MeGUI: General Questions and Troubleshooting Thread

[Inspector.Gadget]

Deblocking is one of the most useful, most visually powerful features in x264. Disabling it is a fool's errand and often won't net you a great decrease in encoding time because deblocking is turned on and off at the decoder level as well.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Like I said in a previous post, I can't find the option to set the fps in AVI Mux GUI

Thanks

You SHOULDN'T NEED TO. If AMG (USED MANUALLY, WITHOUT USING MEGUI AT ALL) can't detect the FPS from the input, then either xvid_encraw is breaking the AVI header or AMG has a bug.

[rapscallion]

Deblocking is one of the most useful, most visually powerful features in x264. Disabling it is a fool's errand and often won't net you a great decrease in encoding time because deblocking is turned on and off at the decoder level as well.
Thanks again Mr Gadget. No, I don't intend disabling it. However for quite some time , month's ago, it was disabled. (AVCHD preset).

When I caught it, it seemned like the 2 pass processing took longer. Where a 2hr movie used to take ~3 hr 1st pass, now takes ~4 hr. 2nd Pass 7 hr> 8hr. The only change I made was enabling the deblock . This is on ver 1051.

I've pulled some of the earlier avchd's and watched them again on my SA BD player and I don't see any problems with the vid. And, I didn't remember any problems/artifacts when I originally watched others.

I'd like to upgrade Megui to a newer ver but don't have a clue what kind of presets to use for either standalone bluray or standalone avchd.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Have you checked with MediaInfo to make sure that deblocking is actually off in the encoded files? If not, it's yet another MeGUI bug. If so, then it's a bug in the presets.

MeGUI's presets are generally outdated in view of the new tuning system. Simply preserve the limitations for hardware compatibility and set everything else to your preference.

[rapscallion]

I hate to admit it but I never knew that MI had that info.
I will check for sure.

If it was off during those encodes what should I look for as far as artfacts, etc ?Thanks

[Inspector.Gadget]

At high enough bitrates, nothing. At lower bitrates, blocking.

[rapscallion]

Ok then, I guess I had high enough bitrates on those encodes so that I didn't see any blocking.
I normally encode an avchd @ 1280*720 and burn to DVD-9

I looked at a current encode, with deblocking enabled, @ 0/0 and MI shows deblock=1:0:0

An earlier encode, with it disabled, shows deblock=0:0:0 So, I'm assuming that there was no deblocking ?

[Inspector.Gadget]

0:0:0 is disabled. 1:0:0 is on (default). Even at high bitrates, turning off deblocking harms picture quality by sucking up bits otherwise allocated elsewhere (I believe).

[rapscallion]

Thanks again ! (I'm , of course ,leaving it on all the time now)...the end -:)

[rapscallion]

Maybe a stupid question, but I am curious.

If I encode an mkv with deblocking set to , let's say :-3:-3 and then mux to a m2ts and re encode via Megui , with deblocking disabled, will the resulting video have the deblocking from the first encode carry over, after I remux it ?

[Inspector.Gadget]

The deblocking is a codec feature, not a pre-pass algorithm. It works internally within x264 to improve quality rather than making a deblocking pass to blur or discard edge data before compression. So no, it won't be "preserved" by re-encoding: the decoder will apply deblocking before the data is fed to the second encoder. Remuxing won't affect it, though.

Also, according to x264 devs, -3:-3 is really overkill: not even --tune grain goes that far.

[rapscallion]

Thanks again ! :thanks:

The (-3) was just an example. I don't/wouldn't ever use that.

The more I learn about this, the more I realize how little I know.
So, I really appreciate your, and others, informative responses.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Since so many people are complaining about broken versions and incompatibility, here's what I know for certain to work:

Core 1056, Libs 1056, Data 1053, AVS Wrapper 1056, STx264 85, TXviD 10, AVS 01, Tx264 01. Everything else shouldn't break compatibility unless there's an API change; I've dropped in the latest x264 builds from x264.nl and had no problems. I'm not yet manually using weightp, but the problems there seem to be only with a select few decoders and anyway are unrelated to MeGUI itself.

[mozzle]

Since so many people are complaining about broken versions and incompatibility, here's what I know for certain to work:

Core 1056, Libs 1056, Data 1053, AVS Wrapper 1056, STx264 85, TXviD 10, AVS 01, Tx264 01. Everything else shouldn't break compatibility unless there's an API change; I've dropped in the latest x264 builds from x264.nl and had no problems. I'm not yet manually using weightp, but the problems there seem to be only with a select few decoders and anyway are unrelated to MeGUI itself.

Thanks for the info, Gadget. I hope Kurtnoise is still around. And I especially hope Sharktooth is doing well. I know he's had some health issues in the past. Best to all three of you!

-mozzle

[LigH]

@LigH

could you try the deinterlace test from hdc ? is mutuated from berrinam tool too .. but should be a little less aggressive

thanks

BHH

Sorry for the late reply, I was kept from returning home for a while.

Your analysis appears to be better (but especially the 2nd pass is a lot slower, half playback speed for my machine - AM2 3800+).

Source is declared tff by a margin of 690/41.
Analyzed 1757 sections of five frames
Found Interlace Sections: 1184 67.39%
Found progressive Sections:482 27.43%
Found Telecined Sections: 91 5.18%
Found Zero Mov: 27.43% 482
Found One Mov: 7.63% 134
Found Two Mov: 5.18% 91
Found Three Mov: 9.73% 171
Found Four Mov: 7.17% 126
Found Five Comb: 42.86% 753

The Movie is declared to interlaced


I agree to this result.

[Rodger]

I strongly advise everybody to use Jeeb´s Rev.1336 of x264 with Megui as I had issues with one of my players.

Pioneer BDP-LX52 didn´t play anything created with Jeeb´x Rev.1309 but again everything with the new Rev.

Seems there was something wrong with Megui builds for quite a while.

[HiTM4N]

Hi,

* I'm using i7 860 P55 Quad Core Hyper-Threading CPU, My Question is in meGUI config option in thread to what number I should set for Xvid encoding? as i7 860 is HT CPU?

I have heard that leave it to "0" it will be auto, but i can't get to "0" it get change back to "1".

* And also for x264, how to set it?

I have tried to search all over the net but couldn't find solution to my question.

Regards

[szabi]

No, I wouldn't recommend using old x264

I understood you, propable the newer can be better.
I wrote if someone prefer using the profiles in that case.
Anyway your encoding time increasing.

Otherwise I did a test for comparing the encoding time.

1.
Dvd PAL mpg2 encoding to mkv by x264 using the "unrestricted 2pass HQ" profile
used avs script:
crop( 0, 76, -4, -76)
LanczosResize(704,288)

megui.v1056 x264r1183 => 00:16:51
megui.v1056 x264r1309 => 00:21:45
megui.v1057 x264r1339 => 00:23:09

2.
Same dvd PAL mpg2 encoding to mp4 by x264 using the "Device Cellphones_PDAs-Level1.3" profile
used avs script:
crop( 0, 76, -4, -76)
LanczosResize(320,128)

megui.v1056 x264r1183 => 00:07:50
megui.v1056 x264r1309 => 00:08:23
megui.v1057 x264r1339 => 00:08:36

3.
I did not have any HD rip now, so I used uncompressed ingame video recorded by fraps. Info:1680x1050@25fps.
x264 "DXVA HD HQ" profile
used avs script:
Trim(18,3570)
ConvertToYV12()

megui.v1056 x264r1183 => 00:14:53
megui.v1056 x264r1309 => 00:21:54
megui.v1057 x264r1339 => 00:22:22

You see encoding time increasing if I use newer and newer x264 with old profile collection.
Especially the last high resolution encoding. Time almost duplicated.
Also there can be a little difference between megui 1056 and 1057.
But it is also possible the newer x264 can be slower. Is not it?

bye
szabi

[Dark Shikari]

That's because the defaults in x264 changed, so the same commandline won't necessarily do the same thing in both cases.

[XhmikosR]

It's the new features of x264 that are enabled by default, like mb-tree and weightp, that slow down the encoding. But you do gain in quality. Try using the newest x264 and use --no-mbtree and --weightp 0 in the cmd and see what speeds you'll get.

[szabi]

I am not familiar the correct settings of x264 especially the cmd usage.
That is why I am using these profiles.

The STx264v85 profile collection in megui was created for x264r1181.
It looks like outdated, but I do not have better way how to set up newer x264.


EDIT: I mean these profiles. click (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1162196#post1162196)

bye
szabi

[HiTM4N]

can I get help here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1344041#post1344041

Thanks in Advance

[Carpo]

to get around the profiles issue - untick 1057 and Tx264 - as its these two files that mess things up

[szabi]

I am using megui 1057 without any profile problem.
Install and update megui but excluding profile update.
Use these profiles (http://www.mediafire.com/?udmmwzn2nyi) modified by ncatt (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1338462#post1338462).
Incompability was fixed and it is working just little bit outdated.

bye
szabi

[Carpo]

when i tried it 1057 borked every thing, if i left that off the list everything worked fine :)

[szabi]

It's the new features of x264 that are enabled by default, like mb-tree and weightp, that slow down the encoding. But you do gain in quality. Try using the newest x264 and use --no-mbtree and --weightp 0 in the cmd and see what speeds you'll get.

I tried it, but no major difference in encoding time.

my setting:
x264.exe" --profile high --level 4.1 --preset slow --pass 2 --bitrate 11702 --stats "F:\x.stats" --thread-input --deblock -1:-1 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 50000 --vbv-maxrate 50000 --subme 7 --sar 1:1 --output "F:\x.mkv" "F:\x.avs"

"my settings": 00:39:24
"no-weightb": 00:36:19
"no-mbtree": 00:36:14
"no-weightb" "no-mbtree": 00:36:09


Unfortunately I run into an annyoing problem.
If I use DXVA HD HQ profile with new megui and x264 the parameters not going to x264 correctly.

This parameters should be sent to x264, from DXVA HD HQ profile :
program --profile high --level 4.1 --preset fast --pass 2 --bitrate 11702 --stats ".stats" --thread-input --deblock -1:-1 --ref 4 --vbv-bufsize 50000 --vbv-maxrate 50000 --me umh --direct auto --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --trellis 2 --output "output" "input"

and it is which really sent:
program --profile high --level 4.1 --preset fast --pass 2 --bitrate 11702 --stats ".stats" --thread-input --vbv-bufsize 50000 --vbv-maxrate 50000 --output "output" "input"

Does anyone else meet this?

bye
szabi

[XhmikosR]

I don't see anywhere in your command line to disable mb-tree and weightp, so of course the speed will be the same since they are enabled by default. Take a look here (http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings) to see a few info regarding x264's settings. That's just for testing the speed, you are advised to keep those features enabled since they improve the quality.
As for the other issue, just stop using MeGUI until it gets fixed.

[szabi]

I usually use them both.
After my setting was changed by no-weightb there was 3 minutes drop. Also if no-mbtree was used almost same 3 minutes drop for my settings.
If I disabled both the gain reamin 3 minutes, not 6 as I expected.

EDIT: Ok, I did not copy-paste the entire commandline when I changed it. Only the modification switch to compare the encoding time.

by
szabi

[XhmikosR]

No one said that the speed gain would be proportional to the number of the default settings disabled. Anyway, use a faster preset then, or try to see which settings where exactly used by that old x264 version and try to use them.

[rapscallion]

to get around the profiles issue - untick 1057 and Tx264 - as its these two files that mess things up
*Do you mean 1057 core only, or data and libs as well ?

Also, should I be using the profiles via the update or the ones by ncatt (post #5025, above)
for best results via SA AVCHD and SA Bluray??

In other words, which profile is compatible w/ x264 1309? (v 1056 core)

Edit : *I since have unticked all 3

Edit#2: When installing 1056 the speed preset bar defaults to "fast" when the Wiki pg states "medium" is the default. Which one should I use ?

[rudiev]

On page 251 from this thread i read that people are using megui v1057, but at the download page, http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui, you only can download v1056 and i also read about x264.exe v R1339, where can i download this new version? If i use the auto updater it says that everything is updated, but i still have megui v1056 with x264.exe v R1183 Jeeb's patched build.

[OroSaiwa]

@rudiev You might wanna switch update servers to development if you want built 1057

[rudiev]

@rudiev You might wanna switch update servers to development if you want built 1057

I haven't thought off this that it is a development version. Changed it and there are updates for me. But I prefer to stay at the tested stable version or can you, and others, recommend this newer version?

:thanks: for the tip :)

[rapscallion]

Since so many people are complaining about broken versions and incompatibility, here's what I know for certain to work:

Core 1056, Libs 1056, Data 1053, AVS Wrapper 1056, STx264 85, TXviD 10, AVS 01, Tx264 01. Everything else shouldn't break compatibility unless there's an API change; .

When I try to update 1056, via Development, I see the following vers :

Core -OK
libs- existing 1051, latest 1057
Data-existing 1051, latest 1057
AVS wrapper-existing 1006, latest 1006

What ver of x264 do you have along w/this list, 1309?

[Inspector.Gadget]

Latest from x264.nl. I don't update from MeGUI 1056, at all. I simply don't use autoupdate.

[rapscallion]

Thanks....but, for people like me that depend on presets, that's a little too advanced.

I'm kind of in a quandry, with 1056 and x264 v1183, what are the valid prests to be using?
The ones that are installed during 1056 setup or the ncatt ones ?

[Inspector.Gadget]

Don't use MeGUI presets at all, they are outdated. Use x264's built-in presets and profiles, subject to limitations for non-PC devices, until the profiles are updated.

[rapscallion]

Then it may be back to 1051 for me because I only us non PC devices.

What about the presets mentioned in this post, they're dated 10/27/09 :

I am using megui 1057 without any profile problem.
Install and update megui but excluding profile update.
Use these profiles (http://www.mediafire.com/?udmmwzn2nyi) modified by ncatt (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1338462#post1338462).
Incompability was fixed and it is working just little bit outdated.

bye
szabi

Something has to be entered in the "encoder settings" box on the Megui main page ?
So, I don't quite understand how to use 264's "built in" presets and profiles.(and believe me, I searched)

[Inspector.Gadget]

Just use the options that are --tune whatever and --preset whateverelse. They're in the rev. 1056 config panel. You can enforce on that same page a profile and a level per your device's specs. If you require advanced settings, they're still there and will be exposed when you check the appropriate box right in the middle of the panel. If you load an old preset, and THEN check the advanced settings box, all the old defaults will still be applied to the command line (but you may now want to use MB-Tree, etc., whereas they weren't available before).

[rudiev]

Something has to be entered in the "encoder settings" box on the Megui main page ?
So, I don't quite understand how to use 264's "built in" presets and profiles.(and believe me, I searched)
Normally the 'encoder settings' come with a drop down box with a lot of presets. The presets should be saved in the directory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\megui\allprofiles' , where i have 13 subdirectories containing .xml files which are the presets. The presets are for audio and video. For video i have two subdirectories called 'x264' and 'XviD', these two directories contains lots of .xml files with encoding presets. These presets can i choose in the 'encoder settings' drop down box. I have attached a picture of this, but it can take some time before it's approved.
Can you check that you have these presets? In your megui installation directory, subdirectory 'allprofiles' with again subdirectories containing these .xml files.

These profile also should be updated, check the updater under 'profile collection'. STx264 should be version 85, STAudio version 16, TXviD version 10 and AVS version 01. At least this is megui showing on my pc(megui version 1056).

[rapscallion]

Thanks rudiev, I know all that, but other posters are saying those presets/profiles are out of date (see Inspector Gadget's post above my previous-#5038). He's saying to use x264's built in profiles/presets. Thus, my question re the main pg.

[rudiev]

Thanks rudiev, I know all that, but other posters are saying those presets/profiles are out of date (see Inspector Gadget's post above my previous-#5038). He's saying to use x264's built in profiles/presets. Thus, my question re the main pg.

Yeah, x264.exe have build-in profile. Run 'x264.exe --longhelp' to see all option and profiles. Also if you download the newest x264.exe (eg from x264.nl), this version has again updated profiles. I think that is what he meant.

Ow, in the newer version of x264.exe it's 'x264.exe --fullhelp'.

[rapscallion]

The more answers I get, the more confused I become. How does that affect the "encoder settings" box on Megui main pg ? And, the ST x264...where does that come from. Megui or x264?

And where do the ncatt profiles fit in ? My head really hurts now !

All I want to do is run 1056 w/r1183 and good/valid sa_avchd/sa_bluray presets.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Then use the old MeGUI profiles (what you have now), check the advanced settings box in the config window to get those options applied, and optionally apply MB-Tree by enabling it in MeGUI. You won't get the advantage of x264 developer-tuned settings, but you'll get known hardware compliance and you can always change the options not relevant to hardware compatibility to conform to the x264 presets and tunings if you wish.

[szabi]

Profile collection which coming with update was created in this topic: New MeGUI x264 presets (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1162196#post1162196) creator is Sharktooth.
Last version is v85. It is called STx264 on update list.

But these profiles were not modified for new x264.
That is why it is outdated.

In addition I wrote in previous page the settings from profile are not sent correctly to x264.

I chose DXVA HD HQ profile, sent calculated bitrate and start encoding.
When I checked the logfile encoding parameters was not from the profile, instead of that the encoder was running with in-built fast preset.
It is quite far from HQ profile settings.

Also I saw the ncatt modified profiles have same name as Sharktooth profiles but have different settings.

It is I have realized into so far.

EDIT:
Then use the old MeGUI profiles (what you have now), check the advanced settings box in the config window to get those options applied, and optionally apply MB-Tree by enabling it in MeGUI.

You are right, if you select advanced setting the parameters will be from profiles instead of preset.

bye
szabi

[rapscallion]

@IG and @szabi...Thank you, those were the answers I was looking for.

(btw, the Sharktooth profiles are what I've been using all along, since May, in ver 10XX>1051 )
Am still using 1051 until I was able to figure out the settings in 1056.

[szabi]

I also used Sharktooh profile collection so far until incompatibily with megui 1057.
In your picture I see you prefer using insane profile.
Did you check the logfile x264 really running with this settings or just fast preset?

[rapscallion]

Not my picture....another poster, rudiev.

[szabi]

Sorry for my mistake.

[mallb]

Which x264 version is compatible with MeGUI 1056 and STx264 v85 profiles? I'm using "1309 - Jeeb's patched build".