DVD2AVI/MPEG2DEC3 feature request

[Cyberia]

I am proposing these features for future releases of these programs, not for the current release canadates.


1) Audio playback! In DVD2AVI being able to hear the audio would be great help for choosing the audio track. Often, I have no idea which track to select especially for foreign films where the english track is not the first.

In MPEG2DEC3 it would be helpful to hear the audio as well. However, this feature will probably be easier to implement once MPEG2DEC3 has the ability to create the the D2V file automatically (since we are already accessing the VOB directly)

In both cases, just hand the audio to the Windows audio system. The user would need to have a DirectShow AC3 filter (ala: AC3Filter) already installed.

2) DVD2AVI - Provide an adjustment to control the playback speed. It would be nice to be able to view the video at normal playback speed sometimes.

3) DVD2AVI - Provide a frame-advance button. It would be nice to be able to step frames directly in DVD2AVI.

4) DVD2AVI - Full blown color and lighting adjustments like AVIUTL. This would be the hardest, but would be a FANTASTIC(!!!) ability...far beyond AviSynth's capabilities in both scope and ease of use (since you can see the results quickly)

5) MPEG2DEC3 - Auto D2V creation.

6) MPEG2DEC3 - MPEG-1 support. (Added request 10/7/03)

[len0x]

Personally I don't see the point of all this since:

a) if you are advanced user you can do all this manually (will take just slightly more time)
b) if you are looking for simplification of things there are tools which are using DVD2AVI as as backend to provide user-friendly interface.

Spending time beautifying things in DVD2AVI instead of concentarting on actual functionality it's a waste of time imho...

[jorel]

i don't think like you len0x,sorry....
but don't against you,of course!

i ask for some of this features a long time.(maybe Hakko504 remember)
i see as wonderful features like "frame selection with audio"
that i posted somewhere here!
for developers like neuron2 it' s easy to do(i think)
and will turn (and he is turning) dvd2avi in one
"more than fantastic" prog!


:)

[len0x]

Originally posted by jorel
i don't think like you len0x,sorry....


Everybody entitled to their own opinion and I didn't say all of that just to have an argument (in the end I'm not the one developing DVD2AVI :cool: ).

But I have to agree that one of the features makes quite a lof of sense actually - frame-by-frame advance through the video (very useful for determining telecining/interlacing). Audio bit is debatable (usually you already know what is the audio even before opening in DVD2AVI, and relaying on external filters for playback it's not something self sufficient application should do). But features like number 5 - what is it all about?

Anyway, lets see what Neuron2 has to say about it (but somehow I think he won't be too thrilled about it :) )

[jorel]

Originally posted by len0x
Everybody entitled to their own opinion and I didn't say all of that just to have an argument (in the end I'm not the one developing DVD2AVI :cool: ).

But I have to agree that one of the features makes quite a lof of sense actually - frame-by-frame advance through the video (very useful for determining telecining/interlacing). Audio bit is debatable (usually you already know what is the audio even before opening in DVD2AVI, and relaying on external filters for playback it's not something self sufficient application should do). But features like number 5 - what is it all about?

Anyway, lets see what Neuron2 has to say about it (but somehow I think he won't be too thrilled about it :) )

"But features like number 5 - what is it all about?"
yeah,
for this reason i wrote:
"some of this features"
and
"but don't against you,of course"

features like "frame selection with audio" will be great,
think in musicals when you need to cut clips!

"lets see what Neuron2 has to say about it"
i know that neuron like you job and tests
(and everyone likes too),
your opinion is important my friend(as always)!

thanks!
:)

[len0x]

Originally posted by jorel

features like "frame selection with audio" will be great,
think in musicals when you need to cut clips!


Yes, probably. But this wasn't on the original list of features by Cyberia, which I was criticizing :)

[Cyberia]

But features like number 5 - what is it all about?
If you've been paying attention, this is a feature Nic and Neuron2 have been teasing us with for the past few months. With it, MPEG2DEC3 will be able to directly access a VOB file without needing to use DVD2AVI separately. It will create the d2v on the fly and use it internally.


I disagree also about your audio comments. I think it would be a GREAT help, and probably not very hard to do. Actually I doubt if any of these are very difficult suggestions. Just a matter of finding time...

[DDogg]

Actually the one I would like most is #1, but I acknowledge it is simply from a lazy convenience standpoint. #5, if implemented by someone like DG, would be a great convenience also.

[len0x]

Originally posted by Cyberia
If you've been paying attention, this is a feature Nic and Neuron2 have been teasing us with for the past few months. With it, MPEG2DEC3 will be able to directly access a VOB file without needing to use DVD2AVI separately. It will create the d2v on the fly and use it internally.


Really? First, I didn't think that Neuron2 was working on DVD2AVI that long (in fact it's all started in the beginning of September).
Second, d2v file actually contains lots of very usefull information about the source (for instance FILM/NTSC related). And many tools are actually using it for that purpose. I don't quite get how is that possible to get whether source should be FF-ed or not from mpeg2dec3.dll (coz even if you provide the methods there, mpeg2dec3.dll will need to process the whole VOB everytime you open it...)

Can you dig up the original link where this was discussed, please?

[DDogg]

mpeg2dec3.dll will need to process the whole VOB everytime you open it No, I think he is referring to what Nic did with mpegdecoder where the first time you open it, it auto creates a d2v. After that it "sees" it there and uses it automatically.

[neuron2]

My general stance is to trust that if users ask for something, it is probably useful. As time permits I will try to satisfy user requests. It is up to the community to set good priorities.

[len0x]

Originally posted by DDogg
No, I think he is referring to what Nic did with mpegdecoder where the first time you open it, it auto creates a d2v. After that it "sees" it there and uses it automatically.

Oh, that's compeletely different description from "creating it on the fly and using internaly" :)

But still, usually it's nice to know some information about the source before you open it with avisynth, i.e. which filters to load depending on the source. So I'm not really convinced that opening of the VOBs directly via mpeg2dec3 in avisynth is something you'd like to do. Or would you ?

[DDogg]

Well I am sure no expert but there are certainly occasions where it is damn useful like with mpegdecoder you can do something like this (maybe not exact syntax): mpegsource("mympg.mpv") or mpegsource ("my1.vob")+ ("my2.vob") + ... and the d2v is created "on the fly"

Whether you do the d2v creation manually, or automatic d2v creation, the information is still mostly there in the d2v file. I know for instance that dvd2svcd always does a non FF d2v, then parses the d2v for information. Somehow he figures out from that whether to go with FF or hybrid or declare it interlaced. If he decides FF, he then changes the header of the d2v in someway and sets a flag for himself to remember to do pulldown.exe later in the finishing process for mpg.

So, from an automation standpoint it might work out quite well as the separate d2v process via command line would not be needed. This would be especially true if the d2v creation process spat out a log file or provided an easy method to retrieve the infomation. As said, just some conjecture on my part, but from a users standpoint the ability to directly open a mpeg2 file with nothing but a script is mighty attractive.

[hakko504]

Originally posted by DDogg
I know for instance that dvd2svcd always does a non FF d2v, then parses the d2v for information. Somehow he figures out from that whether to go with FF or hybrid or declare it interlaced. It's not that hard really: If the D2V only contains 01230123 etc then it should have been FF'd - which means that you change two header lines in the D2V! If it contains mixed 0123 and 2222 or 0000 then it's a hybrid and should probably be IVTC'd. And if it contains 222 or 000 only then a deinterlacer (or nothing at all) is the way to go. (Q07 of the FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59272))

[pandv]

Lets me add the periodic request for this fantastic tool.

- Support for Mpeg 1 (I think Nic has evaluated this sometime).

pandv

[DDogg]

Oh, I didn't think it hard to do, just I didn't understand how it was done :) Thanks for the link. So that same information will be there whether the gui is used or not if this feature becomes available. I can certainly live without this feature request, butI would rather live with it :)

[neuron2]

Originally posted by hakko504
And if it contains 222 or 000 only then a deinterlacer (or nothing at all) is the way to go. Did you forget about hard telecining?

[hakko504]

Originally posted by neuron2
Did you forget about hard telecining? :eek: Yes I did.

[Cyberia]

- Support for Mpeg 1 (I think Nic has evaluated this sometime).
I have asked for this also! So let me second that suggestion again.

It would be UBER-good if we could open mpeg-1 files via MPEG2DEC3. That would give us an option other than DirectShowSource as the open method. Plus, I suspect the de-ringing and de-blocking routines would do WONDERS for mpeg-1 video.

[MLS]

I dunno about those features, I'm with the guy who said we should get the mpeg2 stuff fully working first, then start adding features (and potential bugs).

/MLS

[Nic]

See MPEGDecoder should work absolutely fine for MPEG-1 but it doesnt (as DDogg will testify). I could try re-writing that bit again sometime...(currently im trying to write XviD's GUI, but I don't have time even for that now :( ))

As for auto creation of the D2V File, it can be seen as causing more problems than it solves.

I like the idea of playing audio back from the DVD2AVI. Might add that to DVD2AVI_Nic. Means including a MPA Decoder and a liba52 to playback ac3. Might be more trouble than it's worth though.

I like the idea of #4, im going to add that to dvd2avi_nic as well and release it. People won't like dvd2avi_nic, but it will stop Cruncher and superdump asking me as the first things I hear when im on IRC ;)

-Nic

[DDogg]

From a functionality standpoint, being able to deal with hybrid source such as an episodic DVD with NTSC lead-in, progressive, and NTSC lead-out would be huge for the end-user as well as the automators. DG hinted he might look in to that after his present scope is completed. Given that even the fastest telecide filter/solution still cuts speed considerably, doing this internally in dvd2avi seems like it would give a lot of bang for the effort expended. Admittedly, I don't have a clue about how much labor it would require.

/Add: As an example of the speed difference, in dvd2svcd, without telicide/decimate CCE runs at 2.62 X real time on my machine. With telecide/decimate the speed is 1.56 X real time. While that certainly is not a bad speed, losing over 1X real time is a substantial penalty to pay for not using FF. I do not know if a internal solution in dvd2avi for hybrid source would yield the same speed as FF does?

[MLS]

Originally posted by DDogg
From a functionality standpoint, being able to deal with hybrid source such as an episodic DVD with NTSC lead-in, progressive, and NTSC lead-out would be huge for the end-user as well as the automators. DG hinted he might look in to that after his present scope is completed. Given that even the fastest telecide filter/solution still cuts speed considerably, doing this internally in dvd2avi seems like it would give a lot of bang for the effort expended. Admittedly, I don't have a clue about how much labor it would require.

/Add: As an example of the speed difference, in dvd2svcd, without telicide/decimate CCE runs at 2.62 X real time on my machine. With telecide/decimate the speed is 1.56 X real time. While that certainly is not a bad speed, losing over 1X real time is a substantial penalty to pay for not using FF. I do not know if a internal solution in dvd2avi for hybrid source would yield the same speed as FF does?

Now that would be awesome :)

/MLS

[FilipeAmadeuO]

It it possible to include in the last version the output of a D2F file ??
It is very handy for putting chapters (or cells) in CCE our Scenarist ?

[neuron2]

There is never a last version. Please send me the specs of a D2F file.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

I don´t know the specifications, but i can send you the DVD2AVI version that i have

[neuron2]

OK, send it.

[Shinobu]

hello.

Will it be possible to add an AR detection to the futur version of mpeg2dec3 ?
(to detect the ratio of an mpeg2 video (or a d2v project) like dvd2avi does, 1:1, 4:3 ,16:9 ,or 2:11:1 but via avisynth)

I think it can be very usefull for automation of a lot of scripts ^^ (AR detection + autocrop + b/p.f resize .....)


thank in advence ^^



++

[len0x]

Originally posted by Shinobu
I think it can be very usefull for automation of a lot of scripts (AR detection + autocrop + b/p.f resize .....)


i can use this feature as well. in fact we need only one piece of info from vob file - is source anamorphic or not. for the moment i only can get this info during automated process from text file generated from ripping tools describing stream info. doing so from within avisynth would simplify things quite a bit.

[Cyberia]

Ok I have another audio-related request: Detection and identification.

Detection
Currently DVD2AVI lists tracks 1-8 available for demuxing or decoding. You select the one you want. Let's not list a track if it's not there. If there are two tracks, then just list tracks 1-2.

Identification
Provide a little info about the track.
Format: AC3, AAC, DTS
Type: Dolby, Dolby Pro Logic, THX, MegaSound etc...