And More: Corel's VideoStudio - Crashing When Using 'Open With' To Import Clips Into VideoStudio [Fix/Workaround]

Just last Month, I picked up version 20 of Corel's recently-updated video editing suite "VideoStudio" (nomenclature "X10") and am having a lot of fun learning what it can do and how to do it all (coming from mainly editing videos with Sony's Vegas 'Movie Studio' line of products [now taken over by MAGIX]). However, I quickly ran into a little issue with importing clips using the "Open With" option in Windows and wanted to share what I found...

Normally, in Windows you can 'right-click' a video file and mouse-over the menu option "Open With..", which brings up a sub-menu of known applications, to 'send' the file to ('opening the file with the chosen application'). Doing this, whichever application you select will startup and the file will be sent to it to work with.

However, doing this with a video clip and VideoStudio x10 I found, every time the program would open up, it would immediately 'crash' (close/stop/etc). Hmm... time for some Troubleshooting! I double-checked that the file in question was not corrupted excessively by playing it, testing it in a couple of video/media players, and even tried a few other clips that were 'known good' (that VS worked with before). Each time, using "Open With...", the Splash Screen for VSx10 would show up and then just as the program itself looked like it was opening, the entire thing would crash and show this message:

Example of the "Corel VideoStudio has stopped working" Error Window Pop-Up
when trying to import a clip into VideoStudio X10 utilizing the "Open With" shortcut in Windows

Trove - Early Access Closed Beta Key Code Giveaway (With Unlimited Uses!)

For those who missed the recent Open Beta Test Weekend for Trove, here is an Unlimited Use Closed Beta Key Code for Early Access!

I am currently working on a 'First Impressions' article, as well as a 'First Tips And Helpful Hints' post, to put up here at the blog - but you don't have to wait for those to arrive - you can take this code right now and Apply it to your account at the Trion Worlds website (and share it with your closest friends) to start testing out the game that many people are already beginning to call "their current favourite"..and now you can find out why... So get the code, get in there, by yourself or with some friends - and See You In The Game!

And More: The EULA Keeps Popping Up When Starting Sony's Vegas Video Editing Applications (FIX)

Since the most popular answer on the ongoing poll I have running here at the blog ("what type of posts would you like to see more of in 2014" [top right, it will run until the middle of the year]) is "Tips And Tricks Of Video Capturing And Editing", I thought I would start more of these types of requested posts by sharing this fix for a problem that seems to pop up intermittently with Sony's Vegas line of products.


Whether you have just re-installed it or whether it has been on your system for a while, 'something' is causing the EULA (End User License Agreement) to pop up and require you to agree to it, even if you have already done so and/or Registered the program. This question comes up once in a while on the Sony Creative Software Official Forums and I have seen it elsewhere. I was recently reminded of it again because it is also something that just happened to me on my system! I didn't re-install Vegas or make any large changes related to Vegas, yet this little guy started popping-up every time I started up Vegas Movie Studio HD**:

The popup that comes up for some people, every time they start Vegas

The fix is a simple one, originally suggested by a Sony Forum Moderator and quoted/forwarded frequently on the official forums, to those who come and ask the question there. Although it seems more like a 'workaround' than a 'fix [in my opinion], it works just fine and since it is officially supported by Sony and I just tested it for verification myself [that it does indeed solve the problem], so now I share it here with you:

• To stop the EULA popping up every time you start Sony Vegas, simply open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder where you installed it on your system. 
• Then, find the file that is titled, simply, "eula". There will be no Extension showing, even if you have the Windows option to 'Hide Extensions For Known File Types' turned off. 
• Rename (or delete) the file. That's it! 

Now the EULA cannot pop up anymore and won't, every time you start up Vegas to edit your game captures.

**Although this example shows steps for the Movie Studio version of Sony's Vegas Video editing line, the EULA 'fix' is the same steps for Vegas Pro, Vegas Edit or other versions of Vegas

Enjoy popup-free video editing once again - and See You In The Games!

Quick Tip: Team Fortress 2 - What To Do With Those Naughty and Nice Winter Crates (Winter 2013)

By now, most of you have seen these Random Drops, Crates that are either "Nice" or "Naughty" - but, "How do you open them..", you may have asked? Well, this post is just a quick note to answer this question I have already started seeing on game forums and Question/Answer websites. Answer: You Can't Open Them (Yet)...

Soon hopefully, keys should be available for purchase at the Mann Company Store (Steam/Valve/TF2), most likely for $2.49 USD, if keys and dropped crates combinations of the past are anything to go by [I assume they are dropping them now, to allow people to collect some before the keys go on sale - to sell more keys]. So, if you get these [I have already started getting them when playing, hence the screencaps], just wait a little bit longer, until the keys themselves go on sale. Then, if you want to open them, just purchase keys and unlock them! Soon™... (Remember, you will need one key for each crate)


See You In The Games!

And More: How to record with H.264/AVC/x264/x264vfw (MPEG-4 Part 10) so that your video clips will open in Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere (Short Tutorial/Example Video)

Originally created to show an example of what to change so that your game recordings using the H.264/AVC/x264/x264vfw (MPEG-4 Part 10) codec will open up in Vegas, this also works for Premiere, Lightworks and other NLE's (Non-Linear Editors), for those who were having problems editing.

In this example*, I am recording with an x264vfw (Komisar's Unofficial, Black Logo) interface**, which sets up h.264/AVC encoding, used as an "External Codec" in Bandicam:

*Just a silly version of the video, sorry for taking up your time with this little joke

Summary of Video: Within the x264 Video For Windows interface, change the FourCC code that x264 is recording with [think of it as the 'UPC label' or 'QR tag' for the videos] to a code that these video editing apps can recognize natively. That's all.

Now, you should be able to import all your future game recordings into Vegas and Premiere without problem...

Ok, for a truly easy-to-follow video, that shows examples of how to set the code for Bandicam, Dxtory and Afterburner, look no further than here:

The true version of the video, showing how to adjust the setting required

As you can see, because the main setting to change occurs within the x264vfw interface itself, this change can be utilized no matter what game recording program you prefer to record with (Bandicam, Dxtory, MSI Afterburner, etc.)


**If you are using the 'Official' version of the x264vfw codec interface (Red Logo), the setting to change is indicated in this screenshot below:

»» Note: 
When editing the x264vfw codec with NLEs (Non-Linear Editors) such as Sony's Vegas line of products and Adobe's Premiere applications, you may experience artifacts such as 'trails' or 'corruption' unless you set the GOP setting to "1", which will make "Intra-frame only" encodes. This will encode frames that do not depend on surrounding frames, containing all necessary data within each frame itself (similar to how the MJPEG codec operates, requiring more bitrate/filesize, but MPEG-4 still uses less bitrate overall), which alleviates this problem.

This seems to only occur with Vegas, Premiere, Lightworks and similar products when using MPEG4, but does not occur with most other video editing applications (tested with Windows Movie Maker, CyberLink's PowerDirector, Nero Video, Avidemux, VirtualDub, etc), so you could always extract the portions of the video you want from your recordings with those, then import your portions into Vegas/Premiere/etc and finalize your video projects that way. However, to omit having to do that extra step, you can have your H.264/AVC (x264) recordings editable in Vegas/Premiere/etc by doing the following:

For the Official (Red Logo) x264vfw interface, add "--keyint 1" (without quotations) into the Extra Command area at the bottom
For The Unofficial (Black Logo) x264vfw interface, set the Maximum GO Size to "1"


***
A lengthy article, talking about recording with x264/H.264/AVC in detail (testing settings, recommendations for speed, etc.) can be found at the blog here:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/05/game-recording-with-mpeg-4-using.html

***

Have fun editing and See You In The Games!