BENCOS - Windows and Linux batch encoder GUI

[Eretria-chan]

They are indeed. 100% CPU use.

[Sirber]

Cool! Maybe I could use that build in default setup...
It seems to use SSE/SSE2 too even in "cpu detection mode".

[Weltall]

Hi Sirber! I'm amazed with no delay conversion of Bencos, now I really trust on outputs and don't open them to see if they're delayed, thank you for that. Btw, why?? Is there something to do with new enhAacPlusEnc?

Lastly, I've noticed you added "Fix levels" to your GUI, how it works, compared with ffdshow? Is it something like Levels(16,1,240,0,255) (avisynth tv->pc)?

I get many tv levels encodings in my country, so It's my only big worrying when encoding (I've posted some screenshots in my topic about this here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=856867)).

I'm very curious about many functions BENCOS has (and could come to have). Maybe it's asking too much, but I have the excuse of user feedback:) then it would be great if you write a readme (maybe hints too!) explaining its functions and what the filters you added do with the configs you used when adding, so we could really understand them. Yeah... very great!

[Eretria-chan]

Btw, my latest findings!

- Add a lot of files to the playlist in Vista and no file will get added. Works fine in XP.
- You can remove the currently encoding file from the playlist. It doesn't screw up anythng, but it's weird.
- Sometimes files fail to encode when both height and width is not multiple of 16. x264 fails if I'm not mistaken. But using resizing to fix that works.
- Sometimes it says corrupt source. I haven't investigated those files yet, though.

[Sirber]

Hi Sirber! I'm amazed with no delay conversion of Bencos, now I really trust on outputs and don't open them to see if they're delayed, thank you for that. Btw, why?? Is there something to do with new enhAacPlusEnc?
New encoding chain. Bencos doesn't use DirectShow or VFW decoders, everything is done with mencoder and mplayer. With the help of many people now it's working relativly well :)

Lastly, I've noticed you added "Fix levels" to your GUI, how it works, compared with ffdshow? Is it something like Levels(16,1,240,0,255) (avisynth tv->pc)?
if (chkFLevel.Checked) then
sOptTmp := sOptTmp + ' -vf pp=al:f ';
from manpages:
al/autolevels[:f/fullyrange]

automatic brightness / contrast correction

f/fullyrange: Stretch luminance to (0−255).

I'm very curious about many functions BENCOS has (and could come to have). Maybe it's asking too much, but I have the excuse of user feedback:) then it would be great if you write a readme (maybe hints too!) explaining its functions and what the filters you added do with the configs you used when adding, so we could really understand them. Yeah... very great!
I'll make a readme someday, when bencos gets more stable. I'm still not finished with all the features I want / need.

- Add a lot of files to the playlist in Vista and no file will get added. Works fine in XP.
Try to remove the .manifest from bencos folder. Could be UI problems.

- You can remove the currently encoding file from the playlist. It doesn't screw up anythng, but it's weird.
Yes. GUI and encoding chain are separated.

- Sometimes files fail to encode when both height and width is not multiple of 16. x264 fails if I'm not mistaken. But using resizing to fix that works.
Yes, but x264 should warn not fail. Look in the logs panel.

- Sometimes it says corrupt source. I haven't investigated those files yet, though.
When mencoder gives me "Error decoding frame" I cancel the recoding. Too much decoding errors will produce audio / video delay.

[Eretria-chan]

Try to remove the .manifest from bencos folder. Could be UI problems.
It doesn't work. Maybe there's a bug somewhere :)

Yes, but x264 should warn not fail. Look in the logs panel.
If width or height is not dividizable by 16 (only one), it spits out a warning. If both are not dividizable by 16, it fails. So I've noticed. The logs confirms this.

When mencoder gives me "Error decoding frame" I cancel the recoding. Too much decoding errors will produce audio / video delay.

So I take it, when it says "Source Corrupt," it means there are undecodable frames, ie a damaged source file?

[Sirber]

http://www.detritus.qc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=253#p253

In case you wanna play with bad sources :)

So I take it, when it says "Source Corrupt," it means there are undecodable frames, ie a damaged source file?

Yes. You can try to fix or use the newer bencos build. Be sure to check your output for audio / delay or other issues.

[Eretria-chan]

I have to say wow...
Bencos gives such perfect quality to high-quality sources at even such a low bitrate I'm impressed!
Now how about that DVD input and subtitles? ^_^
Looking forward to a release with any new features. Take your time!

[Sirber]

I didn,t have news about Sharktooth in a while. Code for subtuitles is half done :)

[Eretria-chan]

Question!
When encoding, does Bencos downsample 5.1 sound to stereo? If not, then 32 kbps would be far too little!
I also wondered about the profiles. Sharktooth made the non-anime profiles, right? I just wondered how they were aimed - for high bitrate or low bitrate encodes? I was testing at encoding a DVD movie, and found pretty sweet around 1000 kbps with few artifacts and no artifacts I could see at 2000. That's just initial testing, though.

enhAacPlusEnc.exe supports higher channel count from what I judged from its command line, but that would require higher bitrate. 16 knps per channel is the sweetspot, I think, since 32 kbps for stereo is good.

[Sirber]

IIRC I downsample to 2.0 :) Not sure about the quality though.
you can see what I do when I extract audio, in the logs panel.

[Eretria-chan]

I haven't looked at those logs, but it should be easy to add a feature for compressing multi-channel audio, would it not?

[Sirber]

I haven't looked at those logs, but it should be easy to add a feature for compressing multi-channel audio, would it not?
maybe I could look in mencoder logs for channel count and set enhaacplusenc... but it would be far in the todo list.
Proper subtitles support and DVD input would be more needed :)

[Eretria-chan]

If not otherwise, we could manually set the channel count, since this is just an argument passed to the encoder, no? Maybe you could add such a small thing for now until proper support can be added?

[killerhex]

hey does the audio encoder downmix automaticly 5.1->2.0chs

[Sirber]

hey does the audio encoder downmix automaticly 5.1->2.0chs
no, it doesn't

[Eretria-chan]

A manual channel count and higher bitrate for sound might be a good idea when encoding 5.1 or higher sound? For special encodes, so to speak.
It should be farily easy to add. No needing to log in logs for channel count and things like that (though that would be cool).

[Sirber]

so 2.0 source will be upgraded to 5.1? Best solution is by using source info no?

[killerhex]

has anyone ever needed to encode 7.1 to 2.0

[Eretria-chan]

so 2.0 source will be upgraded to 5.1? Best solution is by using source info no?

Sure it is, but as you don't have high priority on it right now, then a small workaround would be good, hm? Just an option among everything else, so my 5.1 source can be encoded properly.

...Terrific. Guess I'll have to encode the audio separately. Guess we'll see if Bencos can handle sources without audio.

[Sirber]

Do you have 5.1 samples I could test on?

[edit]

Since I convert to WAVE, not sure the encoders can handle files larger than 4GB...

[Eretria-chan]

Maybe... maybe not. Requires NTFS too, or there's a 4 GB limit. But if you want a sample I still have one.

[Sirber]

a sample would be great, then I'll make the encoder match the source for 5.1, 2.0 and 1.0

[Eretria-chan]

Sure, it's only 3 mins, but the whole file is 400 MB.
http://www.eluni.net/temp/PiratesoftheCaribbean2%20Track%201%20English%20DELAY%200ms.ac3
AC3, Dolby Digital, 5.1

[Sirber]

I could make a dropdown with: Auto, Mono, Stereo, 5.1

@Eretria-chan

Do you have a sample, like in mkv, with audio (5.1) and video. Bencos isn't great with audio-only sources. 10 sec would be good. Thanks! :D

[Eretria-chan]

Hmmm. It's in AVI. But I'll mux the audio and cut a 10 sec sample.
http://www.eluni.net/temp/Pirates%202%20Sample.avi
22 MB. 11 seconds.

[Sirber]

AVI is fine too. Thanks!

[Eretria-chan]

Sample uploaded. Go ahead, grab it.

[Sirber]

Thanks, I'll grab it when I get home.

[Eretria-chan]

Say, how about actual profiles for different sources that sets "Source" and bitrate, eventually 5.1, audio, etc?
For Anime sources, it would typically be Bitrate 318, 32 kbps sound, stereo and Source Anime / Toons.
Then there could be Movie at 500 kbps for video, 32 kbps for audio and source Movie.
And maybe DVD Rip which would set bitrate to about 1500 kbps, 32 kbps for audio and source Movie / Anime or something. 1500 should be about good for almost flawless DVD quality encodes.

Right now I'm testing to see what bitrate I could use for a typical movie source (non-DVD). Which means poor quality usually. 500 kbps seems good, going to try 400 and lower too.
1000 kbps for DVD quality is pretty good, but not entirely DVD quality, but still very close.

[Sirber]

I think I'll let the channel count a user setting, no auto. If the user set 5.1 and a 128kbps, and in the filelist I hit a stereo file, I don't think it'S right that bencos chose the new bitrate to use.

I think it's a good idea to link Source and video bitrate. Isn't anime set to 268? ;)

[Eretria-chan]

But if 5.1 is selected, Bencos must allow higher bitrates at least.
Yes. Yes, anime was originally 268, but I found that it sometimes smoothes out the intro of some movies a little too much. 318 produces almost perfect quality encodes, so... Well, I guess it's up to each and every one.

[Sirber]

Yes, 5.1 will have higher bitrates selection :)

[Eretria-chan]

Btw, maybe different levels of the profiles would be a good idea? Like, high, medium or low for anime content. Only, it would control the bitrate this time.
Obviously, when encoding DVDs, you need a lot more bitrate rather than encoding non-DVD sources, so I thought that might also be a good idea. Though a movie is a movie, depending on the quality of the source, different amounts of bitrate can be used to encode it, since all that bitrate would be a waste if the source is bad quality.

[Weltall]

I would like to know if its possible to add a funcfion to BENCOS that calculates the hh:mm:ss total of episodes dragged to it. I use windows media player 10 to get the total time and megui's bitrate calculator to bitrate. If BENCOS could at least give me this total time, I could install windows media player 11 (which didn't give me the time in seconds :P). I don't know if it's possible to add a calculator, but that would be great. Something like: add 12 episodes, total time 4 hours, 39 minutes and 36 seconds; desired final size (I would give this): 596.4MB (49.7MBx12). Bitrate that should be used: XXX. :'( :'( Wonderful!!!

It's very hard to implement this, like in megui? I just think that would help a lot!!!

How do you do Stéphane, use a standard bitrate for every anime?

[Sirber]

@Eretria-chan

The "Source" menu will already mod the bitrate, once done.

@Weltall

I could add a bitrate calculator (as in RA4/5). I think to create the thing you'd like would require more time than what's been already spent on bencos.

As for me I always use standard bitrates. I have no problem with some filesize differences.

[Weltall]

@Eretria-chan

The "Source" menu will already mod the bitrate, once done.

@Weltall

I could add a bitrate calculator (as in RA4/5). I think to create the thing you'd like would require more time than what's been already spent on bencos.

As for me I always use standard bitrates. I have no problem with some filesize differences.:eek:
RA5 calculator didn't give me right bitrate, thanks anyway. I think I'll stick with this process I'm familiar to :)

I have this size problems cause I always want to use a full dvd, I thought you could just do the same thing but you had a better solution to calculate.

I think the only thing missing now is an encode list recording after closing (maybe a save list like in RA5) and drag and drop :D

OK then, I'm just happy with it.

[Sirber]

wouldn't be hard to save the list.
will be hard for drag drop :)

[Weltall]

If I could save a list, I shouldn't need to drag and drop so much. The pain is have to select everything again after a system pane.

[Sirber]

If I could save a list, I shouldn't need to drag and drop so much. The pain is have to select everything again after a system pane.

Get a UPS and beer ;)

List save / load should take more than 10 lines. I'll try to make it this weekend.

[Eretria-chan]

I would like to know if its possible to add a funcfion to BENCOS that calculates the hh:mm:ss total of episodes dragged to it. I use windows media player 10 to get the total time and megui's bitrate calculator to bitrate. If BENCOS could at least give me this total time, I could install windows media player 11 (which didn't give me the time in seconds :P). I don't know if it's possible to add a calculator, but that would be great. Something like: add 12 episodes, total time 4 hours, 39 minutes and 36 seconds; desired final size (I would give this): 596.4MB (49.7MBx12). Bitrate that should be used: XXX. :'( :'( Wonderful!!!

It's very hard to implement this, like in megui? I just think that would help a lot!!!

How do you do Stéphane, use a standard bitrate for every anime?
Bitrate is easy to calculate, and aren't there lots of bitrate calc tools out there? Video bitrate / 8 * length (in seconds) + Audio bitrate / 8 * length (in seconds) = size of the final file (in KB).

:eek:
RA5 calculator didn't give me right bitrate, thanks anyway. I think I'll stick with this process I'm familiar to :)

I have this size problems cause I always want to use a full dvd, I thought you could just do the same thing but you had a better solution to calculate.

I think the only thing missing now is an encode list recording after closing (maybe a save list like in RA5) and drag and drop :D

OK then, I'm just happy with it.

Then why not just encode files until you have enough to fill a DVD?

@Sirber:
Maybe this is a silly question, but why use this FreePascal or whatever the name of the langauge was? You're moving from a weird language to another weirder.
C/C++ is standard for most apps, then VB and maybe Delphi, but why this new language? Wouldn't it be easier to use another, like the good old Delphi?

[Sirber]

FreePascal can compile and run on all major operating system, with no fancy coding. It's as easy as Delphi to code, since as Delphi, it is Pascal. Currently Bencos gets more successful encodes than RealAnime.

Also, before trying Lazarus, I tried C# (xAnime), mono (unsuccessful) and RealBasic.

Also, like all my project, whatever the language I use, I always end up being the only one coding it.

[Eretria-chan]

I sense the problem you see is that C/C++ may be cross-platform, but with a lot of it would require a lot of seperate coding for GUI on different platforms? And maybe it's just too complicated for you? / Or you just don't think it's easy enough to be worth the time?
But maybe and just maybe you might get more to join in? Don't know.
So where's Sharktooth? Hiding in the shadows?

What I'd really like right now is to save the encoding list (which you mentioned could be fixed easily? Terrific!) and less problems with those sources that aren't haven't the right Audio Frequency (< 44 HKz?).

It may just be me, but it seems you've just started over with new versions of your GUI from ground up with little changes.
Ah well, Bencos is doing its job, so I guess that's good. You're still doing a good job and there are those who like your software.

[Sirber]

I sense the problem you see is that C/C++ may be cross-platform, but with a lot of it would require a lot of seperate coding for GUI on different platforms? And maybe it's just too complicated for you? / Or you just don't think it's easy enough to be worth the time?
But maybe and just maybe you might get more to join in? Don't know.Tell me more about your GUI... Mine's been working after 5h of work. What about yours? Is C++ that worth? Did it run on linux?

So where's Sharktooth? Hiding in the shadows?Busy with RL?

http://www.getafirstlife.com/

What I'd really like right now is to save the encoding list (which you mentioned could be fixed easily? Terrific!) and less problems with those sources that aren't haven't the right Audio Frequency (< 44 HKz?).
Those will be fixed. When? When I get time.

It may just be me, but it seems you've just started over with new versions of your GUI from ground up with little changes.
Well, I think that no audio sync problems is the most wanted new feature, which sickened me in RA4/5. Since the project is not dead, more features will come.

I think you are ranting because I don't release builds fast enough. Better stop coz it is going nowhere but on my nerves.

[Eretria-chan]

Tell me more about your GUI... Mine's been working after 5h of work. What about yours? Is C++ that worth? Did it run on linux?
The sweetness lies in the code, not the workings of the program. To make advanced code and connect it together into a wonderful GUI is what's best for what I like.
5 hours? Probably takes longer since I do a lot of advanced stuff. Sure, I could get a working GUI in 5 hours if I wanted to.
And I don't have Linux and I don't use it, so I can't really comment on whether it'd work there. And I don't do builds for Linux either. I use Windows. But doesn't there exist... say, Wine?

Busy with RL?
Sharktooth joined your project, no? I was hinting at that - that's all. If everything turns out okay, I guess he'll be back when he gets the time.

Those will be fixed. When? When I get time.
Of course it will. Take your time.

Well, I think that no audio sync problems is the most wanted new feature, which sickened me in RA4/5. Since the project is not dead, more features will come.
I never had such issues... to my knowledge anyway.

I think you are ranting because I don't release builds fast enough. Better stop coz it is going nowhere but on my nerves.

No, not ranting. As I mentioned, BENCOS is working. Sure, fixing the audio could help me the encode the sources that fails to encode now, but there are always OTHER sources that can be encoded in the meantime.
Sure, to save the encoding list would be nice so you don't have to re-add everything all the time would be nice, but the program still works even without it.

Hey, prioritize and take your time to code the thing. Releases are exciting. That's all.

[Sirber]

Thanks for explaining, I guess I mis-interpreted your posts :)

[Eretria-chan]

No problem.
Remember that news about dev is also interesting, so that's another thing to keep one interested rather than a release :)
Real life is import, and so is being able to do other things, so you should do well to take your time. I know this lesson well, and I respect it.
I respect authors of programs. You will release when you think it's time :)

[Sirber]

I post dev news and stuff in my own forum, as well as bugs and problem I and users encounter.

[Eretria-chan]

You do indeed (and it's very interesting!), and I usually keep an eye on the board, but usually post stuff here.

[Weltall]

Bitrate is easy to calculate, and aren't there lots of bitrate calc tools out there? Video bitrate / 8 * length (in seconds) + Audio bitrate / 8 * length (in seconds) = size of the final file (in KB).Silly answer. The only bitrate calculator that worked fine for me was Megui's, wich always give some more kbps than I get manually (4-5), and it's always precisely right. And if I had to calculate manually, the purpose of batch and faster encoding would be lost, for me.

I want a calculator that I could drop 1.000.000.000 episodes to it, insert the total size I wanted and it'd give me the bitrate I had to use for every episodes, not for a single file and I don't want to calculate manually (45500GB*1024*1024*8)/lenght (in seconds, more stuff to calculate) - 32kbps for audio to know the video bitrate I have to use for 45500GB...


Then why not just encode files until you have enough to fill a DVD?Because it could be lasting 48MB of space in a DVD, and the last episode I wanted to put in it was 48.1MB... Btw, I want 90 episodes for each DVD (if I use the same bitrate for every single file, I didn't know how many I could burn), so I get the total bitrate of files and share bitrate properly, for each episodes, accordingly with its length.

Some animes have the same length for every episodes, some have very different durations. If there is 90 episodes of ~23-24 minutes, the quality will be better than 90 of ~24-25:30min. For ~30 minutes series, 55.8-9MB each - 80/DVD. The same for series, 149.1MB for 30 episodes.

That's my point: if I calculate bitrate for each file separately, long eps would be worst than short eps; if I use the same bitrate, I could lose a significant space in a DVD. I like to use every single byte in mines, I like to have full seasons of series/animes on them, I'm very precise with all this, and I had no problem until now...