AVISynth - Not working at all (Version Script)

[insite]

I'm new to AVISynth (usually use VFAPI). Just installed version 2.07 and am running on a cold reboot. Created a script called test.avs containing only 'Version' per the included documentation. When I open in Win Media Player, I get nothing at all (can't load into CCE either). This is essentially a brand new install of Win2K server that I'm running on, so no screwy codecs or anything installed yet (same problem yesterday, thought it was WMP9, installed parallel OS to check).

I've scoured the web and can't seem to find any troubleshooting faq or any threads in this forum directly relating to this. It seems that this is normally a straightforward install?

Any help would be appreciated.

[onesoul]

Hi, first what version of cce are you using? Only cce 2.5 and 2.66 can accept directly avisynth files. The problem you describe with wmp was resolved for me after I installed directx 9, I use WinXP, maybe this helps.

Cheers

[insite]

Thanks for the help. I use CCE 2.5, but aside from that, I can't get the 'Version' script to display the copyright clip in WMP. Also, I wasn't aware DirectX 9 was out. Thought only 8.1 (maybe it's xp only right now).

[Richard Berg]

What error message (if any) does VDub give you?

[insite]

I don't use VDub. I do DVD -> DVD-R using CCE (usually with VFAPI). Just looking to try AVISynth for the speed advantage. Really, I think that this particular problem is unrelated to any transcoding / authoring software. Upon setup of AVISynth, a script containing 'Version' SHOULD (to my understanding) play a ten second AVISynth copyright clip. It's not, so the problem is AVISynth / windows versus CCE / any other encoding software.

[Boulder]

Try VDub and see what error message it gives to you. It should provide some more info.

[sh0dan]

Read Troubleshooting (http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=Troubleshooting)

(and most important) ALWAYS test your scripts in vdub.

[yaz]

@insite:
at the very 1st installation windows must decide on what to do with a file having .avs ext. (file associaton). clicking on your script would reveal whether it's done.
if this is the problem, win will ask what prog u mean to use for running the script. select mplayer2 (or whatever u want) from the list popped up.
otherwise u got an error message. pls, post that!
also, u can check what win think about avs stuffs in the file assoc list.

add.:
i've just installed avs2.5b and win told avs scripts 'can't be run'. the problem was that the former file association (mplayer) wasn't accepted on installation. loading the script(s) mannually work fine.

the bests
yaz

[Wilbert]

@insite,

You have to install at least one codec which is capable of decoding YUY2 (thus DivX5, Xvid or HuffYUV).

[sh0dan]

The AVS files are optionally associated with Notepad in the installation. Haven't found a way to assiciate it with mediaplayer unfortunately.

[scmccarthy]

@sh0dan

I associated avs files with WMP6.4 manually. I assume you mean in the installer, however.

Stephen

[sh0dan]

I mean what I wrote :)

Yes - I mean I haven't found a way to associate it to mplayer2.exe in the installer, since I cannot be sure of the path. Perhaps it could be possible with an "Educated guess", and then disable the option, if it doesn't work.

[Wilbert]

It doesn't matter for me, I do it manually. But can't you ask the user to enter/browse to the appropriate path.

[scmccarthy]

The best answer might be a combination of the two. Try to find the file automatically, then pop up a browse button if the installer cannot find the file. On the other hand, I associate avs files with mplayer.exe. I like pointing it to the older version. Because the avi file spec has not changed and WMP6.4 still works as well. It has some simpler and more flexible default behavior, like being able to make the window larger than the screen resolution.

Oops, mplayer2.exe is WMP6.4 isn't it?

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe

That's where I find it on two XP computers and a 98SE computer.

Stephen

[insite]

Hey, fellas. Thanks for all your help. Here's an update:

The 'Troubleshooting' page deals primarily with scripts. Since the only script I'm concerned with right now is one that says 'Version' to dump the copyright clip, this troubleshooting guide doesn't really apply yet.

Codecs - I do have DivX 5 and HuffYUV installed and configured.

MediaPlayer - I have .avs associated with notepad. I open media player, switch it to 'all files' and guide it to my test.avs file (containing only the word 'version' in the script). I receive no error message. The bottowm window of WMP8 just says 'Opening.....' forever. It never does anything. Usage on both processors shoots up to 100% and I have to kill the program. This is driving me nuts.

Also, I am using Win2K Server rather than pro. This hasn't proven to be problematic in the past, but maybe someone knows something I don't about it.

Thanks again for your help.

[Wilbert]

IIRC WMP8 can't open avs files, so use WMP6.4 (a file called mplayer2.exe) or virtualdub.

[insite]

Wilbert - In VirtualDub I get the following error:

Avisynth open failure:
Avisynth: script open failed!

Also, I am using mplayer2. My bad.

Btw, this script is simply a test.avs containing the word 'Version.'

[sh0dan]

FYI the installer now is able to associate to mplayer2, if it can be found. Sorry - there is no way in NSIS 1.98 to browse for a directory, so if it cannot be user located (it searches for "prog-files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe").

The mutually exclusive of the Notepad/Mplayer selection was real hell to code - but it do seem to work now ;)

The next version will contain this change!

[Wilbert]

@Sh0dan,

Nice!

@insite,

You got a nasty problem.

1) Could you empty your plugin dir of AviSynth and try again?

2) Could you try the following script:

Version.ConvertToRGB

and open it in VirtualDub?

3) If above doesn't help could you open your registry file and post all lines involving avisynth (just search for avisynth can copy every entry).

[insite]

Wilbert -

You are the king. I removed the plugins and it's working (with and without the conver to RGB). Now, that having been said, the only plugin in the directory was mpeg2dec.dll, which I need for frameserving my .d2v's through CCE. What gives?

EDIT -
Got it. I just unzipped the entire mpeg2dec zip to my plugin directory. It was trying to autoload the html and text files. Put the .dll in there by itself and it works like a champ. You ROCK! Thanks, bud.

[Wilbert]

You didn't have any other files in the plugin-dir (text/avs files or whatever)? In any case download mpeg2dec.dll here (http://users.win.be/dividee/avisynth.html) and try again.

[insite]

Running like a champ. For a speed comparison, I transcoded Pulp Fiction last night using VFAPI for full size DVD compliant mpeg 2 stream. It averaged about 1.875. Doing the same film, same settings and it's averaging 2.040 for a speed gain of about .165X. Processor affinity doesn't really seem to matter. It will use 100% of one processor or about 65% over both (slight speed difference). Was hoping for a little more, but I know avisynth isn't optimized for dual cpu's. Only using about 320 of 2500 MB RAM. Speed drops to about 1.6 if I rip, burn, transcode and IFO Edit (strip streams) all at the same time. Not bad. Now I get some fun filters to play with, too! Thanks a ton for your help.

[scmccarthy]

Now I get some fun filters to play with, too! Being able to inject filters directly into the stream on the fly is the main advantage with avisynth.

Stephen

[MaTTeR]

Originally posted by insite
Was hoping for a little more, but I know avisynth isn't optimized for dual cpu's. IMO I'm not so sure that AVS could be optimised for dual rigs anyway. It seems to me that multi-threading is really left up to the encoder app(ie. CCE, Vdub or TMPEG). Using AVS with Vdub already eats up about 94-97% of each CPU as it stands, depending on the script and filters of course. So I'd say your not seeing high CPU utilization because CCE isn't as SMP optimized compared to Vdub or a filter process in your script is bottlenecking.

[insite]

Makes sense. I don't really ever see CCE use more than about 66% of processing resources even when using VFAPI or when not frameserving at all. Just tough to tell whether the bottleneck is the speed at which the frames arrive or the speed at which CCE can process them.

[jang0]

Originally posted by sh0dan
FYI the installer now is able to associate to mplayer2, if it can be found. Sorry - there is no way in NSIS 1.98 to browse for a directory, so if it cannot be user located (it searches for "prog-files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe").

The mutually exclusive of the Notepad/Mplayer selection was real hell to code - but it do seem to work now ;)

The next version will contain this change!


is it also possible that it searches for %programfiles%\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe, so that it also works for foreign windows versions where the folders are named differently?