Auto Gordian Knot: current version 2.55

[wertherman]

I share your views that too many options complicates a program, the really good thing about your program is the whole fact it's so simple you can easily set it going before going to bed when very very drunk or very tired.... Hopefully the ease of use of this program will help me persuade my friends to encode their files.... Saying that, I still think you should support custom audio encoding options in a config file or something (I like having alt-preset standard or r3mix audio in my video files - to me it's very much a no brainer to use quality based audio encoding rather than size based).

Anyhow, did another test, it only stops me from doing another encode when I set the same output directory as the last one... It also stops me from deleting the temporary directory for the original output directory (windows explorer says Access Denied).

What this program really needs is a queue, so I can queue up lots of files to encode over a weekend when I am away, the aforementioned audio options, and maybe some way of specifying that you want to up the cd size to 2 cds with a low compressibility score. Other than that, it's perfect.....

[xistan]

Originally posted by len0x
I'm very glad that others share my view in this matter. I do think that tweakability can do more damage than most of advanced users can think of and I'll do my best to keep things simple and hide all advanced option as much as possible.

You have my full support as well. I have earlier used GK but I have now switched to AutoGK just because it does all the boring work for me. I feel pretty satisfied with the output quality of the default options. I mean I have the opportunity of specifying quality by choosing a width and an output size. If it turns out that more could be done by tweaking the codec parameters, I can always go back to GK, use the output files from AutoGK and tweak the codec manually.

An application targeted against newbies should stay that way. Regarding "expert modes", "advanced settings" and other advanced functionality should only be included if there is no alternative way to do the job. In this case, there is always GK to rely on.

So keep up the good work len0x!! Disregard requests from whining users and stay focused on your own opinion on what's best for your app!!

/C

[sillKotscha]

Originally posted by wertherman
Saying that, I still think you should support custom audio encoding options in a config file or something

asked 'n answered once before...

[Wolfman]

How exactly will the subtitles work on a H/w player?? are they selectable ? or are they burnt in?
I agree with the suggestion of many? about custom size of cds I would like to have option of using 650,700,800 900 x 2/ x3 Cdrs or even 1 650 cdr AND one 900mb cdr (whatever is lying about!)
ALso why only mp3 up to 224? if backing up a music dvd (much more common now) you might want up to 320kbs mp3 (maybe even 448).

[MindlessOath]

subtitles are burnt in, i would like the option in a config file that would allow me to choose size of files per cd, that would be good enough.

if you want to use a high bit rate for sound, just use the AC3 instead. and there really isnt any problem with 224kbps, 320 could be a good option, but i dont see it neccessary. and changing those settings would be up to the program to decide those settings probably. mabe lenox could do some testing on a music DVD to optimize for it.

ohh yea, the 6 channel sound worked just fine. the only thing i need to do is split it to two cds with enogh space to put the codec on, and the 50MB file that i made of the extras.

also annother suggested idea, would be to make a small file that could be resised to any encode and ammended to the end of a two or three CD rip that would say to change to the next disk. this is a bit more work to do, and probably not needed at all. but take the idea if ya want. mabe a good place to advertise :P

[Mtz]

About the splitting I want to say something.
Maybe I don't like if AutoGk split the movie in 2 CD's where is an dialog.
I can do that by myself after the encoding. Let's say that I cut the first CD at 690 Mb where is no dialog.
For the second CD I can cut at the end, where are the credits to fit in one 700 Mb CD.

Is possible to have an option to disable splitting?

[Sharktooth]

@lenox: can you add a "No audio" option?

[r6d2]

Finished encoding SPR with Highest quality mode. Guess what... 8.1-GB file size!

No wonder why SPR is rated as one of the most uncompressible movies ever.

I'm sorry that some of the feature requests here are being made on the same tone of those at the forum at www.divx.com about Dr.DivX.

Advanced users claiming for advanced features on a newbie app. It's sort of funny, but certainly not for len0x.

Well, what else is new. Users tend to bend the specs and set new requirements for almost every application they use. I guess a review of this thread and this thread may be suggested from time to time.

[manono]

Hehe. I see you handing them out sometimes, r6d2, so I thought I'd give you my first one ever.

I also don't understand all these requests. If you want to make a request for an added feature (certainly within your rights), please ask yourself first if it fits within the goals of AutoGK. As I understand it, its purpose is, first, to allow people that have never done this before, or have tried without success, to make decent backups of their DVDs. And second, to be able to play them on standalone DVD/DivX players. And please don't be dismayed if len0x decides not to implement your suggestion(s).

Many of the suggestions can already be accomplished within GKnot, or by doing some or all of the steps manually. Many of the suggestions are coming from people that already know how to do these things.

Sure, it doesn't have the ability to encode credits at a higher quant, or to cut them out entirely. You can do that with GKnot or DVD2AVI.

Sure, your only choice with subtitles is to burn them in. Many DVD/MPEG4 players don't support external subtitles, and many newcomers don't want to mess with them. And for those that have been around for awhile, they already know how to keep the subs separate or to perform OCR and use DirectVobSub to display them.

Sure, the only supported audio is AC3 or MP3. Those are the most accepted audio formats, and the ones that the players support.

Sure you can only make .avis. That's what the players support, and it's still the most accepted container, no matter what its shortcomings are.

Most people want to split to 700 MB CD-Rs. If you have different sized CD-Rs, you can set a custom size slightly different from 700 MB or 1400 MB and it'll be in 1 large file, and you can split it yourself. Not hard, and if you don't know how, just ask and someone will be happy to show you or point you to Doom9's guide.

If you don't want the split to occur in the middle of a scene (I don't blame you), then make it for 1390 (or 1410 to cut credits, or however much you want) MB, and then split it yourself at the place you choose. Doing it yourself, you can even overlap the cuts, like DVD2SVCD can do.

Isn't that right-it only splits if it's 2 CD or 3 CD, and not Custom size? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

As for high bitrate MP3, as one response noted, at those high bitrates, you might as well use the AC3. It won't take up that much more space. Imagine a rookie dealing with Alt Fast Standard or R3Mix. "Huh? What the hell is that?"

I do agree that batch encoding would be useful, but I think that's high on the "to do" list.

Guess what... 8.1-GB file size!

Now you're ready for The Abyss, or Waterworld.

[r6d2]

Originally posted by manono
Now you're ready for The Abyss, or Waterworld.

You bet. Just waiting Blockbuster put those used ones on sale!

I also wonder why all that talk about splitting and such. If you are comfortable with overlapped splitting movies and want portability, use DVD2SVCD.

OTOH, if you're encoding AVIs, you're likely not to be concered with portability and you better buy a cheap PC (or recycle one), get a TV out card and encode 1-pass quality based (len0x is about to implement variable quality) and you're done. No split. No restroom & popcorn pause.

Don't let the music industry historical decisions to determine the quality of your encodes!

[MediaMage]

sn't that right-it only splits if it's 2 CD or 3 CD, and not Custom size? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

it splits on following selections:
2cd
3cd
1400 mb
2100 mb

so if you want a 2cd rip in one file, just select 1402 mb custom size and be happy (like me)

[jonny]

I've *really* recently got a DivX standalone player.
The player is an InnoHit IH2410 (know clones are: Techwood TK24slv, Gemini 330).
It's based on the ESS chip (exactly ES6018).


My experiences on resolution:
To get *exactly* the same picture on my 16:9 tv (so i'm comparing the original dvd with the encoded Avi), i must keep witdh=720 and i must do only cropping (so *NO* resizing).
This gives me exactly the same dvd picture (so perfect aspect ratio and same not visible portions due to overscanning).
Actually i'm doing my encodes with no cropping at all, so 720x576.
I'm reading a lot of resource and what i understand is that there are no general specs about resolutions (some players keep the aspect ratio of the Avi, others like mine, uses the same rules of an mpeg2 stream).
I'm not cropping coz i think keeping the original stream intact will lead in a better compatibility (when mpeg4 will kick out mpeg2).

General encoding notes:
I have a dvd burner, so i don't care too much about the output size.
To ensure compatibility ( i hope ), i use the DivX HT profile.
This gives a maximum bitrate of 4000 and restrict other internal parameters to guarantee smooth playing on standalone.
Using profiles have the result that quality based mode can't be used.
1-pass mode is a total crap, so i'm doing a 2-pass encode with bitrate=4000 (2 hours movies can be fitted with no problems on a dvd, for movies of 2h.30m+ i'm checking quality with a comp. test and i'm encoding in 2-pass to fit the dvd).
In the spirit of "don't care about final size", i'm experimenting on 2-pass using a final size that is 90% (80% and so on) of the maximum size (quant=2). This is quite similar to do a qb encode (but the stream generated will play on my standalone due the the profile enabled).


There are no features request from me ^^, but perhaps sharing experiences on standalones will help you to decide how your app could evolve, len0x.

Cheers
jonny

[len0x]

Originally posted by jonny

To get *exactly* the same picture on my 16:9 tv (so i'm comparing the original dvd with the encoded Avi), i must keep witdh=720 and i must do only cropping (so *NO* resizing).
This gives me exactly the same dvd picture (so perfect aspect ratio and same not visible portions due to overscanning).

Meaning your player can't stretch the picture at all?
Too bad... Mine doesn't have any probs with any input AR.

[len0x]

quality based encoding is there. But divx and xvid are really different in that mode: xvid generates much large files at the same percentage due to quantizer limitation I'm doing...

[r6d2]

Originally posted by len0x
quality based encoding is there. But divx and xvid are really different in that mode: xvid generates much large files at the same percentage due to quantizer limitation I'm doing...

Thanks, len0x. Trying it right now to find the right value to get quant 4.5 in DivX. BTW, is it safe to assume that the value gotten for 1 movie will give the same quant for other movies?

[manono]

Hi-

I guess you know this already, but unless the movie is pretty noisy and old, Quant 4.5 is going to give you pretty lousy quality. The quants aren't the same as the quants for MPEG2. If it's a nice clean newer movie, you might be better off aiming for around quant 3 or so. For a newer movie, an average of 4.5 will give lots of blocks in action scenes.

[len0x]

Originally posted by r6d2
Thanks, len0x. Trying it right now to find the right value to get quant 4.5 in DivX.

you don't want to do that as it is equivalent of ~44% of quality...
the formula is for divx is quant=200/percentage

Originally posted by r6d2

BTW, is it safe to assume that the value gotten for 1 movie will give the same quant for other movies?

yes, it is.

[len0x]

XviD is definitely using formula which depends on min/max quantizer. Can somebody recall exactly how? Coz at the moment I have max quant 3 which limits the lower limit to 66%. I guess I have to change that and only "Maximum quality" mode will be using max quant 3, quality based will be using - 31? (or maybe 16?).

Also maximum quality mode is not using b-frames, as doesn't quality based mode. I wonder if bframes should be used there...

[r6d2]

Originally posted by manono
I guess you know this already, but unless the movie is pretty noisy and old, Quant 4.5 is going to give you pretty lousy quality.

Actually I didn't know . I think I read somewhere that 4.5 was a good value. In fact, I did some tests with SPR and it is surprising, but 50% gives quant 4 as per len0x formula and I don't see any macroblocks. Still size reduction was about 50%.

I'll try some more movies.

[QuietlyGoin]

Ok, I am not exactly a newbie, I gave up on backups over a year ago after encoding 10 movies, 100 different ways. When the best programs needed 97 different inputs from you every couple hours and still took a day and a half to get a decent copy. I didn't have the time and didn't like tying up my system resources, and to be honest the copies weren't that great anyway. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across AutoGK .50 and it fits my schedule, and my system resources and delivers a good quality copy with near zero input. Bravo len0x!!!

The only frustration I had was with Doom9. I was having the same avisyth crop error 2 days before everyone else and couldn't post it to get any help. I was also having the output file size error after going to .65, .67 and .68, found a different thread and manually reinstalled VDubMod 1.5.4.1, it worked but I couldn't post because I was a member for less than 5 days! aarggh! On the bright side, since I couldn't post, I got pretty good at the forum search and read about 700 posts in the last 2 weeks. Most questions I had were covered, and before you say it, duh, yes I realize that is why Doom9 wouldn't let me post yet. Ok, you got both problems squared away and it is working great and now I can actually post so I am happy.

Back to AutoGK, I am stationed about 18,000 miles away from my wife, and more importantly, our DVD collection.(don't tell Teri that) With AutoGK, she has been able to encode my favorite DVDs simply, and with DSL she can send the files to me in a pretty short amount of time. I have also been buying some movies here, and backing them up before sending her the originals to put in the cabinet at home. Probably not the "need for backups" scenario that you had in mind when you created AutoGK, but it couldn't have fit my situation any better. Thank you len0x. Haven't installed beta .72 yet, going to try a movie with it tonight.

I am solely encoding in XVid because I have removed the divx "free software" and do not want GAIN annoying me while I am surfing the net, or chatting with my wife or family. Hence the Divx codec doesn't work for me. Your thread and a few others compare XVid to Divx and most agree that XVid does a faster encode with a better quality video anyway. Even with the larger file size, oh well it is $.75 instead of $.50 worth of CDs to get the best backup. Since I use my computer as my entertainment center here and I have more video players installed than I can count(WMP9, MSI DVD, Power DVD, ATI MMC, ATI DVD, interactual player,..., and since we own all the DVDs and she can watch them at home, I have no real stand-alone issues. If I wanted stand-alone, I would buy a DVD burner and actually burn backup DVDs with menus and everything that goes with it. If, like so many posts on this thread suggest, AutoGK needs this or that or the other, don't do it len0x. If you want a "perfect copy" go the other direction and burn DVDs not CDs. You will be happier after more 8X burners come out. Prices on the 2X and 4X burners should drop significantly then for all of us cheapskates(), maybe I will even get one, but not likely. AutoGK works for me.

Thanks again len0x, it gets better with every beta.