Tips and tricks for Xmpeg 4.5

[mnd]

Here are some tips in order to help new Xmpeg's users (and perhaps some others) to get over some impediments. I use Win98SE and perhaps some tips are not relevant for some other OS.

Please if you like Xmpeg, add to this list your own tips and tricks.

1) Installation :

don't forget to download DVD.mism.Xmpeg plugin at

http://www.mp3guest.com/downloadthis.asp?file=Http://www.winMPEG.tux.nu/dvd.mism.zip&appli=Xmpeg%20DVD%20Mism

and to insert it in the Xmpeg Directory.

This plugin is required for opening IFO file or for compressing all the VOB files of one DVD by selecting only the first VOB file

2) Ripping the DVD :

Rip the DVD with Smartripper without demux any track and don't forget to ask for IFO file copy.

Using other rippers with manual copy of Ifo file don't allways work well (in my own experience). For instance IFO file seems well open but after that nothing happen.

3) audio codecs :

Presently Xmpeg displays only one MP3 audio codec for compression and you may have several MP3 codecs in your PC : for instance MPEG Layer-3 "professional" (Radium MP3), "advanced" and "Divx;-) audio compressor" . To avoid bad results (or even crash) disable the "advanced" and the Divx;-) codecs. To do this open the configuration Panel, double clik on the Multimedia Icon, select the "Peripheral Tab and open the list of audio codecs. Display the Properties of the ones you will don't use and select "don't use this audio codec".
If you intend to use LameACM, you must also deselect the Radium codec in the same way and select LameACM.

4) Idct.Xmpeg Plugins :

Some xx.idct.Xmpeg plugins crash with some CPU either . Also remove them.e.g "amd2.idct.Xmpeg" crashes with a K6-2 while "amd3.idct.Xmpeg runs perfectly with this K6-2!!
"sse2.idct.Xmpeg" runs well with my Athlon XP but probably crashes with older Athlons. "idctmodule.idct.Xmpeg" runs with any CPU. If you don't know what is the faster and best for your CPU, you may try Xmpeg with this one. Note : it seems that with the Athlon XP none of these Plugins does crash.

5) Cropping and resizing :

Be sure that the resized dimensions after cropping are each multiple of height - or better of sixteen - . Manually modify them until they match

6) Lenght of the resulting AVI File :

You may calculate the bit rate needed for a given Divx 5.02 file size with the freeware Divx4Bitrate Calculator. You may download it at : http://spark.hit.bg/divxcalc. I get good results enough with Divx 5.02 Pro 2 pass encoding with Quarter pixel, global motion compensation and bidirectional encoding selection. It seems to me that quarter pixel increase slightly the length of the file whereas the to other parameters reduce slightly the length file.

To convert DVD into Divx, Xmpeg 4.5 is the better and easiest tool you can found - after passing these little impedimenties - and always with good results - video and audio -. Also why to use any most complicated tools !!!

On the other hand to improve the aspect of video captures - TV or others - Xmpeg lakes of good filters as Virtualdub have.

Good luck

[yokotsoko]

Maybe you can help me with this
Xmpeg may create fine quality divX but its sound encoding feature isn't adequate. In every divX I've made, no matter how high the normalization or dynamic range setting is set the sound is too low.Furthermore due to normalization and dynamic amplification the sound isn't as clear as it should be.
Have you encountered the same problem?
I've solved it by using Besweet. It's a powerful tool and easy to use when got used to it.
PS. I prefer 96 kpbs mp3 bitrate to 128. The difference is unnoticable when using the common PC speakers and the space saved becomes more video bitrate

[mnd]

Yes sound is very low with Xmpeg if you let the default setting . To solve this , run the "Audio Player" of Xmpeg wich open the "Audio properties" window. Then set the normalisation to 300 or 400 %. Verify your setting just before starting the conversion because presently Xmpeg 4.5 don't allways retain your setting.

[mnd]

3) audio - continued -

Sound resulting is too low with Xmpeg if you let the default setting .

To solve that, run the "Audio Player" of Xmpeg wich open the "Audio properties" window.Then set the normalisation to 300 or 400 %.

Verify your setting just before starting the conversion because presently Xmpeg 4.5 don't always retain your setting (but sometimes yes!).

[yokotsoko]

You are right but the sound is still not as good as it should imho.
Anyway there's another problem but this time I haven't found a solution. It's about deinterlacing using xmpeg and divX 5.02. Everytime someone asks for some help regarding this problem another one gives a thread about deinterlacing. The problem is that I don't care about the theory. Which options should I use? Should I deintelace using the divX codec or the xmpeg options? And which options to use? And this bar under the deinterlacing option in Xmpeg what does it do? In other words is there a way to take an interlaced movie and encode a divX without these horizontal lines and all this using Xmpeg?

[mnd]

Sorry, I have no practice of deinterlacing because it is not needed for all the DVD conversions I have done (PAL films).

I have read in some forum that the Virtualdub's deinterlace filters are the better.

regards

[mnd]

For deinterlacing and noise suppression, try the Virtualdub's filter "smart smoother" of Donald Graft. You may download it at

http://sauron.mordor.net/dgraft/index.html

This plugin seems genial

[yokotsoko]

thanx
I'll try it as soon as I find another interlaced movie

[mnd]

I'm trying Smart-smoother filter for Virtualdub. It is really wonderful but it is very very slow : 2 fps without audio instead of usually 10-12 fps (video+audio)with my Athlon XP 1600+ and Virtualdub (16 fps with Xmpeg and YUY2 option). Perhaps there is a way to do better with it.

[yokotsoko]

still can't download smart smoother. The link you posted seems to have some problems maybe some restructuring in this sauron.mordor website?

[mnd]

I find by searching on geocities that the site of Donald Graft has recently moved to http://shelob.mordor.net/dgraft/.

I hope you will found it

[yokotsoko]

thank you for the link. I've just downloaded it.

[mnd]

How to avoid Win98 resources to drop out and sometimes crashes
--------------------------------------------------------------------

When encoding with Xmpeg 4.5, Windows 98 resources drop out at very low level. It becomes impossible to run any other program and, for many users, Xmpeg crashes after some minutes.

To avoid that, click on the icon (spectacles) at the top-left of the "AVI Plugin" window or click on the top-right icon (dashboard) to replace the compression Tracer window by the Log window or by the Video Stats window.

Do not close the AVI Plugin window before switching over one or another of these 2 windows !!!

You may visit http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36. on which this problem is fully explained by Ryan,

I have just experienced this trick and, henceforth, I can run my favorites programs and write that add-on while Xmpeg converts my video.

[eXistenZ]

7) if you experience application or system crashes in the second pass of a 2-pass encoding with Xmpeg 4.x and DivX 5.x disable the use of mvinfo.bin file.

This seems to happen on computer with AMD Athlon CPU and Windows XP installed (...as it happened to me :-( ...).

Disabling the motion vector log file resolved this issue :-)

HTH, eXistenZ

[mnd]

How to select a movie range for coding with Xmpeg 4.5
---------------------------------------------------------


After the optimization test, The "Video player" window opens up.Click on the >> icon on the right for displaying the full window where "Job 1 size xxx" is printed.

1) Right-click on the window : a little grey window appears where some options are printed : Click on the "Clear Job" option

2) On the "Video Player" window, use the great slider, then the little slider, then the < or > icon for visually positioning the video at the beginning of your range.

3) then right-click on the "Video player" window and click on the "set job start" option.

4) then click on the "Go to Job end" option and manipulate the great slider, then the little slider,then the < or > icon until you reach the image of the end of your desired range.

5) then click on the "set job end" option, then click on the "add job" option, and that is that!

N.B : if you know the timing of the beginning and of the end of your range, you may help you by displaying the "informations" window (File menu) and double-click on the "Current video variables" line: search for the "Time" line and when you are moving the slider, survey the time value until it matches with your value.

Of course the Audio is also well synchronized

[mnd]

How to rip the DVD for Xmpeg/FlaskMpeg with DVD Decripter
---------------------------------------------------------------

If you will rip the DVD with DVD Decripter

use IFO mode and remove the characters"_PGC_XX" from all the file names of output VOB files

[mnd]

Windows XP and Xmpeg error message
----------------------------------------
If you get the error message :

"An error ocurred when trying to generate the file. Check that you're not using the output file or the program is setup correctly"

when you start the conversion

look at microsoft site for Windows XP update

About that, see the topic "Help: Xmpeg can't open output file in XP" at http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10823

[mnd]

How to avoid Win98 resources to drop out and sometimes crashes (continued)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you run a 2 pass encoding, at the beginning of second pass, the AVI plugin re-displays the "compression Tracer" window.

So, if you are not yet sleeping, procced as for the first pass (see above)

[mnd]

If DivX codec disappears of the list of video codecs
--------------------------------------------------------

of the Xmpeg 4.5 Output plugin options.

or others unexplained issues you encounter with Xmpeg 4.5

Delete the "Settings" and "Profiles" subdirectories of Xmpeg and retry

[mnd]

About Subtitles with Xmpeg
------------------------------

1) Subtitles position in the output avi file
--------------------------------------------
The subtitle's line position in the output file agrees with the subtitle's line position of the original DVD : in or out the movie image.

If there is two lines of subtitles, for some DVD, second lines are all in the movie, for others they are under the movie. In this event don't crop all the lower black area but leave enough pixels for the second line and slightly modify the aspect ratio according to.

Xmpeg don't displays subtitles during the preview but you may verify your settings during the conversion process.

2) How to locate the subtitles of your choice in the case of Xmpeg discrepancy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In some complex case there is a discrepancy between the order of the real DVD subtitle's tracks and the order of the subtitle's list of Xis DVD.mism window (for instance if there is 2 line of subtitles by language)

Example : with the DVD "Rosemary's Baby" there is a discrepancy between the pointed subtitle on the DVD.mism list and the one really printed by Xmpeg in the resulting AVI file


Below is a list of

- the subtitle's tracks listed by the ripper (Vstrip or any other)
- the ones displayed by Xmpeg and
- the result of any selection.


Vstrip subtitle list
____________________


1. English 0 (0xBD 0x21) [0] wide
2. English 0 (0xBD 0x22) [0] letbox
3. Espanol 1 (0xBD 0x23) [0] wide
4. Espanol 1 (0xBD 0x24) [0] letbox
5. Francais 2 (0xBD 0x25) [0] wide
6. Francais 2 (0xBD 0x26) [0] letbox
7. Italiano 3 (0xBD 0x27) [0] wide
8. Italiano 3 (0xBD 0x28) [0] letbox
9. Greek 4 (0xBD 0x29) [0] wide
10. Greek 4 (0xBD 0x2A) [0] letbox
11. Hebrew 5 (0xBD 0x2B) [0] wide
12. Hebrew 5 (0xBD 0x2C) [0] letbox
13. Hrvatski 6 (0xBD 0x2D) [0] wide
14. Hrvatski 6 (0xBD 0x2E) [0] letbox
15. Portugues 7 (0xBD 0x2F) [0] wide
16. Portugues 7 (0xBD 0x30 [0] letbox
17. Slovenian 8 (0xBD 0x31) [0] wide
18. Slovenian 8 (0xBD 0x32) [0] letbox
19. ??? 9 (0xBD 0x33) [0] wide
20. ??? 9 (0xBD 0x34) [0] letbox

Xmpeg subtitle list (XiS DVD mism) and result of the selection (=>)
___________________________________________________________________


1. English (Normal Caption) => no subtitle
2. espanol (Normal Caption) => english subtitle
3. Francais (Normal Caption) => english subtitle
4. Italiano (Normal Caption) => Espanol subtitle
5. Greek (Normal Caption) => Espanol subtitle
6. Hebrew (Normal Caption) => français subtitle
7. Hrvatski (Normal Caption) => français subtitle
8. Portugues (Normal Caption) => italiano subtitle
9. Slovenian (Normal Caption) => italiano subtitle
10.Not Specified

You see that the good subtitle track for you on the Xmpeg list is the one at the same order number as on the Vstrip list plus One.

example for french subtitle, choose 5+1=6. (Hebrew) or 6+1=7. (Hrvatski)

if you wish hebrew or Hrvatski or Portugues etc..subtitles, try some other way as Virtualdub + Vobsub or hope until version 5

[mnd]

MP3-Xmpeg issues with WinXP
-----------------------------

If you have any MP3 audio problem with Xmpeg under WinXP, try the TSUNAMI codec, as related by the fellow Riper at http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=162 and Good Luck

[mnd]

Windows XP and Xmpeg error message - follow-up
---------------------------------------------------

according to Mikele at http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=161 and Nick Radil at http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=176 :

Look at microsoft site for "Window Movie Maker" update, then right-click on avi file and after selecting "Properties", associate avi files to "Window media Player" and reboot

[mnd]

If you don't see the whole Job Panel in the Player window
---------------------------------------------------------------

It happens with Xmpeg 4.5 or the new Xmpeg 5.0a/b

In the General Tab of the Display Properties Panel of Windows, try to use only the "Little font" for the font size and you most probably see all the panel

[XiS]

It is now fixed. The same method to read subtitle than vStrip is used to avoid Subtitle skipping.:)

[XiS]

That has been fixed ;-)

[XiS]

XMPEG 5.0 Release Candidate 2 build 3 is available and corrects all the bugs reported here (http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=550).

[Selur]

Now there's an official Xmpeg windowshelpfile over at:
http://forum.mp3guest.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=612

[XiS]

In a few minutes, avalaible in XMPEG.net.

[phrentec]

Is xmpeg going to support openning of avisynth scripts (avs) or .avi files anytime soon? or maybe just have better frameserver support because it would be awesome to frameserver a dvd on-the-fly without having to decss/rip it first. thanks this version runs a lot smoother. i wonder why doom9 didn't post it in the news section?

old trick: leaving video format to YV12 helps boost encoding speed ~30%

[XiS]

Originally posted by phrentec
Is xmpeg going to support openning of avisynth scripts (avs) or .avi files anytime soon? or maybe just have better frameserver support because it would be awesome to frameserver a dvd on-the-fly without having to decss/rip it first. thanks this version runs a lot smoother. i wonder why doom9 didn't post it in the news section?

old trick: leaving video format to YV12 helps boost encoding speed ~30%

I don't know exactly what you mean by supporting avs or .avi files...

[Selur]

I think phrentec wanted to know if you planed to support avi and avs (= Avisynth scripts) as input file. If I understood it right, he also asked for a way to frameserve from Xmpeg to avisynth, so he wouldn't have to use DVD2AVI (which only works on non encrypted DVD / vob pn hdd) as connection to avisynth and though could save the ripping the dvd to hdd part.

Hopefully this isn't even more confusing. :)

Cu Selur

[XiS]

You can use the Frame Server from www.videotools.net to achieve a AVISynth connection. Let's test.

Good article here (http://www.videotools.net/index.php?rub=guides&htm=intro2pvsp.htm)

[phrentec]

yes i meant using .avi and .avs as input. and as for using xmpeg as a frameserver the last i tried it couldn't frameserve the dvd audio.

[Selur]

btw. Xmpeg 5.0 final is out :D

[phrentec]

but still no support for openning avisynth scripts?

[XiS]

AVISynth scripts can be supported with Video Server...

[Fr4nz]

Hi XiS. I encounter a problem when I use XMPEG to encode in Divx 5.1.1: when I want to encode a dvd using 2 or 3 passes, selecting the IFO or the first vob of the film, xmpeg does the first pass correctly, then crashes but the encoding keeps going until it finishes correctly the n-passes.

So it's not a serious problem but should be better to correct it.

The problem doesn't appear when I select and encode a small part of a vob (for example if I want to encode 2 minutes of a film).

Hope you can fix it.

[doubleJ]

Hello...
I'm a long time xmpeg 4.5 user (ever since Tom's did the review) and I've been using it with different xvid and divx codecs. About two months ago, or so, my encodes started becoming crap. It was almost overnight and it's been happening on both of my encode computers. DVD and TV rips both do it. The picture is blocky and looks like crap and there are what look to be interlace lines everywhere. You can really see it, and it sucks. I've flipped around different versions of divx, directx, and radeon drivers thinking that was the problem. I've reformatted both computers multiple times, too. I can't think of a single variable other than xmpeg. I've started using AutoGK and Dr. Divx and they both product beautiful pictures, using the same codecs.
I'm at a loss. I could post a screenshot, if anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about.
JJ

[mnd]

Hi! doubleJ

Have you tried Xmpeg 5.02, the current version of Xmpeg ?
It works much better than the 4.5 version.
You can download it from the official site
http://www.mp3guest.com/Xmpeg_Index.asp?l=US

regards

[doubleJ]

I have used 5.x extensively, but I didn't want to post 5.x stuff as this was a 4.5 thread. I've had the same experiences with the 5 series, plus another odd thing. Sometimes, it will just quit. No errors, or anything, just disappear. Unfortunately, I do a bulk of my encoding when I go to sleep (as I encode at ~15fps). When I get up and check, the systray icon is there, but no window. When I mouse over the systray icon, it disappears. The log file is empty, too. I'd say this maybe happens 10-20% of the time.
JJ