Re-using old temp files

[yetanotherid]

It occurred to me today, while re-ripping some video (I'd been trying to hit a happy quality balance with a bunch of files while keeping the resolution constant), that AutoGK was re-doing a fair amount of work it had already done.

If I've converted a video, then decided to change a setting and convert it a second time, is there any way to say to AutoGK "hey... you've already converted the audio and here's the file" or "you've done the compressibility test and first pass already", or does it need to do it all again?

Thanks.

[unskinnyboy]

If you change a setting, then it means that you have changed the scenario, and AutoGK now needs to redo the compressibility test, first pass etc. taking into account the new setting. Unless it's a setting, for which the previous encode's stats can be used. You don't need to redo the audio if you don't want to. Just uncheck the audio. You can take the audio from the previous try and manually mux it again.

What is the setting you are changing anyway?

[yetanotherid]

If you change a setting, then it means that you have changed the scenario, and AutoGK now needs to redo the compressibility test, first pass etc. taking into account the new setting. Unless it's a setting, for which the previous encode's stats can be used. You don't need to redo the audio if you don't want to. Just uncheck the audio. You can take the audio from the previous try and manually mux it again.

What is the setting you are changing anyway?

I see. I thought maybe the compressibility test, first pass etc. might be something of a general thing, where AutoGK looks at the video so to speak, but still might be able to use that info for the second pass even if a setting has been changed. Obviously not though. Thanks for the answer.

I guess in the overall scheme of things, letting it re-do the audio if it has to do everything else again would probably be no slower than me trying to do it manually, especially given that I've never done it manually before.

The only setting I'd generally change is resolution. For the sake of 'neatness' when I encode multiple episodes of a show I try to do them all at the same fixed resolution (I'm not really sure why to be honest) and sometimes the first guess as to a happy balance between resolution and compression that works for all of them isn't as close as I'd like and I find myself adjusting the resolution up or down a bit and then starting again.
If I'm doing a lot of them together, I let AutoGK do a couple in auto mode first and see what resolution it thinks is best then take a guess as to what would be average from there, but there's no guarantee those first couple are going to be as average as I'd like. :-(

[unskinnyboy]

The resolution you choose is a big determining factor in the compressibility of the video. If that's what you are changing, then you should always redo the first pass. But let's say you wanted to just change the target size, then you don't need to redo the first pass (but of course, there's no way to tell AutoGK not to redo the first pass, so you'd have to take the stats file from the first pass and do the second pass manually). Easiest thing would be to redo everything.

[TheTooleMan]

If you change a setting, then it means that you have changed the scenario, and AutoGK now needs to redo the compressibility test, first pass etc. taking into account the new setting. Unless it's a setting, for which the previous encode's stats can be used. You don't need to redo the audio if you don't want to. Just uncheck the audio. You can take the audio from the previous try and manually mux it again.

I have basically the same question, and the answer above would be a good solution. But how would I manually mux the previously created audio with the new video file? Is that something AutoGK can do, or do I need to go to VirtualDub for that?

(I'm also a newbie 'round here, at least in this area, so please be tolerant of my stupid question.)

Thanks

[yetanotherid]

Now I've got a bit more encoding experience I do every so often re-encode the video without the audio and use VirtualDubMod to add the audio demuxed/created in the first try myself.

TheTooleMan, before you re-encode, manually copy the audio created in the first try to a safe place. If you don't copy/move it from the AutoGK temp folder, AutoGK will delete it before it starts the next run.
You'll find VirtualDubMod installed inside the AutoGK installation folder.

[yetanotherid]

Quick instructions:
Open VirtualDubMod. Open the AVI without the audio. From the VDM Streams menu at the top select Streams List. Use the Add button to add the audio stream you saved after AutoGKs first encode. Select okay to go back to the main VDM window. The use the File/Save menu to re-save the AVI, but select direct stream copy for the video first otherwise VDM will re-encode it again.

I find VDM can be a bit fussy when it comes to adding VBR MP3 audio. Occasionally it'll hang while re-saving the file. It doesn't seem to have a problem with CBR MP3 or AC3 audio.

[TheTooleMan]

Thanks for the info. I have another question that may be a little off-topic for this thread, but since I have your attention...

I have tried using VirtualDub and VDubMod to compress video. But whenever I go to the Compression item under the Video menu, the programs bomb. I get the message "VirtualDub has stopped working" and it shuts down. I have used VirtualDub to run the scripts created by AutoGK in a step-by-step process, and that works fine. So what's different about the stand-alone execution of VirtualDub? Are the codecs or DLL's not loaded? How do I get around this problem?

(Where I wrote VirtualDub above, the same applies to VirtualDubMod)

[yetanotherid]

When I said I've got a bit more encoding experienced, I guess I should have put a little more emphasis on the "bit" bit. ;-)

Sorry, but I've never done what you're trying to do so can't help you there. My working knowledge of VirtualDubMod doesn't extend much past extracting streams from AVIs and putting them back together again. You're probably more advanced than me.

Would you get around the problem by not using VirtualDubMod to compress video? That's not me trying to be clever.... I manually use VDM for the jobs where I don't have to actually re-compress video (audio I'll sometimes do) but if there's encoding involved I give the job back to AutoGK.

[yetanotherid]

"Now I've got a bit more encoding experience I do every so often re-encode the video without the audio and use VirtualDubMod to add the audio demuxed/created in the first try myself."

In case I sounded like I was being more clever than I am....
I meant that every so often I let AutoGK re-encode the video without the audio.....

[TheTooleMan]

"Now I've got a bit more encoding experience I do every so often re-encode the video without the audio and use VirtualDubMod to add the audio demuxed/created in the first try myself."

In case I sounded like I was being more clever than I am....
I meant that every so often I let AutoGK re-encode the video without the audio.....
I know what you meant. VirtualDub does a few more things that AutoGK doesn't let you access. AutoGK creates scripts for VirtualDub which are good but don't take full advantage of VirtualDub's capabilities.