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Notes on Sony Movie Converter V2.2

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"The Colonel"

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Apr 26, 2002, 3:39:42 AM4/26/02
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This unofficial overview was written by E.D.C. Animation Society - New York
Document Version  0.16a
April 25, 2002
 
MovConv  2.2E
Release Date: 08/06/97
Environment: Windows 3.1 & Windows 95
 
 [ Overview ]
 
 MovConv is a program that is used to convert Microsoft's Video for Windows (unconpressed AVI) to the streaming format (STR) for the Sony Playstation home video game console. STR videos use Multiple Distribution Entropy Coding (MDEC). This is essentially the same as JPEG compression. It allows you to choose compression and quality ratios before you start the encoding process.
 
 MovConv is not a video editor. You will need to use a standard AVI-compatible editor, such as Adobe Premier. There is still no truly efficient way of editing videos in the STR format. Therefore,  you should try to do as much editing as possible before encoding to STR.
 
 [ Note ]
 
 MovConv 2.2E is a 16-bit program.  It does not support 32-bit long directory names or long files names. Please remember to the old style "8.3" file naming system. 
 
[ Source Material ]
 
 The quality of the finished STR file is greatly impacted by the following: The quality of the source material, the quality of the import to AVI equipment, any pre-encoding processing and the parameters used for MDEC compression. It is extremely important to keep these points in mind in order to create high-quality MDEC video. There is more detailed information about this in the help file that comes with MovConv 2.2E.
 
 Your uncompressed AVI source material must have horizontal and vertical dimensions that are multiples of 16. This is so your finished STR streams will be compatible the Playstation's MDEC decoder circuitry.  This will also allow compatibility with PC software STR players, such as PSMPlay, PSXPlay and PsxMC. Below is a chart of some STR video resolutions, that appear to be common. The math has been included to verify that the dimensions are correct.
 
===============================================================================
FULL FRAME (FULL SCREEN)    ANAMORPHIC (THEATRICAL WIDE SCREEN)
 
320 X 224 [320 / 16 = 20] & [224 / 16 = 14]   320 X 144  [320 / 16 = 20] & [144 / 16 = 9]
320 X 240 [320 / 16 = 20] & [240 / 16 = 15]   320 X 160  [320 / 16 = 20] & [160 / 16 = 10]
640 X 480 [640 / 16 = 40] & [480 / 16 = 30]    320 X 192  [320 / 16 = 20] & [192 / 16 = 12]
 

 Segu's PSMPlay, version 0.4 is inconpatible with STR streams using MDEC compression version 2. In the MDEC Parameters dialog box, there is a drop-down menu that allow you to select version 3. If you plan to use Segu's player, select version 3 before starting the encoding process.
 
 [ Chart ]
 
 A chart for quickly refrencing the multiples of 16 has been included as a convenience.
 
 X1 = 16  X11 = 176  X21 = 336  X31 = 496
 X2 = 32  X12 = 192  X22 = 352  X32 = 512
 X3 = 48  X13 = 208  X23 = 368  X33 = 528
 X4 = 64  X14 = 224  X24 = 384  X34 = 544
 X5 = 80   X15 = 240  X25 = 400  X35 = 560
 X6 = 96  X16 = 256  X26 = 416  X36 = 576
 X7 = 112  X17 = 272  X27 = 432  X37 = 592
 X8 = 128  X18 = 288  X28 = 448  X38 = 608
 X9 = 144  X19 = 304  X29 = 464  X39 = 624
 X10 = 160  X20 = 320  X30 = 480  X40 = 640
 
New Functions:
 
[ Script ]
 
 MovConv has batch processing cabability.  A "script" defines the processing sequence.  The script for MovConv is very simple.  It is a sequence of functions which defines each conversion.  Please see the movconv.scr file to check the syntax of a MovConv script.
 
[ Q matrix ]
 
 Q matrix is a quantization matrix used for MDEC compression.  The MDEC quantization stage is the same as the JPEG or MPEG quantization stage.  A full discussion is beyond the scope of this document. Normally, you don't need to change the Q matrix value .  If you are very familiar with JPEG or MPEG compression,  you can change the Q matrix value to optimize compression.
 
[ Leap sector ]
 
 A "leap sector" is a sector which is put on output data to synchronize video with audio.  To be exact, the NTSC video frame rate is not 60.00 fps but 59.94 fps.  If you import video using video capture equipment, the base frame rate of imported video is 59.94 fps.  But the PlayStation streaming mechanism expects video data to be 60.00fps.  So, if you play this video
data with PlayStaion, it is played slightly faster than it should be. Usually, it doesn't matter if you play only video data because the frame rate difference is very small.  But if you play audio data with video data, you will recognize that the synchronization of video and audio becomes  gradually incorrect. You can solve this problem putting a leap sector on the original 59.94 fps video.  This makes 59.94 fps video 60.00 fps.
 
 ===============================================================
 Data is imported from video tape  Leap sector on
 (59.94fps)
 ---------------------------------------------------------------
 Data is created on computer   Leap sector off
 (60.00fps)
 ===============================================================
 
[ Known Bugs ]
 
 If your video card is set to to a color depth of less than 16-bit, the colors of the preview image will be distorted..
 
 Audio data cannot be converted from stereo to monaural.  
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