massive encoding problems (bug??)

[crOOk]

I just finished an encode of The Patriot. The results were very satisfying, but on Koepi's page I read that his new build would give way better B-Frame results. So I installed the new build and Robot4Rip0.2b. I'm mentioning this tool because never before has the installation of a new XviD build caused such weird problems: The configuration dialogue's text boxes where showing odd settings (some of my old settings I could still find in another box, but most of them where set to 1 or 0), the dropdown fields stayed the same, hinted ME and packed bitstream were checked by default...

I reset everything to these "minimum" settings:
MSP: 6 - Ultra High
QT: MPEG
FCC: XVID
VHQ: 0 - Off
Max: 300
Min: 1
B-Frames: 2-150-100
All checkboxes to false
No Hinted ME
Max bitrate 6000; 60-60
Credits in greyscale(quant-mode)
Chroma Optimizer off, no framedropping

I encoded some test frames and tried to look at the result, but MPlayerC crashed after 5 seconds or so, where the first B-Frame was supposed to appear. Before that point, the picture was already looking VERY BLURRY, the chroma seemed to be a little messed up (especially around the edges) as well, there were some trails, too. This is what happened when using Nics Decoder. When I tried to use the ffdshow decoder the output was just plain grey, besides the upper lines of macroblocks which had really messed up chroma (blocks clearly distinguishable, green, red colors...), BUT: this time there were no error messages, mplayerc did not crash.
Next thing I tried: Turn off the B-Frames, so there's no fancy stuff left at all. I experienced the exact same problems, only this time mplayerc did not crash with either one of the decoders...
Then I tried to reinstall the old build: Same problems...
I installed a much older build, just to make sure: BINGO! everything looks fine with any build BEFORE Koepi's XviD-24122002-1.exe - build... the latest build that is working is XviD-09122002-1.exe (Koepi).
I then turned on all the fancy stuff in the 9-12 build and still - the picture is just fine no matter which decoder I use.
But all builds after christmas build give me the same odd picture! I have already encoded hundreds of movies with those builds, what could be the problem?????
Another thing I tried was inserting converttoYUY2() in the end of the script - it did not make any difference!
The problem did not just occur with The Patriot, but with any MPEG2 source I tried. The source shouldn't matter anyway, I've already succeeded in encoding this movie.

Could this have anything to do with me having installed Robot4Rip?? This was the only thing (as far as I can recall) I did between the two encodes besides installing the new build.



This is my AVS script, which looks absolutely fine when looking at it in VDubMod:
LoadPlugin("c:\dvd\MPEG2Dec3.dll")
MPEG2Source("c:\dvd\p\1.d2v",cpu=4)
Crop(20,74,684,424)
lanczosResize(640,272)

I am using the following software:
WinXPproSP1
VDubMod1.4.13
AVS2.51
DVD2AVInic
ffdshow January 3rd

My system configuration:
AthlonXP2700+
AsusA7N8X
1024MB 400MHz Corsair
Hercules Radeon 9700 Pro


I'd be glad if there is someone who has experienced similar problems. I don't want to encode with the old builds, which means I cannot encode at all. So PLEASE HELP ME or I'll be forced to kill myself!

[Nic]

Hmmm, have you tried deleting all the XviD registry keys and then re-installing a recent build (mine or koepi's). Use regedit to goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GNU\XviD and delete all the registry keys in there. Then it should be set back to defaults, normally hitting Load Defaults in the codec would be enough, but you've got some very strange problems there.

Otherwise, thats a very weird problem...

-Nic

[Koepi]

a) if installing a new build - hit "load defaults" first (in vdub) before doing anything else.
b) don't use automatic tools with newest binaries - sometimes they have to be adopted to reflect new settings - and aren't coded clean enough to only modify keys if they exist.

You should encode with avisynth-yv12/vdubmod for getting best results. That's what I test, no "1 click and there you go" tools. So if they mess up I can't do anything about it.

This isn't XviD's fault, it's an error in the tool you use (i think it's written for xvid stable....)

Regards
Koepi

[crOOk]

First of all: Since the day I started encoding I have never used a "1 click and there you go" - tool. I haven't even used GKnot etc. This is insulting. I just have a neurotic behaviour which forces me into installing every little piece of software I can get my hands on (sad). I installed Robot4Rip, but have NEVER used it (haven't even taken a glance at it). All I use for encoding purposes are the tools I've listed...

Well, anyway, I tried hitting the Load Defaults button which did not make a difference. I then cleared the registry (no, not all of it :))
and the encode looked perfectly fine (like all the encodes I do with your builds).

I do not know how to thank you. You guys are incredible!