Ateme H.264 Beta Test

[bobololo]

Ateme, the technology provider for NeroDigital video codec, has reached a significant stage of its H.264 encoder development and is now ready to proceed to latest fine tunings before a first release in next coming ND products.

In order to bring this new codec to higher level of quality and performance and to satisfy most potential users, we're planning a beta test period starting next week. During this beta test phase, we would be pleased to share with the community some comments, suggestions or any idea that could make this codec better and better.

Therefore we would be happy to welcome some experienced volunteers wanting to take part to this beta test program and to help us making this codec yours :) The ideal profile would be someone involved in video codecs usage and familiar with avisynth scripting, dshow filters, audio/video muxing, codecs comparison, etc.

People interested can apply by contacting me (through PM or on irc #mpeg on irc.freenode.org).

I've asked Doom9 if we could start a thread here to allow testers to report and discuss about it. I didn't get any reply yet, maybe some moderators could tell if this would break some rules and if such discussions should be hosted elsewhere ?

edit: please provide your email address when replying, thanks.

-- bobololo.

[LostMP4]

Do you plan to make a close-beta only for this time?

[bobololo]

Originally posted by LostMP4
Do you plan to make a close-beta only for this time?
What do you mean by close-beta ?

-- bobololo.

[LostMP4]

Originally posted by bobololo
What do you mean by close-beta ?

-- bobololo.

You must be selected to have a chance to try the new codec or everyone will be able to download it (like WinRAR, where the betas are freely downloadable from their site)?

[chilledoutuk]

what will the interface of the codec be vfw dshow?

[bobololo]

Originally posted by LostMP4
You must be selected to have a chance to try the new codec or everyone will be able to download it (like WinRAR, where the betas are freely downloadable from their site)?
It won't be publicly available to everyone, only "selected" testers will receive the eval package. Actually this "selection" (I really don't like this term but anyway) is based on the number of participants. This done to limit the risk of leaks by a too wide spread.

-- bobololo.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Nice one... count me in :D

Now, where's that man bond?


Cheers

[bond]

Originally posted by bobololo
I've asked Doom9 if we could start a thread here to allow testers to report and discuss about it. I didn't get any reply yet, maybe some moderators could tell if this would break some rules and if such discussions should be hosted elsewhere ?doom9 is on vacation, but i dont think that it would hurt anyone discussion beta-testing results on doom9, other companies already too used the forum for finding beta-testers and discussing the results

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Now, where's that man bond?that man bond has not an own computer atm and therefore also not the possibility to test this stuff :(

[Sirber]

If it's VFW, I'll be interrested.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by bond
...that man bond has not an own computer atm and therefore also not the possibility to test this stuff :( Jeez, what's happened... has your PC died?


Cheers

[bond]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Jeez, what's happened... has your PC died?nope, but i am on the run atm and not at home ;)

Originally posted by Sirber
If it's VFW, I'll be interrested.haha, i doubt it. i assume its commandline outputting to .avi

[Razorblade2000]

I'd love to take part :D

(if you don't find enough better suited people ;) )

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by bond
nope, but i am on the run atm and not at home ;) That sounds serious ;) If you manage to make it over to the UK give me an email and we'll put you up in our 'top secret' panic room!

bobololo,
Are you able to offer us all any technical details?


Cheers

[bobololo]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
bobololo,
Are you able to offer us all any technical details?
Well you'll be provided with a command line encoder that inputs avs scripts and outputs mp4 file. A bunch of options will allow you to adjust the encoding (tools, quality, performance, psycho, etc.). An additional tool may be provided for audio muxing.

Regarding the encoding itself it features all main profile tools, 2 pass encoding and all the good stuff you usually have with our codecs ;)

-- bobololo.

[Sirber]

Cool! Count me in!

Little question: if it works, can I include it in RealAnime?

[Bulletproof]

I'm interested in testing too.

[Latexxx]

I'm in.

[bill_baroud]

Originally posted by Sirber

Little question: if it works, can I include it in RealAnime?

they are developping the codec for NeroDigital, and the beta is a "closed" one,so i'm pretty sure that the answer will be "no" ;)


btw, i would love to take part in this beta test :)

[Selur]

codec testing is always fun :D

[Andrey]

Count me in too.
But now I have only StarWars: The Attack of the Clones DVD only, so test will be not very serious for me :)

[CruNcher]

i would like to take part in this too ;)

[bobololo]

Originally posted by Latexxx
I'm in.

@all volunteers: I really appreciate your interest for this test, but please do me a favour and make sure to PM me at least your email since by the time we'll start the test I won't re-read back the whole thread and track all the testers who didn't signal themself by a PM and ask them the missing info. Thanks.

-- bobololo.

[unmei]

my next project, the anime "zone of the enders: idolo" would like to become a AVC encode :) I have a question tho: will i be able to decode the result with my DS player or choice (with ffdshow or a decoder included in the tester pack) ..or will playback be limited to nero's player?

[bond]

Originally posted by bobololo
Well you'll be provided with a command line encoder that inputs avs scripts and outputs mp4 file.thats how a h.264 encoder is meant to be :D ;)

bond hides

[Selur]

@bobololo: do you know how many testers are needed?
---
@bond: not complaining about missing chapter support? :D *gig*
---
@unmei: they probably got their own decoder
(ahead would definately want one)

Cu Selur

[Sirber]

FFDSHOW can decode H264 IIRC.

[bobololo]

Originally posted by unmei
my next project, the anime "zone of the enders: idolo" would like to become a AVC encode :) I have a question tho: will i be able to decode the result with my DS player or choice (with ffdshow or a decoder included in the tester pack) ..or will playback be limited to nero's player?
The lastest NVE package provides working DS filters you can use with whatever player you like.

-- bobololo.

[bobololo]

Originally posted by Selur
@bobololo: do you know how many testers are needed?

There is still room for candidates ;)

-- bobololo.

[bobololo]

Originally posted by Sirber
FFDSHOW can decode H264 IIRC. Unfortunately libavcodec won't be able to decode our streams since it doesn't have complete support for bframes.

-- bobololo.

[bond]

Originally posted by bobololo
Unfortunately libavcodec won't be able to decode our streams since it doesn't have complete support for bframes.hm i thought it handles b-frames already. whats missing?

[virus]

Originally posted by bobololo
Unfortunately libavcodec won't be able to decode our streams since it doesn't have complete support for bframes.

so no chances if I don't install all the Nero stuff? a simple decoder bundled with the beta codec maybe?

[Tommy Carrot]

Originally posted by virus
so no chances if I don't install all the Nero stuff? a simple decoder bundled with the beta codec maybe?

I agree, it would be very helpful.

[CruNcher]

VideoLanClient :D

[RadicalEd]

An H.264 encoder that outputs MP4! :O Finally! ALL HAIL

[Teegedeck]

Sounds good. I wouldn't have time to look at it until at least tuesday, though. PM sent.

Let's see at what bitrate it delivers transparency. :)

[LigH]

If I'm not too late: Me too, please.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by bobololo
The lastest NVE package provides working DS filters you can use with whatever player you like. The filers work fine, if your viewing say, .MP4 content in WMP9.

But with any other player, such as MPC or ZoomPlayer, I've found that the audio filter does not connect :(


Cheers

[everwicked]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
The filers work fine, if your viewing say, .MP4 content in WMP9.

But with any other player, such as MPC or ZoomPlayer, I've found that the audio filter does not connect :(


Cheers

You can use CoreAAC but the encoder bobololo is going to give you doesn't have support for sound :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by everwicked
You can use CoreAAC but the encoder bobololo is going to give you doesn't have support for sound :) Yes that's very true.

However, that doesn't get away from the fact that Nero's filters are not quite 100% yet... maybe next release :D


Cheers

[SeeMoreDigital]

More information boys and girls... This time about H.264 playback using Ahead's DSdec filter :D

This involved me digging out some of my collected H.264 encodes generated by codec manufactures, such as: Moonlight, VideoSoft & SVM2 all using file extensions such as .h264, .avi and .mpg

But it also involved me testing some forum members encodes too. So I'm happy to announce that the following could be played: -
NeoNeko's - Harvey Birdman .mkv
Sagittaire's - LOR .avi
Tommy Carrots - Matrix .avi
708145's - Phenomenon .avi

And guess what... they all worked. However, some crashed MPC or ShowTime if you tried: pausing, stopping or seeking. but all-in-all they played.

This is great stuff... we now have the makings of an cross compatible decoder.


Cheers

[everwicked]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital

And guess what... they all worked. However, some crashed MPC or ShowTime if you tried: pausing, stopping or seeking. but all-in-all they played.


I have been testing all that with bobololo so that VQStudio can be used for the test. Ahead's filters lack seeking capabilities but a little bird told me that Ateme will provide its own filters for the test ;)

[bobololo]

Hi there,

Thanks to everyone for the submissions. We have now enough testers to start our beta testing in a few days. Testers will receive an email with all the instructions pretty soon.

Gentlemen, please warm up your CPU, some hot encodes are to come :)

-- bobololo.

[lexor]

Originally posted by bobololo

Gentlemen, please warm up your CPU, some hot encodes are to come :)
-- bobololo.

shouldn't they chill thier CPU's then? (Vipo-chill that is :devil: )

[bobololo]

While waiting for the beta testing to start, you can check this little teaser : http://nero.ateme.com/~tchi/rel_trailer_1000k.mp4 !

Enjoy :)

ps: you'll need latest NVE package for the playback.

[superdump]

Originally posted by lexor
shouldn't they chill thier CPU's then? (Vipo-chill that is :devil: ) Mine's watercooled and at the ready. :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Lovely :D

Works great in both ShowTime and WMP9 - although on my PC the audio was slightly out.

The quality is very good indeed but at 1000Kbps it should be pretty good anyway! I wonder what this clip would look like at say, 600Kbps?

Also the clip does not like the videoLAN player at all. No video at all but some audio.

Great stuff... don't you just love AVC?


Cheers

[virus]

Originally posted by bobololo
ps: you'll need latest NVE package for the playback.
still waiting for an official confirmation about whether the Nero splitter/decoder will be required for the test. I don't know if I can encode some stuff for comparison already cause I have no idea if I can partecipate... a clarification would be very much appreciated.

thanks
virus

[Bulletproof]

Originally posted by bobololo
While waiting for the beta testing to start, you can check this little teaser : http://nero.ateme.com/~tchi/rel_trailer_1000k.mp4 !

Enjoy :)

ps: you'll need latest NVE package for the playback.

The video actually looks pretty decent, although is the decoder accepting the post processing settings? Because even when I set it to no post processing it kinda seems as if it's still doing it. There is definitely some potential here though, all the other H.264 codecs are pretty crude. I can't wait to try the encoder I have alot of material I want to test :) .

[bobololo]

@smd: 1000 kb/s is already quite a low bitrate for such resolution and difficult clip. If you try the same encode with mpeg-4 ASP encoders, you'll see the result... (The source is from the official ultra resolution trailer available at www.thematrix.com).

@virus: Testers will be provided with everything needed to perform the test. And I don't really understand the problem with NVE. Is there any problem downloading the demo version and install it ?

@bulletprof: The postprocessing settings are useless when processing AVC contents. The inloop deblocking filter is set at the encoding and can't be disable during the playback.

-- bobololo.

[CruNcher]

Originally posted by bobololo
@bulletprof: The postprocessing settings are useless when processing AVC contents. The inloop deblocking filter is set at the encoding and can't be disable during the playback.

-- bobololo.

but i hope it can be disable via a encoder flag like -nodeloop ;)
you know how my eyes react on it ;)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks bobololo,

You're right 1000Kbps is pretty low for this sort of clip. I've seen many other examples (I've even encoded a few of them myself) and the white flashes are the killers!

I reckon this clip could be used as benchmark when testing begins!


Cheers

[Selur]

clip looks nice, maybe too much loopfiltering here and there but, in general really nice. ;)

[Soulhunter]

Ok, the last hours Ive lurked around for some HD content as test source !!!

Beside the Reloaded trailer I found this ones...

- The Bourne supremacy (http://www.thebournesupremacy.com/trailer/BourneSupremacyT3_720p_8mbit_SRD_NR_bt-1.zip)

- Matrix Revolutions (http://progressive.warnerbros.com/thematrix/us/med/rev_theatre_0x10383910_1024_dl.zip)

- Space shuttle (ftp://ftp.heise.de/pub/ct/spezial/shuttle.mpg)

- Mixed scenes (ftp://ftp.heise.de/pub/ct/spezial/crawford.mpg)

- Everquest 2 (http://3dgamers.planetmirror.com/pub/3dgamers/games/everquest2/eq2_cgg_big.zip)

- Halo 2 (http://ftp.gamepro.com/pub/gamesnet/microsoft/Halo2movietrailer1080.wmv)


Bye

[Lobuz]

Here (http://www.hdtvtotal.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-77.html) it is I think some free demo content from HDTV Euro 1080 tv (use eMule).

Regards
Lobuz

[Sirber]

I agreed to the license :rolleyes:

[superdump]

I have been informed by bobololo that Ateme are having a few problems with their demuxer filter but are working to fix said problems as this is the last thing to do before the beta goes live. It shouldn't be too long now. :)

[bond]

anyone having doubts about whether the nero filters do postprocessing, simple decode the file with videolan (ahhh .mp4, the beauty of interoperability without hassles ;) )

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by bond
anyone having doubts about whether the nero filters do postprocessing, simple decode the file with videolan (ahhh .mp4, the beauty of interoperability without hassles ;) ) Hi bond,

Have you downloaded bobolobo's clip (http://nero.ateme.com/~tchi/rel_trailer_1000k.mp4) test clip.

I can't make it work correctly with videoLAN. Maybe other forum members can comment!


Cheers

[bond]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
I can't make it work correctly with videoLAN. Maybe other forum members can commenti cant get it to play neither (tried latest nightly build), also i tried playing it with the sorenson dshow filters you linked to in the sorenson post, but it seems simply registering them doesnt work (they dont show up in graphedit)

[CruNcher]

looks like the new test clip uses B-frames and as we all know videolan (libavcodec) can´t decode b-frames because it´s a tool for h264 thats low in michaels priority list :(

[ac-chan123]

For all how search good High-Definition Sequenzes for encoding Tests, try the Sequences from ftp://ftp.ldv.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de/pub/test_sequences/ . You need Avisynth and the Rawsource Filter(from http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/) if Ateme don´t support Abekas YUV(one File with Multiple YUV Pictures without any other data like header).

[thegeby]

There are some HDTV samples here, mostly in mpg format

Recent thread in AVS forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=439927)

[bobololo]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81678

Ok we're going live now :) Maybe a moderator can lock this thread ?

-- bobololo.

[bond]

closed