AviSynth Q&A

[Wilbert]

Most of you know that a lot is happening lately regarding AviSynth. Many plugins and filters were added, compressed audio support, better doc. support and AviSynth got its own website www.avisynth.org. The AviSynth Q&A has moved to that website, it can be reached at AviSynth Q&A.

This site is made with Wiki (a kind of html for lazy people), such that everyone can contribute to www.avisynth.org by updating docs, adding nice scripts and more. If you want to learn Wiki you should have a look at the command summary and practice these rules in the sandbox.

If you want to add or change something to the FAQ, please respond to this thread (also in the case you decided to make the changes yourself). Do NOT use this thread for discussion of specific Avisynth problems you may have. Post those in a separate thread. This thread is for suggesting new FAQs and discussing existing ones.

If you got any problems using AviSynth please read the troubleshoot page first before posting in this forum!

[dividee]

Edited Q6:

Added a link to the avisynth tutorial and a notice that reading the doc is mandatory before posting.

[Wilbert]

Corrected Q13.3:
How to read import mpeg2-files in AviSynth.

Removed Q36:
That was about the mpeg2enc.dll plugin, that had nothing to do with AviSynth.

Added Q35:
Q35: When i try to use SpatialSoftenMMX, it crashes in VirtualDub ?
A: You probably used this filter before resizing. Apperently SpatialSoftenMMX doesn't like resolutions that cannot be divided by 8 or 16. So if you use it after resizing it works, of course.

[Rasqual]

Q1:
http://www.lukesvideo.com/avisynth.html
Q9:
http://www.lukesvideo.com/frameserving.html

[Wilbert]

Thanks, I changed them. I also changed Q21: adding references to the "Smoother HiQ(uality) plugin" of Klaus Post (Shodan) and the "ImageSequence plugin" of Bzzz2.

[Wilbert]

Changed Q2, Q21 and Q27.

Q2: added:

There is also a version made by Poptones http://personal.ayrix.net/~poptones/avisynth.zip. There is a command which enables you to average multiple captures reducing noise and keeping detail. For a description see: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/Open...65&m=4020952194.

Q21: added the following plugins:
[list=1][*]MergeLuma/MergeChroma plugin (by Klaus Post) [*]Soften/sharpen plugin (by Tom Barry)[*]MJPEGcorrect plugin[/list=1]

Q27:

Pointer to the newest package containing VDub scripts called vdub_filtersv14.zip.

[poptones]

If you point people instead at the latest (avisynth2) project at sourceforge they can get the latest version with the "poptones" stuff in it. I don't mind hosting it there, and it'll remain for the folks who know that resource, but it may not always be the freshest version.

[Wilbert]

Thanks, I changed it (see Q2). I also added some external plugins in Q21.

[pepsimaxx]

Hi Wilbert,

Thanks alot for ur (and others?) hard work on this Q&A. I just wanted to post some constructive suggestion.

Could u make the questions appear in bold? That way it's easier to scroll down the page and find the "question" that is related to ur problem.

Don't take it the wrong way, it's meant in a positive way.

[dividee]

Nice suggestion.

[Wilbert]

Changed Q21: added some new plugins and explanation.

Added Q40:
Q40: When frameserving I got the following message: "Script error, there is no function named "IPCSource"" ?

A: You probably used AviSynth v1.0b6. In this version the IPCSource is removed and put into a different dll (in avisynthEx.dll). Get this plugin or use another version of AviSynth.

There will be more changes after a few days...

[Wilbert]

- Rewrote Q2 and updated Q5.
- Changed the links in Q19.
- Added the colorspace conversion problems in Q12.

[sh0dan]

(Suggestion for update on colorspaces)

Q23: How do I convert between the colorspaces ?

A: Converting to YUY2:

ConvertToYUY2()

and for converting to RGB:

ConvertToRGB()

Note that converting between colorspaces isn't completely lossless, and doing several conversions back and forth may degrade your signal. The first conversion back and forth does not hurt your source, but if you use three or more, it may.

Q24: What/when do I care when filter X works in RGB- or YUV-space ?

A: The main reason why you should care is the improvement in speed you can obtain by not unnecessarily changing between colorspaces. If your source is YUV (when encoding DVD's for example, or captures from digital sources) try to use only filters/plugins which work in YUV-space. On the other hand if your source is in RGB (for example from analog captures) try to use only filters/plugins which work in RGB-space.

Speed is also quite different between the different colorspaces, because each colorspace takes up different amounts of memory. The slowest colorspace is usually RGB24, because every pixel has an odd alignment in memory, avoid using this mode. The fastest mode is usually YUY2, because data only takes up half as much space as RGB32. So if you have to process your video a lot, try using ConvertToYUY2() before you do your filtering. Note that ConvertToRGB converts to RGB32 if the source is YUY2 - use ConvertToRGB32 to force a RGB24 to RGB32 conversion.

You should also consider your destination colorspace. If you plan on converting to DivX/Xvid/HuffYUV in Virtual Dub without applying filters in Virtual Dub, "Fast Recompress" will deliver the YUY-data directly to the codec, saving you another colorspace conversion. On the other hand, if you plan using TMPGEnc or Virtual Dub in "Full Processing" mode, you may consider delivering the source as RGB.

[Richard Berg]

sh0dan & Wilbert now have the necessary permissions to create/edit the documentation on SourceForge. You're doing great work here with the FAQ and the new function descriptions; if all you do is copy/paste over to SourceForge occasionally I'll be happy.

[Wilbert]

@Richard,

Done. The only thing there right now is Koepi's changelist; right now I'm working on adapting Wilbert's FAQ (e.g. adding

I've seen it, very nice!

sh0dan & Wilbert now have the necessary permissions to create/edit the documentation on SourceForge. You're doing great work here with the FAQ and the new function descriptions; if all you do is copy/paste over to SourceForge occasionally I'll be happy.

Sorry for this dumb question, but how/where can we do this?

@sh0dan,

I will update it, thanks!

Edit: Ahum, I have a small problem. I can't put more text in the faq Dividee you can insert an empty post between the faq and your post which I can edit?

[Richard Berg]

@Wilbert --
Start here, you should be able to add/edit anything on this screen.

Read the end of this thread though -- we won't be using the SourceForge doc manager much longer, so I wouldn't bother. The changelist there is already out of date, in fact; I added a few lines to the one on the CVS, which in turn should be replaced by a website something driven by Wikki.

[dividee]

Edit: Ahum, I have a small problem. I can't put more text in the faq Dividee you can insert an empty post between the faq and your post?

Not sure how to do that. I'll delete my post so you can reuse the next one, which is yours.

[poptones]

There is now an index on the front page. This FAQ can be moved to the wiki simply by clicking the question mark and cutting and pasting.

Yeah, I know it's not exactly quick, but it really is simple. Took me about an hour to create what's there now. Filling in the command glossary now is just a matter of cut and paste as we (I?) get the time. You could do the same thing with the quesitons and links. I'll be glad to help out, but it'll be late this evening before I get back to it.

[Wilbert]

Nice, very nice! I have to figure out how it all works yet, because it is not entiry copy and paste (see http://tavi.sourceforge.net/FormattingRules). But I started ...

[WarpEnterprises]

@Wilbert: Do you too experience problems when accessing the wiki (as if the wiki-server has a very bad performance?)