WMNicEnc Update (VC-1 Support) - Page 4

zambelli · 25th September 2006, 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romeo_by

Hi guys, does anybody can explain it or comment: "Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition Beta 1 supports only the WMV9 Advanced Profile codec. Note that this is a different codec than the WMV9 Advanced Profile codec that shipped with the Windows Media Format SDK 9.5. Specifically, the Studio Edition version uses the WVC1 FourCC code instead of WMVA, and requires a newer version of the decoder." It is written here : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...usingsehd.aspx

It's more or less explained here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=112634
and here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...#CodecVersions

Romeo_by · 26th September 2006, 08:59

As far as I understood that from MS link the newest version of the codec and it's features is only avaliable under 2k3 and WMF 11 SDK or WME SE Beta. Am I right?

HookedOnTV · 26th September 2006, 16:58

What effect should changing the "Quality" setting in the "Video Options" area have? I'm trying to increase encoding speed. I've tried encodes at 100, 90 and 50 and they all took the same amount of time.

zambelli · 26th September 2006, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romeo_by

As far as I understood that from MS link the newest version of the codec and it's features is only avaliable under 2k3 and WMF 11 SDK or WME SE Beta. Am I right?

Correct. The newest version of the codec is currently only available for XP, Vista and W2K3.

zambelli · 26th September 2006, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by HookedOnTV

What effect should changing the "Quality" setting in the "Video Options" area have? I'm trying to increase encoding speed. I've tried encodes at 100, 90 and 50 and they all took the same amount of time.

Quality setting is valid only in CBR modes and 1-pass VBR mode. It's irrelevant in 2-pass VBR mode.
In 1-pass VBR mode it sets the constant quality of the video, which affects the overall compression ratio. In more technical terms, it sets the QP (picture quantizer) for the video.
In CBR modes, Quality is also known as "Video Smoothness", and it controls whether the encoder will drop frames in order to meet the quality bar for each frame at a given bitrate (more important for streaming than for offline encoding). The default setting typically works for all content, but if you get dropped frames, you can try lowering the value.

A complexity level setting exists for WMV codecs which controls the speed/quality ratio, but I don't think Nic has it implemented.

Nic · 26th September 2006, 22:02

Quote:

A complexity level setting exists for WMV codecs which controls the speed/quality ratio, but I don't think Nic has it implemented.

It is implemented under the Advanced Options dialog. It's the last option marked "Minimum/Maximum complexity".

-Nic

zambelli · 26th September 2006, 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic

It is implemented under the Advanced Options dialog. It's the last option marked "Minimum/Maximum complexity".

Oh, sorry, I forgot you did add it.

@HookedOnTV: The default value is 3. Increasing to 4 should give you a decent quality boost, but will be about 80% slower. Complexity 5 will be even slower - and I personally don't think it's worth the extra time.

HookedOnTV · 27th September 2006, 03:32

So to increase speed I should lower to maybe 2? I'm comparing between using this and x264 w/MeGUI. So far this takes about 3 times as long. I'm having a hard time believing VC-1 should take this long. I must be doing something wrong.

Nic · 4th October 2006, 12:17

sh0dan sent me a patch to make WMNicEnc's options easier to use (the comboboxes don't just list obscure numbers that you have to look up now).

I applied and uploaded to: http://nic.dnsalias.com

No other changes (unless I broke something)

-Nic

Pookie · 5th October 2006, 06:39

Nic - No message, just posting appreciation for your great apps. Respect.

zambelli · 5th October 2006, 10:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic

sh0dan sent me a patch to make WMNicEnc's options easier to use (the comboboxes don't just list obscure numbers that you have to look up now).

I applied and uploaded to: http://nic.dnsalias.com

Nice work, Sh0dan!

Some comments.

"Video Type" should actually be "VideoType". The online documentation is wrong and will hopefully be corrected soon.

The values for "VideoType" should be as follows:

Default
Progressive
Frame Interlaced
Field Interlaced
Auto Frame/Field Interlaced
Auto Frame Interlaced/Field Interlaced/Progressive

The setting is only valid if interlaced encoding has been enabled on the codec via IPropertyBag. Nic hasn't actually enabled this in the encoder yet, so until that's done - VideoType will not really work properly in WMNicEnc.

Let's say interlaced encoding support was implemented... Here's how it would work. "Default" would default to Progressive for progressive, and to Field Interlaced for interlaced video encoding. When "VideoType" is set, it affects how images are encoded in the video. In all cases source is assumed to be frame-based video. Frame Interlaced will encode each input frame as one interlaced frame. Field Interlaced option will encode each input frame as a pair of fields. This doesn't imply bobbed playback. It merely means that each frame is stored as two fields, rather than a single frame. The two auto modes try to pick the most efficient method for compressing each input frame. VideoType=4 is best suited for mixed mode content.

One more comment...

Encoder complexity range is not hard-coded. It's based on a max value retrieved from the codec property bag. So defining a descriptive value for 0-5 is probably the wrong way to go about it. A better way might be to describe 0 as "fastest" and MAX as "slowest" - and everything inbetween the user can figure out.

affter333 · 12th October 2006, 18:47

HI:

Really need better and detailed explanations on those
profile parameters.

for example: force overlap, what does it do? Some kind
of temporal smoothing?

And what are those default values of the default settings? are they on or off ? 1 or 0 ?

thanks ..

leiming2006 · 22nd October 2006, 05:26

WMV9
Tick "VBR" and then select "constrained" or "unconstrained". "VBR Quality" affect nothing?

And in mutipass, tick VBR and select "constrained" or "unconstrained". It output "part, part and part" video.

Is there anything I have set wrong? Who can tell me how can I use the VBR "constrained" and "unconstrained"?
Thanks

tominator · 28th October 2006, 01:21

I just started learning about WMNicEnc and havn't had time to try it as much as I want yet. I do have some quick questions though:

From what Ive understood it does not have support for creating files with support for multiple video streams. Might that be a function we can expect any time soon?

Is there a way to queue jobs? If not, may that be a function to expect?

Are there any plans for making it able to load seperate audio and video sources?

Thanks.

dohcmark8 · 6th November 2006, 00:42

Thanks for the great update. I tried it out for VC-1 encoding and its nice.

Although, any plans to include a status bar with remaining time and current fps?

affter333 · 12th November 2006, 00:59

Can it open AVIs ? not just avs.

sjchmura · 21st November 2006, 14:20

SO the default AP settings = according to the MS documents linked above - activate most if not all of the highest quality setting settings - correct? So is there any other option to choose other than "Compression Optimization type" is set to optimal. So only of we disable this do the other settings actually matter - correct?

Isochroma · 5th December 2006, 23:02

First, I'd like to thank Nic for this wonderful tool! I'm using it to make WMV2 encodes of HD videos.

I've some suggestions for new features in the next version, here they are:

1. Settings - no profiles needed, but it would be nice to store the last used encode settings in an .ini or regkey.

2. Priority - Low/Med/High, etc.
3. FPS indicator for encode rate
4. ETA calculation
5. Pause/Resume button

zambelli · 6th December 2006, 07:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjchmura

SO the default AP settings = according to the MS documents linked above - activate most if not all of the highest quality setting settings - correct? So is there any other option to choose other than "Compression Optimization type" is set to optimal. So only of we disable this do the other settings actually matter - correct?

Sorry I missed this earlier.
All settings included in the "Compression Optimization Type = 1" preset can be overridden by explicitly defining them. So you can have CompOpt=1 AND have Motion Match = 1, even though in CompOpt=1 it gets set to -1.

Anyway, "highest quality" is a subjective term. Compression Optimization Type = 1 does offer quality improvements, but it also smooths out some areas of the image due to dquant perceptual optimizations being enabled. If you're looking for more of an archival quality setting, I recommend:

Motion Match = Hadamard
Motion Search Range = Auto
Motion Search Level = True Chroma or Auto True Chroma
LoopFilter = On

zambelli · 6th December 2006, 07:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isochroma

First, I'd like to thank Nic for this wonderful tool! I'm using it to make WMV2 encodes of HD videos.

WMV2? As in "WMV v8"?

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26th September 2006, 08:59	#62 \| Link
Romeo_by Video encoding amateur Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Minsk Posts: 4	As far as I understood that from MS link the newest version of the codec and it's features is only avaliable under 2k3 and WMF 11 SDK or WME SE Beta. Am I right?

26th September 2006, 16:58	#63 \| Link
HookedOnTV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 122	What effect should changing the "Quality" setting in the "Video Options" area have? I'm trying to increase encoding speed. I've tried encodes at 100, 90 and 50 and they all took the same amount of time.

27th September 2006, 03:32	#68 \| Link
HookedOnTV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 122	So to increase speed I should lower to maybe 2? I'm comparing between using this and x264 w/MeGUI. So far this takes about 3 times as long. I'm having a hard time believing VC-1 should take this long. I must be doing something wrong.

4th October 2006, 12:17	#69 \| Link
Nic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 3,285	sh0dan sent me a patch to make WMNicEnc's options easier to use (the comboboxes don't just list obscure numbers that you have to look up now). I applied and uploaded to: http://nic.dnsalias.com No other changes (unless I broke something) -Nic

5th October 2006, 06:39	#70 \| Link
Pookie Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,339	Nic - No message, just posting appreciation for your great apps. Respect.

12th October 2006, 18:47	#72 \| Link
affter333 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 15	HI: Really need better and detailed explanations on those profile parameters. for example: force overlap, what does it do? Some kind of temporal smoothing? And what are those default values of the default settings? are they on or off ? 1 or 0 ? thanks ..

22nd October 2006, 05:26	#73 \| Link
leiming2006 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Shanghai, China Posts: 203	WMV9 Tick "VBR" and then select "constrained" or "unconstrained". "VBR Quality" affect nothing? And in mutipass, tick VBR and select "constrained" or "unconstrained". It output "part, part and part" video. Is there anything I have set wrong? Who can tell me how can I use the VBR "constrained" and "unconstrained"? Thanks

28th October 2006, 01:21	#74 \| Link
tominator Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 194	I just started learning about WMNicEnc and havn't had time to try it as much as I want yet. I do have some quick questions though: From what Ive understood it does not have support for creating files with support for multiple video streams. Might that be a function we can expect any time soon? Is there a way to queue jobs? If not, may that be a function to expect? Are there any plans for making it able to load seperate audio and video sources? Thanks.

6th November 2006, 00:42	#75 \| Link
dohcmark8 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 85	Thanks for the great update. I tried it out for VC-1 encoding and its nice. Although, any plans to include a status bar with remaining time and current fps?

12th November 2006, 00:59	#76 \| Link
affter333 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 15	Can it open AVIs ? not just avs.

21st November 2006, 14:20	#77 \| Link
sjchmura Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 352	SO the default AP settings = according to the MS documents linked above - activate most if not all of the highest quality setting settings - correct? So is there any other option to choose other than "Compression Optimization type" is set to optimal. So only of we disable this do the other settings actually matter - correct?

5th December 2006, 23:02	#78 \| Link
Isochroma Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 468	First, I'd like to thank Nic for this wonderful tool! I'm using it to make WMV2 encodes of HD videos. I've some suggestions for new features in the next version, here they are: 1. Settings - no profiles needed, but it would be nice to store the last used encode settings in an .ini or regkey. 2. Priority - Low/Med/High, etc. 3. FPS indicator for encode rate 4. ETA calculation 5. Pause/Resume button