not burn them to DVD! I've made a separate thread for this.