is it time to let GK fully handle DIVX6?

[medp7060]

DivX6 note: Because DivX6 changed the way it stores its configuration, you'll have to enter the codec configuration

Since LenOx stops the develpmetn of GK for long time. Are there any programers out there who are willing to make GK feed all the parameters to DIVX6 as it does to DIVX5? I am sure it would not be that hard for a programer to achive that although it is pretty hard for me to do it.

[Axed]

I really like GK, and i think it has the best interface out of all of the GUI's. Especially in regards to changing the resolution/cropping and compressibility checks.

That being said, i seriously doubt you will find a programmer who will take the time to do GK because of its limitations. Its a VFW only program, which is dead for all the enthusiasts and the code is sloppy from what ive read, which makes it hard for prospective programmers. It also does have a few little annoying bugs in the AdvancedAVS window type which need repair (such as not being able to put filters before cropping).

Id love to see it ressurected, but it would be a bit of a surprise to see it since most eyes on here are turned towards the new technology and the people who arent interested in AVC seem to use simpler programs such as AutoGK.

[medp7060]

GK 0.35 is now not compatible with DIVX 6.2 at all.

I really hope some talents will pick up the development of GK. GK was the best programme for divx encoding. and it was better than DIVX's bundled converter.

[somebodeez]

I really hope some talents will pick up the development of GK. GK was the best programme for divx encoding.

I agree 100% and would be thrilled if development of it would continue.

[zap_path]

That being said, i seriously doubt you will find a programmer who will take the time to do GK because of its limitations. Its a VFW only program, which is dead for all the enthusiasts and the code is sloppy from what ive read, which makes it hard for prospective programmers. It also does have a few little annoying bugs in the AdvancedAVS window type which need repair (such as not being able to put filters before cropping).

Id love to see it ressurected, but it would be a bit of a surprise to see it since most eyes on here are turned towards the new technology and the people who arent interested in AVC seem to use simpler programs such as AutoGK.

First, you say entusiasts aren't interested in GK anymore. What are they interested in? Is there any other program that encodes DIVX with the same amount of control? If there is no decent alternative, I think GK really should be ressurected.

I've been seriously thinking about trying my hand at this for some time, but the biggest obstacle, I think, is that it is written in Delphi. This is a fairly obscure language and the development environment is very expensive. There is an open source version available (Lazarus), but the compenents are not source quite compatible. I've briefly tried to get the thing to compile without success.

Given the amount of work it would take to understand the old code, fix it up, add DIVX 6 support, etc., I think it might make more sense to start from scratch using the old code as a template. I think VB.NET is the fastest/easiest option for Windows development. Maybe Java would also be a possibility, I haven't messed with Java in a few years.

Other than the massive time commitment this will require, the other obstacle would be my lack of knowledge on how to call the various tools required (AVS, VirtualDub). I can try to figure it out from the old code, but there is no substitute for good documentation and what I have found is incomplete at best. It would be useful to be able to correspond with someone knowledgable about the subject.

Any volunteers of assistance?

-zap_path

[stax76]

Delphi is not obscure, I don't like it either but it's a powerful tool many powerful applications are coded with. The main problem is GK was the TheWEF's first application, this means he didn't had much programming experience and thus the code is amateurish. For instance I think it was only build for one codec and one container, new codecs and containers were added more or less with hacks afaik. Applications in a healthier state like StaxRip or MeGUI of course use polymorphism instead.

StaxRip should give much more control and since you like VB .NET you are welcome to join the MP4Enc development which is derived from StaxRip, if you like to and have enough experience it should be easy to add GK features to MP4Enc.

Furthermore you could ask the MeGUI team what they think about DivX support, they are also looking for developers.

[Sharktooth]

yep, i had several health problems and im looking for a job right now so i cant be so active on megui development just becoz i have almost no free time.
divx in megui is not possible unless DXN will release a CLI encoder, we haven't VFW support and we don't want it but we're still open for ideas (we were interested in divx muxer for example...).

[Kurtnoise]

The main problem is GK was the TheWEF's first application, this means he didn't had much programming experience and thus the code is amateurish.
Are you sure about that ? Who you are to say that this code is "amateurish" ? All developpers start with an simple and very good "hello world" code after all. So, before to be a good programmer, they (we ?) were newbies fortunately.

For instance I think it was only build for one codec and one container, new codecs and containers were added more or less with hacks afaik.
Well...go back to 2001-2002 and tell me what codecs were available and usable ? Yeeaaah, most of them were VFW based. So, GK has been coded mostly for these kind of codecs.


All in all, GK supports perfectly the last DivX build. So...

@Sharktooth : DrDivx provides a cli to encode in DivX. ;)

[stax76]

Who you are to say that this code is "amateurish"?

The GK source when it was first released had this quote:

When I started to write Gordian Knot it was one of my first
Delphi projects. Obviously i made a lot of design mistakes that
are impossible to get rid of now. Also GKnot was meant as a
simple bitrate calculator in the beginning...

I read this as there are design mistakes because of a lack of experience so I think it's fair to say the code is amateurish, we all made such mistakes when we started.

[Kurtnoise]

Fortunately, GK has been improved since the 1st public release with Len0x and TheGlouch enhancements. So, design mistakes have been corrected.

[stax76]

The quote tells 'impossible to get rid of now', does it use polymorphism for codecs and containers? IMHO everything else is either amateurish or a hack.

[Axed]

First, you say entusiasts aren't interested in GK anymore. What are they interested in? Is there any other program that encodes DIVX with the same amount of control? If there is no decent alternative, I think GK really should be ressurected.

I didnt mean that enthusiasts are interested in GK anymore, i ment they arent interested in Video For Windows anymore because of its limitations to new codecs. x264 doesnt use VFW without seperate modifications that marvelous people like Sharktooth and others do. Which means unless someone has the skills and the time to update the seperate VFW x264 codec, it wont be updated. Hell, i dont even think wmv9 uses VFW (does it?).

Personally, ive gotten into Staxrip lately and i am quite impressed! It lets me modify things i couldnt do in GK. I love GK it was a perfect tool for a great time, but i dont really think its going to go much futher im sorry to say especially with great projects like Staxrip, MeGUI and the other new (relative to GK) encoding GUI's out there now.

[Kurtnoise]

The quote tells 'impossible to get rid of now'
If you quote something, try to quote it correctly...This concerns design mistakes not something else. So, to answer your question : no, there are no polymorphisms into GK but IF you think that applications which don't have/use those kind of code are "amateurish" or "hackerish", well you can consider 95% of the developpers around here like completely "amateurs" or dirty "hackers"...No problem for me.

[Doom9]

Are there any programers out there who are willing to make GK feed all the parameters to DIVX6 as it does to DIVX5?Since Gordian Knot is open source, if there was anybody interested, it would've been done already.
Today's modern encoders that have already been mentioned sometimes to support DivX but are way more powerful (they don't support the divx3 hackery though but I really don't see any reason to do such things nowadays).. when you have full avisynth script editors, access to every codec parameter and codec profiles, full automatization and yet still full configurability, gknot looks rather bleak compared to that.
But if you have time.. nobody can stop you.

[stax76]

If you quote something, try to quote it correctly...This concerns design mistakes not something else. So, to answer your question : no, there are no polymorphisms into GK but IF you think that applications which don't have/use those kind of code are "amateurish" or "hackerish", well you can consider 95% of the developpers around here like completely "amateurs" or dirty "hackers"...No problem for me.

I did not say that a application that don't use polymorphisms are amateurish, not every application requires it. We are talking about a MPEG-4 frontend here, encoders, codecs and containers are fundamental to the design of such a application like polymorphisms is a fundamental OOP concept. I wrote such a application myself so I know what I'm talking about and if you ask the MeGUI dev team they will probably tell you the same.

[zap_path]

Having just learned about StaxRip, I've lost my interest in redoing GK. What an exellent and well written program! Thanks very much to Stax for creating it.

Has anyone considered replacing the Doom9 guides that recommend the use of GK to encode DIVX with the StaxRip guides?

I'm really only interested in encoding to DIVX as I own a hardware DIVX player. Is it not the only high compression codec available in hardware? So, regardless of any advantages of x264 or other codecs, they are useless to me.

When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the MP4Enc code, but right now I'm awfully happy with StaxRip.

[somebodeez]

I'm really only interested in encoding to DIVX as I own a hardware DIVX player. Is it not the only high compression codec available in hardware? So, regardless of any advantages of x264 or other codecs, they are useless to me.


That is my situation as well.

[weaver4]

And for DivX what about the Dr2? It is in Beta 10 now and starting to take shape. My main complaint with it is that it does not normalize audio, so it always about 15-20db lower than autogk, staxrip, MPEG Mediator, and avi.net.

It is also open source so I think it would be easier to add audio nomilization to it than to redo gk.

BTW: What version of Delphi does gk use? Delphi is much more popular in Europe than in the US. Wasn't even XviD written in Delphi?