MeGUI Video Tutorial

[Neillithan]

I was excited that a site called Vreel.net was going to open. Supposedly, they support H.264 and they're using the VLC player. I thought, since I know how to encode videos in the H.264 format, I should make the video tutorial for MeGUI that I've been putting off for several months.

So with less than 15 days before the Vreel.net opening day, I decided to make the video tutorial. Vreel.net didn't open as expected, but I released the video on my website anyway.

Well, here it is. I'm not a video encoding guru and I admit that I might not exactly have the best ways of doing things, but I put a lot of effort into this! Questions, feedback and constructive criticism regarding the tutorial is welcome.

Watch it at my site (http://www.logichaos.com/joomla/video-tutorials-by-neil/megui-encode-your-videos-in-h264)

Thanks,
-Neil

P.S. I am aware that the streaming video does not work in IE. You will have to use Firefox or something else in the mean time. Sorry!

[Avenger007]

On front page:
The VReel player will contain popular functions such as the "desktop dimmer", and pop-out player. This player will be native to h.264 - the highest quality codec on the market, while retaining full support for DivX5.x+, DivX6.x+ and XviD1.x+
H.264 is not a codec (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1177921#post1177921)
If they got that wrong imagine what else is just pure marketing hype? :rolleyes:

[Selur]

Haven't used MeGui for a while now under Vista but is it really necessary to disable UAC (for updates to work)? (with older versions using MeGui with administrator privileges was enough)

[Neillithan]

Haven't used MeGui for a while now under Vista but is it really necessary to disable UAC (for updates to work)? (with older versions using MeGui with administrator privileges was enough)

Every person I ever helped install MeGUI had issues getting updates. I discovered that disabling UAC solved their problems plus more. Can't say it's the most elegant solution but I ran with it and I'm still runnin'.

[stax76]

I'm not using Vista but think it's not very smart to disable UAC unless you know exactly what you are doing. If there is a UAC problem with MeGUI you should rather make a bug report to MeGUI instead of disabling UAC.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I'm not using Vista but think it's not very smart to disable UAC unless you know exactly what you are doing.
If you had vista you would know that UAC is the most annoying feature implemented by Microsoft. It must be disabled in first place unless you are VERY patient person :)

[stax76]

I don't believe things that people tell so easily, so what does it meen disabling UAC? If it means that *all* processes run with highest privilegs, then this is highly unreasonable, at least browser, mail, office etc. should run with limited privilegs. Isn't it possible to raise the default privilegs only for certain applications?

[Atak_Snajpera]

I don't believe things that people tell so easily, so what does it meen disabling UAC? If it means that *all* processes run with highest privilegs, then this is highly unreasonable, at least browser, mail, office etc. should run with limited privilegs. Isn't it possible to raise the default privilegs only for certain applications?
Nobody forces you to use Administrator account. You can always use limited User account. UAC asks you for everything. Even if you want to open control panel!!!
BTW I have Vista since the begining so I know what I say.

[Sharktooth]

UAC is really a crappy feature... also it is not a security feature but a user limitation as a microsoft engineer also admitted...

[Atak_Snajpera]

@ Neillithan
x264 also accepts none mod16 resolution like 640x360 and so on. It seams that you are still living in Divx 3.11 era :)
Another error:
1050/16=65.625
so
it should be 16x66 not 65 (according to Principles of Mathematics if >=0.5 then you go up not down)
the final resolution will be 1650x1056 instead of 1650x1040!
Update: AAC@128kbps (nero/ct) will give you better quality than old mp3@128kbps

[Neillithan]

@ Neillithan
x264 also accepts none mod16 resolution like 640x360 and so on. It seams that you are still living in Divx 3.11 era :)
Another error:
1050/16=65.625
so
it should be 16x66 not 65 (according to Principles of Mathematics if >=0.5 then you go up not down)
the final resolution will be 1650x1056 instead of 1650x1040!
Update: AAC@128kbps (nero/ct) will give you better quality than old mp3@128kbps

In my experience, choosing an extremely weird resolution that is not mod16 results in playback issues. I can't remember which decoder I used. For all I know, it could have been VLC, but it was probably CoreAVC.

The reason why I did 65*16 rather than 66 is because I always thought videos should be resized smaller, not larger. I do understand where you're coming from. I was not rounding the # to the closest integer, I was simply removing the numbers after the decimal point to get rid of the decimal altogether. I probably should have clarified it.

1650x1040 causes the aspect ratio to be slightly different. If I wanted to be more thorough, I could have recommended choosing a resolution that retains the aspect ratio, which would have resulted in an even smaller resolution. I think MeGUI needs to add a resolution slider or something to simplify this process. Basically what I'm trying to say is, neither 1040 nor 1056 are the correct heights to use because either way, the aspect ratio is slightly altered.

Also, Nero AAC is indeed better than MP3 and I actually had planned to explain how to encode Nero AAC in great detail, but I decided not to do it. I think either Nero AAC should come with MeGUI (which it probably can't due to Terms of Use) or be downloadable from MeGUI updates.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. I'm still learning the right ways to do things so anything and everything helps.
-Neil

[stax76]

Disabling UAC effectively means running all apps with highest privilegs like XP. It's very hard to believe that this is reasonable. Instead of disabling UAC it's possible to put UAC into silent mode and configure certain applications to always run with highest privilegs. Are you really sure that you understand Vista's security concept?

[Sharktooth]

nope. UAC is useless. just create a limited user account and use it for eveything except software installation and administrative operations... or for softwares that require the admin privileges...

[Nightshiver]

Um, yeah. UAC sucks. Why go through all the trouble of doing that? I like the way you can run whatever you want whenever you want in XP. Vista sucks anyways...
EDIT: lol, sharky posted before me :)

[Neillithan]

Disabling UAC effectively means running all apps with highest privilegs like XP. It's very hard to believe that this is reasonable. Instead of disabling UAC it's possible to put UAC into silent mode and configure certain applications to always run with highest privilegs. Are you really sure that you understand Vista's security concept?

Oh I openly admit that I don't know much about Vista.

[stax76]

just create a limited user account and use it for eveything except software installation and administrative operations

A standard account is even more limited then the default setup which is a admin account with UAC enabled (meaning all applications run with limited privilegs), are you serious about this suggestion?

[Sharktooth]

yes, as i said it should be like that... (i added "or for softwares that require the admin privileges..." in my previous post...)

[stax76]

So what is the advantage of standard account compared to admin+UAC account? If you want to do a admin task with a admin+UAC account you just have to confirm the UAC dialog, if you want to do a admin task with a standard account you either have to enter the admin password each and every time or log in as admin, that don't seem to be much of a advantage.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Basically what I'm trying to say is, neither 1040 nor 1056 are the correct heights to use because either way, the aspect ratio is slightly altered.
you should always round those values because like i wrote 1056 is closer to 1050 than 1040. Less error in aspect ratio. As you know 1080 is also not mod16 and DXVA cards have no problems with them.

[Sharktooth]

So what is the advantage of standard account compared to admin+UAC account? If you want to do a admin task with a admin+UAC account you just have to confirm the UAC dialog, if you want to do a admin task with a standard account you either have to enter the admin password each and every time or log in as admin, that don't seem to be much of a advantage.
the difference is UAC limits the user actions not the software actions. that's why it's not a security feature.

[stax76]

If it's not a security feature, what is it then? UAC reduces the privilegs applications run with so it does limits software. Maybe we should try to discuss with more depth or just let it be.

[Sharktooth]

as i said, a user limitation as a microsoft engineer admitted too...
and no UAC doesnt prevent a software to run with admin priviledges without user permission (blue pill is a proof.)... it only annoys the user if HE tries to run a software that require admin privileges.

[Danisan]

Every person I ever helped install MeGUI had issues getting updates. I discovered that disabling UAC solved their problems plus more. Can't say it's the most elegant solution but I ran with it and I'm still runnin'.

Why don't you just take ownership of the MeGUI folder instead? That works fine. Or install Megui in the users folder instead (haven't tried this though).

[rica]

I would suggest:

No need to mode16 resolution i think,

TS can not be recognized by Avisynth Script creator (especially on sat HDTV broadcast) ; to my experience mkv and m2ts-and the rest can just be known by Avisynth Script Creator.
So i prefer making manual avs files based on graphs.

Thanks for the tutorial.

[Neillithan]

you should always round those values because like i wrote 1056 is closer to 1050 than 1040. Less error in aspect ratio. As you know 1080 is also not mod16 and DXVA cards have no problems with them.

Just to follow up on what you said. MeGUI's Avisynth Script Creator doesn't allow you to choose a resolution larger than the source video. You either have to edit the script manually from the edit tab or settle for a smaller resolution. I suppose this is a limitation imposed by one of the creators of MeGUI (probably for good reason). Then again, most people here are telling me non-mod16 resolutions work just fine in x264.

[Sharktooth]

you should always round those values because like i wrote 1056 is closer to 1050 than 1040. Less error in aspect ratio. As you know 1080 is also not mod16 and DXVA cards have no problems with them.
not the cards, but some decoders.

Just to follow up on what you said. MeGUI's Avisynth Script Creator doesn't allow you to choose a resolution larger than the source video. You either have to edit the script manually from the edit tab or settle for a smaller resolution. I suppose this is a limitation imposed by one of the creators of MeGUI (probably for good reason). Then again, most people here are telling me non-mod16 resolutions work just fine in x264.
upsizing is always bad unless you use some complex algo, so in any case you have to manually edit the avs script. non mod16 resolutions (mod8, mod4 and mod2, the latter wont work with interlaced sources) work with x264 but it's not recommended cause you will loose a bit of compression, some decoders may have problems decoding those streams and some avisynth filters require mod16 res.

[rica]

Can you tell us what decoders need mod16; just coreavc?

[Sharktooth]

i think cyberlink, but im not completely sure. this could have been fixed in the newer versions though. i really dont know coz i dont have it, i just read it somewhere.