Getting a 16:9 AVI from a DVD using AutoGK

[maxhavoc]

Does anyone know how I can get a movie to output in a 16:9 aspect ratio using AutoGK? It seems like every combination of settings I use gives me some weird AR that nowhere approximates 16:9. I want to be able to watch my movies full screen and my monitor is 16:10 so 16:9 is close enough.

I tried using the override input AR and force 16:9 but even that wouldn't get the output to be 16:9. Is it possible?

[Mtz]

Post your logfile.

enjoy,
Mtz

[maxhavoc]

Ok, attached is my log file. This has about 6 attempts to encode a movie with various settings.

[maxhavoc]

Ok, related question. Why is that when I have a source DVD which is 720x480 and I do quality based encoding (which keeps the source width) does the output AVI become 720x304? Why does it crop so much? 720x480 is 1.5:1 which is fairly close to 16:9 (1.777:1) so why is the output AR so massively screwed up? Why can't it keep the source ratio?

[brokenmachine65]

AutoGK always crops... I lose I would say at least 4% of the horizontal image on every single wide screen encode that i have done (well over 600) I have the .autocrop settings for every encode set to 0 threshold but still crops it. Thats the trade off of ease of use compared to full GK I suppose.

Oh well thats what happens when a project is not longer being worked on..(understandable) soon tho i I will refit my storage server with 8TB of storage and just forgo the encoding and instead just do full VOB dvd files...

[maxhavoc]

When you rip, what resolution do you set to? Do you override the AR? Do you used fixed width?

Also, something is really confusing me. NTSC resolution is 720x480, but 16x9 resolution for a widescreen movie is 853x480. So when I rip, what resolution should I rip to? The 16x9 or the NTSC? My goal is to get it as close to the DVD as possible.

[Poopoo]

AutoGK always crops... I lose I would say at least 4% of the horizontal image on every single wide screen encode that i have done (well over 600) I have the .autocrop settings for every encode set to 0 threshold but still crops it. Thats the trade off of ease of use compared to full GK I suppose.

Oh well thats what happens when a project is not longer being worked on..(understandable) soon tho i I will refit my storage server with 8TB of storage and just forgo the encoding and instead just do full VOB dvd files...

This has already been posted here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1062575) and happily been ignored, because they know it's a serious flaw which cannot be fixed that easily.:sly:

[brokenmachine65]

I wasn't asking for a fix... I was Telling another user that there is no fix.....

[maxhavoc]

I wasn't asking for a fix... I was Telling another user that there is no fix.....

So what settings do you use to rip a DVD to AVI if you want the final movie to be as close to a DVD as possible?

[CWR03]

So what settings do you use to rip a DVD to AVI if you want the final movie to be as close to a DVD as possible?
Is there something wrong with the video file you're getting? Is the video stretched where people look taller, or squashed where they look short and fat? If not, AutoGK is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing. If you want a 16:9 output of a letterboxed 2.35:1 film, you have to leave some of the borders. 720x304 is close to 2.35:1, but if you want to keep 480 height, set the output width to 1120.

[brokenmachine65]

I set the .autocrop settings to a 0 threshhold. Gets as much of the original movie as possible.

CWR03: He means that some of the video is missing. IE cropped unnecessarily, a known problem with AutoGK. For an example encode any widescreen dvd with AGK and compare A/B style on a TV with a reg player hooked up (or a HTPC w/ DVD player) with the original disc. You will see the image is cropped no matter what settings are used.

[CWR03]

CWR03: He means that some of the video is missing. IE cropped unnecessarily, a known problem with AutoGK. For an example encode any widescreen dvd with AGK and compare A/B style on a TV with a reg player hooked up (or a HTPC w/ DVD player) with the original disc. You will see the image is cropped no matter what settings are used.
He never said there's missing video, he complained about the final aspect being different from the original size of 720 x 480, which it's supposed to be when the letterboxing is cropped away. Yes, AutoGK will sometimes crop more than you might want, because it tries to remove all the black borders and autocrops in increments of 16, which is why there's a Preview and the Ctrl + F9 hidden options so you can fine-tune it.

I have the .autocrop settings for every encode set to 0 threshold but still crops it.
That's probably because you didn't check the box to enable the crop settings. Just setting it to 0 or adjusting the crop manually won't do anything if that box is unchecked.

[brokenmachine65]

He never said there's missing video, he complained about the final aspect being different from the original size of 720 x 480, which it's supposed to be when the letterboxing is cropped away. Yes, AutoGK will sometimes crop more than you might want, because it tries to remove all the black borders and autocrops in increments of 16, which is why there's a Preview and the Ctrl + F9 hidden options so you can fine-tune it.


That's probably because you didn't check the box to enable the crop settings. Just setting it to 0 or adjusting the crop manually won't do anything if that box is unchecked.

:rolleyes: You're kidding right? How the hell would anyone make the error of not checking the box? I know the settings are being picked up because there is an entry in the log stating such,just autoGK still crops the data.

[manono]

I set the .autocrop settings to a 0 threshhold. Gets as much of the original movie as possible.
And leaves you open to having bad AR as a result.
For an example encode any widescreen dvd with AGK and compare A/B style on a TV with a reg player hooked up (or a HTPC w/ DVD player) with the original disc. You will see the image is cropped no matter what settings are used.
Are you saying that even with the box checked and the threshold set to zero it's still being cropped? How does that compare with what I quoted of yours just above. Are you saying that with a threshold of zero it still gets cropped, but just a bit less than if you hadn't changed the settings in the Hidden Options?
This has already been posted here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1062575) and happily been ignored, because they know it's a serious flaw which cannot be fixed that easily.:sly:
Nonsense. If you check those 2 pics to which you linked, you'll notice that while AutoGK is cropping from the sides to maintain the AR, avi.NET is cropping from the top and bottom. Me, I'd rather have the cropping done from the sides.

Look, in order to resize to MOD16 and keep the AR Error as low as possible, it's often necessary to crop into the active video. There's no way around that, unless you'd prefer to keep part of the black bars in there, or unless you think having the moon be a slight oval is preferable. You can crop from the top and bottom, or you can crop from the sides. I recommended to lenox at the time AutoGK was being developed that the cropping be done from the sides. Why? Because 2.35:1 movies sometimes turned out to be 640x256 rather than 640x272. Why would that happen? Because many of them aren't really 2.35:1, but maybe 2.40:1, and if you crop from the top and bottom you get 640x256, making them even more narrow than they already are.

That's just the way it is. It's not a flaw as Poopoo seems to think. It's done that way on purpose. The interesting thing is that no one is complaining about bad AR, people being too tall and thin or too short and fat, or a ball being oval shaped. The complaint is about a couple of pixels being cut from the sides. Personally, I think the whole thing is silly. If you're going to be so anal about the whole thing, then obviously AutoGK isn't for you. You've advanced way beyond AutoGK. Make your AviSynth script yourself, crop and resize however you like, and encode yourself in VDubMod. That way people like maxhavoc can get their 720x480 AVI and then wonder why all the people look so tall and skinny, and wonder why those black bars are above and below the video.

[CWR03]

You're kidding right? How the hell would anyone make the error of not checking the box? I know the settings are being picked up because there is an entry in the log stating such,just autoGK still crops the data.
The only way AutoGK will crop if the crop threshold is set to 0 is if the box is unchecked. I've seen here a number of times where someone would make that mistake.

Perhaps you're assuming the video missing from the sides is AutoGK's fault and not the normal overscan from your TV.

[brokenmachine65]

The only way AutoGK will crop if the crop threshold is set to 0 is if the box is unchecked. I've seen here a number of times where someone would make that mistake.

Perhaps you're assuming the video missing from the sides is AutoGK's fault and not the normal overscan from your TV.

It's missing from the top and bottom.....

[laserfan]

If you're going to be so anal about the whole thing, then obviously AutoGK isn't for you. You've advanced way beyond AutoGK. Make your AviSynth script yourself, crop and resize however you like, and encode yourself in VDubMod.:goodpost:

In my case I advanced to StaxRip. Lets me tweak anything & everything! :)

[brokenmachine65]

And leaves you open to having bad AR as a result.

Are you saying that even with the box checked and the threshold set to zero it's still being cropped? How does that compare with what I quoted of yours just above. Are you saying that with a threshold of zero it still gets cropped, but just a bit less than if you hadn't changed the settings in the Hidden Options?

Nonsense. If you check those 2 pics to which you linked, you'll notice that while AutoGK is cropping from the sides to maintain the AR, avi.NET is cropping from the top and bottom. Me, I'd rather have the cropping done from the sides.

Look, in order to resize to MOD16 and keep the AR Error as low as possible, it's often necessary to crop into the active video. There's no way around that, unless you'd prefer to keep part of the black bars in there, or unless you think having the moon be a slight oval is preferable. You can crop from the top and bottom, or you can crop from the sides. I recommended to lenox at the time AutoGK was being developed that the cropping be done from the sides. Why? Because 2.35:1 movies sometimes turned out to be 640x256 rather than 640x272. Why would that happen? Because many of them aren't really 2.35:1, but maybe 2.40:1, and if you crop from the top and bottom you get 640x256, making them even more narrow than they already are.

That's just the way it is. It's not a flaw as Poopoo seems to think. It's done that way on purpose. The interesting thing is that no one is complaining about bad AR, people being too tall and thin or too short and fat, or a ball being oval shaped. The complaint is about a couple of pixels being cut from the sides. Personally, I think the whole thing is silly. If you're going to be so anal about the whole thing, then obviously AutoGK isn't for you. You've advanced way beyond AutoGK. Make your AviSynth script yourself, crop and resize however you like, and encode yourself in VDubMod. That way people like maxhavoc can get their 720x480 AVI and then wonder why all the people look so tall and skinny, and wonder why those black bars are above and below the video.

My complaint (and it was only to tell another user that this is the way it is with AutoGK) is that it crops from the TOP and BOTTOM of a wide screen video. My AR is not off as no one is to tall or to too fat.. etc. The image data is simply missing. Now before the master of the obvious chimes in with "Not all widescreen movies fill the screen" I know this, When I compare two xvid files 1 encoded with autoGK and 1 doing a manual encode with Vdub the AGK file (with autocrop options on and set to 0) is cropped on top and bottom by a variable amount (variable across diff movies not the same movie). Which is the oddest thing...

Anyway This is gone way to far... I was just letting another user know something that has been an issue for a long time that will never be fixed. Just a tradeoff for ease of use.

[manono]

My complaint (and it was only to tell another user that this is the way it is with AutoGK) is that it crops from the TOP and BOTTOM of a wide screen video.
Possibly the tiniest amount sometimes, because the YV12 colorspace requires Mod2 height crops if progressive and Mod4 height crops if interlaced. That is, when cropping the top, if, for example, a 3 pixel crop will take care of it, the colorspace requires that 4 pixels be cropped. In addition, the statement of yours I just quoted directly contradicts another of your statements from earlier in the thread, "I lose I would say at least 4% of the horizontal image on every single wide screen encode that i have done (well over 600). Which sounds to me like the normal overscan loss, as CWR03 was speculating.
I was just letting another user know something that has been an issue for a long time that will never be fixed.
Since your original post had absolutely nothing to do with the OP's question, I can only conclude you were pushing an agenda. He was wondering why a 2.35:1 movie didn't wind up with a ratio more like 16:9 (720x400 or somesuch, I would guess), instead of the 720x304 he was getting. That subject is not at all related to your alleged AutoGK overcropping.

[avdw]

Hohoo, let me just add my .02 , not if any of those diehards care, but let this be for beginners then.

I understand that the majority of encoding people using AutoGK don't even look at the encoded file, let alone finding out that the quality sucks compared to other tools like avi.NET, and they definatelly don't pay attention to the fact that autoGK just cheated on them.

Those tools don't trick you with stupid things like "hidden CTRL-F9 menu's" to give you the impression of opening the door to the holey grail of encoding, NO, these things do it all by themselves, AND they do it good !

So anyone interested in making a nice encoding : Stay away of the tools of which the authors are spamming the doom9.org forums with all year long, blinded for the hundreds of bugs that people come up with. Stick to a tool from an author that knows his stuff, like avi.NET or Staxrip.

Tools like AutoMKV, AGK, and last but not least MeGUI are being "bugfixed" for a couple of years allready, and it all gets worse and worse.

Comparing and MAKING THE CORRECT CHOICE : that's all encoding is about. ;)

[maxhavoc]

Well, my thread got way out of hand huh? :)

I think I'm just going to give up and let AutoGK do its thing. I'll leave default options and let it work its magic to give me a 700 MB AVI file.

I'm by no means an expert on this stuff and I don't really want to be. Kudos to all you who are, but I want something simple. I just want pretty good quality movies to enjoy from my DVDs and AutoGK does that fine.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the information. It's good to know. Maybe I'll check out AVI.NET as someone suggested, but I'm not a video purist so for me ease of use is the prime requisite and I definitely get that with AutoGK. Thanks again guys.

[laserfan]

Stay away of the tools of which the authors are spamming the doom9.org forums with all year long, blinded for the hundreds of bugs that people come up with... Comparing and MAKING THE CORRECT CHOICE : that's all encoding is about.But trashing freeware authors who have built a lot of terrific tools that many of us have enjoyed IS NOT what doom9.org is about! :angry:

[laserfan]

Well, my thread got way out of hand huh?Just living-up to your handle, aren't ya max! :D

AutoGK is a fine tool I used for a lot of stuff until I wanted to "get creative" about my encodings. It will serve you well, and despite TRYING to "retire" a year or two ago, its author still takes pride in it and fixes critical bugs when they appear.

[Taurus]

Hohoo, let me just add my .02 , not if any of those diehards care, but let this be for beginners then.

I understand that the majority of encoding people using AutoGK don't even look at the encoded file, let alone finding out that the quality sucks compared to other tools like avi.NET, and they definatelly don't pay attention to the fact that autoGK just cheated on them.

Those tools don't trick you with stupid things like "hidden CTRL-F9 menu's" to give you the impression of opening the door to the holey grail of encoding, NO, these things do it all by themselves, AND they do it good !

So anyone interested in making a nice encoding : Stay away of the tools of which the authors are spamming the doom9.org forums with all year long, blinded for the hundreds of bugs that people come up with. Stick to a tool from an author that knows his stuff, like avi.NET or Staxrip.

Tools like AutoMKV, AGK, and last but not least MeGUI are being "bugfixed" for a couple of years allready, and it all gets worse and worse.

Comparing and MAKING THE CORRECT CHOICE : that's all encoding is about. ;)

Man, I'm sick and tired of your complaining in each and every thread you are participating. (Not only this one.)
Thanks and kudos to all the coders, developers, testers who do this for free and for the sake of this community.
If you're out for bugfree, real stable programs, just try some commercial ones, pay your dues and get fed up with them.
Because none of them I've ever tested never crashed or malformed at some times.
So instead of shouting, help us to maintain and develope the freewares we got.