Why doesn't an encoder that can pause, and resume at a later date get developed ?

[ukb007]

I saw an advertisement by, I think, Mitsubishi: Technically, anything is possible. I think it is right.

There are download managers that can resume later. Similarly why not video encoders ? Why should it be technically impossible ?

Thanks and regards.

[Neo Neko]

Well untill recently the average user did not do much encoding. It was mainly professionals and a few isolated users that had no problems leaving their computer to encode in peace. Or at least deal with it. There is no reason an encoding process could not be paused. But untill recently there was no real need or impetus to implement such a thing. Even today I really question the need for it. Are there times I might have used it? Sure. But I am often just as happy to set virtualdub to idle priority and do my thing.

If it is important to you I suggest you form a well founded proposal to be given to strategic developers like Avery Lee who's Virtualdub program is used in part or whole in many encoding processes.

[sysKin]

First of all, a codec interface would have to support it. Neither VfW nor directshow do. Secondly, an encoding application would have to support it. Then, and only then, a codec could start supporting it.

Technically posiible of course, but it's not here...

Radek

[ukb007]

Thanks, Neo Neko.

What you wrote is completely logical. It is now possible to work while the encoding job goes on. But, all the same, why not an additional control ?

There's a friend of mine who exchanged his Athlon XP2000+ system for an Athlon FX64 one. His most demanding application is solitaire, and listening to music, other than writing letters and watching TV in his PC. But he is happy with the knowledge that he could just as well calculate the planetary ascensions with his computer. You know how people are. They want control, whether they exercise it or not.

Have you noticed how many different kinds of breads or sugar there are in the market ? How many different kinds have you ever taken ? When a product is there, there's bound to be use for it.

But having said all that, your logic does stay irrefutable, I'm afraid.

And thanks, sysKin.

Yes, it sounds difficult. Difficulty is a relative concept, isn't it ? I saw a movie in which Jack Nicholson portrayed a person who found it difficult to walk on the tiled floor owing to the patterns. It isn't difficult for me, though.

Your post, however, told me about the doors that need to be opened.

Regards.

[mf]

A beautiful post when it comes to figurative speech and general wisdom, however no practicality. sysKin means it's not possible unless you make a new codec interface (there's some vaporware floating around for that) and an encoding app that uses it. So it's basically an invitation; if you want it so badly, make it! :) This is open source and anyone can contribute. And if you meet the former two conditions, you might even get codec support for free! ;)

[bilu]

IIRC AVS2AVI had such a feature: it stopped and restarted at keyframes. It would be like opening a stream and starting a fresh encoding session, adding at the end of that previous stream :)

Bilu

[Tuesday]

Hey,

I've been thinking about a feature like his for some time, but the closest i have come so far is the windows "Hibernate" feature, which seems to work perfectly with encoding.

The main reason ive found this to be needed is becasue my better half can't sleep with all the fans and various noises my beloved box makes so i have to turn it off and as i do alot of encoding the hibernate function is perfect.

why would u ever want to pause just one task, ie encoding, as u can already set it to idle as mentioned by Neo Neko ?

[ukb007]

I am glad that my post aesthetically pleased mf. The feature is not there at this time, so it's only a dream. Who said dreams have to be practical ? :)

bilu, you wrote that IIRC AVS2AVI had such feature. D'you mean it doesn't any more, or isn't there any more ? A link will be appreciated.

And, good Tuesday, pal. You know how I feel. Although Idle or Hibernating is ok, but it seems a wee bit less than the real thing Moreover, I never knew that encoding can (or should) go on with the fans off - I thought encoding is a CPU-intensive process producing a lot of heat that need to be dissipated !

Regards, folks.

[mikeX]

why would u ever want to pause just one task, ie encoding, as u can already set it to idle as mentioned by Neo Neko ?
well i for one find idle insufficient when it comes to doing other really demanding tasks especially when it comes to windows...
furthermore, i think that if one implements a 'pause' function then the next step would be 'stop & continue later' as in do half your encode now and pick up from where you left next month :cool: (quite useless come to think of it though :rolleyes: )
really cool you can do that with hybernate, too bad windows gives you so little control over it (like were to put the ram image...)

[ukb007]

As days go by, stopping now and resuming encoding at some later date is becoming less and less necessary. My machine does a 2 hour+ DVD movie into 1 CD in less than 1.5 hour. Think of those hair-raising AMD K6 / Pentium I times.

But all the same, as Tuesday said, the wife may want the machine switched off at night...

Regards.

[bilu]

@ukb007

AVS2AVI
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36768


Bilu

[Neo Neko]

When using a "frame serving" application it should be possible to "pause" an encode job without actually pausing. If for instance a control could be provided in AVISynth that would pause/halt the feeding of frames one could technically pause the encoding process. Likewise in an aplication like Virtualdub it should be possible to pause the decoding of a stream and thus pause the encoding as well. The only flaw in this methodology is that the resources loaded for encoding are not unloaded. But it should follow that if the encoder is not being fed data to encode then it can not encode. In all honesty this would not be much different from setting encode priority to idle. But instead of being able to encode when there is some spare resources it would be as if there were never any spare resources.

[ukb007]

I can see that the thought processes have already started. The only thing needed is the itch, only then a scratch will take place.

Regards.