Can I get some help with MeGui please...

[chet79]

Hi all, I just installed MeGUI and started using it about a week ago now. I've found a couple of guides on the net which have helped me greatly. I feel I'm using it ok, and am quite impressed with my output, but I just want to ask some questions as I am getting a little confused.

What I've been doing is as follows. Can someone please confirm this is correct?

- rip VOBs with DVD Decrypter in IFO mode.
- create D2V file with MeGui and Queue it. It processes this on the spot
- create AviSynth script with MeGui *
- load the previously-demuxed audio file and choose encoder settings
- press AutoEncode
- choose MKV, x264 and Queue!

Does this sound about right? I've only done one dvd (4 episodes of a tv show) so far and this seems to work great.

* I have been clicking "suggest resolution" and it seems to work so far. What should I be putting here? I will be ripping Aus DVDs (PAL) mostly, and I will be watching on a 720p Plasma TV most of the time. Is there anything wrong with putting 720x576? Or will I achieve better results by putting a lower resolution (to leave more data room for compressing)?

PS I wonder how good the One Click Encoder (http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/MeGUI/One_Click_Encoder) is? Does anyone use it?

Thanks all. I love MeGUI and am really keen to get it working to the best of it's ability, as well as learing about video encoding along the way.

[Sharktooth]

yep, sounds good. 720*xxx is the native DVD resolution. if possible dont resize so you wont loose any "information" but if the cropping (if any) results in a non mod16 resolution you can either overcrop to mod16 or resize to mod16. i just prefer mod16 res coz it wont cause any problems.
OneClickEncoder is actually buggy and crashes. It used to be really good... and it will be back ;)

[chet79]

thanks. What's mod16 res?

[jeffy]

"Resize to Achieve Mod 16". MEGUI will require that your video's dimensions are divisible by 16.
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic333634.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation

[chet79]

thanks guys. Looking at that guide now, and it seems to be fairly similar to what I've followed. I am confused at the 'Clever (TM) anamorphic encoding' step. Seems I can't resize my video if I choose this option. What exactly does it do?

[Sharktooth]

anamorphic encoding... :search: or if you dont know what it means leave it unchecked.

[chet79]

ok I'll do some reading up on it.

edit: ok, so I've been doing some reading, and some searching, and I understand a little more. However, I don't understand when I should be using it.

[Adub]

I use it when dealing with anamorphic movies, such as Pirates of the Caribbean 2. When I had finally finished cropping off the black borders, I realized that the aspect ratio was off (circles looked like ovals, etc), and so I resized to the closest mod 16 resolution, and then muxed the encoded file with mkvmerge, setting the aspect ratio to what it was supposed to be.

What this flag allows you to do is save tons of space by encoding the movie as is, in it's original "squished" format, without upsizing or anything. When you have encoded that "squished" file, you can then mux it to mkv, setting the actual display size. When played back, the muxed file will automatically resize itself to the correct size, effectively unsquishing itself.

The final result is a video that play's back in perfect aspect ratio, with a smaller file size than if I were to resize and THEN encode it.

[saint-francis]

It doesn't necessarily result in a smaller file. It can often give a larger file, no? Because the point of anamorphic filming is to maximize the space on each individual square of film while retaining a more rectangular DAR. So if you resize you are using less information to display the same picture because you've already set the parameter to (presumably) 720 x whatever and if you kept the vertical resolution the horizontal resolution would be 8XX something depending on the source; which is in essence what happens when you encode the full anamorphic frame.

Or am I highly mistaken?

[chet79]

oh now I'm really confused :confused::confused:

[Adub]

No, you are highly mistaken. With anamorphic encodes, the resize happens on playback.

You encode a squished picture, without resizing, thus letting you get the highest quality picture by distributing bitrate at a smaller resolution.

However, once you are done, you mux it to MKV and set a flag that tells the player, "Hey, can you upscale me real quick? I am trying to give the viewer the best viewing experience possible, and for that I need you to un-squeeze me."

Make sense now?

[chet79]

makes total sense! So WHEN should I be using this option?

[Sharktooth]

anamorphic encoding is used for keeping the full DVDs resolution without upscaling BEFORE encoding.
however, if you're source is not anamorphic you dont need to use it.

[mat8035]

Following some stuff picked up in this thread...
Is there anything wrong with this..
Movie 720 x 576, cropped to 720 x 434, encoded with --sar 64:45, gives me a 1024 x 434, which looks perfect. Problem is this is non-mod 16.
So I have done this, cropped to 720 x 434, and resized to 720 x 432 (mod 16), encoded 1:1 pixels. Now use MKV merge and set the display size to 1024 x 434.
When I play back in MPC I get 1019 x 432. Looks fine.
Is this any good?