Any further development for WMNicEnc?

[mrcorbo]

I've been preparing to set up a media server in anticipation of getting an Xbox 360 and using it's MCE capabilities to access it. So I'm going to encode all my DVDs and HD .ts's to WMV. The Windows Media Encoder 9 has always been flaky for me, though(ATM I can't get it to handle multichannel audio input). So, as in the past I've turned to Nic's encoder which works great, but was left in a slightly unfinished state. The most needed added feature would be a way to save the settings, preferably holding the settings from the previous session. The only other thing that could be added is a way to alter the registry settings for WM9 Advanced Profile, which I think even the new x64 encoder can't do, but this is more of a wishlist item than a badly needed feature.

Anyway, the encoder itself and the source code can be found on this page:

http://nic.dnsalias.com/wm9enc.html

If anybody wants to put the finishing touches on an already nearly perfect work it would be much appreciated.

And while I'm at it many thanks to Nic for all the projects he's had a hand in that I have been able to put to use, most notably WMNicEnc and QuEnc.

[zambelli]

I've been preparing to set up a media server in anticipation of getting an Xbox 360 and using it's MCE capabilities to access it. So I'm going to encode all my DVDs and HD .ts's to WMV. The Windows Media Encoder 9 has always been flaky for me, though(ATM I can't get it to handle multichannel audio input). So, as in the past I've turned to Nic's encoder which works great, but was left in a slightly unfinished state. The most needed added feature would be a way to save the settings, preferably holding the settings from the previous session. The only other thing that could be added is a way to alter the registry settings for WM9 Advanced Profile, which I think even the new x64 encoder can't do, but this is more of a wishlist item than a badly needed feature.

Is there anything in particular that you need that the wmcmd.vbs script can't handle too?

[guada 2]

WMNicEnc, has been stopped.
Quenc 0.62 is still at the experimental stage.

I believe that it will be necessary to wait....

[mrcorbo]

Is there anything in particular that you need that the wmcmd.vbs script can't handle too?

I never tried it until you mentioned it. After reading your post I tried several different methods to get this to work starting with the Windows Media Batch Encoder GUI which would load the avs and begin encoding, but starting generating an infinite number of error dialogs stating that there was an overflow when trying to calculate the completion percentage, but it actually did encode to the WMV while it was doing this. Trying MakeAVIS to turn it into an avi resulted in a trying to write to protected memory error. Creating a *.grf file of first the .avs script and then one of the original .vobs recreated the Classfactory cannot supply the requested class error I was getting in WME. Trying to create a .bat file to run the wmcmd.vbs script gives me an interface not supported error (which I also occasionally got in WME while trying to get this to work).

So basically the answer to your question is I'd like it to work. :confused:

I'm pretty sure the problem is that my encoding PC is my only pc and therefore has lots of codecs installed on it for media playback. Somewhere WME is getting comfused. Frustrating, because I can render the files I want to convert multiple ways in graphedit with no problem by just rendering the files. It'll generate a valid graph no problem.

[zambelli]

MrCorbo, you might be overcomplicating. :)

The only known issue with wmcmd.vbs is that it needs to be slightly modified to accept AVS input. The mod is discussed in http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=65637&highlight=wme9avs.vbs. However, to save you some time, just download the modified WME9AVS.vbs script from http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/tools.

If you'd rather use the WME GUI app, you can still use avisynth input, but make sure you specify "Both device and file" as input and then browse to file.

[mrcorbo]

Ah we have a winner! Believe it or not I actually examined the source code for the GUI based batch encoder and looked for the procedure that was being reported in the error message and found the same thing. I was going to just stick a value in there in place of the call requesting the file duration to try and fix it, but I figured if I was going to start tinkering with source code I may as well just change the default values coded into WMNicEnc :D. Course you saved me the trouble. Thanks!

Oh yeah and regarding the problems I have with the WME9. I did try selecting device and file. Setting the video to the .avs worked fine. Setting the audio, no good. Any way I tried to get the AC3 audio into WME short of making 6 mono wavs (which I wasn't going to do since I had a better solution in WMNicENc) failed including .grf files that like I said when I would try to render the ending pin (tried 3 different audio decoders, too) would work fine in graphedit. When I upgrade to dual-core I will probably set up an X86-64 install grab the new encoder and just keep it bare-bones as far as codecs go to try to avoid these kinds of problems in the future. I just wish the encoder wasn't so damn flaky.

[zambelli]

Oh yeah and regarding the problems I have with the WME9. I did try selecting device and file. Setting the video to the .avs worked fine. Setting the audio, no good. Any way I tried to get the AC3 audio into WME short of making 6 mono wavs (which I wasn't going to do since I had a better solution in WMNicENc) failed including .grf files that like I said when I would try to render the ending pin (tried 3 different audio decoders, too) would work fine in graphedit.
Encoding AC3 to 2-ch WMA should work fine directly from AC3, as long as a proper DShow filter is installed. If it's not working, I suspect the problem is in the AC3 decoder.
If you're trying to encode AC3 to 6-ch WMA - that's just not going to work directly. You must encode either from 6-ch AVI or 6 mono WAV files. It's just the way the WM encoder works.

[Nic]

Hmmm, Might be nice to finish it off. If I get chance over christmas i'll add those bits you mentioned.

"The only other thing that could be added is a way to alter the registry settings for WM9 Advanced Profile"
I don't know what registry settings you are referring to. I'll do a search, but if anyone has a link that'd make my life easier :)

Cheers,
-Nic

[zambelli]

"The only other thing that could be added is a way to alter the registry settings for WM9 Advanced Profile"
I don't know what registry settings you are referring to. I'll do a search, but if anyone has a link that'd make my life easier :)
These are the WMVA registry keys:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/codecadvancedsettings.aspx

However, keep in mind that VC1 development will expand this set, so you might want to wait for the next VC1 release (or at least plan an update).

[acidsex]

And how do you set them under x64? I didnt see the scrunch directory in the registry. Can you confirm this or advise on where to locate it?

[mrcorbo]

If you're trying to encode AC3 to 6-ch WMA - that's just not going to work directly. You must encode either from 6-ch AVI or 6 mono WAV files. It's just the way the WM encoder works.

Actually it DOES work. I've done it. There's a thread over at the AVS forum that describes in detail which filters you need and how to configure them. As I said, the problem is that inevitably something causes WME9 to break. This is the 2nd XP install I have had where this went from working to non-working.

And the .avs script I am using gives me multichannel WMA out of WMNicEnc and your patched script with no problems.

[zambelli]

And how do you set them under x64? I didnt see the scrunch directory in the registry. Can you confirm this or advise on where to locate it?
Same registry location should work in x64.

[zambelli]

Actually it DOES work. I've done it. There's a thread over at the AVS forum that describes in detail which filters you need and how to configure them. As I said, the problem is that inevitably something causes WME9 to break. This is the 2nd XP install I have had where this went from working to non-working.
And the .avs script I am using gives me multichannel WMA out of WMNicEnc and your patched script with no problems.
That's good news, I'm glad it's working. If Nic has the time to implement the fixes, it would be nice to see a new version of his encoder frontend.

[mrcorbo]

That's good news, I'm glad it's working. If Nic has the time to implement the fixes, it would be nice to see a new version of his encoder frontend.

I appreciate your input, it helped a lot.

Hmmm, Might be nice to finish it off. If I get chance over christmas i'll add those bits you mentioned.

Cool. I love the simplicity of it. It just works. The last time I was serious about WM9 encoding was before you had adapted the Filmshrink audio plugins so I had to do the audio seperately in WME and combine the streams in stream editor. Now, with nicaudio.dll I have been able to do the full encode in one shot, a big improvement.