how to convert .flv/.rvmb with nero7 or x264

[halsboss]

For files in .rvmb and .flv formats, I wonder how to convert them to say .mp4 (AVC or ASP).

I'm not sure how to do this in x264 as I gather it it only does the video and I'm not even sure how to input the files into x264. Any pointers ?

I'd thought it'd be easy to use Nero 7 Recode as a gui but it won't open either format ... maybe if it could open a .avs with a Directshowsource - can Recode open .avs ? Any pointers welcomed.

[halsboss]

Ah, just saw http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1230027#post1230027 which uses .avs to open .rmvb however that's only part of the question...

[Selur]

Not sure about Recode (which version?), but .flv works fine over here with ffmpeg als Decoder and piping to x264.

[halsboss]

Nero recode v2. How to you use ffmpeg as Decoder and piping to x264 (and with what x264 settings to get equivalent frame size/fps/quality) ?

[Atak_Snajpera]

Nero recode v2. How to you use ffmpeg as Decoder and piping to x264 (and with what x264 settings to get equivalent frame size/fps/quality) ?
You can easly re-encode .flv in RipBot264 (x264 gui)

[Selur]

While at it: AutoX264 and sx264 can also be used to reencode .flv content (also a x264 frontends) and probably most of the tools based on mencoder/ffmpeg.

with what x264 settings to get equivalent frame size/fps/quality
What is the reference point here? Nero Recode 2? If so which settings are used? (sidenode: neroaac is better when using low bitrates for audio; faac does not support aac-v2 atm)

Cu Selur

[halsboss]

Thanks Atak_Snajpera, I don't have .net framework installed and hope never to :)
Selur, thanks will check out AutoX264 and sx264. Desired outcome is an .mp4 or .avi (xvid) with same framesize and equivalent quality. I didn't want to install one of those tools which installs a heap of other things and filters (I already use avisynth MT extensively and don't want to much that up). I'm commandline-challenged with x264 unfortunately.

[Dark Shikari]

Thanks Atak_Snajpera, I don't have .net framework installed and hope never to :)
Selur, thanks will check out AutoX264And Ripbot264 and MeGUI and Staxrip and Handbrake and AutoMKV and Avidemux and... ;)

[Atak_Snajpera]

Thanks Atak_Snajpera, I don't have .net framework installed and hope never to
Don't make my laugh. .net framework is mandatory these days. Especially v3.5! Probably you already have it installed. Did you install Windows Service Packs? Did you install GPU drivers? As the matter of fact only one tool If I recall correctly requires .net - BePipe. Main Gui was written in Delphi 7 (win32).

[halsboss]

My, my,choices and more choices... will they all take .flv/.rvmb as input ?

sx264 http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143399 sounds good, and megui http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=96032 seems highly impressive and it's been around for a while.

Most tools seem to require .NET framework. Must I install it (which version does megui require) ? I have a fear of the .NET framework creating services and stealing cycles and doing things I don't understand nor want. Happy for someone to point me to something to allay my fears :)

edit: .net framework is mandatory these days... Probably you already have it installed. er, no I don't have it, intentionally.

[Dark Shikari]

My, my,choices and more choices... will they all take .flv/.rvmb as input ?If your computer can decode it in a DirectShow player, Avisynth can import it.

[halsboss]

Thankyou muchly, it seems I have a lot of reading to do to choose a tool. Any advice on your preferred/usual tool ? (also, which .net version for megui, and is .net "safe" ?)

[Selur]

personally I use sx264 (no wonder there) and MeGui (if I need Avisynth). About .net: the newest version is probably the best way.

Cu Selur

[Sharktooth]

Most tools seem to require .NET framework. Must I install it (which version does megui require) ? I have a fear of the .NET framework creating services and stealing cycles and doing things I don't understand nor want. Happy for someone to point me to something to allay my fears :)

edit: .net framework is mandatory these days... Probably you already have it installed. er, no I don't have it, intentionally.
does java steal cpu cycles? or does it "create" services? no...
.NET framework is just like java...
btw, megui requires .NET framework 2.0.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Most tools seem to require .NET framework. Must I install it (which version does megui require) ? I have a fear of the .NET framework creating services and stealing cycles and doing things I don't understand nor want. Happy for someone to point me to something to allay my fears
It would be better if did your homework and used google.

[halsboss]

Thanks I did that some time ago, around v2. Yes it created services when installed and did a fair bit of background processing too from time to time (I wondered what was going on, it was background compiling stuff or so google results flagged back then). Anyway thanks for the info, you all seem comfortable with it.

I tried out megui + RealAlternative, and it worked on about 1 of 5 the .rmvb's. Took the x264 command-line's and tried those and x264 crashes randomly (just stops) between .1 and 5 secs into the encode 1st pass, without any log that I could identify. There must be a way to produce a log from x264.
"C:\SOFTWARE\X264\x264.1069M.exe" --pass 1 --bitrate 1000 --level 3 --no-cabac --subme 2 --partitions none --qpmin 16 --vbv-bufsize 1500 --vbv-maxrate 1500 --me dia --merange 12 --threads auto --thread-input --sar 69419:47590 --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --stats .\stats.stats --output NUL "00-x264-rm-to-MP4.AVS"
"C:\SOFTWARE\X264\x264.1069M.exe" --pass 2 --bitrate 1000 --level 3 --no-cabac --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4 --qpmin 16 --vbv-bufsize 1500 --vbv-maxrate 1500 --me umh --merange 12 --threads auto --thread-input --sar 69419:47590 --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --stats .\stats.stats --output "test.rmvb-PREMUX.MP4" "00-x264-rm-to-MP4.AVS"

Given the other tools use x264, I guess I must resolve that 1st.

FFmpeg works in producing the audio directly from the .rmvb input.
"C:\SOFTWARE\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "test.rmvb" -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 44100 -ab 96k "test.rmvb-PREMUX.AAC"

If I could figure out a broadly equivalent ffmpeg commandline to produce a similar video result to x264 (simple profile I know, xvid), then I could do a 2-in-1 ffmpeg commandline :)

[Dark Shikari]

Odds are x264 isn't "crashing"--your input decoder is crashing.

If you want to input Real videos, try a recent version of FFDshow--ffmpeg added RV40 and RV30 support a few weeks ago.

For ffmpeg, there are now x264 presets you can use; see this page (http://rob.opendot.cl/index.php/useful-stuff/ffmpeg-x264-encoding-guide/).

[halsboss]

Thanks !!! I love ffdshow. Had to download clsid's generic non-sse version 2009/1/6 as the latest. Video decodes nicely in MPC, however audio doesn't and I can't find anything like "cook" (any ideas?) :-

Media Type 0:
--------------------------
Audio: RealAudio COOK 44100Hz stereo

AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Audio {73647561-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {4B4F4F43-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_WaveFormatEx {05589F81-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 1
lSampleSize: 14880
cbFormat: 112

WAVEFORMATEX:
wFormatTag: 0x2004
nChannels: 2
nSamplesPerSec: 44100
nAvgBytesPerSec: 0
nBlockAlign: 930
wBitsPerSample: 16
cbSize: 0 (extra bytes)

[Dark Shikari]

For COOK you may need to install RealAlternative.

[Pulstar]

does java steal cpu cycles? or does it "create" services? no...
.NET framework is just like java...
btw, megui requires .NET framework 2.0.

jusched.exe and jqs.exe of Java fame would have to disagree with you ;) But the plus side about dotNet is that it's native to the Windows environment therefore you shouldn't worry about it too much.

[halsboss]

Thanks for the pointers, ffmpeg+ffdshow seem to do the trick (does ffmpeg read the input "natively" ?) and the presets are a nice touch. Here's a sample .BAT which sprung up.
ECHO ON
SET inpFile=test.rmvb
set outfile=%inpfile%.mp4
set audiohertz=44100
set audiobitrate=128k
set videobitrate=1024k
REM "C:\SOFTWARE\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "%inpFile%" -vcodec libx264 -vpre "C:\SOFTWARE\ffmpeg\libx264-normal.ffpreset" -b %videobitrate% -bt %videobitrate% -bf 16 -threads 0 -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar %audiohertz% -ab %audiobitrate% "%outfile%"
"C:\SOFTWARE\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "%inpFile%" -vcodec libx264 -vpre "C:\SOFTWARE\ffmpeg\libx264-hq.ffpreset" -b %videobitrate% -bt %videobitrate% -bf 16 -threads 0 -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar %audiohertz% -ab %audiobitrate% "%outfile%"
ECHO Finished.
PAUSE

Now, if only there was an IPOD preset. Let me see if "google is my friend" on this one too :)

[halsboss]

Oh Joy, I saw there is this thread :-
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=140805
which hopefully mentioned the 5.5 ...

[Pulstar]

Could you please tell me where did you find the latest (compiled) build of FFmpeg? Sherpya-r14277 doesn't support Real media, and using an AVSynth script to open the RMVB didn't help either (and I have the latest ffdshow and Real Alternative installed).. it seems the Directshow splitter in Real Alt. isn't for, ahem, real.

[halsboss]

Sure. Rev 16043. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205275&package_id=248632
Don't forget to configure ffdshow's settings for both vfw & non-vfw.
And ffmpeg's settings changed at some point too (requiring the k at the end of some numbers).
In this scenario I do not have real-alternative installed.

[Pulstar]

[NULL @ 017A34C0]Unsupported video codec
[NULL @ 017A49D0]Unsupported video codec
[NULL @ 017A4EE0]Unsupported video codec
Input #0, rm, from 'test.rm':
Duration: 00:08:14.49, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 278 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Data: 0x0000, 44 kb/s
Stream #0.1: Data: 0x0000, 180 kb/s
Stream #0.2: Data: 0x0000
Stream #0.3: Audio: cook, 11025 Hz, mono, s16, 11 kb/s
Stream #0.4: Audio: cook, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 44 kb/s
Stream #0.5: Video: rv40, 352x288, 38 kb/s, 12.00 tb(r)
Stream #0.6: Video: rv40, 352x288, 180 kb/s, 12.00 tb(r)
Stream #0.7: Video: rv40, 352x288, 38 kb/s, 12.00 tb(r)
swScaler: Unknown format is not supported as input pixel format
Cannot get resampling context

It seems my particular file is problematic. Thanks at any rate :)

[mgh]

you need to make a new file with one vid stream and one aud stream with
http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=577199&postcount=1
you need the surestream beta
avisynth works only with a real media file containing one video stream and one audio stream