AutoMKV 0.93a - (DVD/TS/AVI/AVS to X264/XviD/WVC1 into MKV/MP4/WMV) update 30/12/2007

[gonwk]

Hi Buzzqw,

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

I am an AMATUER ... and don't know beans about programming or other heavy duty stuff. I am just point and click user ... For your Info ... version AutoMKV 0.80 was the first time that I actually could do conversion from DVD to AVI with success.

I have few questions/suggestions:

Q1: Under you AVI and XviD choices ... you have different .xmls ... is there a way that it can tell someone like me what is the Quality Rate on those ... like 2000kbps, or 4000kbps ... you something simple and no-brainer.

Q2: Seems the conversion engine is slower than before? Or is it my imagination?

BTW, I LOVE YOUR PROGRAM ... everything contained in one "Neat" little folder instead of being spread all over like some other program(s).

Thanks again,
G!

[glynor]

Sorry again to bring up the Queue, but...

I'm still attempting to rip an episodic DVD using AutoMKV, and (in addition to losing the second audio settings for queued jobs) ripping from within AutoMKV doesn't seem to work at all when you queue the jobs. I've had a number of jobs all fail to work, while using identical settings but not queueing them works fine. I'm not sure if any of my settings are required for this issue to occur, so here's what I'm doing:


Input File: x:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO (selected drive and hit Check DVD Drive button)

Container: MKV
Codec: x264
Profile: Encoding-Highprofile.xml
Audio Track 1: English (AC3 2ch), NeroAAC (Stereo, Q=0.5)
Subtitle Track 1: RIP ALL SUBS
Resize Filters: Lanczos Resize
Set Width: AutoCrop Only
Filters: RemoveGrain(mode=2)
Output File: 250MB

Advanced:
Process this PGC & Process this IFO both checked.

What happens is, for queued jobs, DVD Fab Decrypter never actually launches and rips the DVD. It immediately loads DGINDEX then just stalls and sits there. DGINDEX of course has nothing to process, and so just sits there running.

For me, of course, the big advantage to using the Queue is for episodic DVDs. Ripping these manually is annoying, because you have to start one, let it finish, then remember to come back to the computer and start the next one. Over and over again, just for one disc! For a one-off movie, this isn't a huge deal, but for 7 episodes on a disc, it's really a pain...

Another little annoyance I've encountered is that when ripping from DVD, AutoMKV seems to ignore both the "saved" output folder location (it resets to AutoMKV's installed folder as soon as you hit "Check DVD Drive"), and ignores what you have typed in Movie Name for the purposes of naming the Logfile. The actual output file gets properly named, but the log file seems to always end up called "Click on INPUT for choosing FILE to ENCODE.log".

[buzzqw]

@gonwk

the profiles are based on quality/speed of encoding. There profile are not based on bitrate but the tradeoff between quality and speed

so the XviD_Fastest.xml/XviD_Fast.xml is the fastet and lower quallity
the normal are the good equilibrium for quality and speed
the slow and extra slow if for better quality AND low bitrate
the sap is tuned for Stand Alone Player (divx player)

@glynor
thanks for your test, i must admit that i haven't time now for much testing and debugging (a part little features)... i hope to have more time in next days/weeks :o

BHH

[glynor]

@glynor
thanks for your test, i must admit that i haven't time now for much testing and debugging (a part little features)... i hope to have more time in next days/weeks :o


Hey... I'm just pleased you have time to do this at all! Thanks for all your hard work and help!

[delacroixp]

I was encoding a few BoB clips for a Nokia 6233 (still wont work) and one clip had no sound... the temp folder had 2 audio tracks (eventhough the clip only had 1)... audio1.mp4 was only 6kbs... so I remuxed using 'muxing.bat' by swopping audio1.mp4 and audio2.mp4... all fine

Then I tried muxing only audio2 with MkvMerge and discovered a nice 'muxing display option' that might be handy in AutoMKV though 'Force Muxing Ratio' probably works just fine...


http://souls-online.net/delacroixp/AutoMKV/MkvMergeMuxingDisplayThumb.jpg (http://souls-online.net/delacroixp/AutoMKV/MkvMergeMuxingDisplay.jpg)

Click... to see full image:


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[glynor]

@buzzqw

I ran into another AC3 source file that crashed VirtualDub (again the SoundOut module) at the very end of the encoding process. Unfortunately, for some weird reason I haven't been able to upload the files successfully to RapidShare or any of the similar services. I'm going to try to upload from my home computer tonight and see what happens...

Either way... Again, once I closed the VirtualDub error message, the encoding process continued and completed without issue. Again, the file plays fine.

[buzzqw]

thanks glynor!
i need your ac3 crashing file.. if i am able to repeat the error Sh0dan could fix it... or i hope

btw i "should" have fixed the second audio missing, added the edit job queue... and surely added more and lots bugs in queue :p

@all
i will downgrade dgindex to latest stable 1.4.8
this will fix several bugs on ivtc
any comment ?

stay tuned for next update!

BHH

[glynor]

thanks glynor!
i need your ac3 crashing file.. if i am able to repeat the error Sh0dan could fix it... or i hope

btw i "should" have fixed the second audio missing, added the edit job queue... and surely added more and lots bugs in queue :p

Thanks for the work on the queue. It was quiet in here today and I suspected you might be lighting your hair on fire from all my queue-related requests!! :eek:

I think there's something weird about uploading to those services from my office's network. I've been trying since last Friday and had no luck (with like 5 different RapidShare-esque sites). I just transfered the problem AC3 file to my USB flash drive and I'm gonna tote it home and try from there tonight. It'll take longer (the office is on an 20mbps Internet connection) but hopefully it'll work!

[Shark_jlc]

@all
i will downgrade dgindex to latest stable 1.4.8
this will fix several bugs on ivtc
any comment ?

stay tuned for next update!

BHH

That works for me. I've started using 1.4.8 manually before going to AutoMKV just because I don't have time to hassle with 1.4.9 if it fails.

But if I'm a lone exception, don't change on my behalf :)

[TheRyuu]

Would a script like this work:
ColorMatrix(Mode="Rec.601->Rec.709",scaling=2,threads=2).a=last.b=FluxSmoothT(8).SeeSaw(NRlimit=0, NRlimit2=5, Sstr=1.70, Szp=1, Slimit=50, Sdamplo=29, Spower=1, sootheT=0, SdampHi=35)

Just curious because the a= b= is all part of Seesaw and I wasn't really sure how to do that with nothing but a one line thing.

[dalihrp]

whenever I encode DVD to WMV (use wmv9 profile) , AutoMKV always ;
1; complain it failed to find video length, an then
2; the alternative method also always failed and then
3; it using something ffmepg?, it encode but then
4; the result is not good, file size not small (I compare with result i got with movie maker) and quality also not good.

any idea to improve my experience encoding dvd->wmv with autoMKV?

thanx.

[dlflannery]

whenever I encode DVD to WMV (use wmv9 profile) , AutoMKV always ;
1; complain it failed to find video length, an then
2; the alternative method also always failed and then
3; it using something ffmepg?, it encode but then
4; the result is not good, file size not small (I compare with result i got with movie maker) and quality also not good.

any idea to improve my experience encoding dvd->wmv with autoMKV?

thanx.
What settings have you tried for Deinterlacer (Advanced Setting Tab)? Try Film and None.

ffmpeg cannot encode to wmv9 so don't know what you are actually getting. (It can encode to wmv7 and wmv8).

Save the log file and post it here. (Clear the log file before running -- only save one case.)

[Shark_jlc]

whenever I encode DVD to WMV (use wmv9 profile) , AutoMKV always ;
1; complain it failed to find video length, an then
2; the alternative method also always failed and then
3; it using something ffmepg?, it encode but then
4; the result is not good, file size not small (I compare with result i got with movie maker) and quality also not good.

any idea to improve my experience encoding dvd->wmv with autoMKV?

thanx.

1 & 2 happened about version .78 somewhere. It's more annoying then anything, as it does not affect the output, only our ability to guess when it will be done.

[buzzqw]

update 0.80b! http://www.64k.it/andres/data/a/AutoMKV080b.exe

ADDED: On start AutoMKV will warning if found files named dv or msmpeg4v2 or mpeg2video or rv10 or flv or wmv8 or wmv7 are present.
ADDED: Is now possible to edit job and resave job. For re-save job don't use Add Job but Resave Job on Queue Panel
ADDED: Some bugs in queue mode
ADDED: Possibility to specify the Width&Height in Matroska muxing. In that case the AR is ignored (suggestion by delacroixp)
FIXED: The Specify bitrate on Advanced Options , in ffmpeg.exe encoding, is now used only as video bitrate (suggestion by dlflannery)
FIXED: An ugly bug that will not trigger normalize() if Advanced Audio Options were opened
FIXED: The double "Processing completed. Type is determined to be partly film" reported in log
FIXED: Autoresize on WMV will now consider audio size
FIXED: On WMV is now possible to feed normal audio file and avs audio file, no more need to include audio source in movie avs files
FIXED: More sanity check on WMV encoding
FIXED: Missing Second Audio track in queue mode (thanks to Glynor)

note about wmv, the complain it failed to find video length, an then
2; the alternative method also always failed and then
is often due to directshowsource not providing enough information.
I suggest to install lastes ffdshow tryout and haali media splitter

@wizboy11
open the movie.avs , edit the script and try opening in virtualdub...

BHH

[delacroixp]

The Force Mux W*H is very neat... and being able to download only the AutoMKV080b.exe file is also usefull... since many people are on "limited bandwith"...

I haven't been able to test any colour-changes on Band of Brothers (see Post (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=977686&postcount=1684))... nx6 suggested a gamma correction or even a change in contrast (see Post (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=977741&postcount=1688)) but my understanding is that Gamma effects => brightness and Contrast effects => the 'range' of brightness...

Are there in fact any Advanced colour muxing options, especially saturation, available to MKV... rather than let the user adjust their player ???
This could be usefull, not only to BoB but Q24 or lower quality encodes where the colour may have been bleached out...

A boost in colour saturation is to video... what a boost in volume is to audio...

:):D:eek:
Pascal

[DarkZell666]

@buzzqw:ADDED: Some bugs in queue modeI hope not :D

[buzzqw]

@delacroixp
the color change is very strange...
watching on other monitor/pc is the same ?

@DarkZell666
I hope not
coding the queue is mayor pita... even worst since i don't use it (i doing only main movie backup) i haven't test well...
but i hope it will be better now :fingercrossed:

BHH

[glynor]

ADDED: Some bugs in queue mode


Ha ha ha ha ha!! :D

That made my morning. Hysterical, buzzqw!

Thanks for the fixes and work. I do appreciate it. I'll check it out and (I'm sure) ruin some future day of yours with some obscure bug.

[delacroixp]

@delacroixp
the color change is very strange...
watching on other monitor/pc is the same ?

I thought so myself... though they are both from the same monitor... one looks gr8 they other a bit 'grey'... I've tried 3 monitors (1 CRT & 2 LCD)... the colour from the CRT is probably the most real...

Funny thing happened... I can't get another 'video printscreen'... the video comes out black... I downloaded a few printscreen apps... which didn't work either... I even disabled the 'hardware acceleration'... and the printscreen to clipboard function works fine... but the video looks like c#@&...
The first time must have been 'beginners luck' or 'devine intervention'...

I'm still interested in the colour-thingy anyhow... filters, muxing, players... etc. (It makes all the difference)


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[nx6]

I haven't been able to test any colour-changes on Band of Brothers (see Post (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=977686&postcount=1684))... nx6 suggested a gamma correction or even a change in contrast (see Post (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=977741&postcount=1688)) but my understanding is that Gamma effects => brightness and Contrast effects => the 'range' of brightness...

When I looked at the two screenshots you showed me, what I noticed is one looked much brighter than the other (like the encoded movie made it appear to be evening verses midday in the original VOB), which is why I suggested a gamma or contrast issue.

Remember that when you are displaying video you are working with light, which is additive color (as opposed to pigment, which is subtractive color). A scene being too dark will result in colors being less bright and looking somewhat washed out as well. Which is why I suggest playing with the Picture Properties filters on playback and see if fixing the difference in lightness in the scene also helps the color saturation, there might be a saturation problem as well I will admit.

[glynor]

I realize that this might seem a bit odd, but I'm gonna ask anyway. On another forum I've been involved in a discussion on how to get DVDs extracted from disc and into a MKV file without recompressing the audio or video at all. Essentially a "copy original" for both Audio and Video, but with all the other benefits of a MKV file and with support for subtitles and multiple audio tracks and whatnot.

You've been adding all this super cool ffmpeg encoder stuff lately.... Is there any way we could get a lossless "copy original video" option for converting from DVD --> MKV somehow?

I've been trying to accomplish this seemingly simple task almost all day with one DVD using MKVtoolnix and DVD Fab Decrypter/DVD Decrypter+RipItForMe/IFOEdit/DVD Shrink/etc/etc/etc and I'm about ready to pull my hair out and set it on fire. I can get the VOBs into the MKV file, but sometimes it's a nightmare to get them to all get recognized and in the right order and everything. Half the time MKVtoolnix seems to just arbitrarily cut off my MKV file at around the 500MB mark, even though my source VOB is 5GB or so in size...

Everyone on the other thread has said essentially "AutoMKV looks like exactly what I want, except I don't want to recompress the video. I want a 5GB+ MKV file with AC3 audio and MPEG-2 video with the absolute best quality possible."

Any ideas or love?

[nx6]

@delacroixp

Check out this picture (http://automkv.wiki-site.com/index.php/Image:BoB01_Org_VOBedit.jpg).

I took your original images and combined them. The right half is your VOB, the left is the encoded file. On the upper 40% of so of the encoded file side I have done Brightness/Contrast adjustment to it (you can see the border running just above the truck's headlights). This is why the sky is similar in brightness to the VOB side. But there is a saturation problem as you diagnosed.

In the middle of the entire frame I have applied a saturation adjustment which overlaps all three areas (enclosed in white frame). You can see the upper left quadrant of it is the closest to the VOB sample area outside the white frame. Just so you have the figure: this is a 60% increase in saturation. So you would need to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation to get an encoding closer to the original material.

[buzzqw]

tonight i had encode Matrix with Preset_Good_WVC1
perfect encode... but i cannot ear audio... even if is present :confused:

this is the "interesting sections" of movie.avs

audio = NicAC3Source("D:\DVDMAGIC\temp\fixed1.ac3",2)
...#trim video section#...
audio=ConvertAudioToFloat(audio)
audio=Normalize(audio)
audio=getchannel(audio,1,2)
audiodub(audio,last)

and here the wcmd.vbs
cscript.exe "C:\Programmi\PureBasic4\AutoMKV\exe\encoder\WMCmd.vbs" -input "D:\DVDMAGIC\temp\movie.avs" -output "D:\DVDMAGIC\temp\movie.wmv" -v_codec WVC1 -v_mode 3 -v_bitrate 564000 -s_config "D:\DVDMAGIC\temp\wmv_crb" -v_preset good -v_bframedist 1 -v_dquantoption 3 -v_bdeltaqp 1 -a_codec wmapro -a_mode 0 -title "VTS_02_0" -year 2007 -copyright "Done with AutoMKV! 0.80b" -a_setting 128_48_2_24
even if the encode is come out near perfet (705mb, aimed 700mb) and mediainfo report is ok
General #0
Complete name : D:\DVDMAGIC\VTS_02_0.wmv
Format : Windows Media
File size : 705 MiB
PlayTime : 2h 21mn
Bit rate : 699 Kbps
Movie name : VTS_02_0
Recorded date : 2007
Copyright : Done with AutoMKV! 0.80b
Buffer Average : 200

Video #0
Codec : VC-1
Codec/Info : Microsoft
Bit rate : 556 Kbps
Width : 704 pixels
Height : 304 pixels
Aspect ratio : 2.35

Audio #0
Codec : WMA3
Codec/Info : Windows Media Audio 3
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48 KHz
but i cannot ear audio...

i changed this "audio=Normalize(audio)" to "audio=amplifydb(audio,15)" and the encode come out perfect as before BUT i can ear audio!

I suppose that the normalize process (since is a two time process) make the encoder... crazy ???

i will post a link to this post to Zambelli thread

BHH

P.S. Encode on Win2003 Server, playing with Windows Media Player 10

[delacroixp]

Remember that when you are displaying video you are working with light, which is additive color (as opposed to pigment, which is subtractive color). A scene being too dark will result in colors being less bright and looking somewhat washed out...
All good.

Quite frankly I'm more interested in how it's going with your greyscale encode... I think there must be a huge application with all the historical black and white movies around...

Even in terms of archiving purposes it would be of great documumentary value to humanity before they all disintegrate and are lost forever... I still havn't found a solution to 'single channel mono' ... and your small video encodes may be offset by relatively large audio encodes...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[nx6]

All good.

Quite frankly I'm more interested in how it's going with your greyscale encode... I think there must be a huge application with all the historical black and white movies around...

It didn't work out as far as I can tell for the purpose I meant it to.

Test film was 720x480, 1h 28m 09s, 4:3 aspect ratio
Encoded as H264, @ CQ-CRF: 18
AAC .25 audio, 2 audio tracks and one subtitle track.

"Color" Film: 1,793,394,045 bytes (1.66 GB)
Greyscale Film: 1,801,501,190 bytes (1.67 GB)

Yes, the greyscale film was actually slightly larger.

It did work on an anime episode (but that was color to start with and I wouldn't want it in greyscale).

Test episode was 720x480, 24m 42s 4:3 aspect ratio
Encoded as H264, @ CQ-CRF: 22
AAC .20 audio, 2 audio tracks and one subtitle track.

Color encode: 206,565,028 bytes (196MB)
Greyscale encode: 181,273,632 bytes (172MB)

I have a theory that studios master the original DVDs as greyscale to start with with these old movies. You ever notice how when you watch an old film that has been re-released 50 years later the studio's new 21st century logo is shown before the old studio's logo, yet BOTH are in greyscale? Why isn't the new one in color since it was just added and the second one in greyscale since it was part of the original print of the film? Because the studios mastered the entire movie as greyscale! They can't show the logo in color then since those colors are not available. By doing this, the mpeg stream the DVD player reads can have greater quality for the same bandwidth as a normal color film. Or they can use a lower stream and save disc space (cheaper single-layer DVD manufacturing now).

So the reason my trick doesn't work is my movie is already been reduced to greyscale so there's no extra information to throw out. Another possibility is the encoding algorithms can tell they are so many fewer colors in the film when compressing and iron out the bulky data stream without me telling them to reduce colors manually.

For most uses, adding greyscale() would be of no value, but there are still a few uses it might be good for. Like PVR recordings off a TV tuner card. Since the capture card is a color tuner there might be extra color information in the original recorded files that can be removed by re-encoding. If it was off a poor analog cable or broadcast reception there might be picture interference that is in color on the greyscale film, like I mentioned before, converting this fuzz to B&W would make it less noticeable. This could have value if you were encoding instructional films or something where color wasn't important but file size was.

Do you know the official bit depth of Apple's QuickTime used to be 16 bit (32 thousand colors)? The reason was, at the time, many computers did not have the processing power to handle playback of a full color movie at a reasonable resolution (this was back when 320x240 was considered average size), and the difference in perception between 16 and 24 bit is not that much (just try switching your monitor to "thousands of colors" and use it for a while). So movies done this way were watchable on far more computers and took up much less space on disk.

If this is a case of the original DVD being in greyscale to start, it might be possible this would change on a disc-by-disc basis. I didn't check the times of the encoding jobs, but I imagine they didn't vary much, so it's a feature I might use "just for the hell of it" when I'm ripping B&W films just in case it helps.

If this is a case of just good algorithms, then you wouldn't get any benefit on your BoB episodes as the encoder is already doing as good a job of compressing on those B&W scenes as they are.

I will probably do some more experimenting, though.

... and your small video encodes may be offset by relatively large audio encodes...

When I redo some of this stuff, I'll remember to set the mono downmix option like I meant to the first time, which will prevent that issue.

I'm actually interested in solving your problem with the color and brightness difference you were having as it was quite a striking difference when viewing the two screenshots side-by-side. It would be nice to know I could solve a similar issue in my own encodings using the methodology I employed in that image I posted to you if I had the same problem.

encode once
check differences
use image editor to change a single frame to match source material, noting changes & values altered
rerun encode with the same changes applied by the encoder to the entire film

I can imagine a processing like this being applied to the entire film might make the AutoMKV job much longer though.

[nx6]

tonight i had encode Matrix with Preset_Good_WVC1
perfect encode... but i cannot ear audio... even if is present :confused:


What a coincidence, I watched the Matrix tonight on my computer! But I was watching my DVD, not a file on my hard drive.

probably a dumb question but:

Audio #0
Codec : WMA3
Codec/Info : Windows Media Audio 3
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48 KHz

What would an audio card do if asked to play back a file of a sampling rate too high for it?

Also, another silly point, sometimes I activate the mute on WMP accidentally as the shortcut key is I think the pause key on another player I use or something like that. I usually have trouble figuring out that's what it is and start restarting my machine because I think Windows's audio processing is messed up.

[buzzqw]

@nx6
What would an audio card do if asked to play back a file of a sampling rate too high for it?

same avs script but without normalize() is perfectly audible... so isn't a decoder/hw problem

also... eve if i am a perctly :helpful: i know how to use wmp ... :p

BHH

[delacroixp]

... and your small video encodes may be offset by relatively large audio encodes...
When I redo some of this stuff, I'll remember to set the mono downmix option like I meant to the first time, which will prevent that issue.

I hate to break this to you... but my mono seams headed the same way as your greyscale... one of my (downmix) MONO encodes was larger than the stereo version... possibly because stereo works as a 2-man team while MONO is carrying the complete signal in 1 channel (x2).

Mpeg-1 supports 'single channel MONO' but Mpeg-4 still uses 2 channels even if you choose Mono...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[glynor]

So.... Regarding my request for muxing "passed through" video. I finally figured out a reliable method for getting non-recompressed video from a DVD into a MKV file, but it certainly isn't simple. It's probably not the perfect way to do it, but I posted step-by-step instructions over here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=39604.msg271816#msg271816

While investigating this, I became more and more convinced that this would be a superb addition to AutoMKV. I think that, at least for DVD based source files, it would probably be fairly simple to add the feature, since AutoMKV already has to go through all the steps to extract the video anyway (so it has all the pieces you need right there). Of course, simple's probably a relative term.

Either way, I think it'd be great to have this option in such an easy to use application. Lots of people really prefer to keep the video in the most pristine format possible, but would like the convenience of using a single file format like MKV. As it is, it's quite a hassle to accomplish...

This, plus AutoMKV's other capabilities of encoding the Audio (if desired) and extracting subtitles and all that, would be ideal IMHO!

[nx6]

I hate to break this to you... but my mono seams headed the same way as your greyscale... one of my (downmix) MONO encodes was larger than the stereo version... possibly because stereo works as a 2-man team while MONO is carrying the complete signal in 1 channel (x2).


Well, what codec were you using? Since the AAC is set with a "quality" slider perhaps it felt that to get that quality level in one channel out of a two channel input file it would need to encode the mono at twice the bitrate (this is why I prefer to use set CBR's to encode, no guessing as to what the actual filesize will be, I can figure it out mathematically if I want to).

My source audio is 1ch to begin with, so I'm sure using the "stereo" downmix option did make my audio files twice as big for no reason.

Anyway, reducing to one channel should cut the audio file in half if they are full stereo.

@buzzqw: Does the LAME encoder use full stereo or joint stereo?
I suppose that the normalize process (since is a two time process) make the encoder... crazy ???
Perhaps the normalize filter has trouble reading the levels of the audio after its been used once and as a result considers everything over 0db as over level, so it now drops everything below 0db. :D Hence, no audio.

[buzzqw]

@glynor
i will look!

@nx6
lame default is j-stereo, but since i use preset abr it change on bitrate change, but will simply switch from joint to simple stereo

BHH

[delacroixp]

Well, what codec were you using? Since the AAC is set with a "quality" slider perhaps it felt that to get that quality level in one channel out of a two channel input file it would need to encode the mono at twice the bitrate (this is why I prefer to use set CBR's to encode, no guessing as to what the actual filesize will be, I can figure it out mathematically if I want to).

My source audio is 1ch to begin with, so I'm sure using the "stereo" downmix option did make my audio files twice as big for no reason.

Anyway, reducing to one channel should cut the audio file in half if they are full stereo.

I fell in love with VBR mp3 way back when it rarely even worked with DivX... so I just love VBR mp4.
I use BeSweet (BeLight GUI)... and even though I don't know the actual bitrate... I know I'm getting the best possible quality, given the 'Normal', 'Streaming', 'Audiophile', etc quality levels... and I can compare filesize afterwards... I work on the audio track separately and it's all pretty quick... it's a bit like the CQ-CRF profile for video... the ultimate in dynamic variability...

Well perhaps not... we're still missing 'variable frame rate'... and a quality based 'automatic resize', so that an animation would tend to resize at a lower resolution and a detailed movie would tend towards a higher resolution for the same quality level... perhaps that's the ultimate CQ encode...

Quite frankly, I'ld prefer to use the AutoMKV audio encoding facility... IF I knew I was getting the maximum possible 'volume boost' without clipping and I often do so after testing the track with BeSweet and then use the Amplifydb(xx) option...
I had an Aiwa 'feather touch' cassette deck in high school in 1980 and recorded LP's from a record library... but you could never be sure if your tape recording was too loud or too soft... even if it had good volume there could always be one spot that became distorted (clipped)... it was all pretty random...

Can you actually compare your 1 channel audio source to the mp4 encode filesize... I can't see how it will even allow a single channel file after encode.


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[delacroixp]

Lots of people really prefer to keep the video in the most pristine format possible, but would like the convenience of using a single file format like MKV.
I certainly do... especially if you're encoding from Mpeg-4 (P10) source material and you have no need to resize...

I'm no Einstein on encoding and video formats but what exactly is the real advantage of MKV over MP4... the actual encode is MP4 and the MKV container even increases the filesize... SAP's don't play either so you're left with PC-playback... sure different formats WMV, et al, have specific target hardware but what's the specific power of one format over another... menu's, filesize, quality, features ???


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[Bigmango]

but what exactly is the real advantage of MKV over MP4... the actual encode is MP4 and the MKV container even increases the filesize... SAP's don't play either so you're left with PC-playback... sure different formats WMV, et al, have specific target hardware but what's the specific power of one format over another... menu's, filesize, quality, features ???


:):D:eek:
Pascal

More flexibility. In an mkv you can keep all the subtitles and audio tracks when you do a dvd backup.

The killer feature for me is that with MKV you can have several AC3/DTS audio tracks. You can't use AC3/DTS with MP4.

I don't want low quality audio and I watch my movies on my home theater with a high end 6.1 receiver, so I need the AC3/DTS pass through.

One more reason for keeping the AC3/DTS with the h.264 files is that you should later be able to demux the mkv and author the sources directly to a blue ray / hd-dvd.

[zambelli]

tonight i had encode Matrix with Preset_Good_WVC1
perfect encode... but i cannot ear audio... even if is present :confused:
This might be a dumb question, but have you tried playing back the .avs to see if it's outputting any audio at all? Have you tried replacing NicAC3Source with just WAVSource to see if it works?

[buzzqw]

@zambelli

opening the avs in virtualdub and afte waiting 10 minutes... yes
the normalize() fuction first analyze all audio stream then apply the gain thru all encode...

i can suppose that normalize isn't best with wmcmd.vbs but the audio gain is very important when encoding from ac3/dts to wma audio.

very good solution could be letwme encoder/wmcmd.vbs to normalize the audio... but this fuction is missing...

Have you tried replacing NicAC3Source with just WAVSource to see if it works?
since i have the ac3 file i tryed with nicac3... because the directshowsource is a pita with wmcmd.vbs...

if isn't too much try downloading automkv80.rar and the update (all in first post in this thread) then try encoding a full film

a big thanks for your interest!

BHH

[buzzqw]

i open a pool on general discussion about resizer to include / exclude in next version

please vote!

BHH

[zambelli]

opening the avs in virtualdub and afte waiting 10 minutes... yes
the normalize() fuction first analyze all audio stream then apply the gain thru all encode...
Does any other encoder work with Normalize()? I'd be surprised. Most encoders expect a frame sample at a time - I doubt any encoder would wait 10 minutes for a sample without timing out or just moving on.

since i have the ac3 file i tryed with nicac3... because the directshowsource is a pita with wmcmd.vbs...
You could always use BeSweet to decode to WAV and then just use WAVSource. That's far more reliable anyway.

[buzzqw]

with other encoder i don't feed the audio directly ... because i mux video AND audio after encoding... but with i haven't found audio+video wmv muxer around (and comman line able...)

BHH

[buzzqw]

one more test

LoadPlugin("c:\nicaudio.dll")
NicAC3Source("c:\matrix.ac3",2)
normalize()

with this command line
cscript.exe "c:\WMCmd.vbs" -input "c:\audio_wma.avs" -output "C:\audio.wma" -audioonly -a_codec wmapro -a_mode 0 -a_setting 192_48_2_24

will generate a 2 hour and more silent audio file

the same script processed with bepipe (feeding nero aac or oggenc2.exe....) or soundout is perfectly audible.

substituting the normalize() with amplifydb(15) will solve the problem BUT can introduce clipping in audio track

Zambelli i don't want to bother you, seriusly, i will only ask if will be a better solution. And pre-encode ac3 to wav to wmv isn't my clear idea of good workflow...

thanks!

BHH

[delacroixp]

i open a pool on general discussion about resizer to include / exclude in next version

please vote!

BHH
where ???

I'm always a sucker for this kind of voting thing... under communism, apartheid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid), Hitler and pre-democratic history... most people (the average person) never got a chance to vote and declare their pleasure/displeasure...

Here at AutoMKV you can vote for progress and development, assured of the certainty that 'you are doing the right thing'... where it's one small step for AutoMKV but one giant leap for mankind...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[buzzqw]

here http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=124389

BHH

[delacroixp]

It still disturbs me that I (as an MKV container user) can't use the AutoCrop-Only option... the sheer power and elegant simplicity of MKV is negated by the forced-resizing implementation of AutoMKV... which by it's very name... purports to champion MKV...

Only yesterday I encoded The Deer Hunter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deer_Hunter) (Dec 1978) only to discover that it not only has 'huge' amounts of black space top and bottom (T=>70 B=>71) but also left and right (L=>9 R=>8)... this after more than 12hrs of encoding...
Unfortunately I then had to rely on an old friend, Dr DivX 2.0.0 OSS (http://souls-online.net/delacroixp/AutoMKV/DrDivX.jpg), to shed some light and show me the way (see pic)...

I then restarted the encode with manual cropping, adjusted upwards the left crop from 9 to 10, the bottom crop from 71 to 72 and manually set the muxing options to anamorphic and automatic...
This encode was complicated by the now modified resolution which was originally 720x576 (PAL)/16:9 but is now 702x434 ([720-18x576-142]anamorphic) which on playback becomes ???x434.

If that wasn't enough... my encode is right now getting funny on me too... see pic

http://souls-online.net/delacroixp/AutoMKV/DeerHunterThumb.jpg (http://souls-online.net/delacroixp/AutoMKV/DeerHunter.jpg)

click for full view...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[buzzqw]

you cannot crop by odd numbers

open the movie.avs in virtualdub and spot the error

BHH

[Barleyman]

15:52:39 Framerate: 25.000000
15:52:39 Movie length in Seconds: 2690
15:52:39 Movie Width/Height: 704/576
15:52:39 DgIndex AR: 4:3
15:53:11 Processing completed. Type is determined to be progressive.
15:53:11 Order: unk
15:53:11 CQ encoding XviD: C:\Program Files\AutoMKV\exe\encoder\xvid_encraw.exe -cq 3 -progress -threads 0 -max_bframes 2 -imax 31 -quality 6 -vhqmode 1 -qtype 0 -pmax 31 -bmax 31 -framerate 25.000 -bquant_ratio

Does that mean I get no de-interlacing or I get some super-duper-slow de-interlacer?

Would it be possible to get xvid "cartoon" option support? south park encodes are oversized.. And I would imagine family guy/simpsons/futurama would be too.

I get ugly deinterlacing flicker with south park btw. Is there some straightforward way to deal with that?

Especially in the horisontal lines..

[delacroixp]

you cannot crop by odd numbers


You mentioned so once before but I thought I had correctly accounted for odd-cropping by adjusting upwards by +1 where necessary.

See "The Deer Hunter.ini"


DVD Drive = NONE
Input File = F:\Movies\To be Encoded\Deer Hunter\The Deer Hunter.VOB
Input Folder = F:\Movies\To be Encoded\Deer Hunter\
Output Folder = H:\Movies\Encodes\
Container = MKV
Movie Name = The Deer Hunter
Size = 1 CD
Slice = 1
Resizer = 12
Width = Original
Set encoding mode = X264
Audio Track 1 = NONE
Audio Codec 1 = Nero AAC
Audio Bit 1 = 7
Audio Bitrate 1 = 0.35
Audio Channel 1 = Stereo
Audio Track 2 = NONE
Audio Codec 2 = Nero AAC
Audio Bit 2 = 7
Audio Bitrate 2 = 0.35
Audio Channel 2 = Stereo
Sub Track 1 = NONE
Sub Track 2 = NONE
Encoding Profiles = ConstantQuality-CRF.xml
Hit Media/Go Unlimited = Selected Unlimited media size
Use CRF/CQ for AutoResize = 0
CRF/CQ Value = 18
Bitrate Encoding = 0
Bitrate Value = 700
Quality Encoding = 0
Quality Value = 75
Delete temporary files = 0
Encrust/Burn Subtitles = 0
Enable Shutdown = 0
Process this IFO = 0
Process this PGC = 0
PGC to Process = -1
Force ITU Resizing = 0
Anamorphic Encoding = 1
Filter = RemoveGrain(mode=5)
Enable Last Line AVS Script = 0
Last Line AVS Script = ChangeFPS(12.5)
Deinterlacer = AUTO
Field Order = AUTO
Language = eng
Use ProjectX for TS files = 0
Use custom X.ini = 0
Use DelayCut = 1
HQ Deinterlacer = 0
Matrix = NONE
Force PAR in XviD = NONE
Use DirectShowSource for Video = 0
Use DirectShowSource for Audio = 0
Enable Manual Crop And Resize = 1
Crop Top = 70
Crop Left = 10
Crop Bottom = 72
Crop Right = 8
Manual Width = 702
Manual Height = 434
Audio Track Name 1 =
Movie Title Name =
Audio Track Desc 1 =
Nero Profiles 1 = AUTO
Nero Encoding Mode 1 = Quality
CCT Profiles 1 = AUTO
Channel Options 1 = AUTO
MP3 Settings 1 = ABR
Windows Media Audio = AUTO
Windows Media Channel = AUTO
Normalize Audio 1 = 1
Frequency 1 = AUTO
Tempo 1 = NONE
Pitch 1 = NONE
OtherADD 1 =
Audio Track Name 2 =
Audio Track Desc 2 =
Nero Profiles 2 = AUTO
Nero Encoding Mode 2 = Quality
CCT Profiles 2 = AUTO
Channel Options 2 = AUTO
MP3 Settings 2 = ABR
Normalize Audio 2 = 1
Frequency 2 = AUTO
Tempo 2 = NONE
Pitch 2 = NONE
OtherADD 2 =

I've obviously made a mistake in my ignorance but I don't think odd cropping is to blame...


:):D:eek:
Pascal

[glynor]

The killer feature for me is that with MKV you can have several AC3/DTS audio tracks. You can't use AC3/DTS with MP4.


That's why I switched to using MKV over MP4. Plus, in my testing, the vast majority of Set Top Players couldn't even handle MP4 (and certainly couldn't handle x264). Since I decided XviD's quality wasn't going to cut it...

I do still use MP4 for some files (mostly purposed for streaming via my Quicktime Streaming Server), but for basically everything else I just use MKV. You just don't really have to worry about what format the stream is in... MKV can probably handle it.

[buzzqw]

@delacroixp

open the movie.avs in virtualdub and spot the error

@Barleyman
simply autodeint isn't unable to determine the frame / interlacer type.
if you know how to proper deinterlace, select the right frame type

for carton options you must use the zones option of xvid_encraw
C:\>xvid_encraw.exe -help zones
xvid_encraw - raw mpeg4 bitstream encoder written by Christoph Lampert 2002-2003

xvid_encraw built at 20:07:02 on Feb 3 2007
Zones options:
You can define up to 64 zones using the -zones option as described below.

-zones start,mode,value[,options][/start,mode,value[,options]]...

Parameters of a zones use the comma (,) as a delimiter. Multiple zones are separated by a slash (/). The end of each zone is defined by either the start of the following zone or the last frame of the input file.

start : Start frame of the zone
mode : weight zone = w, quanttizer zone = q
value : Depending on mode either the zone's weight or quantizer.
options : Enables certain encoder features for the zone. Each feature is represented by a single letter. An integer number stands for b-frame sensitivity. To enable multiple features at the same time combine the appropriate symbols without any delimiting characters.
K = being with keyframe
O = Enable chroma optimizer
G = Greyscale encoding
C = Cartoon mode
integer = B-Frame sensitivity

Example:
To create a first zone starting at frame 0 with weight 1.0, all options enabled and b-frame sensitivity -5, and a second zone starting at frame 1000 with constant quant 4 and no options enabled you would use the -zones option like this:

-zones 0,w,1.0,-5KOGC/1000,q,4

BHH

[Barleyman]

@Barleyman
simply autodeint isn't unable to determine the frame / interlacer type.
if you know how to proper deinterlace, select the right frame type

Hm. No no, you got mixed up.

I have de-interlace artifacts with south park, where I force TFF + deint. I get nice flickery horizontal lines, yuck. I get those even if I use the slooooooooow hq deint. No combing, thought, so TFF is correct.

With this other show (deadwood, actually) it says it's "progressive", but the field order says "unk" .. In any case, since I got ~25fps encode for that, I didn't get hit with the HQ encoder. OK pic quality, too.

Didn't know you can use progressive in PAL DVB.. On the other hand, I suppose it's progressive @ 25fps.

for carton options you must use the zones option of xvid_encraw


How about I just tick "XVID cartoon mode" checkbox? :p

[buzzqw]

I get nice flickery horizontal lines

could not be a FILM type ?
have you tryed all deint options with hq enabled ?

it says it's "progressive", but the field order says "unk"

when movie type is determine to be progressive the field test isn't done... so in UNKnow ...

How about I just tick "XVID cartoon mode" checkbox?

ok... let me work on this :)

BHH