Strange colored dots/pixels

[Namheul]

Hi all.

I have been using AutoGK, and the XviD included with it for a few years now.

I have noticed recently that videos that i convert in AutoGK have strange coloured dots in them during playback. Im not sure when it started, or why, but it appears to be an encoding problem, not a playback problem. The dots show up on both my laptop and HTPC.

Here are some images of the dots. They are very hard to capture though.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2632/snapshot20080825224807cc3.th.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825224807cc3.png)
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4821/snapshot20080825224852fl6.th.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825224852fl6.png)
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/262/snapshot20080825224919yq4.th.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825224919yq4.png)
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2866/snapshot20080825225041da2.th.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825225041da2.png)
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7199/snapshot20080825225729tr8.th.png (http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825225729tr8.png)
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/4707/snapshot20080825225854iv2.th.png (http://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080825225854iv2.png)

At the moment im using Koepis latest XviD.

It doesnt look too bad in the still images, but during playback, they seem to flicker around all over the place.

Any help would be awesome. Thanks!

[Ranguvar]

Hmm. You say these dots only occur with your encoded videos? What about ones not encoded by you? What settings are you using? It's a shot in the dark, but make sure you're not using the Chroma Optimizer; it's borked. Although I've never seen anything like that.

Perhaps a better test would be to play with VLC or MPlayer, or the like. That way we can find out whether the problem is in encoding or decoding.

[jeffy]

Are you overclocking? If yes, have you tested your settings with OCCT/Prime or something like that? It might be helpful for someone else if you posted a short eg. a 5 second clip of the video with the dots. Do the dots affect only this single video?

[Taurus]

I have been using AutoGK, and the XviD included with it for a few years now.


At the moment im using Koepis latest XviD.
:confused:

So which version of Xvid you are using?
The one bundled with AutoGk is coded by CelticDruid not by Koepi.
lenox, the author of AutoGk switched back to an older version because of stability reasons (and of course SAP comptiblity)
Look at the profiles.They were introduced at this time.
Maybe this is off topic.

I got this problem too in the past. I was hardware related (graphics)at this time.
If you are really in need for help upload a small sample clip somewhere and we can have a look at it.

[Namheul]

Hmm. You say these dots only occur with your encoded videos? What about ones not encoded by you? What settings are you using? It's a shot in the dark, but make sure you're not using the Chroma Optimizer; it's borked. Although I've never seen anything like that.

Perhaps a better test would be to play with VLC or MPlayer, or the like. That way we can find out whether the problem is in encoding or decoding.

Videos not encoded by me and videos encoded ages ago are fine.
I use Media Player Classic, but will try VLC and see how it goes.

Are you overclocking? If yes, have you tested your settings with OCCT/Prime or something like that? It might be helpful for someone else if you posted a short eg. a 5 second clip of the video with the dots. Do the dots affect only this single video?

Not overclocking on either my laptop or HTPC. The dots seem to affect anything i encode on my HTPC. I will try to encode on my Laptop and see what it does.

:confused:

So which version of Xvid you are using?
The one bundled with AutoGk is coded by CelticDruid not by Koepi.
lenox, the author of AutoGk switched back to an older version because of stability reasons (and of course SAP comptiblity)
Look at the profiles.They were introduced at this time.
Maybe this is off topic.

I got this problem too in the past. I was hardware related (graphics)at this time.
If you are really in need for help upload a small sample clip somewhere and we can have a look at it.

Sorry, not sure what version was used when the encoding was done. Tried multiple versions, uninstalled, reinstalled, still happens.

Doubt its a graphics problem, temps seem fine to me:
CPU is @ 29C (idle)
Video card is @ 44C
Hard drive is 26C


I will cut a 5 second clip and upload for you all to check.

Thanks heaps for the help!

[Namheul]

VLC no good, still has dots.

Sample here: http://www.2shared.com/file/3824830/26cf619b/sample.html

EDIT: Just encoded a file on my laptop, and it is fine. Something is wrong on my HTPC it seems.

[jeffy]

@Namheul: Yes, I can confirm that the sample you posted has the dots in it.
Check your RAM. MemTest bootable iso: http://www.memtest.org/

[Namheul]

Thanks jeffy.

Will memtest, and if that fails, i will just go buy some more ram. Havent had any problems in any other programs though.

[Ranguvar]

I would also do a Prime95.

[Namheul]

Ran memtest and it passed with no errors.

Ran 2 x Prime95 for a few hours, no errors or problems.


Other than formatting windows, whats an effective way of removing all links to xvid, divx and any other codecs and starting again?

[jeffy]

Just unistall Xvid and try this version :
http://rapidshare.com/files/82784043/XviD_1.2.127-10012008.exe
(It works okay for me, the link is from here: http://www.click-now.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5026)

[Namheul]

No good. Still have the dots in the movies. I will be formatting and reinstalling windows soon anyway (new hard drive), so we will see if it still does it then. I hope not :)

Thanks for all the help.

[jeffy]

You're welcome.
If you have some time: try to convert a short clip in MeGUI, use Xvid/X264 profiles. Do you still have the dots?
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=112496

[Namheul]

Will try meGUI tonight.

[Namheul]

Tried meGUI last night, but it had the dots in it too.

My hard drive should arrive sometime next week, and i will format windows when i get it.

Could video card drivers be causing it? The only hardware change i have made is adding a second 1GB of RAM. It passes memtest just fine though. I will remove a stick and see what it does also.

[Ranguvar]

Video card can't be interfering unless you're using DXVA for decoding the input, which is very doubtful.

Also try different slots; sometimes a slot will go bad.

Another option would be to try in a virtual machine. Make sure that you give the virtual machine enough RAM to use up more than one stick if you are then using more than one; so you don't skip over a problem with one stick accidentally. What I mean is, use a virtual installation of your OS, load only the essentials, and test. Hopefully to find out whether the issue is with hardware, or software. But also a good idea might be to encode with VirtualDub (on your normal PC) and see if that borks.

[jeffy]

Do you have the dots even in the encode made by the x264 encoder? Or have you tried xvid only? (Why I suggested MeGUI? Its Xvid library is independent of the normal installed version.)

[pc_speak]

Hi.
I don't believe it's hardware. I don't have your hardware and I see lots of areas where the sequential frames differ. (I like my hardware. :))

Frame 62
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/15a0957447.gif (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Frame 63
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/67087fc0eb.gif (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Maybe we're all on the right path. ;)

Double the bitrate and see what you get???!!?
Post a few seconds of the source video for us to work on. :) :)

Grasping at straws? Who? Me?

[jeffy]

@pc_speak: I don't think the error is in the source. I had this problem with physically bad memory in the past (ruled out by the OP). The dots were randomly placed and randomly colored.

[Namheul]

Well, good news (sort of).

Pulled out the second stick of RAM, and it encoded fine with no dots. No idea why it will pass memtest fine and still interfere with encoding. I will reseat it tomorrow and test again. Cant try a different slot as i only have 2 :) mATX motherboard.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I will keep you all posted.

[setarip_old]

@Namheul

Hi!Pulled out the second stick of RAM, and it encoded fine with no dots. No idea why it will pass memtest fine and still interfere with encoding.Probably as simple as not being perfectly seated - or a tiny "dust bunny" that you've now freed up...