VidCoder: Alternative HandBrake GUI for Windows

[ValorSolo]

Nevermind, my error

[ValorSolo]

My last 3 encodes have all been defective.
The audio starts in sync, but gets out of sync as the movie progresses.
The audio track is faster than the video track.

I've encoded the same movies with RipBot264, and they stay in sync, through-out the film.
And all the movies I encoded with VidCoder before the issue appeared, were all in sync, as well.


General
Complete name : F:\Die Hard.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 551 MiB
Duration : 2h 13mn
Overall bit rate : 578 Kbps
Writing application : HandBrake svn3345

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@3.0
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 13mn
Nominal bit rate : 412 Kbps
Width : 718 pixels
Height : 368 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Original display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.065
Writing library : x264 core 95 r1592 95aacc4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=412 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Color primaries : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : A_AAC
Duration : 2h 13mn
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Language : English

[ValorSolo]

First off, the issue above only occurred if the source audio was dts.
I selected the ac3 track and it encoded fine, with no sync issues.

I do have a question, though.
Looking at the encoding setting above, I see that "threads=1, sliced threads=0".
Is there a way to change the threads in VidCoder?

And a feature request, although not very likely, but here goes.
A "Create Sample" button, to fully test settings before encoding.
In options, the user can specify starting point and stopping point.
Then clicking the button will create a small sample video.
Just a thought. It would be helpful.

[RandomEngy]

Not sure what's up with the sync issue. You can already create a sample encode though. Just open the Preview window and press the "Play" button. You can change the length of the sample in the options.

[ValorSolo]

I'm familiar with the preview feature, and use it regularly.
But I was referring to creating a sample file in an output directory.
Unless there is a way to save the file created for the preview.
I'll take a look and see if it's possible.

And thanks for replying.
Would you happen to know the answer to my question about setting the threads in VC?

EDIT: I was able to locate the preview file at C:\Documents and Settings\~USERNAME~\Application Data\VidCoder\Preview.mkv on XP.

[RandomEngy]

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "changing the threads". HandBrake by default will auto-detect the number of cores in your system and spawn threads to use as many as it can. This is what VidCoder does. Do you want it to do something different?

[RandomEngy]

Released VidCoder 0.6.0 (http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/releases/view/51915).

* Overhauled Advanced x264 panel to bring it up to date and streamline a few things.
* Reworked the Destination UI to be a bit cleaner than a plain textbox. Added more error checking on the Destination box.
* Broke out Current/Average FPS to a popup dialog box when hovering over the progress bar.
* Added "Same as Source" option for audio sample rate. Also did refactoring to store sample rate as a raw number in Hz.
* Visual refresh for Input/Output preview boxes: added gradients, shadows and moved the label inside the box.
* Added tab navigation for titles in the Chapter Markers dialog, and made the text selected by default after tabbing to another title.
* Changed auto-naming to avoid choosing the same name as the input file.
* Updated to latest HandBrake SVN (3501)
* Added icon to the "Play" button for generating preview clips and changed text to "Play Preview Clip".
* Added (No chapters found) marker when there is only one chapter, instead of the "Chapters 1 - 1" UI.
* Added tooltips explaining why the .mp4 extension or the Add Source Subtitle buttons are disabled.
* Tweaked color of paused progress bar.

* Fixed problem where batch file encodes were not automatically assigned the right extension.
* Fixed bug preventing chapter marker UI from showing/hiding when "Include Chapter Marker" checkbox is toggled.
* Fixed crash when using custom chapter names across titles with different chapter numbers. Disabled custom chapter names carrying over from title to title.
* Fixed bug that caused the Pixel Aspect Ratio to display as 0/0 when first switching to Custom Anamorphic.
* Fixed UI issues that could occur when the source scan failed.

[flebber]

The new version seems to be coming along well. Running a few test encodes now. Really this next thing I can do this myself, but thought a good preset to add would be a default divxplus HD.

[TOMillr]

Like your tool, thanks for the hard work. However, how about adding an option to just do a pass-through for the video track (like you can do on a AC3 file)?

[RandomEngy]

Thanks.

However the HandBrake core libraries don't have video passthrough, so I can't put it in VidCoder.

[TOMillr]

However the HandBrake core libraries don't have video passthrough, so I can't put it in VidCoder.
Oh, that's too bad. Any change that this could be patched in somehow as the handbrake guys won't include this feature?

[RandomEngy]

It would have to be a custom build of the HandBrake libraries to do that. I don't think it would be a good idea because it would mean integrating all the changes any time HandBrake updated. Well also because I have no idea how to do it. :)

[mike20021969]

HandBrake lets me put a custom resolution in of 640x360 (16:9). It encodes to these exact dimensions, too. Playing the movie in QuickTime, and clicking Window>Movie Inspector, confirms this.

After I enter 640x360 values into VidCoder, why does it round them to 640x368 (1.74:1). The Movie Inspector confirms 640x368 which is not 16:9.

Although I've tried looking in drop down menus and checking the various other video options in VidCoder, I cannot enter the 16:9 value I require.

A custom setting should be just that, no?

[RandomEngy]

It's rounding to a factor of 16 for compatibility. The last time I tried relaxing this to a factor of 2 rather than 16, it crashed on me. I've updated the HandBrake core since then though, so I'll give it another shot. I think it should be fine now.

[RandomEngy]

Changed it to 2 and everything is working great. Should be in the next release.

[mike20021969]

Changed it to 2 and everything is working great. Should be in the next release.This is great to news. :thanks:

PS You previously mentioned It's rounding to a factor of 16 for compatibility. Compatability for what?
Sorry if I sound thick for asking.
Cheers.

[RandomEngy]

Some of the encoders didn't work unless the dimensions were divisible by 16.

[RandomEngy]

Released VidCoder 0.6.1 (http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/releases/view/54882):

* Updated UI to support HandBrake's AC3 encoding.
* Updated UI to support SSA subtitle sources.
* Added ability to import a preset by dragging one to the main window or with Tools -> Import Preset.
* Added ability to cancel scans and preview clip generation.
* Added ability to automatically pause when certain processes are detected and resume when they are gone.
* Relaxed dimension restrictions from a multiple of 16 to a multiple of 2.
* Updated ETA calculation to be for the entire queue and changed format to indicate units.
* Changed subtitles to display their specific type rather than just Text/Bitmap.
* Simplified preview window title when PAR is 1:1.
* Updated HandBrake to svn3594

* Fixed crashes when batch queueing multiple titles with different subtitles/audio tracks.
* Fixed crash when closing while encode is in progress.
* Fixed chapter marker UI visibility not updating on preset revert/delete.
* Fixed issue with auto-calculating dimensions in non-anamorphic which could cause a crash.
* Fixed preview window not updating after delete/revert of preset.
* Fixed foreign audio search.
* Fixed "scan error" message staying around during a new scan.
* Fixed potential crash when switching preview screen during a scan.

Should auto-update the next time you exit the program.

[RandomEngy]

HandBrake added unencrypted blu-ray support recently. I've gotten it working in VidCoder but there's an odd and frequent crash on scanning for some reason (so it's disabled in 0.6.1 for now). My next big tasks are fixing this and getting blu-ray working, then an x64 build.

[flebber]

With 0.6.1

I get this error when importing megui xml preset.

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at VidCoder.Model.Presets.LoadPreset(String presetFile) in D:\docs\projects\VidCoder\VidCoder\Model\Presets.cs:line 104
at VidCoder.Services.PresetImport.ImportPreset(String presetFile) in D:\docs\projects\VidCoder\VidCoder\Services\PresetImport.cs:line 23
at VidCoder.ViewModel.MainViewModel.<get_ImportPresetCommand>b__49(Object param) in D:\docs\projects\VidCoder\VidCoder\ViewModel\MainViewModel.cs:line 1960
at VidCoder.RelayCommand.Execute(Object parameter) in D:\docs\projects\VidCoder\VidCoder\RelayCommand.cs:line 43
at MS.Internal.Commands.CommandHelpers.CriticalExecuteCommandSource(ICommandSource commandSource, Boolean userInitiated)
at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.InvokeClickAfterRender(Object arg)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
at MS.Internal.Threading.ExceptionFilterHelper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate method, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)

[RandomEngy]

Oh yeah I should mention that this only imports VidCoder presets, not presets from other programs. Though I should definitely clean up that crash.

[odditory]

thanks again for the hard work with this thing, glad to see updates are still rolling. i love this a whole lot better than handbrake because its a lot tighter and more than just a facemask for the CLI like HB's windows GUI.

as for the Bluray issue, for now i'm getting around it by using MakeMKV to convert a bluray rip to an MKV file with chapters intact, then I drop that MKV into Vidcoder which then picks up the chapter markers and everything - something it can't obviously if I try to drag&drop any files from the original BD structure folder.

[RandomEngy]

Glad you like it!

Oh and by the way: j45 just fixed the crash on scanning blu-ray structures recently. Blu-ray direct ripping is working now! It will show up in 0.7.0 which I hope to have out sometime this week. Though one caveat is that it doesn't support subtitles yet.

[RandomEngy]

Released VidCoder 0.7.0 (http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/releases/view/55357):

* Blu-ray support added! Thanks to j45 for getting this in HandBrake and fixing an issue I was running into. (Requires AnyDVD HD and subtitles are not supported yet)
* Added option to control the number of preview images created during a scan.
* Added memory and disc caching for preview images to make dragging the slider more responsive with HD material.
* When editing the destination, clicking outside of the box removes focus from it.

* Fixed crashes when switching titles when making preview clips or canceling in the scan phase.
* Fixed crash when attempting to import an .xml file that isn't a VidCoder preset.

[toby702]

trying to analyse this source file.

[Przemek_Sperling]

Thank you for your hard work.

I would like to ask you for one thing: can you use NeroAAC as an alternative to FAAC? FAAC is very outdated (it cannot ompete not only with Vorbis but also with LAME), moreover, it uses only LC profile. I know that NeroAAC is not LGPLed so the installation could be made similar to LameXP and some builds of BonkEnc - take NeroAAC libraries and drop them to the root folder.

[RandomEngy]

Would love to but that's built into HandBrake. It's the only working AAC encoder for windows right now. Mac gets something better (core audio I think) but that's not working on Windows.

[RanmaCanada]

I would like to say that your program rocks totally. I use handbrake a lot for my anime encodes, and it is a huge problem to get the DAR proper when I am setting things up to be moved to bluray. Your program actually has the DAR calc nice and simple. Any idea what it is like to convert 8 dvd's of eps to find the DAR is incorrect and have to do it all over again. Cause no point of importing the files into multiavchd and then having it re-encode them all because the DAR is incorrect. Thank you so much for making this proggy! Now to find the donate button and give you some!

Do have one question though. Have just encoded some of my stuff, and I have multiple on multiple sub streams. There should only be a max of 2, but for some reason I have some files that have 4 and one movie that has 8 (movie only had 1 sub track to begin with). I have checked them and the files are all the same. Since I am encoding stuff and authoring it to bluray it is not a big deal as I can take the subtracks out, but I am curious as to why it is doing this.

[RandomEngy]

Released VidCoder 0.7.1 (http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/releases/view/55704):
* Changed file caching from PNG to BMP for a performance increase, and refactored it to never block the UI thread. Moving the preview slider and making picture changes should be more responsive.
* The Video tab now displays the type, video codec and framerate of the input.
* Updated wording on DVD/VIDEO_TS folder to refer to Blu-rays as well.
* Updated look of the "remove" button.

* Fixed crash when dragging a row by its remove button.

Ranma: Thanks. You say that the output movie has more subtitle tracks than intended? Are they getting duplicated? Which ones were you picking?

[RanmaCanada]

Yes it appears they are being duplicated, but it is not on every title. As I said I am converting my anime collection of legally bought and owned anime, because box sets take up too much space now haha. Anyways, Trigun, it has 2 sub streams, and when encoded it gave me 4. They are all the same. Vampire Hunter D, gave me 8 substreams, and there is only 1 in the dvd. Slayers Book of Spells gave me 12 substreams.

It appears to be duplicating the first substream, but not on every title. The other Slayers movies I did were perfectly fine, only the one was affected. I am going to try encoding these files by themselves and not in a batch as I did just to see if it is the way the pgc is on the disc, or if something else is going on.

K I updated to the newest version, and when I did the eps individually, it only gave me the 1 substream. As soon as I did it as a batch, ie processed the entire dvd at once, I suddenly have 4 sub streams. Not sure what is going on.

[RanmaCanada]

K so Trigun ep 01 has 4 sub streams, when there is only 1 on the disc. Ep 2 has 4 as well, then it gets weird. Ep 03 has 5 sub streams, and ep 04 has 6 sub streams. They are all in one pgc on the disc, meaning chapters 1-20 of one big play list. So I have the chapters split as per normal, 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20. As you would normall split up a multi ep pgc. The chapters are fine in the mkv file, the audio tracks are great, just the subs seem to go berserk. And as I said if I only do 1-5 and not queue the rest, there is no subtitle duplication. Yet for some reason Vampire Hunter D, which is 1 movie, still has massive amounts of subtracks. It might be these specific titles?? Not sure as everything else pretty much worked, cept for that one Slayers movie heh. I know the odds of you having this stuff is close to nil, but whatever information I can give you I will!

[RandomEngy]

I think I know what's happening. I switched over from manually creating my own subtitle list to creating it via hb_add_subtitle. They must not be going away in between queue jobs and just building up. I'll try to get it fixed sometime this week.

[RanmaCanada]

No rush at all. Whatever I can do to help you out just let me know. I can't code, but I can encode whatever you need and let you know the results? You still need a donate button :P haha. I am one of the few people that donated to Dean, the creator of Multiavchd, and I would like to send you some bux as well. You sir deserve it for your attention to your work. I will try Vampire Hunter D on it's own and see if it goes nuts in regards to making subs.

[Jonodan]

I am having some difficulty designating Target Sizes in Vidcoder and getting an output file of a completely different size.

I want to be able to convert some TV shows I recorded from cable TV (Standalone DVD-R, in SP "2 hour" mode) to MKV (or MP4) to add to a multimedia streambox I use. I also want to reduce the file sizes in the process.

However, when I use Target Size, the requested file size was not respected in the resulting file. Here is an example:

- - - - - - -
FILE: Gettysburg - Little Round Top (Civil War Combat - Military Channel).mpg
Runtime: Approx 45 minutes (File size 1.574 gig)

Source: Recorded from Cable TV onto Standalone DVD-R (SP / 2 hour mode). Imported DVD-R directly into Corel / Ulead Videostudio - commercials removed - saved to mpg file using "same as Original Video Clip" for video settings.

VIDEO DETAILS: NTSC, MPEG-2, Upper Fields First, 24 bits, 720x480, 4:3, 29.970 F/S, Vairable Bit Rate (Max 6124 kbps)
AUDIO: Dolby Digital, 126,710,711 Samples, 48000 Hz, Bit Rate: 256
- - - - - - -
After scanning w/ Vidcoder, the video was noted as "No Chapters Found" and audio reflected "1 Unknown (AC3) (2.0 ch)"

I used all default settings except for setting the output directory, choosing MKV as the container, setting 2 pass encoding w/ turbo first pass and adjusting the TARGET FILE SIZE as 950 meg.

For reference, some of the default settings I did NOT adjust were h.264 as Video Codec, Audio settings also all left as default (Target Stream: All, AAC (faac), Dolby Pro Logic II, 48 hz, 160 bitrate)

The encoding took almost 6 hours and resulted in a MKV file of 133 meg (not 950).

I have noticed a few other things. When ripping a music video (330 meg) from a commercial DVD (using DVDFAb to rip the DVD to PC, and - thereafter - the same process used for the sample file noted above - Imported to ULEAD, edited, saved to MPG), VidCoder converted it properly using these same settings and shrinking it as requested (to 180 meg).

ALSO - VidCoder seems to respect requested Target Sizes with my DVD-R recordings if I turn the "2 Pass Encoding" option "OFF".
ALSO: I had similar issues using the original "Handbrake" GUI.

I'm thus assuming the issue stems from my DVD-R sources, but would still like to covert them and reduce them down in size.

Any thoughts?

I am adding a link to the TEXT file of the VidCoder log file. Thanks for any feedback.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/15/1081476/Vidlog.txt

[RandomEngy]

If you're getting the same problem with the original GUI it's probably an issue in the HandBrake core. You should ask about that over at the HandBrake site; I only work on the Windows UI.

[RandomEngy]

Released VidCoder 0.7.2 (http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/releases/view/55865).

This fixes the duplicated subtitles issue.

[RanmaCanada]

ok trying it out now and I will post the results when I am done. Thank you for your quickness. You still need a donate button :P

[RandomEngy]

For a number of reasons I don't think accepting donations for the project would be a good idea. If you'd like to express your appreciation, donate whatever you feel like to Village Reach (http://villagereach.org/).

[RanmaCanada]

It works now. No problems with multiple streams. Thank you!

[scarmdjee]

I like this app very much.
So good job RandomEngy :)

just 2 things..

1: Format profile: can you put this to High@L4.1?
the highest profile is only 3.1, can i change it myself, or is this not an option for this app?

2: Pixel Aspect Ratio: it seems i can't change it to other ratio's..
It always stands to 1/1, do i something wrong?

Keep up the good job m8, it really is a nice and easy to use prog. ;)

[RandomEngy]

:)

You're talking about x264 profiles? Profiles and tune settings don't work with HandBrake; only the direct settings on the Advanced tab.

About the Pixel Aspect Ratio: do you have Custom Anamorphic selected?

[scarmdjee]

Ah, that's too bad that uou can not make these settings.. maybe in the future.. :)

about AR, yes i have Custom Anamorphic selected ;)

grtz

[b66pak]

I've been able to call directly into the HandBrake core libraries...

it is possible to add the option to skip video encoding (set as "copy stream") for h264 sources?
_

[RandomEngy]

scarmdjee: Do you have the Pixel Aspect Ratio radio choice checked? It won't be editable if you have Display Width selected.
b66pak: The HandBrake libraries don't support video stream copy and they don't have any plans on adding it. As a consumer of those APIs I don't have any way of adding it.

[scarmdjee]

scarmdjee: Do you have the Pixel Aspect Ratio radio choice checked? It won't be editable if you have Display Width selected.


i have found it RandomEngy ;)
a mistake from me wich i overlooked..
thx for replying m8 ;)

[DottorLeo]

Can you add the "preset" and the "tune" options to VidCoder? It's quite tedious to copy all the string on the command line.

For example to use the preset "veryslow" i had to add manually this string ref=16:bframes=8:b-adapt=2:direct=auto:me=umh:merange=24:subq=10:rc-lookahead=60:analyse=all:trellis=2.

Anyway, really nice GUI!

[ckmox]

Can you add the "preset" and the "tune" options to VidCoder? It's quite tedious to copy all the string on the command line.

For example to use the preset "veryslow" i had to add manually this string ref=16:bframes=8:b-adapt=2:direct=auto:me=umh:merange=24:subq=10:rc-lookahead=60:analyse=all:trellis=2.

Anyway, really nice GUI!

handbrake has its own set of presets so the preset and tune option for x264 is not going to work with it

im a handbrake user so i know this as vidcoder at its core uses handbrake too

[DottorLeo]

handbrake has its own set of presets so the preset and tune option for x264 is not going to work with it

im a handbrake user so i know this as vidcoder at its core uses handbrake too

Yeah but the presets are a simple command that gathers toghether many others, for example as the "very slow" preset on my message above. You can do the same thing changing the values on the Advanced menu as the preset value so why don't add a simple command to the job instead every time editing the command line or all the value in that menu? :confused:

[RandomEngy]

I suppose you could do something like that. Though it would be a rather annoying feature to implement and maintain since you can't just pass a preset name into x624 and trust it to do the right thing. You'd have to keep all the tunes and presets up to date yourself. HandBrake does have some plans to implement tunes/presets for real at some point so I don't really have a big motivation for going off and doing it the hard way.

[anonchoad]

Works flawlessly. Awesome app RandomEngy. Thank you very much.:D