AVStoDVD Support Thread

[Danette]

I’ve installed version 2.8.5 on my win 7 64-bit machine. Every attempt to open it results in the warning that mscomctl.ocx is not present or correctly registered. It is definitely present and seems to be registered correctly. I have also installed the visual basic 6.0 runtime libraries. Nothing works. Any ideas?

[manolito]

Could be an older version of mscomctl.ocx which was not unregistered. I found some posts at VideoHelp about this problem:

I moved the file MSCOMCTL.OCX to the Windows/system32 directory and that solved the problem.

Or this post:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/313451-BD-Rebuilder-MSCOMCTL-error?p=1949036&viewfull=1#post1949036

Good Luck
manolito

[Mister XY]

I have a small problem with videos in x265 format and chapters. AVS2DVD did not take the chapters from this video source. Under "view source title info" i see the chapter but the chapters did not take this chapters. If i have a x264 source, the chapters are correct.
I have tested it also with a self encodet x265 File. I have encode it in to x265 and also into x264. with x264 i have chapters and with x265 not. Strange

[Danette]

Nothing works:

1) Could be an older version of mscomctl.ocx which was not unregistered.

It is the most recent version (6.1.97.9786)

2) Although I did register the MSCOMCTL.OCX previously, I did so again after your suggestion.

3) Also tried moving the file from the sysWOW64 folder to the System 32 folder, but it is not possible, since the file exists in the sysWOW64 folder, Windows does not allow it to exist in the System 32 folder. As an example, when I move the file from the sysWOW64 folder to the desktop (and it then no longer exists in the sysWOW64 folder) and then try moving it to the System 32 folder, it automatically appears in the sysWOW64 folder and not the System 32 folder.

I’m beginning to wonder if recent Microsoft updates have rendered AVSTODVD useless, as I used a previous version successfully a year ago.

[manolito]

OK, I checked my notebook with Win7-64bit. Latest updates are installed.

I have mscomctl.ocx in my AVStoDVD\Lib folder and in my SysWow64 folder. It is not present in my System32 folder.

The version in the A2D\Lib folder is 6.1.98.34, the version in SysWow64 is 6.1.98.46.

The newer version from the SysWow64 folder is registered, and AVStoDVD 2.85 happily works with this version.


Your version 6.1.97.9786 is hopelessly outdated. I would recommend to unregister all versions first with the "regsvr32 /u" command. Then copy a newer version (the one from the Lib folder) into your SysWow64 folder and register it.


Cheers
manolito

[MrC]

@manolito

thanks for the test, comma bug report and for the updated german translation. Good Xmas gifts indeed! ;)
1.0427 is correct for 24->25 conversion
1.0417 is correct for 23.976 -> 25 conversion
probably noticeable only on very long tracks. Anyway I will fix it.

@Danette

definitively follow manolito's suggestion

@MisterXY

do you have the possibility to update the x265 file anywhere?

;)

Bye

[Mister XY]

@MrC did you mean that i must change my x265 files to x264 files? I got a workaround from user manolito but this is a little bit tricky. But can you also test x265 files with chapters?

[Danette]

Your version 6.1.97.9786 is hopelessly outdated. I would recommend to unregister all versions first with the "regsvr32 /u" command. Then copy a newer version (the one from the Lib folder) into your SysWow64 folder and register it

Thank you.

I had tried that but the installer did not install the MSCOMCTL.OCX file into the AVSTODVD Lib folder (I tried reinstalling several times), nor did it replace the old version in the SysWOW64 folder. I solved it by deleting the older MSCOMCTL.OCX file in SysWOW64 and then uninstalled and reinstalled AVSTODVD, which placed the newer MSCOMCTL.OCX file into both the SysWOW64 and AVSTODVD folders.

AVSTODVD works fine now.

[manolito]

1.0427 is correct for 24->25 conversion
1.0417 is correct for 23.976 -> 25 conversion


Are you sure?
I believe it is the other way around:
1.0417 is correct for 24->25 conversion
1.0427 is correct for 23.976 -> 25 conversion

But then again my math capabilities are limited, am I making a complete fool out of myself?


Whatever, a Happy New Year to everyone...
manolito

[MrC]

1.0417 is correct for 24->25 conversion
1.0427 is correct for 23.976 -> 25 conversion


100% correct

;)

Bye

[Danette]

In the spirit of an all-in-one approach to creating a DVD compliant video (in my case, from an MKV with an m2v stream), is it possible to add custom Avs script within AVStoDVD, such as can be done in software such as MeGUI for MP4? I know I can create a separate Avs output in an AVI and then run it through AVStoDVD, but then that’s an added step.

[Mister XY]

@MrC did you mean that i must change my x265 files to x264 files? I got a workaround from user manolito but this is a little bit tricky. But can you also test x265 files with chapters?

[manolito]

In the spirit of an all-in-one approach to creating a DVD compliant video (in my case, from an MKV with an m2v stream), is it possible to add custom Avs script within AVStoDVD, such as can be done in software such as MeGUI for MP4? I know I can create a separate Avs output in an AVI and then run it through AVStoDVD, but then that’s an added step.

Since AVStoDVD creates an individual input AVS script for every input file (without using a template which a user could modify) I do not see a way to add your custom AVS script without an additional step.

As I see it you can do it in two different ways:
1. Use an AVS script as your input for AVStoDVD. The script might look like this:
{My Source Filter}("{Full Path to the Input File}")
Crop(0,0, -Width % 4,-Height % 4)
ConvertToYV12()
{My custom Filter #1}
{My custom Filter #2}
{My custom Filter #3}

But you will have to edit the script for each different input file and enter the input filespec.


2. Create a template of your custom filters like this:
{My custom Filter #1}
{My custom Filter #2}
{My custom Filter #3}

Save this as an AVS file, then you must edit your script within AVStoDVD for every input file and add these lines right after the "ConvertToYV12()" command:
Last = Video
Import("My_Custom_Filters.avs")
Video = Last


A third way would be to write a wrapper plugin (like my ff_vbr plugin) which intercepts the encoder call and alters the input AVS script before executing the encoder. This would have to be done separately for ffmpeg and HCenc. (I have no intention to do this... :devil: )


Cheers
manolito

[MrC]

@Danette

you can already add an avs script file as input title. AVStoDVD will use the Import() function to load the AviSynth script. Of course, if the script is not DVD compliant, AVStoDVD will add the proper commands to make it compliant. I don't know if this covers your needs, you can try ;)

@MisterXY

Let's try it. Start uploading the x265 file...

;)

Bye

[manolito]

New version of my AVStoDVD plugins:

This time only the Wavi_mod plugin has changed. I added the LoudNorm filter by Kyle Swanson which is part of current FFmpeg versions. Download here:
http://www90.zippyshare.com/v/yQgp0Kmu/file.html

This filter normalizes audio tracks for a target loudness level according to the EBU R128 standard. The difference to using the BS1770Gain routine is that if the gain correction would cause clipping, Loudnorm uses a dynamic correction adding some real DRC plus a fast lookahead peak limiter. I use a LoudNorm wrapper tool called "WinLoudCLI" by Muxson. This tool makes it easy to work in 1-pass, 2-pass or SMART mode, it adds a progress indicator, plus it allows for easy creation of a log file.


Cheers
manolito

[Mister XY]

I hope this sample is good enough.
http://www20.zippyshare.com/v/2SXfFUrK/file.html

[manolito]

Hi Mister XY,

you are right, AVStoDVD seems to be unable to recognize chapters from this file. First I thought that the reason could be that you are cheating a little bit (you muxed a 12sec video track with a 1hour 39min audio track). But when I tested a file with matching track lengths I got the same behavior. Converting the file to AVC video solved the issue.

Until MrC fixes the problem you need to use some workaround. The easiest workaround I found is using "ChapterEditor" by hubblec4. Click the "Convert" tab, load the source MKV and save the chapters to a file using the "Celltimes" format. Select the fps value of the target, not the source. Then import this Celltimes chapter file directly into AVStoDVD.


Cheers
manolito

[Mister XY]

That's was only one movie from many more with this problem.

[hurricane51]

Thank you.

I had tried that but the installer did not install the MSCOMCTL.OCX file into the AVSTODVD Lib folder (I tried reinstalling several times), nor did it replace the old version in the SysWOW64 folder. I solved it by deleting the older MSCOMCTL.OCX file in SysWOW64 and then uninstalled and reinstalled AVSTODVD, which placed the newer MSCOMCTL.OCX file into both the SysWOW64 and AVSTODVD folders.

AVSTODVD works fine now.

Thanks so much for this tip. My AVS2DVD installation works fine now.

[Mister XY]

No solution?

[MrC]

@Mister XY

I apologize for the delay, unfortunately I have very little time for AV stuff in these days. But do not give up, I will try to come back with a reply asap.

;)

Bye

[Mister XY]

Ah thanks for the info.

[MrC]

A new Alpha release is available to download (https://sourceforge.net/projects/avstodvd/files/avstodvd_alpha_beta/AVStoDVD%202.8.6%20Alpha%20170131/).

Change log:

- Some bugs fixed
- Added '-filter:v "setpts=x*PTS"' command flag to FFmpeg Safe Mode video encoding routine in case of PAL SpeedUp or NTSC SlowDown
- Improved troubleshooting of mscomctl.ocx file missing or broken
- LAV Filters updated to release 0.69
- FFMpegSource plugin updated to release 2.22 r1140 (C plugin)

;)

Bye

[manolito]

Mille Grazie for the new version... :thanks:

Did some comprehensive tests, works beautifully:

Mister XY will be happy to hear that chapters in HEVC sources are now recognized correctly.

SpeedUp and SpeedDown when using FFmpeg safe mode now work nicely for both audio and video (Neat trick modifying the vdeo time stamps. I was looking for something like AssumeFPS in FFmpeg without success).

I could not test the new safeguards for mscomctl.ocx because I never had any problems.

The new alpha still comes with a slightly damaged German language file. The correct file is still here:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1790801#post1790801


Thanks again
Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

And here comes a new version of my Plugins for AVStoDVD...

This time only the Wavi_Mod plugin was updated. No new functionality, I just replaced Aften with FFmpeg for the final encode to AC3.

The only reason was that all the audio experts agree that the AC3 encoder in FFmpeg delivers better quality than Aften. I am not sure if the difference is audible, but whatever, in AVStoDVD we always aim for the highest quality, right?

I took great care to make sure that large 6-ch audio files where the size of the intermediate WAV file is > 4GB are supported. Thanks to tebasuna51 for providing essential help.

Download here:
Link removed, get the file here:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1801413#post1801413

Cheers
manolito

[MrC]

Thanks manolito for the plugins package update and for the German lang file. I had alreday downloaded it, but never copied from Download folder to A2D Lang folder... my bad...

;)

Bye

[ChickenMan]

Gi'day Manolito, great to see your still active here old friend :)

I recently had to convert a few AVI's to DVD and decided I had better install something to do it. Now on Win10 x64 all my old stuff no longer works. So upgraded my old installation of AVS2DVD to the latest, fixed the mscomctl.ocx registration and did my first conversion, well for a very long time, avi to dvd. All went well as expected, so thanks MrC for continuing to support the program.

Cheers,
cm

[manolito]

Hey ChickenMan,

good to see you again after a long time (last time we talked was in 2014, and before this in 2010)... :eek:

We do go back a long time, I remember you had published a tutorial for DVD2SVCD on another forum (defunkt now, I even forgot the name). This was when I just started with conversions to SVCD (DVD burners were not even available at this time). Man, we've gotten old...

I still have DVD2SVCD on my machine, but not really using it. Generally the DVD format seems to fade quickly, I myself do not use it any more. I used to burn my TV captures to DVD for a long time, but this became unmanageable for the sheer number of disks. I now convert everything to AVC / AAC and copy it to an external HDD, I got a little streaming box (Xtreamer Sidewinder) to watch the stuff. And right now even AVC looks out of fashion, everybody seems to use HEVC.


But yes, AVStoDVD is still fun, I hope that MrC will stick with it for a while. I am also a little bit involved in DVDStyler. My little FFmpeg VBR plugin got so popular over there that Mr. Thuering (the author) decided to integrate it transparently into his software. Now DVDStyler in addition to elaborate menu creation can also do high quality FFmpeg based transcodings.


All my best wishes to you...
Cheers
manolito

[ChickenMan]

Good to hear from you Manolito :) Arr... yes the good old DVD2SVCD days at CDFreaks back in the early days of this century :) Now I'm really starting to feel old !!!!

Like yourself and the low price of hard drive space now compared to those days, its much easier to store your files on a HD and stream them to the TV. Or just get Netflix's or similar :)

Nowadays I spend more of my time involved with the retro computer, Aussie designed & built Microbee.

Keep up the good work :)

Cheers,
cm

[manolito]

Arr... yes the good old DVD2SVCD days at CDFreaks back in the early days of this century :) Now I'm really starting to feel old !!!!


You remember this one?
http://forum.dvdrbase.info/threads/26515-How-to-backup-your-DVD-to-DVD±R

[ChickenMan]

DVDRBase, oh yes, the forum Woody & I started back in 2001. I dont believe it, those tutes are still there !! I dont believe the Forum is still there as well !!!

How things have changed over the years though, we now have the all in one programs, you just install, load in file and click GO ! No fun in that, but we had lots of fun back in those days :)

[manolito]

Changes:

In HCenc_Mod and FFmpeg_VBR you can now add parameters to the AviSynth resizer commands.

Example:
You want to use BlackmanResize, but always with the "taps=5" parameter. Instead of editing the AVS script for every source you can now force using this parameter all the time.


Bug fix for the Wavi_Mod plugin:
If the AVStoDVD temp folder or output folder had spaces in their names, the folder would not be recognized.


Download:
Link removed, see the next post...

Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

Another new version...

While I already was at manipulating the A2D AviSynth script, I decided to take it one step further. Now it is possible to inject your own custom AVS commands into the script. These commands will be imported into the script right after the "ConvertToYV12()" command.

Of course all the filters you call with this method must be present in your "AviSynth\Plugins" folder. And there is one drawback:

The A2D preview will not honor those additional filters. As a workaround you can start the encode and pause it immediately (for FFmpeg press the "Pause" button on the keyboard, in HCenc press the "Suspend" button). Then go to your AVStoDVD Temp folder in Explorer and open the AVS file in a DirectShow media player like MPC or WMP.


Download:
//Link removed//


Cheers
manolito


//EDIT//
Improved filtering of interlaced sources using JDL_UnfoldFieldsVertical and JDL_FoldFieldsVertical by Stickboy. Needs jdl-interlace.avsi and jdl-util.avsi from here: http://www.avisynth.nl/users/stickboy/
Switching to interlaced mode will be automatic

Please redownload...

[manolito]

And another new version of my plugin pack for AVStoDVD:

Until now the Wavi_Mod plugin required that the AVStoDVD executable had to patched. This was very clumsy, and some users had problems with this requirement. So I decided to revamp Wavi_Mod so patching is no longer necessary... :D

Until now I had hacked Wavi.exe to access the parameters issued by AVStoDVD. I moved this to FFmpeg.exe, so now in order to invoke the plugin the audio conversion method must be set to "FFmpeg (AviSynth)" instead of the previous "Wavi + Aften".

Everything else stays the same, there is no new functionality. The "hacked" FFmpeg.exe now works for both FFmpeg_VBR and for Wavi_Mod.

Before installing the new version of Wavi_Mod please uninstall the previous version. Also make sure to replace the patched "AVStoDVD.exe" with the original unpatched version.

Download from here:
Link removed, get it here:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1814855#post1814855


Cheers
manolito

[MrC]

Just released 2.8.6 Final (https://sourceforge.net/projects/avstodvd/files/avstodvd/AVStoDVD%202.8.6/). No significant changes from latest Alpha, except there's the Installer package.

;)

Bye

[manolito]

:thanks:

[MrC]

AVStoDVD release 2.8.7 Alpha 170810 is available (https://sourceforge.net/projects/avstodvd/files/avstodvd_alpha_beta/AVStoDVD%202.8.7%20Alpha%20170810/)

Changes log:

- Some bugs fixed
- Added support to WebM files (*.webm) as input files, subset of Matroska
- Added warning messages when AVC/AAC title is added and Microsoft DTV-DVD decoders are default codecs
- Added a warning message when input title has a DVD compliant audio track with delay, to force audio re-encode
- Added check of .NET Framework 2 presence in 'Preferences'/'System'/'Software Info'
- Revised video encoder smart selection rationale: no more HCenc VBR 1-pass for multicore CPUs
- Improved handling of "non-mod4" interlaced sources within the AviSynth script generation routine
- LAV Filters updated to release 0.70.2

It is an Alpha release, please advise if you get problems with the new (and old ;) ) features.

;)

Bye

[manolito]

Thanks for the new Alpha... :thanks:

Works nicely here, I found just one minor thing:
For some reason the older slightly broken version of my German language file found its way into the Alpha. The version in the stable version 2.8.6 is the correct one.


Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

Here comes a new version of my plugin package for AVStoDVD:

Only the FFmpeg VBR plugin is affected. After MrC changed this in the latest Alpha:
Revised video encoder smart selection rationale: no more HCenc VBR 1-pass for multicore CPUs

I decided to bring the FFmpeg VBR behavior more in line with the HCenc behavior. It works like this:

Like for HCenc the different encoding modes are automatically selected depending on the video bitrate. The bitrate thresholds are stored in the Registry, and the ff_vbr plugin uses these values just like HCenc. It also uses the High Quality parameters which can be turned on under "Preferences".

The difference to HCenc is that there is an additional "Extreme High Quality" mode which only kicks in if the bitrate goes below the Extreme HQ threshold (can be edited in the batch file) AND the FFmpeg HQ mode is activated.

Of course these automatic mode decisions can be overturned by forcing certain encoding and HQ modes (can be turned on by editing the batch file).

All in all this makes the plugin behavior more consistent with the A2D behavior for HCenc so it is more powerful and also less confusing than it was before.


Another change is that the plugin mode is now shown in the title bar of the encoding window. This kind of makes up for the still missing separate VBR encoding log.


Download here:
https://files.videohelp.com/u/172211/Manolito_s%20A2D%20Plugins.7z

Cheers
manolito



//EDIT//
This kind of makes up for the still missing separate VBR encoding log.
No longer true... :D
The latest version of the FFmpeg_VBR plugin now creates a separate log file in the A2D output folder. Please redownload if you want this feature.

//EDIT2//
Adapted the plugins to the latest AVStoDVD Alpha 171109. The DSS2Mod patch was removed since the latest Alpha uses DSS2Mod by default. Also improved the documentation.

[MrC]

Thanks manolito for the new plugin update and for the German language file advise.

;)

Bye

[manolito]

I have been meaning to compile this little list for a long time, here it is finally. I will try to keep this list current as good as I can...

Since I still use the software on an ancient machine with a non-SSE2 CPU under Windows XP I took special care to point out which updates require newer hardware or software.

Please note that if you want to upgrade you absolutely have to download and use the 32-bit versions of the applications. All 64-bit software cannot be used under AVStoDVD


Here is a list of the AVStoDVD helper applications which can be updated to newer versions. I also tested the compatibility with Win XP and with CPUs without SSE2 capabilitiy (Intel Pentium 3 and older AMD Athlons).

According to the "Requirements" section in the A2D help file an SSE2 capable CPU is required, but I found that this is not necessarily true. The only helper software which requires SSE2 at the moment is LAV Filters, and it can easily be replaced by the slightly older version 0.69.0.85.

.NET Framework 2.0 is only necessary for SubtitleCreator. For users who do not need subtitles .NET Framework is not required for using AVStoDVD.

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) must be installed for BDSup2Sub. The program was last updated in 2013, but it works flawlessly using the current JRE Version (32-bit of course).


AviSynth:
Version 2.60 is required (the latest 2.61 Alpha also causes no problems).

AVS+ is now supported, but the user is responsible to modify the AVS script to enable multitasking. Only use the latest official version which can be found here:
https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus/releases

To enable multithreading the command "Prefetch(n)" must be appended to the AVS script which is created by AVStoDVD (where "n" is the number of prefetch threads). Users of my FFmpeg_VBR and HCenc_Mod plugins have the option to do this automatically.

LAV Filters:
The current LAV versions require Windows Vista or higher. For a non-SSE2 CPU the nightly build 0.69.0.85 is the latest working version, under Win XP the latest working nightly is LAVFilters-0.70.2-16. So you may have to downgrade...

AVSMeter:
The latest AVStoDVD version comes with a modified AVSMeter version which does not check all the autoload plugins. This speeds up the program start considerably. The current official versions have slightly changed calling parameters, so these cannot be used with AVStoDVD.

BatchMux:
Newer versions than version 1.4.1 which is bundled with A2D are NOT compatible.

ColorMatrix:
AVStoDVD ships with the latest Tritical version 2.5. There is a newer version 2.6 from 2018 which adds support for Rec.2020 which is widely used for UHD clips. The latest build by Groucho2004 does not even require a CPU with SSE2 support. Download here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/aj88vdobroxjbkd/ColorMatrix26.7z/file
If you want to upgrade please use the 32-bit version. Please note that AVStoDVD does not take any action if MediaInfo detects a source with BT.2020 color. You need to manually add ColorMatrix in the "View/Edit Title Settings -> AviSynth" tab and specity 4 for the source format and 2 for the target format.

DGIndex:
The included version 1.58 was recently updated to version 2.0.01. There also is an ICL build 1.58 by Groucho2004 which is slightly faster and works well. Download the file "dgmpgdec158_ICL.7z" from here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/q9d34pu3d2co6px/dgmpgdec158_ICL.7z/file
Extract the files from the archive into the "DGIndex" subfolder, the file "DGDecode.dll" must be extracted into the "Lib" subfolder additionally.
The new version 2.0.01 does no longer work under WinXP and/or a CPU without SSE2 support.

FFmpeg:
The included version 2.2.3 is from 2014 and is slowly getting a little old. For the purpose of AVStoDVD it probably has everything it needs, though...
If you want to upgrade to a later version, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Starting with version 3.1.2 the FFmpeg AVS interface has changed. To work with A2D it is necessary to include the folder "...\AVStoDVD\Lib" in your "PATH" environment variable. It is also recommended to include the folder "...\AviSynth\Plugins" in the "PATH" variable.

Current FFmpeg versions do NOT work under Win XP. Reino (formerly CoRoNe) still builds recent XP compatible versions, get them here:
http://rwijnsma.home.xs4all.nl/files/ffmpeg/

The latest and highly recommended version which works under Win XP and does not require to modify the "PATH" variable is this one from July 2016 by rogerdpack:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ffmpegwindowsbi/files/2016-07-18/ffmpeg.static.2016-07-18-g450cf40.32-bit.ffmpeg-static-xp-compatible.zip/download
Please note that my latest Wavi_Mod plugin needs (and comes with) a newer FFmpeg version than this one to make the upmix routines work. But this is only for the Wavi_Mod plugin, it has nothing to do with the FFmpeg version which AVStoDVD itself uses.

FFMS2 (FFmpegSource):
AVStoDVD comes with the ffms2 C-plugin for AVS version 2.27 by qyot27. The latest version which works under Win XP is FFMS2 C-plugin r1315+119 version 2.30, It is available for download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/oi31n1lcrzdvkno/ffms2_r1315%2B119-avs%2Bvsp_lastxp.7z
This version works nicely under AVStoDVD. One thing I did notice, though, is that it is less tolerant with problematic or broken source files than other ffms2 versions.
The last ffms2 version which does handle problematic sources flawlessly is FFMS2 C-plugin 1140+101 from 2016. Highly recommended. Get it here:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1783312#post1783312
The current C-plugin versions need at least Windows Vista, get them here:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1829061#post1829061

Good news for WinXP users (even without SSE2 capable CPUs):
CoRoNe (aka Reino) started to build XP compatible versions of the ffms2 C-Plugins, get them here:
http://rwijnsma.home.xs4all.nl/files/ffms2/
Highly recommended...

Switching from the C-plugin to the Standard-plugin version is possible, but it requires to patch the AVStoDVD executable with a hex editor. I do not see any advantages compared to the C-Plugin, but if you insist, let me know...

One note of caution:
It is NOT recommended to have a different ffms2 version in your "...\AviSynth\Plugins" folder. If you do it is much safer to copy the files ffms2.dll and ffms2.avsi from the AVStoDVD\Lib folder into the AviSynth\Plugins folder.

MediaInfo:
Works up to version 18.05. Later versions are NOT compatible with AVStoDVD..

MKVtoolNix:
The only file from the package which is actually used by AVStoDVD is "mkvextract.exe". The last version which works under Win XP is v29.0.0.

Mplex:
AVStoDVD comes with two different Mplex versions, a "normal" version and a version which requires SSE2. In my experience the SSE2 version has no advantages whatsoever, in my tests it was even slower than the normal version. I recommend to leave everything as it is.

SubtitleCreator:
AVStoDVD comes with the latest stable version 2.2. There is a newer release candidate version 2.3 available, but the author stopped working on it in 2008, so I did not test it under A2D.


All other helper applications are current. Most of them are static, i.e. there will probably be no more updates for them.


Comments and corrections welcome... ;)


Here is the link to the current version of my plugins for AVStoDVD:
https://files.videohelp.com/u/172211/Manolito_s%20A2D%20Plugins.7z

The package consists of FFmpeg_VBR (adds VBR modes for the FFmpeg encoder), Wavi_Mod (offers alternative audio normalizing modes) and HCenc_Mod (users can add custom parameters to HC.ini). The FFmpeg_VBR and HCenc_Mod plugins also allow to automatically enable AVS+ Multithreading using very stable settings, a guide and some additional tools are included.


Cheers
manolito

[Groucho2004]

AVSMeter:
The current versions are NOT compatible with AVStoDVD (different log file format).
I suppose it's the video frame size formatting that has changed? I can revert this (at least in the log file), no big deal.

[manolito]

Sorry I have no idea... :confused:

With AVSMeter 2.6.1 I get an error message complaining that the AVSInfo.log file could not be read. No further explanation what exactly caused the error. Using AVSMeter 2.1.3 users never get to see this log file, so there is no way to compare the two versions.

Whatever, it is not worth the trouble to fix this. For AVStoDVD the old version 2.1.3 works nicely, and since the software is small and portable users can easily keep a current version of AVSMeter in a different HDD folder.


Cheers
manolito

[Groucho2004]

With AVSMeter 2.6.1 I get an error message complaining that the AVSInfo.log file could not be read.It should work again with 2.6.2.

[manolito]

It should work again with 2.6.2.
Yes it does, thanks a lot...

Just one minor catch:
Older versions of AVSMeter could read the previous INI file and take over the settings to the new INI file. This does not work here. If the older INI file from 2.1.3 is still present in the AVSMeter folder then the new version 2.6.2 will crash. No big deal, I just need to tell users to clean the AVSMeter folder completely before upgrading to the latest version.


Thanks again
manolito

[Groucho2004]

Just one minor catch:
Older versions of AVSMeter could read the previous INI file and take over the settings to the new INI file. This does not work here. If the older INI file from 2.1.3 is still present in the AVSMeter folder then the new version 2.6.2 will crash.
That's a very easy fix (already done for 2.6.3).

[manolito]

That's a very easy fix (already done for 2.6.3).
Confirmed...
And :thanks:

[MrC]

A new 2.8.7 alpha release is available to download (https://sourceforge.net/projects/avstodvd/files/avstodvd_alpha_beta/AVStoDVD%202.8.7%20Alpha%20170921/).

Change log (cumulative from 2.8.6):

- Some bugs fixed
- Added support to WebM files (*.webm) as input files, subset of Matroska
- Added warning messages when AVC/AAC title is added and Microsoft DTV-DVD decoders are default codecs
- Added a warning message when input title has a DVD compliant audio track with delay, to force audio re-encode
- Added check of .NET Framework 2 presence in 'Preferences'/'System'/'Software Info'
- Added BDSup2Sub 5.1.2 to improve bitmap-based subs handling (resize and resync). It requires Java Runtime Environment
- Added check of Java Runtime Environment presence in 'Preferences'/'System'/'Software Info'
- Improved support of VobSub subtitles: resize and resync from BD sources is now implemented with BDSup2Sub
- Improved handling of "non-mod4" interlaced sources within the AviSynth script generation routine
- Revised video encoder smart selection rationale: no more HCenc VBR 1-pass for multicore CPUs
- LAV Filters updated to release 0.70.2
- AVSMeter updated to release 2.6.5

;)

Bye

[manolito]

Thanks for the new Alpha...

Did some short tests and found no problems. For the new addition BDSup2Sub I only checked that it runs at all on my ancient computer and that it also works using the current JRE Version 8 Update 144 (32-bit).


Cheers
manolito

[MrC]

Hi manolito, thanks for the feedback on the new Alpha.

I'm planning to alter a bit the routine to select the FPS conversion method, specifically for 30p/60p sources.

Currently, if Pulldown, SelectEven, PAL SpeedUp, NTSC SlowDown are not selected/feasible, then MotionProtectedFPS is used by default (with the option for the user to switch to ChangeFPS or ConvertFPS in Preferences section). MotionProtectedFPS does usually its job nicely, but we know it can introduce edge artifacts.

Nowadays many HD/FullHD sources are 30p and, when output is NTSC, probably the best approach could be to drop few frames (from 30 to 29.97) with ChangeFPS instead of applying motion compensation. Same for 60p sources: first SelectEven than ChangeFPS. Instead for PAL output the frames drop approach from 30p could provoke too much jerkiness.

What do you think? (open question to all Doom9 expert users, of course)

;)

Bye