1.2.4 feedback and feature requests

[cincyreds]

I use Smart Cutter to edit out commercials from HDTV recordings captured with a Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212. The original recordings are in .TS format, 720p and 59.94 fps. Audio is generally AC3, 48kHZ 384kbps. I used Total Media Extreme's standard capture module for recording.
After editing with Smart Cutter, I use tsMuxer to demux the edited .TS file into elementary streams. I then use mkvMerge to merge the streams into a MKV file (and use the cut points from Smart Cutter as chaper points).

However, the most recent version (1.2.4) seems to have audio sync problems when enabling Stream Fix or TME Mode. If I enable either of those options, the audio goes out of sync late in the video. For example, on a 45 minute video, the first 35 minutes or so are fine, but then the audio is out of sync for the last 10 minutes. Generally, the last 25% of the video is out of sync.

However, if I disable both the options above, everything works fine and the resulting video and audio is perfectly in sync. It appears there are still some bugs to work out with Stream Fix and TME Mode.

And if I could submit a few feature requests:

1. When moving the large slider, it would be nice if the time was displayed while the slider was moving (just like it does when moving the small slider) instead of updating only after you stop moving the slider.

2. Some "quick skip" buttons would be nice to skip ahead or back by 1,5,10,20,30,60 seconds by just clicking a button.

3. Would be nice if I could have "link" chosen by default instead of having to click it every time before I record.

4. Even though I specify an output directory, the program always makes me choose an output directory when recording. Maybe the output directory could have 3 options:
(1) Same as source
(2) Specify a directory
(3) Ask each time

5. Would be nice if the output filename didn't add "12.ts" to the name. Not sure why it does this. Would like to see something easier to read. For example, if the original filename is "mymovie.ts", the output filename would be "mymovie_edit.ts" (or something similar).

6. When saving project files, I think you should have a standard project filename extension, such as "scp" so we can easily see all our Smart Cutter project files. Same for cut points - would be nice to have the program automatically save them as ".cut" files (or whatever) so we don't have to wonder what to name these files.

7. It would be very helpful if the cut points could be output as a standard OGG formatted chapter file. When editing programs I often use the cut points as chapter markers.

And one bug report:
There is a problem with the output destination in settings. If the output destination folder has a space in it, the next time you open Smart Cutter the destination directory will be truncated at the first space. For example, if you choose your output destination as "C:\Smart Cutter Output", the next time you open Smart Cutter, the setting will show only "C:\Smart" - everything after the first space has been removed.

Thanks for a great program and such quick followup and support!

Cheers,

Dean

[admin]

Dear cincyreds:
Thank you so much for the active feed back!

audio sync problems when enabling Stream Fix

Could you please find sample files(under 20MB each) for this problem and email them to us? If you can send us both the files before and after cutted, that would be very helpful. Email address:
famering@gmail.com or support@fame-ring.com

1. time was displayed while the large slider was moving

Should be fixed in the coming version.

2. "quick skip" buttons ... 1,5,10,20,30,60 seconds

Already in our to-do list, just being constructed.

3. "link" chosen by default

Should be fixed in the coming version.

4. output directory could have 3 options

Will discuss with our developers about this.

5. didn't add "12.ts"

Quite a few users are complainig about this. Should be fixed soon.

6. standard project filename extension ... cut points

Yes. All the file extension options should be re-checked.

7. cut points ... standard OGG formatted

We will try to find an OGG format description, see whether it fits our demand.

8. output destination folder has a space in it ... truncated

Maybe related to runtime lib usage. We will try to re-produce this problem.

Thanks for all the precious ideas and your great support.
We will try to implement them in the new versions.

Best Regards,
FameRing Support Team

[cincyreds]

Could you please find sample files(under 20MB each) for this problem and email them to us?

I'll put this together shortly. Hopefully the problem can reproduced on smaller clips.

Thanks for the quick feedback and I'll be looking forward to the next version!

[iHD]

2. Some "quick skip" buttons would be nice to skip ahead or back by 1,5,10,20,30,60 seconds by just clicking a button.

Is there any news for this feature?

[admin]

Dear iHD:
Thanks for your posting.

2. Some "quick skip" buttons would be nice to skip ahead or back by 1,5,10,20,30,60 seconds by just clicking a button.

Yes, we have completed the source code of this feature. It will be included in the coming version soon.

Please feel free to send us your further advice and suggestion.
Thank you.

Best Regards,
FameRing Support Team

[FameFan]

...
We will try to find an OGG format description, see whether it fits our demand.
...

MeGUI (google) has a Chapter Creator tool which is able to generate the HTML like MKV chapters.
I use the simple OGG format from ChapterXtractor (google). It can be created from other format by ChapterXtractor. I often simply use an Excel table to transform named chapters from my simple textfile-format
timecode TAB chp_# TAB chp_text
to ChapterXtractor's OGG format.
Example:
My text format:
timecodeTABchp_#TABchp_text
here are TAB characters (field separators from Excel export) which are not reproduced in forums!
---------------v-v---------
00:00:00.000 1 Intro Part A
00:02:32.160 2 Mozart, Così fan tutte, Arie des Ferrando [Michael Schade]
00:08:24.960 3 Mozart, Così fan tutte, Duett Fiordiligi-Dorabella [Barbara Frittoli & Angelika Kirchschlager]
...

OGG format:
CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME= Intro Part A
CHAPTER02=00:02:32.160
CHAPTER02NAME= Mozart, Così fan tutte, Arie des Ferrando [Michael Schade]
CHAPTER03=00:08:24.960
CHAPTER03NAME= Mozart, Così fan tutte, Duett Fiordiligi-Dorabella [Barbara Frittoli & Angelika Kirchschlager]
...

Tested in mp4 with Nero9 ShowTime and MPC-Homecinema.
Hope this helps.

Regards