Scene Change Detection

A great feature in many of our products is the automatic Scene Change Detection feature. We admit that this isn't the most well-documented feature so we're going to devote this month's tip to this particular feature. The following guide is written with TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX Authoring in mind, but the feature is also available in TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress and DVD Source Creator 4.
(While Scene Change Detection is available in TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0, it works in a different fashion than explained here. See the TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0 Help File for details.)

Why Use Scene Change Detection?

First of all, what's the point of the Scene Change Detection feature? This feature will automatically detect a scene change based on changes in the imagery of the frames in your video. This feature can be very useful to find places to insert chapter points in a quick and effecient manner, or simply for quick navigation from scene to scene.

Accessing The Scene Change Detection Feature

Where is it located? The feature can be found in the only place it would be useful--the Cut-edit tab of the Clip Editor window.


To get to the Clip Editor window, go to the Source stage and click on the "Edit" button of a video file. You can also access the Clip Editor when you first add the video file to your track list.

You will note that there is no actual button or menu item for Scene Change Detection; it is a built-in feature of the thumbnail navigator (the row of thumbnails which represent various frames of your video).

The vertical blue line at the middle of the thumbnail navigator represents the "playhead" of the video--the current frame in the preview area. You should know that right-clicking in the thumbnail navigator will fast-forward or fast-reverse depending on where you click in relation to the playhead. The scene-change detection feature works in a similar fashion.

Simply click the middle mouse button within the thumbnail navigator to find the next scene change. Middle-clicking to the right of the playhead will advance the video to the next scene change. Middle-clicking to the left of the playhead will rewind to the previous scene change. Easy, huh?

You can also change various settings for the Scene Change Detection feature in the Preferences.

The Scene Change Detection feature described here can also be used in TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress and DVD Source Creator 4. Try it out today!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of TMPG Labs! Please join us again next time for more tips!